Devotion

Lately I've really been ramping up my Santi Maha Sangha studies in preparation for my teacher's retreats this summer. One of the many topics covered in SMS is devotion and faith. According to the text, faith is the foundation of pretty much all practice. Which makes sense; without faith, why would you ever bother practicing? And devotion to the teacher is an extension of this foundation.

So, I thought I'd make a well overdue post about my time in Mexico and talk a bit about devotion.

I spent ~24 days of winter break at Tsegyalgar West, a retreat center in Mexico within my teacher's mandala. While there I spent a lot of time both engaging in actual practice and relaxing with the other members of the Dzogchen Community. One thing I was struck by is not only how amazing our teacher is but also at how amazing our community is.

Something uniting all of us is our devotion to Rinpoche. In fact, I'd say that's one of the only things uniting all the members of our Community; our devotion to Rinpoche and our dedication (however strong) to the Teachings.

Devotion is a wonderful thing. I just watched Words of My Perfect Teacher and in it, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche makes a great point. Devotion is about confidence in and understanding of the law of cause and effect; if we have the right cause and conditions then it will produce an effect. Devotion is understanding that the Teacher and His Teachings are the cause and the effect is Buddhahood and so long as there are the conditions of correct understanding and exertion in practice, the effect of realization will follow that cause. That's really what devotion is about, it's understanding that all realization comes from the Teacher and a deep appreciation for the deep compassion expressed in teaching all of us.

Every time I think of how much effort my teachers expend in traveling and teaching and explaining and doing practice, I feel a very profound sense of devotion and appreciation. I would venture to say it's one of the more profound emotions I've ever had. It's certainly the unique emotion that's not caught up with my own bullshit. And I think that's part of the point of devotion; it's not about us, it's not about our tension or our trips or our issues. It's a pure sense of gratitude and a deep understanding.

And I think that's really fantastic.

Alright, time to do some reading. Peace.