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The Daily Dharma – January 26, 2022

Landscape painting of orange and yellow wildflowers in Colorado by Seamus Berkeley
Colorado Flowers original oil painting by Seamus Berkeley

“The idea of opening the heart beyond your own self reminds me of a rather ordinary event that happened not so long ago. I was flying to a meditation retreat I was leading, and I happened to open the shade on the airplane window to an amazing sight. The plane was flying above a thick layer of white clouds, and the sun was reflecting off those beautiful clouds. It was glorious, and I was very moved. I felt an amazing, heart-opening devotion to the beauty of the world and the beauty of existence. I also felt a powerful feeling of devotion to Tara, a female buddha. In the Mahayana tradition Tara symbolizes universal compassion. Tara is not outside; she is within each of us. She is a symbol of the universal compassion that lies at the core of our being. I felt such incredible inspiration and devotion that I wrote a poem or hymn in Tibetan to Tara, the embodiment of the divine. When I went back and read the poem that I had composed, I recognized that this was the true voice of my own heart. There is a lot of surrender in the poems that I write! Basically, in these hymns I recognized that sometimes I can’t liberate myself; I can’t enlighten myself. I can’t force myself to experience this thing called equal flavor, equal taste that is the secret of unconditional happiness. So I was praying to Tara to please help me overcome all of my inner resistance and help me experience this awakened mind that realizes the same flavor or equal taste.”

Excerpt From
Choosing Compassion
Anam Thubten & Sharon Roe