Half Moon Bay, CA Teaching Mission Group

From: "SK"

Tarkas

"How to Experience Suffering"

Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999

Hi Everyone,

This was a lesson from Tarkas, given at this years' SpiritFest, which was held at a beautiful Buddhist retreat center, on the top of a mountain, in a magical redwood forest, above the Santa Cruz coastline. There were some members of the retreat center sitting in the audience with us, as Tarkas gave this lesson. I like to think of this lesson as Tarkas's explanation for why the Buddha smiles. :-)

Love, Susan

Half Moon Bay, CA 07/24/99 T9907242 Group Session: SpiritFest 99 9:00 PM

Tarkas: Greetings, to all of you this evening. I am Tarkas. (Smiling) I hail from a planet of God’s Delight. I am a citizen of a world of Light and Life. God’s completion of His physical manifestation resides in my world, and yet I say to all of you, I relish the opportunity I now have to be with you on this most disabled planet. “Why,”- you may ask, “Should I find such an assignment appealing?”- Well, let me see if I can explain myself. You must struggle through your life. There has been much discussion of this topic thus far this weekend. And, indeed, we are now here at a beautiful center of God-Seeking disciples, who have understood much of the path of suffering. And in their respect and appreciation for the power of the suffering of life, they have sought this sense of detachment, this sense of making peace with the pain, the turbulence, the disturbance of the emotions in life. This is a powerful perception that the path of Buddhism has offered to this world. And I would say to you now, that there is much value here for your further discovery of this sense of emotional detachment from the exigencies of your lives. This is not to say that you must detach your sense of empathy, or even sympathy, for the suffering of others. But when you meet your own sufferings on your path through life, you can indeed, my children, learn to step through them, by discovering that there is this Invulnerable Center to your beings.


There is this posture of quietude, of contemplation, that we see in images of the seated Buddha. He does not offer resistance, nor does he seem to protect himself from what comes. He sits, instead, in a quiet sense of acceptance and a desire to be fully penetrated by this Peace of God. There is great connection, even in what I now offer you as an understanding, with the words you have just heard from the previous Teacher, Vesta. (Vesta has spoken of the importance of allowing yourself to experience deeply all of your emotions.) There is a way in which you can learn to incorporate into your own being those deep and powerful emotions of pain, of suffering, of anguish, of agony even, in such a way that it is nor disabling to your total being. It is not that Buddha has become blind to the power of pain. Buddha has learned that he can connect with the God Source, and in this way neutralize the pain, the suffering, the emotional disturbance, and turbulence, that would otherwise alter his being.


On my planet which was filled with God’s Grace, there were not the same possible opportunities that I now see here for me to discover the ways in which I could calm myself, and connect with my Higher Being and God Source, when faced with pain and suffering. This was a lesson that I had not yet deeply learned enough. And, indeed, by my commitment to this Campaign of Redemption for your planet, I have come to see great suffering and much anguish, much agony, which might possibly disturb my being, because I do feel a strong love and care for those of you, now, that I watch and observe. (Smiling) But I have learned, just as Buddha learned, that there is always this Stabilizing Power that I can complete the connection with. There is a way in which I can steady myself, calm the waters of my emotions, and develop the serenity, which controls and stabilizes my being. And in this way I am able to incorporate a full understanding of the sufferings of your world, without allowing my own inner sense of peace, and clarity of God’s Insight to my soul, to be disturbed.


When you are faced with the pains, the turbulence, the disjunctions that come to you in this suffering world, I ask you, my friends, to call forth this image of the calm, and powerful, and steadfast Buddha, who sits confidently in peace, waiting for this stabilizing contemplation of God to, indeed, incorporate itself in this being. He can be a Teacher for you. He can mentor you in this process. Indeed, I would ask you to combine your sense of Jesus sitting quiet, contemplative, by the Sea of Galilee, in the desert, on the mountain top, and see surrounding Him, those other great masters who have gifted the world with their presence. Jesus sits in quiet, and calm, trusting contemplation, just as Buddha does, and together they draw down and through their beings this incredible Equanimity of The Father, of the God Source, of the Supreme Creative Oneness of All. Sit with your masters, my children. Be with the Buddha. Be with the Christ. Be with the Mother Spirit. Be with all other images of God’s Servants, who indeed sit calmly connected with Him, with this Highest Creative Source of All.


That is my message for this evening. And I hope, tomorrow, when you once again gather in this lovely ritual site, below on the hillside, that you will see this sweet smile and contemplative image on the face of the Buddha, and understand better where this visage comes from, why he sits with this full sense of knowingness, and contemplative joy, as he looks out upon you in the audience. Namaste.