Why pray?

I'm staying at the Jamyang Buddhist Centre in London this week, breaking myself back in 'gently' to the Western way of life after two and a half months in Kopan Monastery in Kathmandu, and five months in Nepal. I write 'gently' but it is actually the summer retreat here at the London Centre and there is a lot of meditation, contemplation and teaching. So much to take in. I did not have time at Kopan to experience the teachings in English as I was concentrating on teaching English, so now I have the opportunity to immerse myself in the Dharma and find out a little more what it is all about. The Venerable Geshe Tashi Tsering, a Tibetan monk, is the teacher.

And today I am contemplating ... Why pray? What is praying? What about puja, meditation, mind training, CBT, and counselling?

What is it all about?

What ever I call it, I am referring to the moving of the mind. It isn't simply lip service, but a way to consciously and deliberately reprogram the mind. The mind is plastic; open to influence and training. Take two men of the same age - one trained in a monastery his entire life, the other living rough amongst thieves and glue sniffers. Each experiences life in their own way, influenced as they are by events around them. If they wanted to, could they change places? They may not feel they have a choice, but as adults they do. We all do.

Do children growing up with war movies become influenced to create acts of violence; or to become keepers of the peace? Does the influence of their parents encourage, or discourage, their path?

When we start to examine the influences that we put in front of us (the people, the resources and, most importantly, our own mind) and the path we individually want to take, then we begin to see that by thinking deeply about the meaning of what we are saying or reading, then the prayers (or puja, or CBT, whatever) and practices are effective in enriching our lives. It will take time, through practice, and slowly slowly we can effect that change...if we want to.

There are great masters, gurus, saints and enlightened people that we look up to. Mother Theresa, Gandhi, Lady Di, Nelson Mandela amongst so many more became people of great personal strength, strong moral values, and the mind to carry through with what they believed in.

With mind training, who's to say we couldn't do the same.

Be open to the idea that you can always learn. "No man was ever so completely skilled in the conduct of life, as not to receive new information from age and experience."

Being open to this opens the mind. Thinking you know everything, great insights and wonderful new paths to explore will pass you by. By being open you'll see, feel and learn things you wouldn't otherwise, but be careful of focusing too much on learning from books, blogs, and so on. They have a place and can correct things you may have done backwards in your life. But the most important thing is to live. And to learn from your experiences. Because it is there that you find true understanding of things (taken from Jonathan Swift's Positivity Blog).