The following talk is given by Tara Brock, meditation teacher, psychologist and author.

The following talk is given by Tara Brock, meditation teacher, psychologist and author.

The following talk is given by Tara Brock, meditation teacher, psychologist and author.

Namaste and welcome.

In the Buddhist tradition, there are talketails which are stories of the Buddhist past lives,

all the different incarnations. They are kind of mythological way of teaching the different qualities of compassion and wisdom that the Buddha realized over lifetimes.

In one of the tales, it's of a good merchant who is in a village in northern India.

He's in his shop and he sees a kind of luminous, very bright, energetic being walking through the town square.

This being radiates a kind of compassion that just draws this merchant, just wakes up his heart.

All he wants to do is follow him and serve him and really participate in that field of living from an open heart.

He prepares a tray of nourishment for the bodhisattva that he saw and he starts bringing it and starts walking,

feeling this joy of following his heart, of really moving towards truth.

Then between him and the bodhisattva, the ground broke open and it became really dark and demon started appearing.

This is the appearance of Mara, who is the shadow side and the voices that came at the good merchant said things like,

go back, it's too dangerous. Besides you can't really handle what will happen on the path. Besides you're too busy,

you have other things to do and besides you don't deserve to be on this path anyway and every other message you can imagine would come at him, came at him.

He was about to turn around because it was pretty compelling, there's energies of the shadow side.

But then he remembered this incredible sweetness and beauty of the longing of his heart to give his life to awakening, to compassion.

He took just a few more steps towards this radiant being and of course Mara disappeared and the ground all came together again.

He was standing in front of him and the being said to him, well done bodhisattva, you two are bodhisattva.

He says this, he says walk on, walk on through all the fears and difficulties and you will know a freedom and peace beyond all imagining, follow the call of your heart.

So this is a story with the basic teaching that really is right at the ground of the bodhisattva path, the path of awakening beings, which is that our life arises as the Buddha said it from the tip of intention,

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