Guest Blogger/Author… The Magnificent Tiramit

IAM delighted to introduce you all to the magnificent Tiramit, a fellow Divine Blogger and Author who you can find over at his WordPress site Dhammafootsteps. I’ve not known Tiramit so long, again thanks to Karin (who has begun blogging again… ye ye…). So preparing this post has given me the opportunity to read a variety of posts on his blog and get to know the man behind his beautiful words of wisdom.

Whil’st reading about Tiramit’s own journey, of how his heart resonated with the simplicity and loving kindness of the Buddhist community and being a better Human Being… it reminded me of my own decision to stop reading other books about becoming Enlightened and instead focus more on writing about my own ordinary life experience and the unveiling of my Divinity/Enlightenment from within that happens when IAM mindful in each moment. I felt it was time for me to share my unique path as Humankind was quickly moving into unknown territory. I began blogging, eventually with WordPress and quickly found many Divine brothers and sisters like myself sharing their own experience. Apart, yet together… expanding into a place where heart and soul would sing and dance in joy and guide us all out of the mundane existence of duality.

Tiramit is a ‘fellow Brit’ who has found his home in different parts of the world… in search of a warmer climate, different cultures & foods to warm the Body/Mind and a Divine practice to warm the heart. After many years working/travelling between Thailand and India, his wife and himself are now settling down to retire in Thailand. So I imagine, Tiramit finding the time to unpack his paints, brushes and canvas’s and finish his awesome ArtWork and publish more of his blog posts… expanding his Buddhist Journal with his latest postcards from the present moment, for more people to be inspired by his daily practice of generosity, kindness and friendship.

Tiramit, you truly are an inspiration and I thank you for following your heart, allowing it to open totally and embrace all of life so marvellously.

As well as publishing his postcards from the present moment, Tiramit reflects on passages from the Dhammapada. I resonated especially to one of his latest reflections as I know it is so important to be mindful of who we each truly are.  

Full Moon – Do Not Abandon Yourselves 05/09/17

To lose the company of those
with whom one feels at home is painful,
to be associated with those
whom you dislike is even worse;
so do not abandon yourselves
either to the company of those
with whom you feel at home
or those whom you dislike.

Dhammapada v. 210

Abandoning ourselves here means losing ourselves or losing perspective. It is thoroughly natural to experience warm-hearted caring for another, as the Buddha pointed out in his teachings on cultivating loving-kindness. What we add to that with our clinging, is unnatural, or at least unnecessary. And if we could stop clinging we might be more whole-heartedly caring. If we are not really attentive we could be harbouring some hesitation to truly care for others out of fear of becoming attached. With wise contemplation however, it is possible to care and at the same time be mindful of tendencies to attach. The only thing to be afraid of is the time it takes to remember to be mindful.

Tiramit’s feelings on Compassion… To Love the Unloveable

Everything comes to a stop when I see this photo sent from Gujarat in West India. All the pain and suffering I’ve experienced recently is suddenly nothing when I see the endeavor of this woman pulling what looks to be the trailer belonging to a truck. Even so, some would say, it’s easy for me to say – easy for me, comfortable in my male middle class security… and I search for words: admiration, respect, deference. None of these seem to describe the way that lady who looks like my Auntie is pulling that thing with the momentum of a short run at it, to get up and over the incline leading up to the bridge, then over the top and holding the weight as the trailer gathers speed on the downside.

When I first examined the photo it looked like there were two women pulling the trailer but the lady in the maroon colored sari just happens to be there, on the left of the one in the lemon colored sari. So Auntie is on her own, I imagine a person with the ability to bring up children, keep the house in order and do this physical work.

Theirs is a level of suffering hard to endure. There’s just no getting away from it. Would it be meaningful if I were to address people like Auntie in the photo about choosing the Buddhist Path of liberation? Probably not. There is a form of Buddhism created by Dr. Ambedkar, which is something to identify with, but it’s not the real thing.

For them, it’s about holding on, not letting go. As long as they have the strength to withstand hardship, it will go on like this. They have long since conquered something important in their lives, and now motivated by putting their small earnings together as a family collective. They structure their lives around employment and can’t step out of the earning momentum they’re stuck in – it would risk losing everything.

But who am I to comment on their lives? I’m the one who sticks out like a sore thumb, even though I’ve lived in Asia more than 30 years. I’m still just one of those tall actors with pale skin color, who appear sometimes then disappear like visitors from another planet. How can anything be said that’s not hopelessly hypothetical? Best to have opinions unsaid and instead, have compassion, empathy, understanding.

That’s all well and good, but I can’t get close enough to have an understanding of their lives. Compassion for my inability to love the unlovable, forgive the unforgiveable, and compassion for that part of me that sometimes cannot open to compassion. Compassion also, for those of us who say it can’t be done, believe it’s impossible to have compassion for everyone, and we have to ‘draw the line’ somewhere.

Compassion for those of us mesmerized by the conjurer’s trick, convinced that an object is real, when it’s really not there at all. Searching for a truth that can be hidden in plain sight, and never finding it because things that look like they are concealed, by some curious trick stay concealed. Masked by the blind spot, the concealed item remains unseen, deleted from memory; they were never there. Compassion for my failure to see a way out of this seemingly hopeless state of affairs. The Buddha’s words on loving kindness are an inspiration for us. May all beings be at ease!

Let none deceive another,
Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings;
Radiating kindness over the entire world:
Spreading upwards to the skies,
And downwards to the depths;
Outwards and unbounded,
Freed from hatred and ill-will.

Whether standing or walking,
seated or lying down
Free from drowsiness,
One should sustain this recollection.
This is said to be the sublime abiding.
By not holding to fixed views,
The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision,
Being freed from all sense desires,
Is not born again into this world.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/snp/snp.1.08.amar.html  Karaniya Metta Sutta: The Buddha’s Words on Loving-Kindness translated from the Pali by The Amaravati Sangha © 2004

Tiramit’s Biography…
I came to Asia at the end of 1982 to create NGO publications on social issues, and twelve years later I discovered the monks in Wat Pah Nanachat in Thailand, who showed me the Buddhist Path. Now more than 20 years have passed since I started to organize my notes to include details from the Buddhadarma in a daily journal.

I intended to write a book, but had no specific plan; just more and more notes. This is how it was going in the early days, and in some curious way it seemed as if everything was on hold, waiting for the right technology to come along, which is what happened. First came the WordPress blog: dhammafootsteps.com, a journal updated every three or four days, and then the posts rewritten in the same sequence to form the digital publication: Postcards From The Present Moment.

In my writing, the direction is towards the Buddhist, taking the subjective way, in the First Person Singular, the ‘I’, me and my, mine. Wherever possible, allowing the reader to slide into seeing the world through ‘my’ eyes – not mine, not anyone’s, ‘self’ is unimportant. It’s about experiences that happen to ‘me’ but reducing the ‘me’ part of it, and my own attachment to ‘self’, as much as possible, in order to allow the reader access to the continued unfolding sequence of events, that has no end, no beginning.

Gratitude to all the Buddhist monks who stayed in our home in Switzerland and Thailand, and those I met in UK, who provided the opportunity to discuss the dharma, talking for 4 or 5 hours straight through. Sleep, get up the next morning and start again where we left off. I’m on the editorial team working on the proofs of their talks to be compiled into books, and I feel it’s just an incredible privilege. In this way, I’ve been fortunate enough, through reading and discussion, to be able to consolidate some basic truths of the Buddhadharma.

To me, the purpose of meditation and the Buddhist way of life is to learn how to control the mind. With careful adjustments to thoughts, we discover how to intervene in our own automatic responses to objects in the ‘world’. By tiny increments, we can change the direction of habitual action from compulsive and damaging action, to mindful and precise action. It arrives by chance, the first time, then a curiosity arises: how can I learn to do that at will, how does it work? A question addressed to the subjective ‘me’.

“… the remainderless fading & cessation, renunciation, relinquishment, release, & letting go of that very craving. (the noble truth of the cessation of dukkha) “— SN 56.11 (dukkha nirodho ariya sacca).

Postcards from the Present Moment… A Buddist Journal… Tiramit
My digital book published in December 2016 as a personal reflection on the Buddha’s teachings directly applied as the human experience. Something we don’t normally bring to mind is the simple fact that we are connected to each other in the subjective sense of being alive, the experience of life itself.

Social networks, blogs, this is what we are writing about every day; how it all seems to be from where ‘we’ are; from ‘here’. Words are all we have, words are used to describe how the outer world enters our inner being by way of sensory mechanisms: by eye, ear, nose, skin, tongue – the five senses – and mind, which is the sixth sense in Buddhist Teaching. This book has its origin in one year of entries in my blog, please visit: dhammafootsteps.com, updated every three or four days. I’m currently preparing another four years of postcards to be published in the same format.

This book is one year of ‘postcards from the present moment’, an ongoing buddhist journal, comprising short entries, max 700 words and each with a picture. Each post takes the form of a postcard we might have received from a friend. An excerpt of human experience at that time. We share this world, we co-experience through sensory awareness – this is from ‘me’ to ‘you’. Tiramit

A Book Review
You don’t have to be Buddhist to love this book. I am not Buddhist but I revere the non-directive teachings in “Postcards” on Buddhism, basically just lessons in how to be a better human being, how to be more in the present and presented without being pedantic or condescending in any way. Additionally each piece has a great quote at the end, ranging from religious figures like the Dalai Lama to literary authors. I love being transported into the present of the narrator’s world. The prose is at times poetic, but always concise and to the point, sketches of the barebones of the reality of the present. “Postcards” has interesting scenery in the photographs and photographic descriptions of the scenes in the prose. I haven’t finished the book yet but wanted to write a review as this would make a dandy Christmas gift. It is a true gift to the spirit! Ellen Stockdale Wolfe

Purchase Tiramit’s Book here: Amazon

Connect with Tiramit through his Blog: Dhammfootsteps.com

Tiramit loves sharing his journey with others… I urge you to pop over, introduce yourself and enjoy his continued journey of loving kindness.

Thank you so much Tiramit for being YOU, for walking your path away from your original homeland in search of understanding and peace… that you are sharing with us all in your beautiful words on your blog and in your books.  Especially today with your feelings on Compassion. Thankyou.

Do you want to be part of my Guest Blogger Feature… Your Magnificent Self?
Every other Monday throughout this year, I will host a Guest Blogger/Author Feature and put YOU, my magnificent fellow Blogger/Author in the LIGHT. Not only this, I will feature your book/link to purchase in my website library and include your writing on Compassion in a FREE E-Book at the end of this year.

I know this is an incredible venture that is deeply impacting the world we live in. I have a couple of spaces left to reach my ‘perfect’ target. For more information and how to apply, please read my post here.

Call to Action
Thanks for helping me share this Guest Blogger Feature with your friends… (Sorry I don’t have a reblog button as I host my own website… but maybe you could write an introduction and link back to this post?)

Together we can support each other and create an abundant, joyful and harmonious life.

Barbara Franken… Creative Visionary & MasterCreator
Inspiring New Energy Consciousness

A paperback and Digital Book is available from all Major online stores… Amazon and Apple

I share my own magical journey, exploring Who I AM with the help of nine Elemental Beings and expand from a world of fear, struggle and limitation into a New Energy Consciousness of love, grace and freedom. It is in this loving space that I discover my Divine and ALL LOVING self and allow myself to integrate together as one Body Consciousness… a DivineHumanBeing… and Magnificent Master Creator who expresses and creates heart and soul passion on the physical plane and beyond.

 

 

Are you READY to dive deep within yourself and prepare for your new role as Master & Creator? As Earth & Humankind find themselves amidst great change and transformation… my MasterCreator Class guides you into unknown territory for you to create a life of freedom, compassion and celebration.

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All the money raised from my books and classes goes to my non-profit Business The Magnificent Consciousness to help inspire others through creative expression to explore, discover and express the magnificent Consciousness each person truly is and their unique space in the heart of life.