Why Choose a Buddhist-Inspired Coach?
It Begins with a Coach Being Able to See Your Essential Nature
 Maitreya, Asian Art Museum, SF,
© Mark Johnson
Buddhist householders, those who choose to do spiritual practice while living in the world, have embarked on the most fascinating, game-changing, and challenging journey possible. For to do so means weathering not only the storms of modern life, but also the self-scrutiny of a higher moral and spiritual consciousness. Your success even has implications for the well-being of our planet. And so, you deserve to receive the very best professional support. You deserve to be understood, and heard at a very deep level. This is why I am offering dharma-inspired coaching to this wonderful and unique community. . . The Fully Engaged While Fully Detaching Paradox As business leaders like Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, and Bill Gates founder of Microsoft, have pointed out, “Everyone needs a coach.” Not even the top athletes or business leaders of the world can see themselves from the outside. No one has 100% pure objectivity when it comes to evaluating our own performance and skills. But when you add on the mysterious element of radical self-transformation, which comes from sincerely embracing the dharma — while still choosing to live in the world — then we have an even stronger case for coaching. By being householders who model the life of the dharma, you take on a certain level of responsibility towards bringing a higher level of consciousness into the world. For one thing, Buddhist householders demonstrate the premise that true and lasting happiness, along with social and family responsibility, can be had in the world. Your experience also demonstrates that happiness is not dependent upon all the accoutrements, trophies, and luxuries that the materialist zeitgeist conditions us to believe we need. And yet, even though you may not be as driven in a materialistic way, you must still go through the stresses and challenges of modern life. To make life even more challenging, you must also go through the metamorphosis of spiritual life, which has its own unique stresses and confusions, and at times, can be exquisitely painful. What we need is a full appreciation for the paradox of living and practicing in the world as lay practitioners. We know that our attachments and passions and fears in the material world hold us down, distract our meditations, dredge up the psychic poisons. And yet, on this path we have chosen, we must embrace all of our functions in life, working through them until they become pure activities of the Buddha mind. The irony and paradox is this: We function best when we free ourselves from the lower ego and embrace the self-confidence and willpower of our natural self. This unshackling serves not only the common good, but also our spiritual path. . . Why is this so? Because as we fulfill our true potential, and reach ever higher levels of proficiency and functioning, we are engaging our highest powers of focus, dedication, and courage. And naturally, it is only when we are coming from the highest mind of awareness do we function at our best. This sets up a positive feedback loop, and is precisely a process of liberation from our lower levels of ego functioning. We are turning all of our activities in the world, including the obstacles we encounter, into the process of realization. Think of the great Asian artists and calligraphers who seem to produce masterpieces in the blink of an eye. They are only able to do so because of their many years of meditative practice being fully engaged in the art, while simultaneously practicing detachment from the ego’s motivations. The path to that buddhic awareness is by consciously, morally, and energetically doing the very best we can in all of our daily life, from changing the diapers to leading a corporation. This is a hero’s journey. And like all heroes big and small, we sometimes need help. . . Please click below to read more. |
© 2016 Ben Johnson