[tmtranscripts] Tarkas on "How to Experience Suffering"

[Susan Kimsey]

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
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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+IBk-s Delight.  I am a citizen of a
world of Light and Life.  God+IBk-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.  +IBw-Why,+IB0- you may ask, +IBw-should I find such an assignment
appealing?+IB0-  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+IBk-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+IBk-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+IBk-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.

Half Moon Bay, CA Teaching Mission Group