Riding Windhorse

In my further explorations into Tibetan Buddhism I ran across the Tibetan term "lungta"--lung meaning "wind", and ta meaning horse. So you have "windhorse", which is also the Tibetan name for those prayer flags you see around, and everywhere if you travel to Tibet or Nepal.

The concept of windhorse comes from a fundamental condition of the world called "Basic Goodness". Basic Goodness means that whatever happens it is for the good, despite what we may judge events to be. A perfect example of this was in the wonderful movie, "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," where the hotel manager (played by Dev Patel ["Slumdog Millionaire"]) says, "It will all turn out good in the end... If it's not good, then it's not the end!"

This demonstrates the human tendency to judge events as "good" or "bad" depending on personal values, past experiences, and fixed, unconscious patterns. We tend to expect the worst while hoping for the best. As far as windhorse is concerned, this thinking is all wrong.

The idea is to build windhorse by performing a series of acts of goodness. Once you've accumulated enough of these acts of goodness, you'll experience a "wind" in your life that you can ride like a horse. Yet, this is fundamentally an exercise in non-duality--meaning that instead of "bad" and "good", there is only Good. There can ONLY be good because the in the end, after all is said and done, the universe is perfect.

It has taken me the better part of 60 years to come around to believing in and embracing this Truth. And when you take a truly objective look at all the truly great miracles that abound in every moment, you conclude that at least there is more good than bad. But go further, taking a wider view, and behold: That "bad" you thought was there actually exists within some greater goodness. So, truly, non-duality is about extending your mind beyond judgment, beyond fear, beyond pain to a world of perfection and beauty.

In fact, you build windhorse by seeing the world as perfect and beautiful--even in the mundane. From dirty dishes to dog poop to the larger world tragedies, there is a perfection of purpose, a beautifulness of intention, that is miles beyond the ego-created dramas, pain and suffering that apparently is so bad.

There's the parable of the Zen master and the boy made famous in the movie, "Charlie Wilson's War"...

There's a little boy and on his 14th birthday he gets a horse... and everybody in the village says, "How wonderful. The boy got a horse" And the Zen master says, "we'll see." Two years later, the boy falls off the horse, breaks his leg, and everyone in the village says, "How terrible." And the Zen master says, "We'll see." Then, a war breaks out and all the young men have to go off and fight... except the boy can't because his legs are all messed up. And everybody in the village says, "How wonderful." Now the Zen master says, "We'll see."

This is an exact application of non-duality to the evaluation of life events. Taking the next step, as you jump onto your windhorse, you see the boy, the villagers and the Zen master as perfectly placed, perfectly acted in order to demonstrate some beautiful truth about existence. Ride on!

In vibrant health,

Boyd Martin, Caretaker
pureenergyrx.com