On December 5th at 5:30 PM the Rebel Buddha 2010 Tour came to a joyous end. From NYC to Halifax to Toronto to Boulder and Seattle, we met new friends all along the way. Looking back now on all we shared – our budding Rebel Buddha community – it really does feel like we’ve opened a door to discover a vast & widespread North American Buddhist sangha. It’s been a great experience for all of us involved and we extend our sincere thanks to all new and old friends for your support and interest in the our and discussion of the unfolding of Buddhism in the West.  

Our intention for this website conversation has always been to share, explore and deepen our understanding of the Buddha’s teachings. With the invaluable guidance of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche and the many great teachers who joined him at each stop on the 2010 Tour, we’re beginning to see the shape of an authentic American / Western Buddhism taking shape.  All of us have played a part in that. So whether you left a thoughtful comment on the Blog, created a Rebel Poem or a caption for the Rebel Wakeup drink, or simply found something here you liked and then shared it with your friends –  thanks.

We’re aware that right about now everyone’s beginning to relax a bit as we enter the holiday season. It’s a time to engage our natural tendency to look inward, perhaps even go on retreat, and also to look toward the next year with a fresh sense of purpose. So we’ll be taking a bit of a breather, not posting quite so often.  And we’ll see you again in 2011.

Until then, how about sharing with us your own aspirations? Just pop in a comment below. Links to photos or artwork or poems are also welcome. And if you’d like to know what visions are dancing in the heads and hearts of your friends, just click on the Facebook , Twitter or email icon at the top of this page and invite them to come on over and join the aspiration-fest.

May each one of us enjoy the awakening wonder of our rebel buddha heart, and may we each grow in awareness that we’re all traveling in the same impermanent boat.

    Comments

  1. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Rebel Buddha, William Clark. William Clark said: Aspirations for the Coming Year – Rebel Buddha – http://is.gd/jDiCA […]

  2. avatar Jen Madsen says:

    I’m not quite finished reading Rebel Buddha, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by its accessible language. Each year my group of friends meet to share our “word” for the new year. The word usually represents an intention or aspiration. Last year I focused on “declutter” in the sense that I wanted to let go of a lot of stuff–material and mental–that I do not need. I did some of that, but found new stuff moving in to fill the void. Be careful what you intend! This year’s word is “open.” As I read Rebel Buddha I’ve circled that word a number of times. To me it simply means to find a place where I can be fully open and honest, able to take in what is. Let’s see how it goes.

  3. avatar LC says:

    I think my aspirations for 2011 are to not have aspirations. To not aspire. To know that striving is good enough without having a place to reach. To trust my journey. To simply know that being on a journey fluid enough is enough. To travel on the path, full of wonder and light but without a destination or desire.

    That is my 2011 non-aspiration aspiration.

  4. avatar Champa Phalam says:

    I have been reading Rebel Buddha a few pages at a time interspersed with end-of-year activities. I am also reading it slowly as it is full of penetrating insights. When I complete it, I will return to the start and reread it again, something I seldom do. Virtually everything Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche says, I have heard or read before, having been a Buddhist for over a decade. His teachings, however, are the wheat of the Dharma shorn of the chaff.

  5. avatar Giustin says:

    I aspire to train harder, deeper, and more efficiently in this moment and in the next, and to leave this moment behind completely once it has passed.

    ***

    “Likewise, for the benefit of beings,
    I will bring to birth the awakened mind,
    And in those precepts, step-by-step,
    I will abide and train myself.”

    –Shantideva

  6. avatar mary says:

    i feel very skeptical about making aspirations the idea of making the best mistake sort of draws me forward. at least i
    used to joke with my theistic friends that it is best to align all the banana peels facing god then when you take the fall thats okay! you are facing the best direction ?

    but then again buddha mind buddha love seem everywhere vast expansion all directions … so you cannot align the banana peel to some finite station so in taking the fall so… it is more fun than ever , right and that vast love might break the compass

    and you might find yourself falling into atmosphere of goodness

    i might not make a little aspiration since that ocean is deep with kindness and
    i cannot promise to do better
    hope is gone.
    i didnt try to make some idea of improving this frumpy elegant place im just noticing
    everything fits all too congruent

    maybe i am too shy to feel that kind of power like i could point the ship within this mighty ocean to the guiding star i gave up on this typo of device its fun only if you believe
    besides that hope is gone

    and instead of sending our sos i relax is it okay maybe to suspend this request

    since i gave up on pointing my socks to heaven i guess ill point my love places i stumble on and just fall in love with what happens

    who cares its not like any mentora are monitering right ?

    i can never ever undo these assignments mightly\

    kindly undermine any toys you find me playing with
    this one and the one you gave me

    have a sweet uncertain adorning blessing of the ancient newness

    i have no treaties to give only love

    mary tsering

  7. avatar mary says:

    the trees root is in the sky and is skyless

  8. avatar pclearwater says:

    to make others question their negative american emotions