Sunday Gathering - Reflection on Simplicity

This Dhamma that I have attained is profound, hard to see and hard to understand, peaceful and sublime, unattainable by mere reasoning, subtle, to be experienced by the wise.  But this generation delights in attachment, takes delight in attachment, rejoices in attachment.
The Buddha
Ariyapariyesanā Sutta: The Noble Search
Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi and Bhikkhu Nanamoli

In the midst of complex, busy lives, we yearn for simplicity. But what is this simplicity we long for? And how can we approach it through the Dharma, which is “profound, hard to see and hard to understand”? Are these things in conflict?  In this session we are invited to explore what simplicity means to us, how we can misinterpret that longing and how we can begin to let that simplicity shine through our practice and our lives.

The ego mandala is based on not recognising our true ungraspable nature of Openness, Clarity and Sensitivity. Its mandala guardians are engaged full time in preventing our awareness from recognising that Reality. As the ego mandala strengthens, the more difficult it is for us to return to the simplicity of our true nature. Yet, in our heart of hearts we never cease to yearn for it. In yearning for it, we grasp and cling onto anything that has the qualities of Openness, Clarity and Sensitivity. We grasp and cling onto power and freedom, knowledge and apparent clarity or certainty, on sensual stimulation, feelings of love and security. 

Lama Shenpen, Trusting the Heart of Buddhism Book 2