Dhamma

There are two forms of Dhamma. There is what was taught by the Buddha and a version is preserved in the Pali Canon, the teachings by Patanjali, Vatsayana and others are also Dhamma and then there is what we practice. Our everyday lives are Dhamma.

Dhamma is wholistic, it can, should, and will fill your entire life. There are very few acts that cannot become Dhamma. Everything from the exercise in the morning, to meditation to making and eating a healthy breakfast to smiling to giving your partner knee trembling orgasms is Dhamma.

What separates Dhammic acts from the profane is the attitude we have when we do them. Make the determination, keep in mind, that what you are doing is Dhammic when you make the protein shake, move from one asana to another, go for a walk, give your friend a hug. All these things are both Dhammic and a source of joy. Even the act of choosing a dress or suit is Dhamma.

Where we live is an extension of ourselves. If we are to be beautiful then where we live has to be as well. Keep them clean, if not tidy. There are wonderful scents available these days in the form of soy melts, candles and oils, these scents will change the energy in your house as well as making it smell wonderful. I use frankincense to change the feel of my meditation room. Frangipani gives my bathroom a light, happy feel. Having said this, there are times when the perfect scent in your house is that of the food you are cooking. Nothing says home like the smell of bread or biscuits or garlic bread baking.

 

One of the truly wonderful and useful things about YouTube is the endless free music. You can fill your house with beautiful music all day. We’re big fans of Imee Ooi, who is Malaysian and sings wonderful Buddhist mantras. I am also studying terrorism and find that filling the house with Albinoni or Bach or Beethoven is the perfect antidote and refuge after spending the day looking at people who are awful in every way.

The exercise is obvious and will be covered in much greater depth later. I will say here, to be Tantric is to be healthy and beautiful and to achieve both health and beauty you have to exercise and to be intelligent when it comes to nutrition.

Thus, you might say, you have a religious obligation to dress better, to keep a beautiful home, to work on a beautiful body and to have beautiful relationships. The beautiful home is not something from a catalogue that stresses you out to keep in immaculate condition, it is a home as clean as possible, and that is full of beautiful, if everyday objects. It should also be a place of light and happiness. Naturally the most beautiful thing in your home should be you. And a beautiful you should be beautiful in every way.

 

It is entirely possible to dress beautifully on a budget. This is what charity stores, factory outlets and sales in the major department and designer label stores are for. It is an often ignored fact that the charity stores near the wealthier suburbs often have killer bargains for the simple reason that people engage in retail therapy. We have found brand new, unworn designer labels at one tenth or less of their original price...often with the original price tags attached.

 We all have a deep beauty and dressing stylishly will bring that beauty out. Find out what colours and combinations of colours work for you. We must also avoid the trap of becoming “mutton dressed up as lamb”, which means we dress appropriate to our age. We have all seen the sad sight of a woman or man in their 50’s dressed in clothes that a twenty year old would look great in...And they don’t.

I will make a distinction here between fashion and style. Fashion changes and if you become devoted to it you will end up on a treadmill and spend your life trying to catch something you never can. Style on the other hand, as they say, is eternal.