No Wednesday Practice until January

Dharma Friends,

As tomorrow is Christmas Eve and next Wednesday is New Year's Eve, we will not be having group practice with the sangha either of those days. We'll practice together again on the 7th of January.

I hope you all have a restful couple weeks and a satisfying end to what has surely been for most a trying year. Thank you all for your participation in and contributions to the sangha and your continuing support of Drupon Rinchen Dorje Rinpoche. We wish you the blessings and protection of the Three Jewels and strength of the realization of emptiness to support you through the coming year.

Tashi delek,
Bill Pope
Chicago Ratna Shri Sangha


A nice thought sent by one of my sisters in the spirit of the season. Take it as you will:

A group of alumni, all highly established in their respective careers,
got together for a visit with their old university professor. The
conversation soon turned to complaints about the endless stress of work
and life in general.
Offering his guests coffee, the professor went into the kitchen and soon
returned with a large pot of coffee and an eclectic assortment of cups:
porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal - some plain, some expensive, some
quite exquisite. Quietly he told them to help themselves to some fresh
coffee.

When each of his former students had a cup of coffee in hand, the old
professor quietly cleared his throat and began to patiently address the
small gathering:

"You may have noticed that all of the nicer looking cups were taken up
first, leaving behind the plainer and cheaper ones. While it is only
natural for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is actually
the source of much of your stress-related problems." He continued, "Be
assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In fact, the
cup merely disguises or dresses up what we drink. What each of you
really wanted was coffee, not a cup, but you instinctively went for the
best cups. Then you began eyeing each other's cup.
Now consider this:

Life is coffee. Jobs, money, and position in society are merely cups.
They are just tools to shape and contain Life, and the type of cup we
have does not truly define nor change the quality of the Life we live.
Often, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee
that God has provided us. God brews the coffee, but he does not supply
the cups. Enjoy your coffee!"

The happiest people don't have the best of everything; they just make
the best of everything they have.
So please remember: Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak
kindly.
Leave the rest to God.
Remember, the richest person is not the one who has the most, but the
one who needs the least.