Dogs live in the moment, which is what I wish I could do better. They don’t obsess about the next event or idea. They are just are who they are. I enjoy being with my dog as a great teacher of mindfullness!

“The disposition of noble dogs is to be gentle with people they know and the opposite with those they don’t know…. How, then, can the dog be anything other than a lover of learning since it defines what’s its own and what’s alien.” – Plato

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A bow to you all.
And bow-wow 2.

This is just about the dumbest thing I have ever heard.

I can’t believe that I have to write about this for class?!?!

ahahahahhahaahahah. There are no such thing as dharma dogs.

yea its me again. Still trying to write about this so called dharma dog. anybody want to write this paragraph for me???????

Hola everyone! It’s me pointless pete. and im still not seeing how this concerns Buddhism and why I have to write a 250 word essay on something like this.

She thinks dogs are Humans basically. Dogs were made to obey humans not posses human qualities and such. its acting out as instinct not because it found a nice place to “meditate”, where it happens to be in the meditation room, where the humans are! it just wants something and since you ignored it he fell asleep. this is garbage and completely agree with pete on this one.

Thanks everyone for your spirited comments. My entry was really about us — our relationship to self, and how we construct that sense of self. Focusing on Ruki was a metaphor for trying to understand the Buddha’s concepts of anatta and dukkha (two of the three marks of existence). You are right, my dog is sleeping not meditating. He comes to the Studio to be part of the action. When attention is not focused on him, he goes to sleep. While he might prefer the attention (I don’t know), I do know that he goes to sleep without a fuss. He doesn’t appear to generate an anguished story about how “no one likes him …” Pointless Pete seems to doing what it is that my dog cannot do — generating one of these anguished stories. This capacity for imagination and its feature of complaining seems to be a unique human capacity. In the moment, you have the task of writing for class. What would happen if you gave that your full attention instead of the storyline that says, “This is just about the dumbest thing I ever heard” ? I bet you would be happier and more productive.

I guess I’m not surprised you had to explain and clarify, Arnie. Folks so often get stuck on the outer meaning of a teaching and miss the inner and secret meanings. I find my dogs to be wonderful teachers. They are the embodiment of metta. I’ve learned unconditional love, patience, and kindness from three of my dogs.
They certainly do live in the moment…but to the point of monkey mind. Ah. Another teaching.
Since bodhisattvas can be reborn in whatever form they wish, I sometimes think that they often choose to be dogs. They do not stand on podiums, nor do they necessarily know they are teaching you. They may not be conscious of being bodhisattvas, but the lessons are there to be learned, if you are open enough to see them.
The slight distraction of a wonderful Great Dane who plopped his head on a couple of laps in a meditation group I was in prompted one of the members to say, “There’s always a dog,” which evoked a lot of laughter.
The truth is that teachings are all around us, all the time. As always, it depends on your own perception.

Jack you are my hero. I only wish that people could see the world from simple minds. For example, as the late great Colonel Sanders once said, “I’m too drunk to taste that chicken!”