|
Click here to check out the Unfettered Mind network site Subscribe to our email newsletter: |
Unfettered Classes
Podcasts & Audio Files
Periodically, Ken conducts courses on specific topics, such as mahamudra or the four immeasurables. Or he may give a course on a particular text, such as The 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva. These courses are recorded and posted on the UM website for everyone, e.g., people who missed a class and want to catch up or people who are unable to attend the course in person and want to follow it.
These resources are free. Your support, through donations, will keep them available to everyone. To donate, please click here.
Below are links to .mp3 files of these podcasts grouped by class. Select a grouping from the list below to see the list of files for that class. When you click on a file title, a new window will open to play the sound file. You can put the window in the background and continue to browse while you listen.
To listen online now click on a title below.
To download the mp3, right-click the title (if you are a Windows user) or option-click the title (if you are a Mac user).
To subscribe to this series as podcasts go to iTunes Music Store.
- Ganges Mahamudra (Class, 2 files) Jan, Feb 2010, Los Angeles, CA
- Meditations (Class, 1 file) ongoing, various
- Eightfold Path (Class, 2 files) May, 2010, Los Angeles, CA
- Sutra Session (Q & A, 7 files) ongoing, varied
- Ideology and Wisdom (Workshop, 4 files) May 2009, Los Angeles, CA
- Surviving Stressful Times (Workshop, 4 files) January, 2009, Los Angeles, CA
- Heart Sutra workshop (Talk, 4 files) September 2008, Los Angeles
- Anything’s Possible (Talk, 2 files) 2008, Port Townsend, WA
- Then and Now (Class, 37 files) 2007 - 2008, Los Angeles
- Who Am I? (Class, 4 files) 2008, Los Angeles, CA
- Making Things Happen (workshop, 4 files) 02/03/08, Los Angeles
- Money and Value (workshop, 4 files) 12/02/07, Los Angeles, CA
- Four Immeasurables (Class, 6 files) February - May, 2007, Los Angeles
- Mahamudra (Class, 6 files) November - December, 2006, Los Angeles CA
- Relationship and Conflict (tele-teaching, 4 files) October, 2006, Los Angeles
- Practice Issues (Talk, 3 files)
- What Do I Do Now? (Class, 4 files) August 2006, Los Angeles CA
- 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva (Class, 20 files) April-June 2006, Los Angeles CA
- Other Talks
- Learning from the Lives of Lineage Holders (Talks, 3 files) November-December 2004, Los Angeles CA
MMT01: Mahayana Mind Training (retreat)
Introduction - Mind Training in Seven Points
Overview of different meditation practices: presence, energy transformation, purification; mind-training as a way to clear away self-cherishing; meditation instruction for resting with the breath; feeling the breath with the heart; variations in translation of the mind training text (available at unfetteredmind.org)
Duration 00:33:07
MMT02: Mahayana Mind Training (retreat)
Origin of Mind Training in Seven Points, Point 1: Groundwork
Education, training, and learning in Tibetan and Western cultures; brief biographies of Atisha and Chekawa Yeshe Drorje; secret teachings and transmissions; mind-training as a way to refine experience; refining v. training; empty compassion (emotion-free); illusion of choice as an indication of the lack of freedom; meditation instruction on groundwork
Duration 01:23:07
MMT03: Mahayana Mind Training (retreat)
Experience and awareness, Point 2: Main practice
Clarity in intention; the world of shared experience, the world of personal experience and the myth of integration; What am I? What is life?; subject and object; Where does experience reside?; the dream analogy; What is awareness?; thoughts as experience; meditation instruction on awakening to what is ultimately true
Duration 01:02:24
MMT04: Mahayana Mind Training (retreat)
Taking and sending, Point 2: Main practice
Knowing whatever arises for what it is; the natural response of compassion; the three poisons and dualistic thinking; why taking and sending works; taking and sending & the four immeasurables; the three objects, three poisons, and three seeds of virtue; meditation instruction for awakening to what is apparently true, taking and sending; questions from participants
Duration 01:17:44
MMT05: Mahayana Mind Training (retreat)
Questions and Applications, Point 3: Applications
Questions from participants on taking and sending, including: Is it okay to focus just on the meditation’s imagery of smoke and light rather than specific emotions? How specific should one be with taking and sending? How much do you sent out? How do you deal with running out of energy? Is taking and sending to be taken literally or figuratively? A variation of the taking and sending meditation from the previous session; applications of mind training, including: making adversity the path; driving blame into one; being grateful to everyone; emptiness as the ultimate protection; the four practices; working with whatever one encounters
Duration 01:14:40
MMT06: Mahayana Mind Training (retreat)
Point 4: Summary and Point 5: Proficiency
Origins of lists and reasons for their use in contemporary life; summary of essential instructions: the five forces, instructions on dying; measures of proficiency: the one aim, rely on your own clarity, deep and quiet joy, practice as a natural response. Proficiency isn’t attainment; regret v. guilt; working with emotions that arise from taking and sending
Duration 01:17:10
MMT07: Mahayana Mind Training (retreat)
Point 6: Commitments
Function of Buddhist ethics; descriptive v. prescriptive; importance of ethics; benefits of memorization. Commentary on mind training commitments including: the three basic principles, intention and behavior, giving up hope for results; not forming an identity around practice; working with reactive emotions; not hoping to profit from sorrow.
Duration 01:08:23
MMT08: Mahayana Mind Training (retreat)
Point 7: Guidelines
Difference between commitments and guidelines. Commentary on guidelines, including: using one practice and one remedy; the two things to do, patience in everything; never compromise your practice; the three challenges, three key elements, three kinds of damage, three faculties; train on every object; practice what’s important now; don’t get things wrong (proper placement of priorities)
Duration 01:08:23
MMT09: Mahayana Mind Training (retreat)
Concluding verses, closing thoughts
Questions from participants, a practical application of taking and sending, commentary on concluding verses, the 8 worldly concerns, living a life of no regret, a fable on taking and sending, instructions on working with the difficulties and challenges arising from practice, opening to whatever arises
Duration 00:57:14