Chapter 6 of “Stand-Alone Talks”
Where does prayer fit in? Ken: I’m not very good at giving talks. I think I’m better at some kind of interaction, so we’re just going to start off right there. When the White Heron Sangha, through Nancy, invited me to come up here, I was up here once before, last year, and I […]
Article
[…] that opened, he gently intoned, Mes frères, prions. (“Let us pray, my brothers.”) Straight out of a Catholic monastery! It was an amusing and simple reminder that prayer was and is an essential part of contemplative practice, regardless of tradition. Every meditation we practiced involved prayers—prayers to the lineage, prayers of refuge, prayers for […]
Practice Material
Traditional prayers, refuge, bodhicitta, dedication, for opening and closing daily meditation sessions
Practice Material
HoAll experience, potential or actual, patterned or free,Has one ground, two paths and two results.It is the play of awareness and ignorance.Through this prayer of Ever-Present Good1May everyone come to full and complete awakeningIn the palace of the realm of totality.The ground of everything is not made of anything.In this indescribable naturally present expanseThere […]
Practice Material
[…] poured into water,May the body, speech and mind of Mother Labkyi Drönma,Join with mine and become oneAnd through this connection bring great peace. The power of my prayer makesThe Great Mother dissolve into light: she is absorbed into me.My mind drops into naked simplicity. Now, look inwards, look at your mind.When you look at […]
Practice Material
[…] to see through life’s illusions.Grant me energy for reactive thinking to come to an end.Grant me energy to know mind has no beginning.Grant me energy for confusion to resolve itself.Grant me energy to know all that arises is empty presence. Bengar Jampal Zangpo This is the Guru Yoga Prayer from Karma Kamtsang Foundation Practices (Ngöndro).
Practice Material
[…] May it not fade where it has arisen. May it ever grow and flourish. Good Fortune Everything known—nothing to understand. Everything clear—nothing to explain. Everything in its place—nothing to do. May the joy of this way touch beings everywhere. Click here for a printable PDF version of these prayers. Cliquez ici pour une version française.
Practice Material
The essence of thought is what is, it is taught.
To this meditator who arises as an unceasing play,
Being nothing at all, but arising as anything,
Grant me energy to know that samsara and nirvana are not separate.
Chapter 2 of “Pointing Out Instructions”
[…] shortly before the exodus. And this is used pretty widely in the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions as a morning ritual. The refuge, awakening mind, and the seven-section prayer are all in the context of dzogchen vocabulary. So, a couple of notes on my translation. Wherever you see “all experience,” as in the third line […]
Article
[…] act of praying made a difference. It brought a little clarity and a little space into my confusion, and I found a way to continue. By making prayer a part of my daily practice, I discovered a new possibility: faith, a quiet source of strength that became vitally important to me in the years […]
Chapter 24 of “Then and Now: A Commentary on The Jewel Ornament of Liberation”
[…] periods here. Could I borrow a copy of the prayers from somebody? Prayers Ken: In the Tibetan tradition, we almost always start with some form of lineage prayer. Usually the lineage reflects a teacher’s … that particular lineage. In the Gelugpa tradition it would be Je Tsongkhapa, in the Kagyu tradition it would be […]
Chapter 10 of “A Trackless Path I”
[…] Well, that works the body quite well. ‘Cause it’s all uphill. But frequently when I’ve done, almost the whole time that I’m walking saying a certain Tibetan prayer which I like very much. It’s just one of these short four-line prayers. But I’ll synchronize that with the walking. And I’ll do that. I often […]
Chapter 1 of “Practicing the Diamond Sutra”
[…] guinea pigs—with using the word sanctuary instead of refuge. For those of you who are familiar with Buddhist terminology. So that is why this appears. The actual prayer is one that I wrote about 12 years ago, so it’s a little unusual in terms of refuge prayers, but I hope it speaks to you. […]
Chapter 9 of “Being Mahamudra”
[…] a full commentary, but just to give you a quick guide, so to speak. The first verse is invocation and aspiration for why Rangjung Dorje wrote this prayer. And the next verse is a general summary of the whole prayer: A river of virtue, undefiled by the three spheres Springs from the snow-mountains … […]
Chapter 6 of “Practicing the Diamond Sutra”
[…] is to find a way that speaks to you. And by “speaks to you,” I mean something that stops the conceptual mind. And it can be through prayer, it can be through chanting, it can be through koan practice. Koan practice actually only works for a certain number of people. It can be through […]