Chapter 29 of “Then and Now: A Commentary on The Jewel Ornament of Liberation”
[…] eventually we start moving in that direction. That’s what I think this is referring to. Now, Steve’s point is quite right, that one can do that into reactive and negative ways of acting, just as much as one can do it into positive. But it’s not so much what we decide to do in […]
Chapter 21 of “Then and Now: A Commentary on The Jewel Ornament of Liberation”
[…] to want to wake up in order to help all beings, it’s a very different thing, where we actually go about the work of waking up: dismantling reactive patterns, developing a stability of attention, and so forth. The second grows out of the first, but it needs to grow out of the first. It is […]
Chapter 3 of “Then and Now: A Commentary on The Jewel Ornament of Liberation”
[…] potential refers to people who have no connection with their potential for awakening. And because they have no connection with it, they tend to be very, very reactive. So at the top of page 51 we find—this is from the teachings of Maitreya, the Ornament of Mahayana Sutra: There are some who only commit […]
Chapter 16 of “A Trackless Path I”
[…] And I don’t think anybody here is really trying to pursue some idea of truth in the abstract. But really much more about being more present, less reactive, freer in the life we actually experience. That a fair assessment? So, when you contrast that with people who feel religion or, in our case, Buddhist […]
Chapter 7 of “A Trackless Path I”
[…] you get consumed by it and now start relating to the new situation from that old prospective, that’s a whole different thing. Now we’re caught in a reactive pattern. This comes up very, very frequently. When my father died, my parents were married I think for about sixty years. Long term. And I talked with […]
Chapter 4 of “Ganges Mahamudra: Tilopa’s Pith Instructions to Naropa”
[…] I should just stick to enjoyment. Ken: Well, let’s put it this way. Do it with an emotion. Just pick any emotion and it can be a reactive emotion or a responsive emotion, it could be anger, it could be desire, it could be love, loving-kindness, joy, doesn’t matter, anything, faith, jealousy, just pick […]
Chapter 2 of “Ganges Mahamudra: Tilopa’s Pith Instructions to Naropa”
[…] don’t have to put on a big display, so you don’t have to be embarrassed about this. I’m not even going to ask you. Just experience that reactive emotion. [Pause] And what knows that experience? [Pause] Okay. Now in both of these, I asked you, “What knows the experience?” [Pause] In these two cases, […]
Article
[…] meditation, they find a freedom they never suspected was possible. What is freedom? It is the moment by moment experience of not being run by one’s own reactive mechanisms. Does that give you more choice? Usually not. When you aren’t run by reactions, you see things more clearly, and there is usually only one, […]
Article
[…] future should be for us. Finally, we make efforts, again internally and externally, to be able to meet present circumstances as they are, without the prejudices and reactive tendencies that we have accumulated, or the expectations and desires we want to fulfill. Some of the best descriptions of what it is to live this […]
Chapter 2 of “Stand-Alone Talks”
[…] like a mountain and the wave of your breath. [Silence] My breath comes and goes. Let the breath be like the sea infinitely deep. And this regular pattern of waves rising and falling. [Silence] As you rest this way, you may notice tensions in your body. Don’t try to relax them. Keep attention on […]
Chapter 1 of “The Unfettered Mind”
[…] adding that and then trying the same intentions so you can see a little more clearly what actually goes on when you bring attention to those underlying patterns that are always there and how they have nothing to do with your present time intention and how it affects your movement. And you can bring […]
Chapter 2 of “Guru, Deity, Protector”
[…] Tuesday. Compassion-in-training Ken: The fourth method is compassion, through service. It’s one of the primary themes of the Mahayana. You use the energy of compassion to transform reactive patterns into attention. It is wonderfully and beautifully expressed through bodhicitta. The great work on this is Shantideva’s Entering the Way of the Bodhisattva or Entering the […]
Chapter 14 of “A Trackless Path II”
[…] the practice does. This, you know, for you to say this is the mystery of it, is that it strengthens some capacity to suffer without really becoming reactive in a way that closes that door. Ken: Yeah and I don’t think they’ve got that one sussed out yet. Michael: Let’s not go there. Student: […]
Chapter 3 of “Stalking Death”
[…] You can tell them about it, but you can’t share the actual experience. In the middle, meditation on death and impermanence helps us to cut through the reactive patterns that create suffering for ourselves and others. And it does so because we see that much of what we’re holding onto is really quite insignificant in […]
Chapter 4 of “There Is No Enemy”
[…] the past of the teacher, and I grew up in a very traditional religion with a great deal of obedience to authority. That is one of the reactive patterns I had to work through. And so I, and think it may be shared by others, profound distrust of placing my path in another’s hands. Ken: […]
