Chapter 4 of “Releasing Emotional Reactions”
[…] or these big pots with the food. You’d take out your bowl and it would be ladled out and you’d cover it up. And then after the prayer service then you’d go back and eat your lunch. That’s why all Tibetan monks carry around these bowls, wooden bowls with lids. And in the evening […]
Chapter 3 of “Meditating on the Four Immeasurables”
[…] the decibel level of the prayers. So finally he knocked very, very loudly and said, “Mrs. Fong, I really must speak with you. Please come down.” The prayer stopped. There was the sound of a mala or rosary being slammed on the table. Stomp, stomp, stomp. The door was thrown open, and Mrs. Fong […]
Chapter 4 of “There Is No Enemy”
[…] start doing things. That’s practice. And as we learn and develop our practice, that practice in turn, becomes our path in life. [The second line of the prayer is: Let practice become a path] One of the big shifts in me was … because of my training in the Tibetan tradition, this notion of […]
Chapter 3 of “Death: Friend or Foe?”
[…] that all my past misdemeanors are deeply regretted.” “What chance do you want?” asked the Angel. “If I could be spared the time to perform the five prayers before my death,” sighed Nasrudin, “I’m sure I would go peacefully on my way.” “Very well,” replied the Angel, “I will return this time tomorrow when […]
Chapter 6 of “Chö: Cutting Through the Thickets of Thinking”
[…] an unceasing play, Being nothing at all, yet arising as anything, Give me the energy to know that samsara and nirvana are not separate. The Short Vajradhara Prayer All of us beginning with our enemies that provoke anger, impediments that generate harm, conditions that cause interruptions, obsessions with mortality, local disturbances, physical disturbances, and […]
Chapter 4 of “Chö: Cutting Through the Thickets of Thinking”
The short Vajradhara Prayer Ken: No, we will do it this way. Great Vajradhara, Tilo, Naro, Marpa, Mila, Lord Gampopa, Dusum Chenpa, totally aware Karmapa, Holders of the four great and eight lesser lineages, Masters of the profound path of mahamudra, The Instruction Lineages of Dakpo, the peerless protector of beings, Trikung, Taklung, Tsalpa […]
Chapter 2 of “Mahayana Mind Training”
[…] where Buddha attained enlightenment, and it is probably the central Buddhist pilgrimage place in India. So he held the seat at Bodhgaya, and there was a big prayer festival, and people came from all over the place. And in Atisha’s tent this Vajrayana practitioner appeared, Maitripa, making love with his consort. And this outraged […]
Chapter 15 of “Mind Training in Seven Points”
[…] with, no I think it was the local king—because she came from the region called Lab—who really called her Labkyi Drönma, The Lamp of Lab. Now, that prayer song was written by Karma Chakmé, who was an eighteenth century teacher, maybe seventeenth, in the Kagyu-Nyingma tradition. Student: He wrote some commentaries on [unclear]? Ken: […]
Chapter 25 of “Then and Now: A Commentary on The Jewel Ornament of Liberation”
[…] you? From the bodhisattva ceremonies we’ve done? The short one, the daily … Julia: The short one? Ken: Yeah. Julia: The short one is also in the prayer book. Ken: Yeah. Does everybody have a copy of that? [Student reciting prayer]. Yep. You got it. It’s not in those prayer books. It’s in the […]
Chapter 4 of “Ganges Mahamudra: Tilopa’s Pith Instructions to Naropa”
[…] these different systems in one’s life. Practice alone in forest or mountain retreats. Rest, not practicing anything. This, Practice alone in forest or mountain retreats, there’s a prayer in the Tibetan tradition which goes something like: May I live alone in mountain retreats so no one knows when I’m sick, And no one will […]
Chapter 1 of “Pointing Out Instructions”
[…] up doing it. Ken: Okay, evening ritual, group of prayers. We won’t be doing all of them. We’ll alternate between the Aspirations for Mahamudra and Ever-Present Good’s Prayer of Intention alternating that each evening. Then you’ll see there’s a third section called Teachings [PDF]. And here I put together a number of different prayers […]
Chapter 3 of “Being Mahamudra”
[…] able to experience whatever arises, which is very, very different from observing whatever arises. Okay? Second thing I want to talk about, we go back to the prayer we do at the beginning of the meditation session. The next stanza is: The three jewels are the reliable and definite refuges. Give me energy to […]
Chapter 3 of “Guru, Deity, Protector”
[…] those who choose this as a path, then they can engage the formal practices. But then I hope they’ll know what they’re doing. Dan: Okay. Ken: That’s the way I’m approaching it. Let’s do the Vajradhara Prayer, the second Refuge Prayer, and then the Fulfilling Intention Prayer on page 25, and then the dedication prayers.
Chapter 7 of “Pointing Out Instructions”
[…] Helping others Ken: Well, we have to bear in mind Yogi Berra’s saying, “In theory there’s no difference between practice and theory. In practice there is.” Mahamudra Prayer, page 26. While the nature of beings has always been full enlightenment, Not knowing this, they wander in endless samsara. For the boundless suffering of sentient […]
Chapter 34 of “Then and Now: A Commentary on The Jewel Ornament of Liberation”
[…] I experience time? [Pause] There’s another way you can do this. Since you asked the question I will volunteer you. Stand up. Okay. Now, you have the prayer pamphlet there. I want you to pick it up in extreme, and I mean extreme, slow motion. Slower, much slower. Slower still. Now what are you experiencing? Did […]