4. Open to Everything

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 […]

4. Open to Everything

1. Resting in the Midst of Experience

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 […]

1. Resting in the Midst of Experience

3. Deep Listening: Being Awake in Experience

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 […]

3. Deep Listening: Being Awake in Experience

3. Faith as Path: Joining the Mind with the Guru

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.

3. Faith as Path: Joining the Mind with the Guru

7. Becoming No One

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 […]

7. Becoming No One

34. A Path Into Non-Self

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 […]

34. A Path Into Non-Self

Mahakala and Fear

Chapter 10 of “Stand-Alone Talks

[…] me om padma padma padmasambhave sukhavate gatcham tu svaha So, it’s human nature to mark these events in some way. So I’ve also brought with me a prayer from another text by the same author, Karma Chakmé, which is a prayer for all of those who have died. I’d like to repeat this with […]

Mahakala and Fear

Opening to Doubt

Chapter 8 of “Stand-Alone Talks

[…] say, don’t be afraid of faith, or that yearning quality, which is often felt as a pain in the heart. Now on my website you’ll find a prayer called Devotion Pierces My Heart. And it’s a long prayer written by a great teacher in the nineteenth century. And he’s using traditional vocabulary, but every […]

Opening to Doubt

1. An Impure Motivation

Chapter 1 of “37 Practices in Four Parts

[…] aside. Unbeknownst to me, I had already had a previous contact with Tokmé Zongpo but didn’t know that it was Tokmé Zongpo when I had translated a prayer, which goes something like: “If it’s better for me to be ill, may I be ill. If it’s better for me to recover, may I recover. […]

1. An Impure Motivation

4. The Union of Emptiness and Compassion

Chapter 4 of “Practicing the Diamond Sutra

[…] keep attention in the whole room. Kati: Exactly. And it keeps everyone on their toes instead of just the mic person, like levitating on their toes. Opening prayers Ken: Let’s begin with the prayers. May my heart turn to practice. May practice become a path. May this path dissolve confusion. May confusion become wisdom. […]

4. The Union of Emptiness and Compassion

12. Energy Transformation Practices: Vitality, Stability and Risks

Chapter 12 of “A Trackless Path II

[…] Now we get into something that comes up in different guises again and again. It comes up in Longchenpa, comes up in Rangjung Dorje in the Mahamudra Prayer. To say anything—Eric? Eric: On the verse on awakening mind, if he’s not referring to the way it’s traditionally taught, what is he referring to then […]

12. Energy Transformation Practices: Vitality, Stability and Risks