7. Blasting the Demons

Chapter 7 of “Chö: Cutting Through the Thickets of Thinking

[…] middle of this you go phat! And you’re just there. As you continue to do this, you cultivate compassion very, very intensely, very deeply, whether it’s through taking and sending or whatever, so it’s really, really strong and you go phat! And then you do the same thing with faith, loving-kindness, with everything. [Laughter] Cool. Okay? […]

7. Blasting the Demons

14. Training in Every Moment

Chapter 14 of “Mind Training in Seven Points

[…] going bad in your life, may or may not be about what you’ve done. And the point here is just to open to the experience. Work with taking and sending. And everything that arises, approach it as just experience. And if it’s a pleasant experience, use it to develop loving-kindness and a sense of giving. And […]

14. Training in Every Moment

When Energy Runs Wild

Article

In the initial stages of practice, we are consumed by thoughts. As we continue, we gradually are able to experience thoughts as thoughts, and not be distracted by them. To be a little technical, when the level of energy in the attention is higher than the level of energy in what you are experiencing, […]

A group of horses galloping across an open field with dust rising behind them.

3. Creating Conditions for Experience to Release Naturally

Chapter 3 of “The Jewel in the Lotus

[…] to release naturally. Now, how do you actually do that? I’ll get to in a minute. This came up in the July retreat where we were doing taking and sending. How do you do taking and sending non-conceptually without reference? Well, easiest way is to imagine that you’re dreaming. And when you imagine that you’re dreaming, […]

3.  Creating Conditions for Experience to Release Naturally

4. Nothing Left Out

Chapter 4 of “Chö: Cutting Through Demonic Obsessions

[…] unfolding or flowering of awareness and understanding and compassion. Well, in chö, the first stage is called arisings. When you start cutting. either through the practice of taking and sending, through the practice of moving into experience using the four spell-breakers that I outlined this afternoon, the first thing you encounter is the resistance of habituated […]

4. Nothing Left Out

5. Outlook, Practice, and Behavior: A Framework for Living

Chapter 5 of “There Is No Enemy

[…] the five-step practice that I gave you this morning, I think is a very effective way of doing this. There are other practices which could be used, taking and sending, deity practices. If you really have a high level of attention, you can use things like mahamudra and dzogchen, etc. But from a practical point of […]

5. Outlook, Practice, <mark class="searchwp-highlight">and</mark> Behavior: A Framework for Living

6. Guided Visualizations in Chö

Chapter 6 of “Chö: Cutting Through the Thickets of Thinking

[…] chö where you’re using the bell and damaru and all the visualizations where you’re offering. And then there’s a simpler chö which is basically cultivating loving-kindness, compassion—doing taking and sending. Then there’s the unelaborate chö, which is stomping [laughter] … it’s actually rounding up and … [unclear], throwing the obsessions away. [Ken kisses them goodbye] Blasting […]

6. Guided Visualizations in Chö

5. Broken Heart, True Presence: Feeling What We Avoid

Chapter 5 of “The Warrior’s Solution

[…] arise. We have to relate to them, but they don’t have the same kind of solidity that we’ve usually invested. Solidity of pleasure and power we counteract by taking and sending. Student: By what? Ken: Taking and sending. The technique of taking in the suffering of others, and giving to others the pleasure and power and goodness and […]

5. Broken Heart, True Presence: Feeling What We Avoid

1. A flexible foundation for retreat practice

Chapter 1 of “Buddhahood Without Meditation

[…] black and blue. The subject matter of this retreat Ken: The subject matter of this retreat isn’t working on that stuff per se. This is not like taking and sending, or the four measurables, or phowa practices, and other retreats that many of you have done with me. We’re not working on that material. But the […]

1. A flexible foundation for retreat practice

4. Balancing Clarity and Stability

Chapter 4 of “Being Mahamudra

[…] want to talk a little bit about that today. Those of you who attended the mind-training retreat last year know about how to work with compassion because taking and sending is a method of transforming emotional energy through compassion into attention. And many of you have studied and practiced loving-kindness, metta practice, and you’re familiar with […]

4. Balancing Clarity <mark class="searchwp-highlight">and</mark> Stability

1. Everything Is Interdependent

Chapter 1 of “Karma: Awakening From Belief

[…] And there are also esoteric methods of developing states of attention, states of energy. But it’s all about developing attention so you can actually experience what is. Taking and sending is another good example. So, tomorrow morning, get up—we’ll keep this simple—practice for at least half an hour, half an hour to an hour depending on […]

1. Everything Is Interdependent

7. Emotions as Practice: Working with Warmth, Joy, and Resistance

Chapter 7 of “A Trackless Path II

[…] more complete. It is stronger, clearer, whatever I’ve heard people describe. And whether it’s mahamudra, whether it’s dzogchen, whether it is seeing from the inside, whether it’s taking and sending—some of the other forms of practices that we haven’t discussed here, like yidam practice, I would even say Koan practice—this emotional quality, if you keep that […]

7. Emotions as Practice: Working with Warmth, Joy, <mark class="searchwp-highlight">and</mark> Resistance

4. Opening to the Sky

Chapter 4 of “Chö: Cutting Through the Thickets of Thinking

[…] or the space. So, this is a way of moving directly through a visualization process [snaps finger] into presence. No definition. Dissolving or transforming progressively all the realms of confusion—just as we’ve been doing in taking and sending. One manifests out of that as an expression—the perfection of wisdom is an expression of emptiness—as a dakini …

4. Opening to the Sky

1. Accessing Power Without Being Ruled by It

Chapter 1 of “The Warrior’s Solution

[…] arises. You have a use for it. Whatever arises, you have a use for.   Student: [Unclear]   Ken: Perhaps it’s very quiet.We did the practice of taking and sending last summer. Taking and sending in the Commitments and Guidelines includes several instructions which are really about operating at the level of will. Whichever of two […]

1. Accessing Power Without Being Ruled by It

3. Deep Listening: Being Awake in Experience

Chapter 3 of “Being Mahamudra

[…] experience of “What am I doing?” And particularly in practice. When I’m trusting a certain practice such as mahamudra, dzogchen or something like that, or compassion or taking and sending, what am I actually doing? And the emotional quality is that I’m allowing myself to open emotionally. But when I really looked, it wasn’t that then […]

3. Deep Listening: Being Awake in Experience