Chapter 3 of “A Trackless Path I”
[…] mantra forever, I do have to come to grips with my real feelings, but by the same token, it got me out of a kind of a reactive knee-jerk, and I suppose just gave me a different way to deal with it. Ken: It’s an effective use of mantra and you took it to […]
Article
[…] someone who leaves a country or homeland because life is no longer tenable there. When you take refuge, you are acknowledging that a life based on habituated patterns is no longer tenable for you. You are prepared to set out into the mystery and rely on awareness, wherever that may lead you. Who takes […]
Article
[…] You attribute any adverse effects of your counsel or actions to the ripening of the injured party’s karma, as purification, or as a mystery beyond ordinary comprehension. The patterns of self and self-cherishing have taken over the experience of mind nature and are only reinforced by it. In contrast, when you choose the red pill, […]
Article
[…] is arising and experience it as completely as possible without getting lost in it. Do I do anything to address the adversity? Well, as long as the reactive patterns are running, it’s generally better not to. If, in the process of practice, my relationship with the emotional reactions shifts, then I’ll be able to see […]
Practice Material
[…] unconsciousnessA terrified and unclear knowing stirs.From that, I and then other, the enemy, arise.Through the momentum of patterned propensitiesSamsara unfolds in its usual way.The five poisons, the reactive emotions, spread.Reactions based on the five poisons just go on and on.Therefore, since the basis of confusion in beingsIs mindless ignorance,Through my awakened intentionMay they all […]
Article
[…] operate quite so quickly and just that little bit of letting go makes a difference. As we deepen our relationship with compassion, we become less and less reactive and more and more responsive. In Buddhist thought, compassion is the natural expression of the open, clear awareness that is our birthright. Meditation: Returning to the […]
Article
[…] teacher are three: To show you the possibility of presence To train you in the techniques and methods you will need To direct your attention to the reactive patterns that prevent you from being present in your life Everything else is extra and is usually based on the projections of the student, the teacher, or […]
Chapter 1 of “Chö: Cutting Through Demonic Obsessions”
[…] animal realm, human realm, titan realm, god realm. Like most cosmologies, this is a very precise map of human psychology. In this case, it’s six sets of reactive emotions and the worlds they project. In the hell realm, it’s the realm projected by anger. You see everything in terms of opposition, everything is about […]
Chapter 1 of “37 Practices of a Bodhisattva”
[…] and we will just ignore it. We just literally won’t see it. When am I being swept away by my own karma, the momentum of my own reactive patterns which makes it impossible for me to practice? When do I have no faith, no confidence and so no inclination? You can do the similar things […]
Chapter 3 of “37 Practices in Four Parts”
[…] need, and so forth. And then the third function of a teacher is to point out the stuff in yourself that gets in the way, your own reactive patterns and so forth. Now, most people want all of those three qualities in the same teacher, as functions in the same person. It’s not actually necessary. […]
Chapter 10 of “A Trackless Path II”
[…] this is part of his experience, that he can move forward. But this first part is very important, because it describes how those demons get there. They’re reactive patterns reacting to the spiritual opening. Paul: So what should I do? Ken: What we do all along here. You just open to the experience and be […]
Chapter 6 of “A Trackless Path II”
[…] was like looking into myself. And the reason that she knows everything about me is because she is me, except without all the garbage. You know, the reactive stuff. And that was extraordinarily powerful for me and actually gave me a feeling of power. Meaning that I was able to act in ways that […]
Chapter 5 of “A Trackless Path II”
[…] world through our meditation. Some people disagree with me, but that’s my opinion. I just don’t want to get caught up in all of that. Okay. Do reactive emotions ever end? Joan: I’m motivated. I put a lot of effort into my practice and my question is, “When is the end of reactive emotions?” […]
Chapter 2 of “Stalking Death”
[…] of knowing, and the path of not knowing. The path of knowing is freedom, nirvana, etc., etc., etc. The path of not knowing is fettering by reactivity, reactive emotions, samsara, the cycle of pattern based existence. But you have this other phrase in there, “one ground”. The point of practice is to know that […]
Chapter 9 of “Pointing Out Instructions”
[…] will try to generate or create a kind of frozen state, in which there is no thought. That is usually virtuous in the sense it doesn’t foster reactive emotions etc., so it’s not a bad thing. But in terms of being awake and present in one’s life it’s not in that direction because you’re […]
