Chapter 7 of “Karma: Awakening From Belief”
[…] Reactive pattern. “It’s against the rules.” Other people: “Conversations can’t be peaceful, have to be conflict.” Same thing. It’s just the reactive pattern running in a different direction. The pattern imperative Ken: So, anytime you run into that kind of inflexibility—black and white, this way or that—you’re dealing with a reactive pattern. So, I’ve […]
Chapter 7 of “Mind Training in Seven Points”
[…] Unlike commitments, this is very definitely a Mahayana term. Whereas the commitments are instructions of things to either do or avoid because not to observe those commitments directly contradicts the intention of mind training. Guidelines are more in the sense of, these are the things which are going to support your mind training practice. […]
Chapter 1 of “Releasing Emotional Reactions”
[…] sounds, and you are just right in the experience of it, that’s going to work in exactly the same way. It’s coming at it from the other direction, but it’s going to work in the same way. But a lot of people are irritated by noise. Sometimes at Mount Baldy, a Zen center, a […]
Chapter 2 of “Meditating on the Four Immeasurables”
[…] and peace. Janneke? Janneke: Third lines elicit a kind of discomfort for me because it seems awfully selfish. And in my experience of the practice, it isn’t directed inward. So I’m having a little bit of a strain there. Ken: Well, this particular approach, the four immeasurables, actually applies the principle in mind training: […]
Chapter 8 of “The Warrior’s Solution”
[…] like, “Argh.” But now you are going to be more in the experience. Trudy? Trudy: [Unclear] Ken: When you ask the question that points you in that direction, whether you actually experience that depends on the level of your attention. Student: [Unclear] Ken: She said gingerly. [Laughs] Student: [Unclear] Ken: Sacrifice. Student: [Unclear] Ken: […]
Chapter 2 of “Learning from the Lives of Lineage Holders”
[…] (referring to Niguma). All sages and adepts said the same thing: Naropa’s sister Niguma who dwelt in the three pure states, was able to receive the dharma directly from Vajradhara. They also said that no matter where you are. with sacred outlook you will see Niguma’s face, but if your outlook is impure she […]
Chapter 1 of “Chö: Cutting Through the Thickets of Thinking”
[…] I don’t think I can remember anything, ah.” And then this is what he said: “The secret practice of chö is mahamudra“, which in our parlance is direct awareness. “The inner practice of chö is taking and sending. The outer practice of chö is offering your body to gods and demons.” This is one […]
Chapter 7 of “The Jewel in the Lotus”
[…] Or feel the emotion in your body? Kathleen: Emotion. Ken: Okay. This also works into what I was going to talk about, but I will answer you directly, briefly, first. The approach that we’re taking here is not the way this material is usually taught. And I’m really combining, very intentionally, two perspectives, which […]
Chapter 1 of “Chö: Cutting Through Demonic Obsessions”
[…] for what it is, not waiting for the seeds to develop and not to trying to transform it, just meeting it right there. So they’re very, very direct techniques and I want to talk a bit about that this evening so we can start with that approach to practice tomorrow in the morning. One […]
Chapter 8 of “37 Practices of a Bodhisattva”
[…] with the four immeasurables changed my whole relationship with taking and sending. And because of that, almost everybody that I work with, I really encourage them, and direct them to do a very solid training in the four immeasurables before they do taking and sending. In the second three-year retreat, when we got to […]
Chapter 9 of “Guru, Deity, Protector”
[…] before steel had been discovered and he built bridges out of it that lasted into the twentieth century. If you go down and you see the figure directly below Tongtong Gyalpo, I think that’s Tāranātha. If I had my original version of this I could read the Tibetan inscription. But the figure immediately to […]
Chapter 2 of “37 Practices in Four Parts”
[…] think one person said, “We’re a bus full of our relatives and ancestors, and every one of them is grabbing for the steering wheel while yelling out directions.” [Laughter] Student: So when you were demonstrating with the bowl and the striker, and holding it down. Is that the act of trying to get rid […]
Article
The final challenge of habituated patterns is to question direct experience. How do we know? How can we trust this knowing, which is totally beyond the ordinary conditioned experience of life? Like Buddha Shakyamuni, we turn to no external reference and live in the knowing. We rest in presence, in the very mystery of […]
Chapter 4 of “Stand-Alone Talks”
[…] this usually takes the form of a week of protector rituals. And then you have this big celebration and another week of renewal rituals expressing intention and, direction for the New Year. So that’s one of the things that is going on in the holiday season. We’re reminded that we’re growing older. We appraise […]
Chapter 6 of “The Jewel in the Lotus”
[…] not complete. That’s the purpose of the completion phase. And then you have what is traditionally, classically, called completion phase without characteristics, which I prefer to call direct awareness. This is things like mahamudra and dzogchen, or you can also call it the practice of presence. [Unrecorded] Mahamudra, dzogchen, practice of presence, this all […]