Chapter 4 of “Ideology & Wisdom”
[…] had to transcribe it from the tape. I was told afterwards it actually is in the book. I just didn’t find it. I find it an extraordinarily powerful way of saying, “This is what’s important.” So that’s what I’d like to leave you with. It’s 4:30. If you can stay a little bit longer, […]
Chapter 3 of “Guru, Deity, Protector”
[…] relationship—only concerned with the student’s waking up and is not going to use the student for personal gain of any kind: getting emotional needs met, affection, sex, power, money, influence, whatever. That is, the student’s hung around long enough to know that is the case. Again that’s a maturation in the relationship. And on […]
Chapter 5 of “Karma: Awakening From Belief”
[…] somebody in the room yesterday. I’ll let you figure out who it was. Student: Is this related to the resonance [unclear] referred to in the book The Power of Now? Ken: Yes I think it’s very similar. That’s how Eckhart Tolle talks about it. Yes? Student: I have a question. You said that once […]
Chapter 4 of “Karma: Awakening From Belief”
[…] of the time, it’s because you don’t know why you’re practicing. Now, as I said, I think last night, maybe this morning—it’s all a kind of blur—”The powerful answers that Buddhism provides to questions of the spirit can overwhelm the stammering voice which is asking the questions.” It is absolutely essential you know what […]
Chapter 1 of “Karma: Awakening From Belief”
[…] the way of developing attention—things like death and impermanence, many of the purification practices in the Vajrayana. Sometimes they’re developing energy which you’re going to use to power attention. Guru yoga is an example of that, loving kindness, compassion are examples of that. And there are also esoteric methods of developing states of attention, […]
Chapter 11 of “A Trackless Path II”
[…] with this. Remember at the beginning of this retreat, I talked a little bit about Rumpelstiltskin. When you name things for what they actually are, they lose power. The converse of that is when you name things what they aren’t, they gain power. [Chuckles] So if you’re sitting in meditation and thoughts or emotions […]
Chapter 3 of “A Trackless Path II”
[…] it. Something, not sort of fully taking it in. Like, when you’re fearful. If I allow myself to feel the fear then it seems to dilute, or that power you were talking about, about identifying. And then it loses its strength. Ken: Yes. Helen: And so I was thinking about that in terms of the […]
Chapter 2 of “A Trackless Path II”
[…] actually is a very ancient principle of magic. You ever hear or remember a fairy tale called Rumplestiltskin? Okay. When you can name something, it loses its power. So and that’s one of the things that the Rumpelstiltskin story is about. When she knows his name, he loses his power. So when feelings arise, […]
Chapter 1 of “Monsters under the Bed”
[…] comes from a colleague, a friend of mine, Stephen Batchelor: “In its institutional forms, Buddhism provides very powerful answers to questions of the spirit. But sometimes the power of the answers overwhelms the stammering voice which is asking the questions.” There’s a lot of emphasis in Buddhism on correct posture, particularly in the Zen […]
Chapter 4 of “Meditating on the Four Immeasurables”
[…] energized, right? Wow. Yes. Keep doing and go further. So, May I experience the world celebrating my efforts; that’s a way of coming into a sense of power. Okay? That’s why the attaboy and the attagirl is a really good thing to do sometimes. May I enjoy things just as they are. That’s kind […]
Chapter 6 of “Stalking Death”
[…] traces of us in the experience of somebody else’s world. Nothing’s left. It’s very important, very important. What does this mean about all the accumulation of wealth, power, etc., that we see rampant in the world today? Well, it’s not meaningless, it indicates something. Student: It’s an attempt to defy it. Ken: Exactly. All […]
Chapter 2 of “Buddhahood Without Meditation”
[…] it had been canceled. So I met with them that Friday or Saturday, I can’t remember. And went through exactly this practice because it’s part of the power retreat. One of them, said: “Open your heart to experience?” And so I led her straight to the thing like I just did, “Now do it […]
Chapter 5 of “Death: Friend or Foe?”
[…] topic at this point—but I once heard, not too long ago, a very venerated Buddhist monk basically claim that through meditation practice he could develop sufficient mind power to see not only in past lives but in future lives. And it didn’t … well it didn’t sit well with me at the time. And […]
Chapter 4 of “Death: Friend or Foe?”
[…] and connectedness to others. And I can check that for a good part of my life. Second was a loss of personal effectiveness or a sense of power to do anything about the difficulties and the lack of connection in the first. And I can check that as well for a great deal of […]
Chapter 3 of “Chö: Cutting Through the Thickets of Thinking”
[…] bodhi svaha. And you imagine light shining out from Machik’s heart from the seed syllable hung and the mantra in her heart. Drawing in all of the power and energy of the buddhas of the ten directions, and bodhisattvas, the energy of the lineage. It all comes and condenses in her. So she’s filled […]
