3. Breaking the Spell

Chapter 3 of “Chö: Cutting Through Demonic Obsessions

[…] the middle of the sesshin, one of the persons at the sesshin came in for the interview with a knife. Sasaki Roshi screamed with such force and power that the individual dropped the knife, bowed and left. The senior students rushed in to find out what had happened, Sasaki Roshi told them, and they […]

3. Breaking the Spell

The Ship of Freedom

Practice Material

[…] throng of other oath-bound protectors,All sources of refuge, the Three Jewels and the Three Roots,Pray, think of me from the domain of the mystery. Request Through the power of truth in your energy and compassionAnd through the power of the virtue I gather in the three times,Pray, quickly fulfill these wishesIn this life and […]

Black-and-white photograph of Kalu Rinpoche in in traditional Tibetan robes.

10. Motivation, Faith, and the Primary Practice

Chapter 10 of “A Trackless Path I

[…] all we will ever know. Then the question is what are we going to do with it? And all of the other reminders, their energy and the power come from being really, really clear about that one point. So, over the next day or two one of the things I’d like you to keep […]

10. Motivation, Faith, and the Primary Practice

7. Being No One: The Courage to Live Without Identity

Chapter 7 of “A Trackless Path I

[…] those forms because they were part of those practices. And even then they raised a few eyebrows, as you may recall. And there’s very definitely energy and power and purpose in those rituals. But in this retreat when stepping out of those traditional forms, I considered it for quite a long time. And decided […]

7. Being No One: The Courage to Live Without Identity

4. Breaking Free: Moving Beyond the Six Realms

Chapter 4 of “Monsters under the Bed

[…] the wrong place! Student: No, he said we were going to be enlightened tomorrow, right? Ken: Well, that’s entirely up to you. Transformation of negativity through the power of attention Ken: Now, my point in bringing those two schools up—heaven knows, now they’ll probably actually emerge as two different schools—is that changing behaviors, changing […]

4. Breaking Free: Moving Beyond the Six Realms

6. Guided Visualizations in Chö

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

[…] I pay homage to my teachers who point out pristine awareness and natural awareness. I pay homage to all the yidams through whom one definitely comes into power. I pay homage to all buddhas who have completed what has to be stopped and what has to be understood. I pay homage to all the […]

6. Guided Visualizations in Chö

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

Chapter 5 of “The Warrior’s Solution

[…] You meet the child, you meet the opponent, you cut the opponent. You meet the child, you dissolve the opponent’s world. You meet the child in your power location. You ask each of the three questions. You’re right there. It’s a way of staying in the practice, in your intention. When you do it, […]

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

1. An Experimental Retreat: An Open Format

Chapter 1 of “A Trackless Path I

[…] and protector carries the sense of expression and life. You like that? Student: Mm-hmm. Ken: Okay. You’ve all had that before. Student: Is expression and life like power? Ken: Well what the protector represents is how awakening mind manifests in activity. So that’s expression. It’s immediate, it’s direct, it doesn’t depend on the conceptual […]

1. An Experimental Retreat: An Open Format

2. Does Experience Come from Anywhere?

Chapter 2 of “Heart Sutra Workshop

[…] That’s very important. Work out your own freedom Ken: But there is a little theological problem in here. If we turn to the sutra: Then, through the power of the Buddha, venerable Shariputra asked noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, “How does a son or daughter of the noble family, who wishes to practice the […]

2. Does Experience Come from Anywhere?