Article
In order to help clarify the nature and purpose of deity practice, I discuss it here in a way that gives one the actual flavor of this practice; that is, the sense of what might actually be happening experientially in deity practice. I also suggest an approach to deity practice that doesn’t depend […]
Chapter 9 of “The Jewel in the Lotus”
[…] hūm is very dark blue, blue-black. So, om ah hūm. Don’t hold the breath for a long time. Hold it while you think of the letter ah, resting in your heart. And hūm, breathing out. The breath is natural with just this little pause. You can do this a number of times. I would […]
Chapter 6 of “Power and Presence”
[…] And finally she asks, “All right, you’ve come to disturb my peace. What do you want of me?” And he says, “I want the white bird that’s resting in your hand.” And she starts just going off on that one. She says, “No way he’s going to have that bird.” And she’s carrying on […]
Chapter 3 of “The Jewel in the Lotus”
Formal practice and cultivating attention mixed with activity Note: Students were not recorded. Ken: If you look at it in the four ways of working: first verse is about power, the second is about ecstasy, third is about insight, and fourth is about compassion. Everybody’s going to look at that and see if that’s […]
Chapter 3 of “Living Awake: Who Am I?”
The problem of forgetting Ken: This is the third installment in the program, Who Am I? What was it like eating lunch with this tension between the story and no one? Student: I forgot to do it. Ken: You forgot to do it. Just a second. How many forgot to do it? Okay, now […]
Chapter 5 of “The Warrior’s Solution”
[…] the practice, in your intention. When you do it, many of you have described, lots of different feelings come up. When you’re doing the resting meditation afterwards, resting in attention, you’ll recall what you didn’t want to feel, or what you brushed aside. And there are probably many things in your life. I mean, just in […]
Chapter 7 of “Then and Now: A Commentary on The Jewel Ornament of Liberation”
[…] role.” “I shall follow, you lead,” said the disciple. “I shall lead if you know how to follow,” said the master. The journey started. While they were resting one night in the desert of the Hejaz, it started to rain. The master got up and held a covering over the disciple protecting him. “But […]
Chapter 4 of “Then and Now: A Commentary on The Jewel Ornament of Liberation”
[…] of attention in which you do not experience any suffering, or any struggle or any disturbance. You’re not awake; not really in a trance, but you’re just resting there. And those states are useful as a base of attention, but the states in themselves aren’t particuarly helpful because you’re basically just blissed out. So […]
Chapter 16 of “A Trackless Path I”
[…] like allowing it to be as it is. Ken: Yeah. Exactly. Okay. Judy: Would you say that what you’re describing in this sentence is a kind of resting? I ask that ’cause as I’m integrating what you’re saying there’s the form of whatever practice one is doing at any given moment. And then something […]
Chapter 3 of “A Trackless Path I”
Emotional material Student: So in doing the primary practice, is it important to keep four distinct steps as you practice? For example, when you open to the field, it feels to me like my heart just wants to open—but it’s an important thing to sort of keep those in stages? Ken: What happens to […]
Chapter 5 of “Monsters under the Bed”
Posture Ken: All right, basically, this is our cleanup session. What often happens in retreat is that we lay out exactly the sequence of teachings and the process that we want to cover, and we have it all nicely laid out, so it’ll be a wonderfully climactic process for all of you. The only […]
Chapter 5 of “Releasing Emotional Reactions”
[…] capacity. So in the practice this evening, use this technique whenever you encounter something that you feel you can’t experience. Start doing taking and sending right there. Resting in presence Ken: One other aspect here. For the most part, I’ve been emphasizing how to work with difficult feelings. What happens when there aren’t any […]
Chapter 2 of “Chö: Cutting Through Demonic Obsessions”
[…] with over a period of time. So you do that for half an hour, just using taking and sending to come back into presence and then just resting there. And just keep coming back to that resting. Open to the experience of whatever is arising Ken: And then, second half hour, forget about the […]
Chapter 8 of “37 Practices of a Bodhisattva”
Student questions on translation points Ken: As we’ve done in previous meetings, let’s take a look at any conceptual points or translation points that you’d like to inquire about. Randy? Randy: In verse 20, I understand the opponent inside, which is one’s own anger. What’s the opponent outside? Is that someone else’s anger? Ken: […]
Chapter 4 of “37 Practices of a Bodhisattva”
Student questions on the text Ken: But in our culture where we don’t have this same worldview, the same cosmology, we’re more likely—and I think it is more appropriate for us—to look at what we’re calling inner interpretations of this text rather than the outer. I don’t mean to dismiss the outer, but I […]