1. Everything Is Interdependent

Chapter 1 of “Karma: Awakening From Belief

[…] is how a lot of people think about practice—don’t concentrate on the breath; that’s what you do to oranges. I want you to think about practice as resting in the experience of breathing. Resting in the experience of breathing. Pardon? Student: I didn’t hear you Ken: Sorry. Resting in the experience of breathing. Okay? […]

1. Everything Is <mark class="searchwp-highlight">Interdependent</mark>

3. Falling Without Reference

Chapter 3 of “Pointing Out Instructions

[…] Does it come about by trying to have no thoughts? [Laughter] Yeah, so you have a little experience in that. [Laughter] How does it come about? Student: Resting where it’s born. Ken: Pardon? Student: The resting where it’s born. Ken: Yes, and that’s why I’m emphasizing the resting. You’ll notice I’m not emphasizing being […]

3. Falling Without Reference

2. Living in Two Worlds: Fabricated and Actual Experience

Chapter 2 of “There Is No Enemy

[…] a very good thing. And then you just do the same thing. You can walk at natural pace, timing your walking with your breathing, and so you’re resting in attention. Or you can practice the walking meditation as one breath, one step which is a slower form of walking meditation but can be very powerful in […]

2.  Living <mark class="searchwp-highlight">in</mark> Two Worlds: Fabricated and Actual Experience

2. Embracing the Challenge of Doing Nothing

Chapter 2 of “Buddhahood Without Meditation

[…] looking at here? Ann: Minutes, maybe? Ken: Okay. Anybody else? Yes, Donna. Donna: I guess I had thought, until last night and today, that doing nothing was resting in the breath. I thought I was doing nothing then. Ken: No, you’re resting in the breath. Donna: When you took that away last night, if […]

2. Embracing the Challenge of Doing Nothing

8. The Hidden Teacher

Chapter 8 of “Pointing Out Instructions

[…] and then we go home. Larry and I are going to stick around. We don’t have anything better to do, right? A review: what prevents you from resting Ken: So, the first few days, our work focused on the matter of resting. Now you’d think that resting comes naturally. How many of you found […]

8. The Hidden Teacher

1. Listening to the Stammering Voice Within

Chapter 1 of “Learning Mahamudra

[…] He always just went straight for the heart, straight for the essence. But I wasn’t able to do that. And part of me really wanted to meditate resting on the breath. Whenever I asked Rinpoche if I could just meditate resting on the breath, he would always say to me, “There’s no breath in […]

1.  Listening to the Stammering Voice Within

1. Exploring the Breath: The Foundation of Presence

Chapter 1 of “Monsters under the Bed

[…] with him while he took those last breaths. I will tell you that it moved me so deeply that it actually shifted my practice when I was resting with the breath, because the breath is our life. It means we’re here. It means we’re alive. We have this wonderful opportunity to practice. The thing […]

1. Exploring the Breath: The Foundation of Presence

9. Bringing Life into Practice

Chapter 9 of “Buddhahood Without Meditation

[…] and rjes thob (pron. jé tōb). Mnyam bzhag refers to the composure or equipoise—or however you want to put it—of formal practice where you’re sitting and you’re resting your attention and doing some form of practice. It very specifically refers to the experience that arises at those times. So that mnyam bzhag we call […]

9.  Bringing Life <mark class="searchwp-highlight">into</mark> Practice

5. Knowing Without Controlling

Chapter 5 of “Power and Presence

[…] tight in your solar plexus, or you might notice your breathing slows down. So that can be a guide to how fast to move. Until eventually you’re resting on everything that’s in your visual field, is in your attention. And then you add into that, the space that all those objects rest in, arise […]

5. Knowing Without Controlling

11. Practice with Ruthlessness

Chapter 11 of “Karma: Awakening From Belief

Being nice gets in the way Ken: Well, I suppose the short version of this morning’s talk is: You can’t wake up by being a nice person. [Laughter] Student: Does it help though? Ken: No, it doesn’t. It gets in the way. The origin of the word nice—I’m not 100 percent sure of this, […]

11. Practice with Ruthlessness

34. A Path Into Non-Self

Chapter 34 of “Then and Now: A Commentary on The Jewel Ornament of Liberation

[…] focused then I can stay there without tilting or whatever. Ken: Yeah, I’m not talking about just being focused. I’m talking about dropping into that natural clarity—that resting mind. Student: Well yeah, resting, resting in the position. Ken: Yeah. Okay. Randye? Randye: When I do something from that place, my mind shuts up. [Ken […]

34. A Path <mark class="searchwp-highlight">Into</mark> Non-Self

5. Body Like a Mountain, Mind Like the Sky

Chapter 5 of “A Trackless Path I

[…] up in control. Okay, I’m going to pursue this a bit with Rob. What happens in you when you’re not wrapped up in control? Rob: Very quiet, resting. Ken: I’ll ask Larry’s question, “For how long?” Rob: Indefinitely. Ken: Can I hold you to that? [Laughter] Rob: I won’t try to control it. Ken: […]

5. Body Like a Mountain, Mind Like the Sky

9. The Practice is the Perfection

Chapter 9 of “37 Practices in Four Parts

[…] concerned with making your mind totally quiet. The essence of practice in the tradition that I trained could be summed up in two sentences. Look in the resting; rest in the looking. That’s all you need to know about meditation. Look in the resting; rest in the looking. Now, earlier I talked about this […]

9. The Practice is the Perfection

5. Fresh, Artless, Unbound

Chapter 5 of “Learning Mahamudra

[…] cultivate a relationship with that. And it deepens, and we’ve talked about how that deepens through bringing in the insight aspect and uniting the seeing with the resting so that when you rest, you see, and when you see, you rest. Now this is something you work at. And Joe’s referring to another set […]

5. Fresh, Artless, Unbound