Chapter 4 of “Then and Now: A Commentary on The Jewel Ornament of Liberation”
What makes practice possible? Ken: I’d like to consider the question: “What is the question that the precious human birth or the precious human body or the precious human existence is an answer to?” Anybody give thought to that one? Student: What is actualized when you have faith supported by interest, dedication and capacity? And […]
Chapter 4 of “Mind Training in Seven Points”
The four kayas Ken: Well, I’ve just blown my schedule, so I’ve just blown my teaching program. We’ll just have to salvage it as best as can be. Okay, we’re working with taking and sending, working with mind training in daily life situations. This is under Application, page 37 in the booklet. This morning I […]
Chapter 4 of “Five Elements Five Dakinis”
The fire reaction: feeling alone or rejected Ken: The fire reaction comes out of a feeling of isolation and a fear of being alone. Typical fire reactions take one of two forms of expression: challenge, intimidate or charm … seduce. The common feature of these two apparently opposite reactions is they both involve consuming. We find this […]
Chapter 4 of “Mahayana Mind Training”
The mystery of experiencing the world Ken: Yesterday I talked about what this experience we call life is. And when we accept experience just as it arises, ordinarily for us, there’s a sense of self here, objects that we perceive out there, and the dualistic framework. And we generally take this completely for granted. When […]
Chapter 4 of “Pointing Out Instructions”
Ways of resting in meditation Ken: I’m going to flog a dead horse tonight. They say not to do that but, you know. Could you get me a tea towel? Ralph: A tea towel? Ken: Yeah. Ralph: Sure. Ken: Thanks Ralph. While Ralph’s getting that any questions that anybody would like to ask? Yes, Charles? […]
Chapter 4 of “The Warrior’s Solution”
The theme is sacrifice Ken: One day a man approached Bayazid, the great mystic of the ninth century, saying that he had fasted and prayed and so on for thirty years and not found the joy or peace which Bayazid described. Bayazid told him that he might continue for three hundred years and still not […]
Chapter 5 of “Chö: Cutting Through the Thickets of Thinking”
Continuation of the chö visualization practice Ken: Great to do it in the dark, it gets really freaky then, but … One time I had this text memorized, not in English of course. Great Vajradhara, Tilo, Naro,Marpa, Mila, Lord Gampopa,Dusum Chenpa, totally aware Karmapa,Holders of the four great and eight lesser lineages, Masters of the […]
Chapter 4 of “Death: Friend or Foe?”
I’m going to die, but I don’t know when Ken: Good morning. So, here we are, day two. And our theme has been, “I’m going to die, but I don’t know when.” Which can really be taken as a paradigm for pretty well every aspect of our lives. There are many forms of death in our […]
Chapter 4 of “Living Awake: Surviving Stressful Times”
Circles of support Ken: I’ve been throwing out various principles. There is a teaching in the dzogchen tradition. The expression in Tibetan is very, very dramatic; it is impossible to capture in English but it’s, Recognize your own nature, Absolute on one point, and Have confidence and be free. These are very deep instructions. Trungpa […]
Chapter 4 of “Living Awake: Who Am I?”
Believing the story Ken: [Laughter] What I want to do in this last period is introduce three tools to you. And I’ve titled this section On being no one, or living that way. Now, you may think this is a very strange thing. How can we live and function in the world and not be […]
Chapter 4 of “Buddhahood Without Meditation”
The bear hunt Ken: So, here’s tonight’s teaching in a nutshell. A guy gets a new rifle. Student: A new iPod? Ken: A rifle. [Laughter] Student: An ancient Sufi story? Ken: Arguably a modern Sufi story. This is quite deep. So, he heads off into the mountains. He’s going bear hunting. Comes across a small […]
Chapter 4 of “There Is No Enemy”
The story of tea Ken: Let’s see. There Is No Enemy. Friday, October 23rd morning session. I am going to begin this morning with a story from this collection of Tales of the Dervishes. It’s a very good collection of stories. They’re all teaching stories. Some of them are pretty straightforward and some of them […]
Chapter 4 of “Stalking Death”
Two Nasrudin stories Ken: The Dervishes, by Idries Shah, has got lots of good stories in it. Sufis have the best stories. So you may find it useful. And then there’s always Nasrudin, it’s always useful. But you have to be willing to look into a mirror when you read Nasrudin. A lot of the […]
Chapter 4 of “Meditating on the Four Immeasurables”
Joy meditation Ken: All right. Now let’s turn to the joy meditation. We’re meeting in two weeks, which is May 1st, I believe, and that’ll be our last class. Now, again, if any of you have any better wordings or ideas, this is my first draft of these. I’m very open to input. When you […]
Chapter 4 of “A Trackless Path II”
Question why you practice Ken: Friday, August the 6th, morning session, A Trackless Path, New Mexico. Yesterday evening, I talked about a number of things, among them a way of looking at religions as long-term conversations about specific questions. A couple of people came up to me afterwards and said, “Those aren’t the questions that […]
