Chapter 3 of “Pointing Out Instructions”
Advice on meditation practice Ken: I want to touch on these two topics. Let’s start with the practice that we’re doing right now, which is essentially a mahamudra approach to shamatha. Now, there’s a lot of terminology that flies around in Buddhism which I don’t think is particularly helpful—some of it’s even traditional terminology badly […]
Chapter 3 of “The Warrior’s Solution”
Ethical principles: presence Ken: This afternoon, I’m going to talk about what constitutes the ethical system connected with the warrior’s solution. This is not the usual kind of discussion that one expects or has about ethics. There isn’t a list of do’s and don’ts. More a set of principles. But the principles are nothing in […]
Chapter 4 of “Chö: Cutting Through the Thickets of Thinking”
The short Vajradhara Prayer Ken: No, we will do it this way. 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 profound path of mahamudra,The Instruction Lineages of Dakpo, the peerless protector of beings,Trikung, Taklung, Tsalpa and the glorious Drukpa,I pray to […]
Chapter 3 of “Death: Friend or Foe?”
A quote from Four Quartets Ken: Everything changes; nothing stays the same. Well, this being a retreat, we’re going to gallop through death and impermanence much faster than one would normally. But there’s one more piece that comes from Everything changes; nothing stays the same. And some of you may recognize this when I read […]
Chapter 3 of “Living Awake: Surviving Stressful Times”
Review of translating principles into strategies Ken: One of the things that I want to continue to underline is the translation of principles into strategies. I’ve started work on a book about translation, which actually started two years ago but then sat on the shelf for two years. Translation is a very interesting process. One […]
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 this […]
Chapter 3 of “Buddhahood Without Meditation”
Experiences with the primary practice Ken: I’d like to start off this evening with any questions or experiences you had with the tools that I presented to you yesterday. Yes? Student: I really appreciate you adding a dimension of the primary practice of opening your heart to the experience. It adds a whole other dimension […]
Chapter 3 of “There Is No Enemy”
I made it myself Ken: There is No Enemy, October 22nd. Afternoon session. Here we are see. You’d think that living in LA I’d know to do that all the time now but … So, one day Nasrudin was sitting in the tea shop with his buddies and they were having a philosophical discussion which […]
Chapter 3 of “Stalking Death”
A sense of just experiencing Ken: Yesterday we talked about change. Everything changes; nothing stays the same. And in your meditation, we talked about change in the world of sensory experience, change in the experience of the body, and change in our sense of ourselves, our relationship with the world, our philosophies, views, values and […]
Chapter 3 of “Meditating on the Four Immeasurables”
Compassion Ken: We’re going to spend a month on compassion. So we’ll be doing this for four weeks. And part of the reason for that is that in the end, compassion is what all spiritual practice is oriented towards. And the presence or absence of compassion defines whether there is spiritual understanding or not. One […]
Chapter 3 of “A Trackless Path II”
The evolution of spiritual practice Ken: April 5th, Thursday. [Laughter]. August, August 5th, August 5th. What am I doing in April? August 5th, Thursday, 2010. That is the right year, isn’t it? Yeah. Okay, and this is A Trackless Path 2, the first full day, really. Okay. So, these sessions we have here in the […]
Chapter 3 of “Releasing Emotional Reactions”
Being with difficult feelings Ken: This afternoon, for the most part, what I’d like to do is to hear some of your experience with this technique. And, using your experience as a basis, expand and offer refinements to this practice. As I said this morning, we all start off with gaining ideas. But as our […]
Chapter 3 of “Karma: Awakening From Belief”
Doubt even your teachers Ken: We’re the ones that don’t exist. While we’re waiting for people to gather, one of the things that I enjoy very much is just responding to questions. So let’s be a little informal here and anything that’s come up through your practice this morning, or through anything that’s been said, […]
Chapter 3 of “Practicing the Diamond Sutra”
Introduction and opening prayers Ken: Let’s begin with the prayers. Let my heart turn to practice.Let practice become a path.Let this path dissolve confusion.Let confusion become wisdom. Knowing there is nothing outside or inside to free me, I take sanctuary in buddha.Knowing that experience and awareness are not two, I take sanctuary in dharma.Knowing there […]
Chapter 3 of “Finding the Way”
Student feedback Ken: A brief debrief. What was your experience with this? Let’s hear it from the people who were asking the questions. We started off with the question, “What are you doing here?” And then the person who was going to continue asking questions had the four options: “What leads you to say that?” […]
