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, but […]
Chapter 11 of “37 Practices of a Bodhisattva”
Student questions on translation Ken: Okay. This evening we’re focusing on verses 31 to 34. If you don’t go into your own confusion,You may just be a materialist in practitioner’s clothing.Constantly go into your own confusionAnd put an end to it—this is the practice of a bodhisattva. You undermine yourself when you react emotionally andGrumble […]
Chapter 10 of “A Trackless Path I”
Motivation Ken: Friday, August 28th. Morning session. For many of you, the end of your time here is approaching. And, quite naturally, thoughts of other things start to intrude, I imagine. A couple of things that may be helpful. First, anticipation. Thinking about things that you’ve just let go for the last few days. This […]
Chapter 12 of “Then and Now: A Commentary on The Jewel Ornament of Liberation”
Samsara: ordinary experience Ken: This is the next class in Then and Now. We’re working principally with The Jewel Ornament of Liberation, in either of the two translations. And our focus this evening is on the chapter which Guenther translates as “the vicious state of samsara.” To review, we started off by looking at an […]
Chapter 10 of “Mind Training in Seven Points”
Vajrayana taking and sending Ken: There are various approaches to taking and sending. One we haven’t discussed explicitly—come to think of it we haven’t discussed it implicitly either—is the Vajrayana approach to taking and sending, distinguishing it from the Mahayana approach. I’m not sure really how widely this is practiced. It’s an instruction that I […]
Chapter 10 of “A Trackless Path II”
Ganges Mahamudra: a teaching Ken: Evening session, A Trackless Path II. We are going to look at Ganges Mahamudra, or a few parts of it. Student: We didn’t get today’s date. Ken: Okay, August 9th. Twice in a row I got it right. Evening session, A Trackless Path II. A couple of intentions here. One […]
Chapter 10 of “Karma: Awakening From Belief”
Different ways of training attention Ken: This evening I want to talk about two things: one possibly briefly, the other’s a little more complex. The first is about attention in life, and the second is the pattern process, process, depending on how you pronounce it. And tomorrow we’re going to talk about the process of […]
Chapter 10 of “37 Practices in Four Parts”
Student questions Ken: Okay, so here’s our final session together. We have a few verses. They’re fairly straightforward. Straightforward as anything has been this weekend. Before we go there, let’s do some meditation practice together. Before we do any meditation practice, I’m very happy to take any questions you may have about any challenges, issues, […]
Chapter 10 of “37 Practices of a Bodhisattva”
Student questions: the six perfections Ken: We’re on the six perfections this evening. As we’ve usually done, let’s start with the understanding what the six perfections are. Anybody? Chuck? Chuck: It seems like reading the six perfections over, the guiding one is wisdom. If you have too much of anything, it has to be balanced […]
Chapter 11 of “Then and Now: A Commentary on The Jewel Ornament of Liberation”
Three characteristics of death Ken: This is the eleventh class in the Then and Now series on December the 11th, Tuesday, 2007. And there are two things that I want to do tonight. One is to go through the rest of the material on death and impermanence, which won’t take too long. Again, it’s fairly […]
Chapter 10 of “Then and Now: A Commentary on The Jewel Ornament of Liberation”
The ability to respond Ken: We’re good. Okay. So here we are December fourth, Tuesday, 2007.I think we are just starting on impermanence, right? Student: Yeah. Ken: Itself, okay. So that’s page 83 in Konchog Gyaltsen and page 42 in Guenther. Yeah, we talked about the four ends [paraphrasing]: The end of all meeting is […]
Chapter 10 of “Five Elements Five Dakinis”
The earth reaction cycle Student: Thursday morning we’ve chosen to sort of organize our practice in terms of going through Wake Up To Your Life and we’ve reached chapter six on dismantling reactive emotions, if I’m not mistaken. So, we’re going into dakini practice, and it’s a totally new practice for us because it’s an […]
Chapter 9 of “A Trackless Path I”
Idealism and ideology Ken: Thursday, August 27th. Morning session. Last night I talked about a number of things and afterwards I realized that I was actually jumbling two different topics which may have accounted for some confusion. The two different topics are the institutional mindset and idealism. And the bulk of what I was talking […]
Chapter 9 of “Then and Now: A Commentary on The Jewel Ornament of Liberation”
Background on The Jewel Ornament of Liberation Ken: Gampopa has been establishing the framework for a systematic presentation of Mahayana teachings. And I’ve mentioned this before, and I’m going to mention it again because I think it’s very important to keep in mind. This is such a classically medieval presentation, and by that I mean […]
Chapter 9 of “Mind Training in Seven Points”
The actual practice Ken: In the Mahamudra Prayer by Rangjung Dorje, one verse reads: Look at an object, there is no object: one sees mind;Look at mind, there is no mind: essence is empty;Look at both and dualistic fixation subsides on its own. Aspirations for Mahamudra This is the path of practice embodied or implicit […]