Stand-Alone Talks
This series of stand-alone talks by Ken McLeod offers doorways into some of the most essential aspects of spiritual practice. Each one is grounded in lived experience and shaped by Ken’s ability to draw from traditional Buddhist teachings without being limited by their formal structures. While the topics differ, a common thread runs through them: the call to relate to life directly, without relying on beliefs or practices as escape routes. Ken’s teaching is intimate, often challenging, and always aimed at waking us up—not to some idealized spiritual state, but to what is here and now.
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Guiding Others
How do you support others in their practice without imposing your own ideas? In this talk, Ken explores what it means to meet someone where they are and help them come to know their own experience—not by offering advice or theories. Topics covered include the role of open questions, the importance of presence, and how curiosity becomes the foundation for both practice and interaction.
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Mountain, Sea, and Sky
Ken uses the metaphors of mountain, sea, and sky to invite a different way of experiencing life—stable, fluid, and open. “We are learning or practicing how to experience life differently.” Topics covered include letting go of effort, shifting out of thinking, and briefly “dropping into” this experience throughout the day.
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On Relationships
Ken presents a framework for understanding different types of relationships: mutual benefit, shared aim, and emotional connection. He discusses the importance of being clear about the basis of a relationship, examines how relationships change over time, and how factors like control, risk, happiness, and imbalance can influence duration. Topics discussed include transactional dynamics, collaborative efforts, emotional connection, shared aims, honesty with oneself, how conditioning shapes our responses in relationships, and the difference between correspondence and genuine connection.
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What To Do About Christmas?
In this conversation with students, Ken utilizes traditional Buddhist frameworks to analyze how the holiday season brings up various emotions such as regret, joy, obligation, and expectation. Through guided meditations and personal reflection, he presents practical tools for approaching this time of year with presence, compassion, and clarity. Key topics include impermanence, intention-setting, emotional balance, and the practice of taking and sending.
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The Three Jewels: A Mystical Approach
Ken presents the three jewels—buddha, dharma, and sangha—as fundamental aspects of Buddhist practice and direct experience. He explains how awakening arises not from conceptual understanding, but from deeply engaging with experience and allowing clarity and responsiveness to develop. Topics covered include the nature of self and experience, the role of the teacher, and the transformation of emotional patterns through open awareness.
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Prayer and Meditation
In this startlingly original talk, Ken explores how prayer is a way of connecting with the part of you that you don’t understand, with the fundamental mystery. Topics covered include the symbolism of Christ on the cross, the role of mantra, the promise of freedom from the tyranny of reaction and the true purpose of meditation.
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Contemporary Challenges in Finding a Teacher
In this candid dialogue, Ken explores the evolution of the teacher-student relationship—from hierarchical devotion to adult-to-adult mutual engagement. He discusses the stages of practice, the roles different kinds of teachers can play, and the importance of trusting your own path. Topics covered include shifting cultural assumptions, practicing without a teacher, and the need to listen to "the stammering voice that asks the questions."
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Opening to Doubt
In this deeply personal talk, Ken reflects on the end of a long teaching period, his growing discomfort with belief systems, and the shift from teaching to learning. He shares what he’s come to see as the three most important elements in practice—impermanence, compassion, and faith—and how they support a direct engagement with life. Topics covered include the difference between faith and belief, the role of doubt, and the power of personal questions like “What am I looking for?”
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The Three Jewels: A Pragmatic Perspective
Ken offers a fresh, down-to-earth take on the three jewels—not as ideals or beliefs, but as a way to live and relate to experience. He speaks about the bittersweet nature of practice, the value of struggle, and the importance of finding a practice that truly speaks to you. Topics covered include spiritual talent, working with doubt, and how depth in one approach can open unexpected possibilities
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Mahakala and Fear
Ken offers a reflective and practical approach for meeting fear, loss, uncertainty, and sudden change. Using personal experience, Buddhist meditation practices, and symbolic imagery, he examines how events such as natural disasters can challenge our assumptions and enhance our understanding of life. Topics covered include the suddenness of death, the practice of taking and sending, compassion beyond despair, and invoking clarity through the figure of Six-Armed Mahakala.