•
we’re hosting a meditation class at our small center this weekend, called warrior in the world. it’s about taking meditation practice and applying that in our greater life experiences.
i’m really surprised at how well the meditation center is going. the space looks fantastic, we’ve had more classes and programs than i could have hoped for, and we now have almost 20 members who are volunteering and also supporting the rent and expenses. that’s so much better than i expected when we first rented the space. it’s still a question in my mind how the space becomes self sustaining, what size it needs to reach for that both in members and teachers and in square footage, and what kinds of programming works. but it really looks good so far.
•
zak was super kind to send me a couple books by Jed McKenna, and i just finished the first one titled Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damnedest Thing. a provocative and unabashed author, i found the book interesting to contrast and compare with my recent tibetan buddhist studies. he discusses enlightenment, emptiness, and spiritual materialism in a no-holds barred, unapologetic style. he critiques most modern spiritual perspectives, and he presents a view which is clear and a practice instruction which is uncomplicated. as a whole i found his points surprisingly consistent with the view presented in my tibetan buddhist lineage, though with a couple key and poignant differences. mainly, he refutes the validity of compassion practice as a path to sustained non-dual awareness (second degree or fold egolessness). he also claims that compassion is not in union with emptiness, which is part of the tibetan vajrayana view, once one is completely enlightened. but otherwise his description of emptiness and the view of practice to obtain a sustained non-dual awareness is really in parity with the view of enlightenment from the tibetan buddhist perspective and his practice instruction is identical to some madhyamaka investigations. also of note, Mr. McKenna claims he never had a specific spiritual lineage or teacher but is self taught and self realized. he also claims he is fully enlightened.
for more of my comparison click Read more »
•
emptiness is perhaps a uniquely buddhist way of talking about reality, and one that invokes thoughts of nihilism or solipsism. in sanskrit the word used is shunyata. one might also translate shunyata as fullness, suchness, or just ‘that’. it might be more helpful for westerners to use a word like suchness to avoid equating the concept with nihilism. my poor understanding of suchness is based on the kaygu and nyingma schools of tibetan buddhism that i have studied. there may be some zen mixed in as well. i’ll describe briefly and from my poor understanding what suchness means.
click to read Read more »
•
No Time To Lose is the title of Pema’s new book to be released this summer. she told us last summer that the book would be a commentary about the seventh century madhyamaka master shantideva’s epic work titled The Way of the Bodhisattva. her title though suggests a simple teaching on the first reminder.
the four reminders are simple but potent tibetan contemplation practice that rouses the motivation to practice, to turn away from habits and addictions that cause us more suffering instead of less suffering, and to not waste any time since we don’t know how much we have left. the first reminder could be rendered:
contemplate the preciousness of being free and well favored.
this is difficult to gain, easy to lose, now i must do something meaningful
free and well favored could mean many things, and usually for the contemplation it just means that one has the time and resources and fortune to be able to sit and practice and hear teachings about whatever authentic path you happen to be exploring or working.
so it is a contemplation; during a meditation session one could spend a couple minutes holding just this phrase in the mind - or recall it periodically during the day - and after getting more familiar with the meaning it may just become a feeling that one holds during meditation or recalls. for me that felt experience of this reminder is something like the feeling i have when my watch alarm goes off. say the watch is in a bag or underneath something when the alarm starts. i’m not sure how to stop the alarm, but just the sound of the alarm creates in me the feeling of having to do something, having to be somewhere, or a sense of not knowing if i’m late or not. so that feeling is similar to the feeling i have from this contemplation. try setting your watch alarm and let it go off for awhile, and just experience that feeling that it brings up for you.
i’d like to add that i don’t think this contemplation is like saying “live like today is your last” because that’s almost fatalistic. with that view, then there is no reason to pay bills or bother planning trips to see loved ones. but this contemplation might be akin to saying that we’re not sure how much time we have left, or if our reminding time will be beneficial, so there’s no time to lose.
sitting monkey is place where