take a seat on that cushion

i’m now an official, authorized meditation instructor in my shambhala buddhist lineage. what an exhausting weekend, but such excellent training and practice interviews. had a great time too.

working with fear

our program this weekend had a major shock, someone received word that their brother and nephew had just been murdered. we changed our closing chants to be a short service for them, and we practiced a meditation technique called tonglen for the victims, the family, and the assailants. it has been really painful relating to the situation for all of us.

after the service together, it occurred to me that having the service like that was really helpful and quite powerful. we took the situation and had a contemplation about the pain and the suffering, and the result was for me just a feeling of softness, and appreciation for what i have and for the preciousness of life. but when i hear news of bomb blasts and murders normally it brings up a different contemplation, i think about how vulnerable i am, how random these situations are, and the result is a feeling of fear, and suspicion.

presumably the whole world is making decisions unconsciously all the time like that, when things happen it could be an opportunity to become softer, more open, and more appreciative. or we could continue to think in a way that makes us more fearful, more suspicious, and more anxious. same situation, different contemplation, different result.

training weekend in vermont

i’m in vermont now, at a super intense training weekend. this is to practice giving ongoing meditation instruction for students, leading discussion groups as dharma programs, and handling all sorts of unusual things that might come up in one on one meditation interviews. i’m loving the program, but it’s exhausting.

threshold

i posted earlier about my emotional tv hangover theory. last night i watched a tv show with my parents called threshold and this morning i found myself dreaming about it and sure enough the feeling i was having when i awoke was the same as the dream, and the same as the show. maybe i shouldn’t call this a theory - since i’m the only data point - but it has been interesting to contemplate.

then it occurred to me that the show was a metaphor for this very theory that it exemplified. it’s a new science fiction show, where aliens play a sound that infects people and converts them. sort of like zombies, these infected then try to spread the signal to others. it’s about transmission from person to person.

but isn’t that in a way how ideas, emotions, and social environments spread in general? an idea or emotion is brought into the room, or into the culture, and spreads that way. but why do certain ideas or emotions spread faster than others? we generally think we have control over that spreading, that we hear and experience then decide to go with a trend or not. but i’m not sure it’s really that conscious. what if we didn’t have all that much free will really in these influences, what would that do to how we worked with the world?

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threshold

i posted earlier about my emotional tv hangover theory. last night i watched a tv show with my parents called threshold and this morning i found myself dreaming about it and sure enough the feeling i was having when i awoke was the same as the dream, and the same as the show. maybe i shouldn’t call this a theory - since i’m the only data point - but it has been interesting to contemplate.

then it occurred to me that the show was a metaphor for this very theory that it exemplified. it’s a new science fiction show, where aliens play a sound that infects people and converts them. sort of like zombies, these infected then try to spread the signal to others. it’s about transmission from person to person.

but isn’t that in a way how ideas, emotions, and social environments spread in general? an idea or emotion is brought into the room, or into the culture, and spreads that way. but why do certain ideas or emotions spread faster than others? we generally think we have control over that spreading, that we hear and experience then decide to go with a trend or not. but i’m not sure it’s really that conscious. what if we didn’t have all that much free will really in these influences, what would that do to how we worked with the world?

Read more »

non-theism in buddhism

when larry king interviewed his holiness the dalia lama just a few weeks ago, he opened with a question about hurricane katrina: if such devastation shook his faith in god.

but buddhism is non-theistic. there are beliefs that allow gods, demigods, ghosts, hell beings, heavens, mermaids, dragons, and other beings that are unseen or unprovable. though it’s not essential to believe those things to be buddhist. one can even pray to beings like these if you find it helpful to do so. but what makes buddhism non-theistic is that these beings are not essential to one’s salvation.

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football loving monks

here’s a short dharma teaching from the movie the cup, directed by dzongsar khyentse rinpoche.

can we cover the earth in leather so it’s soft wherever we go? what else can we do? covering our feet in leather is equal to covering the whole world in leather. likewise, enemies are as limitless as space. all enemies cannot possibly be overcome yet if one can just overcome hatred this will be equal to overcoming all enemies. all that is unsatisfactory in this world all the fear and suffering that exists clinging to the “I” has created it. what am i to do with this great demon? to release myself from harm and to free all others from their suffering let me give myself away and love others as i love myself. if a problem can be solved why be unhappy? and if it cannot be solved what is the use of being unhappy?

more web dharma

the folks at gomde have posted a couple years of talks by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche on their web site. i’ve seen him teach once and he was the cutest, friendliest lama ever.

more web dharma

the folks at gomde have posted a couple years of talks by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche on their web site. i’ve seen him teach once and he was the cutest, friendliest lama ever.

catholics versus fundamentalists

the catholic church has published talking points about not taking all of the bible literally, according to britain’s timesonline.