I have always enjoyed working with practitioners who are continuing to deepen their practice. In the many long retreats I teach at both IMS and Spirit Rock, I feel free to pass on the deepest pointings I’ve found in the teachings of the Buddha in the Pali Canon. Those are my guiding lights in practice and understanding.
It is fun for me to take the most difficult concepts and put them into accessible language, to unwrap the mystery. So I try to find ways to explore the breadth of concepts like "emptiness" -- to see how the entire path can be explained in terms of this synonym for nibbana. One of my aims is to bring the goal of freedom into the here and now. This way practitioners get a taste of freedom, so they know what they are heading toward on their journey to liberation.
The tools of mindfulness and lovingkindness can be picked up by anyone. They are easy to understand and they bring immediate benefit to our lives. The essence of vipassana is ideally suited to western society, especially to the resonance between our psychological turn of mind and our quest for spiritual understanding.
This is the second of two talks outlining key developments in the evolution of Buddhist schools in India between the death of the Buddha and the emergence of Dzogchen. This talk covers briefly the origins of the Mahayana, Naganjuna, Yogacara and Vajrayana.
This is the first of two talks outlining key developments in the evolution of Buddhist schools in India between the death of the Buddha (463 BCE) and the emergence of Dzogchen (ca. 6th cent.). This talk covers the stages of classical (or Nikaya) Buddhism up to the beginning of the Mahayana.
It is the direct realization of the unconditioned, or nibbana, that is considered enlightenment in the Buddha's teachings. This talk explores how consciousness and awareness can be understood as links in practice to the flavor of the unconditioned.
Metta practice makes the heart more sensitive. This tenderness becomes the avenue for us to discover our deep connectedness to all of life and end a sense of isolation.
The right attitude for meditation is one that is free of greed, aversion and delusion. The talk also explores the functions of mindfulness, attention and wisdom.
The talk explores different methods for the technique of looking in dzogchen practice as taught by Tsoknyi Rinpoche. It also describes some meditation states that might be mistaken for rigpa (near relatives).
This talk discusses the development of Buddhism in India beginning with the origins of the Mahayana school around 100 BC and continuing through Nagarjuna, the Yogacara school, Vajrayana, and the beginnings of Dzogchen. As in part 1, the philosophical differences are highlighted.
