To use Chogyam Trungpa’s phrase – all situations are workable. After reading part of a teaching by Trungpa Rinpoche on a forum today, I’ve been thinking about how easy it is to label situations as either easy or difficult from the point of view of practice. And, beyond that, how easy to label certain situations […]
All Situations Are Workable Read Post »
Looking at a situation with a group of people, what do you see? Suffering However you look, you see either immediate suffering, the suffering that comes from the nature of change and therefore loss of present happiness, or existential suffering – the suffering that comes simply through being embodied. Looking at beings, you see beings
Suffering, Compassion and Meeting Needs Read Post »
Outside of meditation, reflecting now, 2 days later … did those thoughts arise at all? Where are they? … Are they any different in nature from the dream I had last night? Where has that gone? They both had a sense of ‘realness’ at the time, but what substance remains of either? Both resonate, and
Where do thoughts come from? This last evening, I’ve been watching seemingly endless thoughts appearing in mind, anger and revenge mostly, as in the midst of a family crisis, my ex-wife decided to pitch in with the ‘blame game’. It’s funny this expression – pushing the buttons. The common expression is .. ‘she knows how
Where Do Thoughts Come From? Read Post »
Emaho! It is the single (nature of) mind which encompasses all of Samsara and Nirvana. Even though its inherent nature has existed from the very beginning, you have not recognized it; Even though its clarity and presence has been uninterrupted, you have not yet encountered its face. Even though its arising has nowhere been obstructed,
Since things neither exist nor don’t exist, are neither real nor unreal, are utterly beyond adopting and rejecting – one might as well burst out laughing. Longchenpa Rabjampa Tenzin Chodron’s post to the Kagyu Online Study Group reminded me of this wonderful quote from the 14th Century Nyingma master, Longchenpa Rabjampa. So often recently I’ve
Reflections on Longchenpa – The Middle Path Read Post »
Understanding the teachings on the illusory nature of the Subject Object distinction used to be rather theoretical for me. Yes, I heard the words, I understood the theory, and it made sense. But, when the chips were down, when suffering arrived, this understanding was nowhere to be seen. In recent years with the blessing of
Subject Object Projections Read Post »
Sometimes you are faced with decisions which seem to have massive consequences, whichever choice you take. Sometimes that choice seems to lead to very mixed results, whichever choice you take. How can you see which choice to take? Life is so surprising in how it plays out. It’s so hard to ‘guess’ the future, to
I was sitting watching my son, who was watching a kids news program on TV. The program was showing the refugee camps in the Sudan. The refugees were mostly children, and many had lost their parents who had been slaughtered by militia. The fortunate ones lived in a tent, without possessions. Those less fortunate had
Mahamudra is traditionally said to be difficult to realise due to Four Faults. The nature of our mind is right here, right now for us to recognise, but somehow we may not manage that. The Four Faults are: It’s Too Easy We may have an idea that seeing the nature of our mind must be
Mahamudra Is Too Easy, Close, Good, Deep Read Post »
