Dharma Glimpses with Judy Lief

[This episode originally aired on May 2, 2023]  Today we are exploring four traditional methods or practices we can use to awaken our enlightened genes  •  the first method is cultivating loving kindness, or maitri, which is a key theme in the mahayana; it is connected with the wish that all beings be happy, and that includes you  •  the second method is cultivating compassion, or karuna  •  while loving kindness looks into the nature of happiness, compassion looks into the nature and causes of suffering  •  the third method is cultivating sympathetic joy — a joy based on appreciating others' happiness and accomplishments  •  the fourth method is cultivating equanimity — cultivating an even mind, a grounded mind, a magnanimous mind; we deal with each experience equally with no bias  •  these four methods — kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity — are gentle, but they are powerful methods for awakening our enlightened genes.

[This episode originally aired on April 25, 2023]  In this episode we will be looking at the obstacles we might encounter in trying to awaken our enlightened genes, as well as situations that support their awakening  • Trungpa Rinpoche called the first obstacle intrinsic slavery: we become slaves to our schemes, to our work, to our possessions  •  the second obstacle is being unaware: having a limited kind of awareness which does not look beyond the superficial level of things  •  the third obstacle says that enlightened genes won't awaken in the midst of evil actions or harmful behavior  •  the fourth obstacle is sleepiness, which is similar to a lack of awareness, but it also has a quality of being dull and drowsy  •  there are two conditions that are conducive to awakening enlightened genes  •  the first is waking up at the right time, which points to creating outer conditions that sustain our practice and cultivate our awakening  •  the second is taking an interest in dharma practice  •  the idea of enlightened genes is that they're there, but they don't always show themselves until the conditions are right, until obstacles are removed. 

[This episode originally aired on April 18, 2023]  Buddhists are always talking about awakening, but what does that actually mean?  •  Trungpa Rinpoche taught that what is being awakened are our "enlightened genes" — a term which implies that awakening is somewhat natural, somewhat part of our makeup  •  sometimes Tibetans use the analogy of an acorn: if you try to get an oak tree by planting a bean seed, it will never work; but if you plant an acorn, you get an oak tree, not anything else  •  in the same way when you plant a human, you end up with an awakened being  •  there are two traditional signs that our enlightened genes are awakening: the first is that we become more kind; the second is that we become less deceptive  •  there are also two traditional signs that indicate our enlightened genes are not being awakened: the first is being unable to react to suffering; and the second is having a kind of a pettiness of mind  •  so if you really want to look for signs of progress on the path, don't look so much for how much you've learned, how clever you are, how many hours of sitting you've done  •  in this teaching it's said to look for simple things: your level of kindness, your level of straightforwardness and truthfulness, your ability to react to suffering, and your willingness to extend your vision further.

[This episode originally aired on April 11, 2023]  An important transition point on the Buddhist path occurs between the foundational stage, where we focus on our own development, and the mahayana tradition, where the focus is directed toward the cultivation of compassion and concern for others  •  what makes this vitally important transition possible is training in shamatha and vipashyana, or mindfulness and awareness  •  shamatha is about taming our mind; it is about cutting through mental speed, neurotic patterning, discursiveness, and distracted mind  •  shamatha enables us to be more present; it brings about a quality of gentleness or making friends with oneself, and frees us from aggression  •  vipashyana frees us from ignorance, denial, and looking the other way; it creates a foundation of clarity and intelligence and interest and inquisitiveness, and a kind of positive doubt and questioning  •  this opening into the mahayana, based on a strong hinayana foundation, comes from a different place than simply feeling good about ourselves for being helpful; it comes from a point of joy.

[This episode originally aired on April 4, 2023]  Meditation practice doesn't happen in a vacuum; it happens in the context of our life, and our life situations can vary tremendously  •  in extreme situations it can be easy to lose our connection to practice  •  one extreme is when our situation is really cozy and going really well  •  the other extreme, which I would like to focus on here, is when our lives take a dramatic turn and we are faced with dire situations of pain and loss  •  the idea is to bring our practice to bear, no matter what the situation is  •  there's a saying that goes “whatever you meet, join with practice”  •  this does not mean laying on some kind of idea of practice as a band-aid to avoid the harshness of the situation; it means that our practice cannot be separated from the immediate experience, from each moment, no matter how painful or difficult that experience may be  •  mindfulness practice trains us in the ability to bring our minds back so we can face what's happening on the spot  •  the practice of cultivating loving kindness and compassion allows us to make a deeper connection with others through our own pain.

[This episode originally aired on March 28, 2023]  Buddhism's emphasis on facing the reality of suffering could lead to the perception that the Buddhist path is only focused on what's wrong; but the Buddha also taught how to free ourselves from suffering  •  facing the reality of suffering straightforwardly can actually be a tremendous relief  •  when I first encountered Buddhist teachings, I never went to a talk where people didn't just burst into laughter from time to time  •  there was a sense that you could laugh and find humor and lightness, even when discussing the heaviest of topics  •  joy is an essential part of Buddhism; it is a hidden gift within the sometimes difficult discipline of meditation practice  •  but joy's twin is doubt—the doubt that we can do it  •  joy and doubt arise together and counterbalance each other  •  if we get carried away by the joy of discovery, we can lose our ground; but if we're just wallowing in doubt and distress all the time, we can begin to feel like giving up  •  so doubt arises as a kind of playful interruption; as we gradually begin to trust ourselves more, we become more grounded in a kind of quiet joy.

[This episode originally aired on March 21, 2023]  The teachings of the Buddha are often divided into three components: intelligence or discriminating awareness; discipline; and meditation  •  there can be so much emphasis on sitting practice that there is less discussion of the importance of cultivating knowledge and discipline — what it actually takes to put the teachings into action in our everyday life  •  being able to observe what is going on with some precision and insight is extremely important; this includes ordinary knowledge, self-knowledge, and psychological knowledge  •  Trungpa Rinpoche pointed out the difference between discriminating awareness and comfort-seeking mind  •  he talked about the earthy quality of discriminating awareness, in contrast to the dreamy quality of trying to escape and go somewhere else  •  we have all sorts of ways to try to make ourself cozy and comfortable, but they are missing the point; comfort-seeking mind is not about enhancing the clarity and precision of our awareness, but about blanketing it in a kind of cozy cocoon.  

[This episode originally aired on March 14, 2023]  The great teacher Shantideva emphasized the importance of vigilance, of protecting our minds  •  at the same time, tremendous emphasis is placed on maintaining an open, welcoming mind  •  so what's the difference between vigilance and just closing our mind in a negative or unhelpful way?  •  one way of looking at this is to think of your mind as a house  •  inside your house are your children or maybe a safe with all your resources in it  •  someone knocks on the door, and you have to decide whether to let them in  •  you want to be willing to accommodate what comes at you, but you also want to be willing to reject that which is threatening something as precious as your little children or the sanity of your own mind  •  but we're not just closing off anything that's bothering us; in this case, we're only closing off the many ways we run away from our own inherent awakening  •  the qualities of mindfulness and awareness are powerful and precious, but they are easily lost; that is why vigilance is so important. 

[This episode originally aired on March 7, 2023]  It may seem odd to talk about the benefits of “don't know mind” in a tradition that places such value on learning and on study, and the harm that comes from lack of knowledge, lack of awareness, lack of critical thinking  •  so how is don't know mind different from delusory mind or ignorance?  •  the main difference is that don't know mind is about opening out, whereas ignorance is about shutting down  •  Trungpa Rinpoche warned about developing a mind like an iron kettle, as though we could pour all sorts of teachings into that kettle and hold tight and have them as some kind of a possession  •  he taught that the proper way to relate to learning as having a mind like a sieve, where you don't hold onto anything  •  it points to a paradox: with awareness, you can be so sharp, so on the spot, that you don't have to hold onto anything at all.

[This episode originally aired on February 28, 2023]  The Buddhist path includes many methods for reminding us to wake up — from our blurriness, our sleepiness, and the busyness and distractedness of life  •  it's easy to get lost in the woods; reminders help us find our way back to the path  •  traditionally there are what are called the four basic or fundamental reminders  •  the first reminder is acknowledging the amazing opportunity of having this human life, how precious it is to be embodied in this particular realm of reality  •  the second reminder is the reality of death; it is a reminder about the reality that everything comes to an end  •  the third reminder is about cause and effect or karma; it is a reminder that our actions have consequences  •  the final reminder is about suffering — how much suffering is interwoven into the fabric of life  •  it is about opening our hearts to suffering, not closing down, but recognizing how pervasive that is in our experience, in experiences of all living beings; it is a part of the package deal of being here on its earth.

[This episode originally aired on February 21, 2023]  Is there a way to make a sane relationship with our bad deeds and our regrets?  •  it's not easy to face up to all that we've done; it's not easy to find a way between wallowing in guilt and evading responsibility  •  in the Buddhist monastic traditions, there is a practice that provides a way of directly facing and working with the harm we have caused  •  the starting point is remorse; we feel bad about what we have done, and we want to do something about it  •  remorse leads us to the second step: acknowledging our harmful actions, confessing them, and seeking to purify them  •  the third step is making amends, counteracting the harm we've done by doing something beneficial, which could include asking for forgiveness  •  acknowledging and working with our mistakes is so much better than just holding onto a big pool of regret  •  we can include everything, all of our experiences, to the enrichment of our journey.

[This episode originally aired on February 14, 2023]  Images of the Buddha sitting in meditation posture give the impression that the buddhist path is quiescent and still; but actually it's a very dynamic, ever-evolving, and important journey  •  personally, I connect this idea of journey with a sense of something within us that we have lost and are trying to get back to  •  I think of this missing thing as our “heart of hearts”  •   it's as though we are grieving the loss of something sweet and tender and vulnerable, a kind of childhood innocence that we have become estranged from  •  we learn over time to cover it up, to guard it and armor it and hide it away  •  one could describe the path of dharma as one of recognizing or getting a glimpse of that tender heart, experiencing the pain of estrangement from it, and the longing to bridge that gap, to reconnect and re-integrate it  •  we're not talking about returning to a naive innocence, but to an intelligent naivete — to a trust in our heart of hearts, which is our true nature.

[This episode originally aired on February 7, 2023]  Early Buddhist meditators spent quite a lot of time alone in retreat in remote, rugged areas  •  as a result, they were very much in tune with the the five basic elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and space  •  they observed that everything inside is mirrored by what is outside, and everything outside is mirrored by what is inside  •  the earth element has the quality of being solid, embodied, unmoving  •  the water element has a quality of flowing, cleansing, and cohesion  •  the element of fire is connected with warmth, compassion, and burning through obstacles  •  the element of wind is powerful and energetic; it is connected with movement in our nervous system, a constant energizing and moving quality  •  finally, the element of space is like the sky: it is vast, unbounded, open  •  in life and in our practice we can bring these elements into balance and harmony for the benefit of ourselves and all beings.

[This episode originally aired on January 31, 2023]  A common idea about the spiritual path is that it is punctuated by gigantic breakthroughs, by big revelations  •  but many deep and important insights don't come in that way; they come in through glimpses, which can be sudden or they can just kind of seep in  •  in some ways glimpses are similar to a jigsaw puzzle: we have all these pieces, and we have little insights that this piece fits into that, or this piece doesn't fit into that  •  we begin to put some things together and we kind of swim around and we don't really know actually where it's going to end up  •  but eventually, step by step, the complete picture begins to emerge  •  the whole notion of practice and study is that we're deepening our understanding, but it doesn't happen in a linear fashion  •  it happens through glimpses, and sometimes those glimpses can be shocking; they can completely upset our whole view of things.

[This episode originally aired on January 24, 2023]  Through infusing mindfulness and awareness into our everyday actions, we can invoke or evoke a magical quality to existence, a natural wisdom which is known as “drala”  •  there's a famous line from the movie Field of Dreams that's often repeated: “If you build it, they will come”  •  in some ways, through our mindfulness and awareness, we're building a world that will attract this magical quality, this natural wisdom  •  if we build our mindfulness and awareness, something is transformed, something magical descends — and it connects us with something very deep and fundamental, not just within us, but within the the world altogether  •  the basic approach is paying attention and organizing your own environment so it becomes sacred space, harmonizing both the external and the internal environment  •  in this way we can invite a quality of greater sacredness and delight.  

[This episode originally aired on January 17, 2023]  A large part of our reality involves talking, or working with our speech; it is one of the main ways we connect with our world  •  but our speech can also get us into a lot of trouble, including using it as a way of escaping from reality  •  Trungpa Rinpoche said that paying attention to speech is a way of paying attention to reality  •  but often we use speech just in the opposite way — as a way to avoid dealing with what is actually going on, covering it over with as many words as we can so we can just get through it and not experience it  •  the Dharma is transmitted through spoken words, so speech is very much honored; but it's also recognized that we fall prey to patterns of harmful speech  •  the four traditional categories of harmful speech are: lying; intrigue; destructive, critical, or harmful speech; and gossip  •  in every moment of ordinary conversation, the way we use our speech can bring us closer to — or farther away from — our connection with reality. 

[This episode originally aired on January 10, 2023]  The image of remaining like a log comes up in a number of different traditional Buddhist texts  •  think of a log rotting slowly in an ancient forest — it just lies there placidly, providing sustenance and a home for various critters as it gradually dissolves into the forest floor  •  sometimes remaining like a log is talked about in terms of vigilance: maintaining vigilance over one's mind and heart  •  usually we associate vigilance with putting a guard at the door; so what does the remaining like a log have to do with vigilance?  •  there are many ways that we lose our minds and hearts: our mind strays, or we're captured by some attachment or aversion or mental dullness  •  the idea of remaining like a log is that when we notice our mind is captured by the bandits of emotional chaos, mental fixations, distractedness, fickleness or wildness, we simply remain like a log — we recognize these tendencies within ourselves and just stay put  •  It's not an image of struggling; it's an image of simply grounding ourselves, letting ourselves settle into our own particular forest floor of in the midst of our mental and emotional chaos.

[This episode originally aired on January 3, 2023]  In exploring the idea of transmission, we're looking into how the teachings are passed on, how the teachings are taught, and how the student can access the teachings  •  but what do we mean by transmission?  •  a helpful analogy is to think of music: you can learn to play all the notes in a song, but the music is not there  •  so what makes the actual music?  •  there's a famous jazz phrase: “it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing” •  that “swing” is related to the notion of transmission: it's something that happens beyond the notes, beyond the words, beyond the videos  •  something alive and essential to what dharma is all about is transmitted, but it's not the same as the words, the teachers, the students, or the rituals  •  transmission can be thought of as the living essence of a tradition;  that living essence is non-conceptual, but we are pointed to it by various conceptual and physical means  •  it is that direct, non-conceptual understanding that brings the dharma alive, that brings us fully alive, opening and energizing wisdom and compassion for the benefit of ourselves and all beings.

[This episode originally aired on December 27, 2022]   I'd like to introduce three simple short meditation practices that help us tune in to the rich and ongoing process of exchange that marks our lives altogether  •  we're always giving something out to the world and receiving something from it  •  we are affected by others and we affect others in so many ways; and we're also quite susceptible to the energies and the outpourings from those around us  •  in the first practice we begin by looking at the simple and ordinary process of breathing, feeling the qualities of the different rhythms of the breath  •  this is working with exchange at the simple bodily level  •  the second practice is referred to as meeting suffering with kindness and compassion  •  to begin with, you could look within to see how much love and compassion is there  •  how do you experience that? what happens when you send it out? can you send it out? does it flow out or is it more buried within?  •  the third practice is connected with the idea of space  •  here, you relate to the outbreath as letting go into space; when breathing in, you let that outer spaciousness mix completely with the spaciousness within you and your state of mind and consciousness  •  you're simply stirring space and infusing space with tenderness and love. 

[This episode originally aired on December 20, 2022]  One of my favorite nursery rhymes contains quite a bit of wisdom: “Row row, row, row your boat gently down the stream; merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream”  •  if we think of the stream as a stream of teachings, then we could consider the Buddha as the source of the stream  •  from that beginning a great river continues to flow over thousands of years  •  where does this stream flow? It flows into an ocean, which you could say is the awakening of the practitioner  •  you have a boat to carry you down this stream, and you have a set of oars to row with  •  what kind of effort do you apply? it's a steady effort, but it's also a relaxed effort: you're rowing gently, but regularly and persistently  •  and how are you doing all this? you're doing it merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily  •  it's not a big struggle; there's a sense of delight  •  in fact it could be dreamlike because it's not so solid, it's not so frozen  •  we're in a shifting and changing world; it's so dreamlike and so unreal in so many ways, but so beautiful and colorful at the same time. 

[This episode originally aired on December 13, 2022]  We tend to think of hope and fear as opposites, but they are intimately entangled with one another  •  they are both based on our desires and our hopes, our expectations of what the future might bring: what we want to happen in the future, what we don't want to happen, and what we fear might happen  •  sometimes hope describes a positive outlook, one that is connected with a certain kind of confidence  •  but it also could be connected with a certain kind of naivete that things will just work out — just hoping for the best  •  the more positive kind of hope is a present attitude: instead of focusing on what we want to happen and fear that won't, it's a kind of a confidence that whatever happens, we can see it in a positive light  •  it's useful to recognize the difference between this positive and helpful kind of hope, and one where we find ourselves trapped in the rollercoaster of hope and fear  •  we can acknowledge our wishes, our fears, and all our projections but not get caught in the rollercoaster; we can rest with the current situation as it is right now, right here.

[This episode originally aired on December 6, 2022] Trungpa Rinpoche often spoke about the importance of a sense of humor on the spiritual path, but what did he really mean by it?  •  he was obviously not referring to telling jokes or being some kind of a comedian  •  instead he seemed to be pointing to a kind of a carefree quality or lightness of being — something very different from how seriously we take ourselves and everything we do  • spirituality or religion is often thought of as a very solemn affair, something so deadly serious, so important, that we fall prey to religiosity  •  we don't always know how to have genuine respect for something without getting puffed up about the whole thing  •  there are many examples in the Buddhist tradition of how we could combine a sense of gravitas, a sense of regal, dignified demeanor or quality of being, with a quality of innocence and youthfulness and playfulness and humor  •  I think of a good practitioner, a good teacher, as someone who is incredibly dedicated, but who has a twinkle in their eye  •  so humor plays in a very important role: not only does it serve to cut through our pretensions and our self-absorption, but it transforms our practice from a solemn, grinding drudge to something more vivid and alive.

 [This episode originally aired on November 29, 2022]  Many people associate the practices of Buddhism with stillness; but actually the path of dharma is one of continual movement and growth  •  it's an organic process, one where everything cycles and everything is interconnected  •  it's like having a seed in the earth that grows and bears fruit and flowers and produces new seeds, and then another cycle begins  •  in my tradition, the different ways of moving forward on the path are described as three vehicles, because they carry us along in three stages  •  the first stage is a narrowing down, getting down to bare bones; it is starting with ourselves  •  the second stage is one of opening out, extending our heart, extending our vision  •  The third or final stage is like a great leap of confidence and trust; it is like taking command of the tools that we've been cultivating, and not hesitating to apply them if they are needed and are of benefit. 

[This episode originally aired on November 22, 2022]  Continuing our discussion of the sense perceptions, and how they are connected with a subtle kind of grasping  •  in Buddhism we talk about the senses as having three components: the sense organ, the sense object, and the sense consciousness  •  every sense perception we have is a meeting of those three elements  •  it is an active process, one that involves a great deal of selection and interpretation; we are creating our world as much as we are responding to it  •  there is a form of walking meditation that highlights how easily the sense perceptions are distorted  •  you begin by just simply walking outside, without talking, without any particular agenda  • one of the walkers has a bell, and when the the bell is rung, everyone stops  •  you let go of the sense of coming from somewhere and trying to get somewhere, and just stop — just letting the senses sense, instead of trying to observe anything  •  notice the grasping of the sense perceptions and the relaxing of the sense perceptions, the heightened sense of duality and the softening or dissolving of that duality  •  in exploring the senses, we are exploring our way of being in the world altogether.

[This episode originally aired on November 15, 2022]  In Buddhism there is a lot of interest in the sense perceptions  •  traditionally, it is said that there are six senses: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and thinking  (in Buddhism, the way we perceive thoughts is similar to the way we hear sounds or see sights)  •  the sense perceptions can be compared to the windows of a house: if the windows are clean, you have a clear perception of your world; if the windows are dirty or distorted, the world that you see is also distorted  •  we often think we're just passive receivers through the senses of what is going on in the world around us, but actually that's not the case  •  in addition to the sense organ that comes in contact with a sense object, there is also what is called a sense consciousness  •  if you observe your perceptions closely, you can also see how the senses have little hooks on them: we continually try to capture the world through our senses  •  our sense perceptions can access so much of the power and beauty of our world; but at the same time, the early arising of subtle grasping that links to almost every perception we have is the seed of many of the obstacles and problems that make our life one of struggle rather than of ease.

[This episode originally aired on November 8, 2022]  When we contemplate impermanence, we're basically looking at the facts of life  •  the fact is that we all die; we all have losses, sorrow and heartbreak  •  we don't contemplate impermanence as a way to overcome it, but as a way to figure out how to live with it—and even how to honor it  •  this is the world that we have, and without this ever-changing world, none of us would be here  •  impermanence is not only about loss; it is also about fresh arising  •  it is about possibility  •  there are occasions—for example, at the moment of birth and at the moment of death—when we encounter that meeting point of the falling away and the fresh arising on the spot, and those moments are very powerful  •  we're at that edge where the two sides meet  •  the contemplation of impermanence can help bring us to that experience of fresh arising  •  it can help acquaint us with that edge, that non-dual point  •  we can begin to have glimpses that whatever arises is fresh; whatever arises is the essence of realization.

[This episode originally aired on November 1, 2022]  Of all the contemplative practices of Buddhism, it is said that the contemplation of impermanence is the most useful  •  dealing with change isn't easy: we'd like to put things together and have them stay together  •  we tend to see change as disruption rather than as the way things are  •  but in reality, change is not a disruption, it is fundamental  •  change just is; it is the nature of everything  •  trying to hold onto the non-reality that one can prevent change creates a burden that depletes our strength and energy  •  traditionally, four different ways are presented to contemplate the truth of impermanence: every birth leads to a death  |  every meeting leads to a parting  |  everything created eventually is destroyed  |  every gathering eventually disperses  •  each of these contemplations brings us back to immediate experience, to a deeper understanding of what impermanence is really all about  •  we begin to not only accept change at a deeper level, but to actually appreciate and even celebrate the the vivid, life-filled reality of constant change that marks our existence.

[This episode originally aired on October 25, 2022]  The six paramitas challenge the mistaken view that we can make ourselves secure by grasping more and more tightly  •  to practice the paramita of generosity, we need to make a point of letting go, of giving away  •  the paramita of discipline challenges our attachment to sloppiness and comfort, to cruising through life in a superficial way  •  the paramita of patience works with our attachment to speed and aggression as a way to sustain or protect ourselves  •  the paramita of exertion addresses our attachment to laziness, inertia, and the avoidance of effort and hard work  •  the paramita of meditation deals with our attachment to our thoughts as solid and real, challenging their power and their influence  •  the prajna paramita is an assault on our deep-rooted tendencies of denial and ignorance  •  each paramita gives us ways to chip away at the deep-rooted habit of trying to secure ourselves through our grasping. 

It can be easy to fall into religiosity as we pursue a spiritual path  •  contemplative traditions designed to cut through pretense and nurture humility can do just the opposite  •  we grow up with all sorts of ideas of what a spiritual person is, and we may try to model ourselves into some kind of preset image, trying to be and act “spiritual,” trying to do everything spiritually  •  this can create a feeling or the sense that we're being super religious, super good  • this quality of religiosity often carries the atmosphere of everything being serious and solemn  •  we may benefit from a certain level of earnestness and religiosity, but at some point it is so important to lighten up  •  I have found that those that are most deeply committed, the most reverent, are those that are at ease expressing the most irreverent ideas  •  there is something truly powerful in the combination of the profound and the humorous, seeing the profundity within the lightness, and the lightness in even the most profound and challenging teachings  •  on a simple, ordinary level, we can explore our own concepts of what it means to be a spiritual person, and how that might differ from being religious  •  we can look into the difference between a kind of positive irreverence and frivolousness  •  we can explore whether it's possible to have true reverence without falling into self-conscious religiosity, without losing the light touch of irreverence.

Today I'd like to explore this question: Why is meditation so difficult?  •  meditation can be as simple as this Zen instruction: “Sit down, shut up, pay attention. Repeat.”  •  my teacher once said that to meditate, all you have to do is be spacious and not wait for anything  •  anyone should be capable of doing that; so why is it so hard?  •  partly it's hard to do anything with consistency and follow through  •  but it's even harder to stick with doing nothing, just sitting, observing, paying attention. Why is that so?  •  Trungpa Rinpoche talked quite a bit about comfort mind and entertainment mind  •  it's as if we have some kind of ongoing project under the surface, a project that prevents us from actually looking too deeply into our experience  •  we keep churning things up to distract us from looking honestly, truly, and straight at our direct experience  •  it's like that phrase, TMI — too much information; we actually don't want to know that much about ourselves and who we are and what's going on; we don't really want to see beyond our story, our assumptions, our habits  •  it's like we're trapped in a book that we ourselves are writing  •  gently dismantling this process comes simply by sitting still, by letting in of a touch of freedom and a bit of fresh air  •  wisdom lives in undefined, open space; resting in that space allows wisdom to be found.

Buddhism is often seen as an esoteric philosophical or psychological system; but at a profound and important level, the Buddha's teachings are very much grounded in nature  • many Buddhist insights took birth out of direct observation of the world of nature, the world of rocks and trees and clouds and rain and sunshine  •  everything outside is mirrored within, and everything inside is mirrored in the outside world  •  relating to the five elements — earth, water, fire, wind, and space — requires getting out of our heads; we have to pay attention, to listen, to be simple  •  the EARTH element is about steadiness, simplicity, and reliability; relying on the support of the earth is the foundation for meditation practice  •  WATER reflects a different kind of stability: water is purifying, clarifying, and flowing  •  water evens out the rough edges of things; it relaxes and cools the harsh, edgy quality of life  •  the warmth and heat of FIRE softens and melts through our rigidity, our supposed solidity  •  fire is a counterbalance to the element of water, which is cooling and refreshing, but a bit cold  •  WIND is the breath and the energy of movement; even though it is not immediately visible, wind represents the power to transform things  •  SPACE is not really graspable, but without space nothing could exist  •  space is a sense of vastness and that which cannot be conceptualized, but which embraces all of life and all being; it is openness and a sense of possibility. 

Today I'd like to introduce a traditional list called “the five strengths” — determination, faith, virtue, remorse, and aspiration  •  determination points to the need to stick with the path we're on, the path we've chosen  •  it's connected with patience, recognizing that genuine spiritual training is not a quick fix, but a lifelong process  •  faith is trusting that what we're doing is worthwhile and valid, and it's also the confidence that we are worthwhile and valid  •  determination is balanced by faith: there's no point in being determined to do something if we don't think we can do it, or if we don't fundamentally think it's worthwhile  •  the third strength is literally called seed of virtue; it has to do with a sense of compassion and ethical behavior  •  virtues are seeds that bear fruit: when we do something kind, something helpful to another, it bears fruit, it ripples out  •  the last two are remorse, which is is pointing to the things we need to let go of, and aspiration, which is pointing to what we need to cultivate  •  remorse means being honest and straightforward in reflecting on our behavior  •  aspiration doesn't have to be a change-the-world aspiration; it could be something simple: maybe I could try not to be so easily triggered; maybe I could be a little bit more thoughtful to others.

[This episode originally aired on October 18, 2022]  In continuing our exploration of the prajna paramita, I'd like to focus on the inseparable trio of prajna (knowledge or wisdom), shunyata (emptiness), and compassion (karuna)  •  according to Trungpa Rinpoche, the freshness of prajna insight and the warmth of compassion are always connected  •  this challenges some common assumptions: that intelligence or sharpness of mind is harsh and aggressive; that compassion and love are fuzzy, soft, and weak; and that both compassion and sharpness of mind are solid and fixed  •  in the famous teaching called “The Heart Sutra,” the three main characters embody this inseparable trio  •  there is the Buddha, who is sitting in meditation; there is Avalokiteshvara, who is the embodiment of compassion; and there is Shariputra, who is the student asking questions  •  to embody and practice the prajna paramita, we need to empty ourselves of our preconceptions, and we also need to let go of our sense of attainment in having done so. 

[This episode originally aired on October 11, 2022]  The sixth and final paramita is the prajna paramita  •  the sanskrit term “prajna” means supreme knowledge: the best of knowing, the best of cognitive mind  •  even though the Buddhist tradition is widely known for non-conceptual practices such as sitting meditation, there is also a great reverence and respect for learning and for knowledge at all levels  •  prajna is not just about knowing this or that; it is seeing without bias  •  prajna is fresh and on the spot; it is sharp, and it is direct  •  prajna is a way of seeing without any capturing or storing; it is the first thought, the first insight  •  it is what our perceptions can be when we're not trying to hold onto them or put them in our bag of experiences  •  prajna is often represented by a razor-sharp two-sided sword—one that cuts through duality altogether  •  by cutting through dualistic thinking, a much fresher and clearer way of knowing is liberated. 

[This episode originally aired on October 4, 2022]  The topic of meditation reminds me of the old saying, “all roads lead to Rome”  •  in the Buddhist tradition, all teachings seem to lead to meditation  •  sometimes we think of meditation as just stillness, but as one of the six paramitas, meditation is considered to be one of the skillful actions of a bodhisattva, essential for cultivating wisdom and compassion  •  meditation helps us to settle and to open; it helps us to hold our mind steady and not simply react impulsively when we are challenged by other people and the pressures of life  •  with meditation, you can hold steady and then respond appropriately—and then you can let go and move on  •  in meditation practice, we begin to see through some of our preconceptions, and we witness how easily we solidify our experiences  •  meditation draws us out of ourselves and turns us towards others; in doing so, the inspiration to work for the benefit of others arises.

[This episode originally aired on September 27, 2022]  In the Buddhist tradition there's a lot of talk about practice, which is connected with the paramita of exertion  •  practice is something that you do over and over again, and as you do so, hopefully you get better and better, and develop more and more understanding and sophistication about what you're doing  •  in the paramita of exertion, the development is from a kind of self-conscious or imposed approach to a more natural approach, even reaching a point where exertion is actually joyful  •  instead of making a division between when we're having fun on the one hand and doing hard work on the other, the paramita of exertion is pointing to something almost upside down from that  •  it's suggesting that continuing our exertion in the midst of pain or obstacles or setbacks or disappointments actually increases our happiness and well-being  •  exertion is just keeping going, and delighting in that keeping going. 

[This episode originally aired on September 20, 2022]  In the English language, the words “patience” and “patient” derive from the same word, meaning “to suffer” •  the Tibetan term for patience has more of a sense of forbearance; in Sanskrit, it has more to do with a of a sense of equilibrium  •  the practice of patience has to do with boycotting our addiction to rushing through things, aggressively trying to force life to move in the ways we would like it to  •  patience is not inaction; in fact, the paramita of patience points to the possibility of addressing problems in the world more effectively because our actions are not based on anger, panic, speed, or aggression  •  three traditional guidelines for working with the paramita of patience are: 1) not getting sucked in by others' disruptiveness; 2) understanding the causes and origins of other people's anger; and 3) examining the many little points of irritations in your life, and being willing to face your own states of mind.

[This episode originally aired on September 13, 2022]  Coming from the vast and expansive ground of the first paramita, the paramita of generosity, we now turn our attention to the second paramita, the paramita of discipline  •  discipline has to do with meticulousness of behavior and a sharpening of mindfulness and awareness  •  when we work with generosity and discipline, we're really working with a fundamental challenge: when do we need to tighten, and when do we need to loosen up?  •  when do we need to think large, and when do we need to draw in and pay attention to the specifics of what is right in front of our nose?  •  the challenge is not to lose the vastness in the details, and not lose the details in the vastness  •  the point of the paramita of discipline, like the point of all of the paramitas, isn't about self-improvement; the bottom line is that it allows us to be better able to benefit others. 

[This episode originally aired on September 6, 2022]   Continuing our exploration of the paramita of generosity  •  generosity is like the expanding universe: it just keeps expanding and expanding without limit  •  the practice of generosity challenges us to stretch beyond our fear and territoriality and sense of impoverishment  •  Buddhist teachings recommend working with three dimensions of generosity: material generosity, psychological generosity, and the generosity of offering the dharma or the teachings  •  material generosity refers to giving what is needed, whether it be food or clothing or any other material object  •  psychological generosity refers to giving the gift of confidence or fearlessness; it has a tone of empowering others, supporting others, giving others the strength to face life  •  the generosity of offering the dharma means offering others inner support for their spiritual development  •  in all three cases, we are working in the realm of relationships; we are learning to tune into situations so we can respond with what is most appropriate.

[This episode originally aired on August 30, 2022]  The English word “generosity” comes from the Latin meaning “noble birth”  •  in talking about the bodhisattva path, this doesn't mean elitism or nobility in the sense of being kings and queens, but nobility in terms of a noble way of being in the world—with dignity, with skill, with love and with compassion, and with a sense of respect for one's own life and the life of other beings  •  of the six paramitas, generosity is fundamental; it is about the quality of your very spirit, your inner workings, your heart and your mind  •  it refers to a sense of inner richness combined with a sense of outer connection and invitation toward other beings  •  in the practice of cultivating generosity, we're looking at the contrast between what one could call “poverty mind”—a pinched mind, an imploded mind, a shrunken mind—and “generous mind”—a bigger mind, a more relaxed mind, a mind expanding and opening outward. 

[This episode originally aired August 23, 2022]  In this episode, and in the next few episodes, we will explore the paramitas—what Trungpa Rinpoche referred to as “techniques of non grasping”  •  these techniques help us cultivate the two foundational qualities of wisdom and compassion  •  wisdom is cultivated through stillness, and compassion is cultivated through action  •  on the bodhisattva path, the six paramitas are considered supreme because they carry us from a conventional, moralistic point of view to an approach that truly expresses wisdom and compassion  •  the paramitas are generosity, discipline, patience, exertion, meditation, and knowledge  •  they are called transcendent because they take us from the world of duality to the world of non-duality, where our beneficial actions are not strangled or twisted by the needs of ego, but are free and spontaneous  •  with paramita practice, we are engaging with powerful techniques that undermine the force of grasping and allow true compassion to come forth.

[This episode originally aired on August 16, 2022]  Bodhisattvas are those who dedicate their lives to attaining enlightenment themselves, and to providing situations that lead to the enlightenment of everyone  •  in approaching this high aspiration, bodhisattvas do not look to some heavenly figure to provide examples of how to accomplish the goals of the bodhisattva path  •  instead, they look to the elements of this ordinary world: the elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and space  •  like the earth, we can aspire to support all life, and provide a base of support that is non-judging, strong, solid, and reliable  •  like water, we can aspire to cleanse impurities, join things together, and relieve a world thirsty for love and compassion  •  like fire, we can aspire to burn away the distinctions we cling to so strongly, and purify whatever we come into contact with  •  like wind, we can aspire to provide a cool breeze of delight, sweeping away possessiveness, egocentric clinging, and obstacles  •  like space, we can aspire to accommodate everything.

[This episode originally aired on August 9, 2022]  Impermanence applies not only to the world around us, but to our internal world as well  •  we assume that we are a solid reference point, and everything else around us is changing  •  in reality, it's more like changing is observing changing  •  if we turn our attention inward, we see that there is no solid point from which to observe all of this, because our inward experience is filled with change as well  •  this becomes very obvious during sitting meditation, where we notice our mind, our body, our moods, our thoughts, and our sensations are constantly changing  •  our world is a changing and dynamic world; it is a world of birth and death, arising and dissolving  •  it is within that world—the world as it is—that we find ourselves; and it is within that world that we can find true freedom, relaxation, and awakening.

[This episode originally aired on August 2, 2022]  In Buddhism some practices are designated as meditation practices, such as working with mindfulness and awareness  •  other practices, called contemplative practices, are focused on working with the concepts in our mind  •  one of the most important of these is the contemplation of impermanence, change, and death  •  we often have difficulty accepting the reality of impermanence; we create various coverings to mask this raw, basic truth  •  but this contemplation isn't intended to make everyone morose or obsessed with death  •  in fact, this kind of contemplation actually frees one from the fear of change, and provides a basis for being able to accommodate change  •  the following four approaches are often given for helping us to broaden our understanding of impermanence: 1) everything that is born will die;  2) every meeting leads to a parting;  3) every gathering leads to a dispersing; and  4) everything created eventually dissolves, or is destroyed. 

[This episode first aired on July 26, 2022]  Random labeling, or kuntak in Tibetan, is a two-step process: first we select some portion of our perception and give it a label; then, once we've done that, we fixate on it and make it solid  •  we make something that really doesn't exist into something that's seemingly solid, and we do that over and over again  •  there's a famous saying: “Fish don't exist”  •  there are lots of things swimming around in the sea that do exist, but “fish” don't really exist; “fish” is just a label  •  it's natural to group things into categories and then give those categories names  •  the problem arises when labeling leads to fixating—making what is arbitrary seemingly solid and unchangeable, something to be fought over and obsessed about  •  where did the label come from? It came from a random thought  •  random labeling is no joke; it closes up the open expanse of mind  •  it perpetuates our own suffering, and the suffering of those around us.

[This episode originally aired on July 19, 2022]  The Tibetan term for compassion—karuna—can be translated as “noble heart”  •  in the Buddhist teachings, compassion is almost always linked with another quality that actually changes the sense of what it might mean  •  in this episode I will talk about three such pairings: compassion with emptiness, compassion with wisdom, and compassion with skillful means  •  linking compassion with emptiness places it in a perspective that is less dualistic and less heavy-handed; there is a sense of playfulness and spaciousness and spontaneity  •  pairing compassion with wisdom introduces a certain accuracy, and the intelligence to know when to act and when to refrain from acting  •  without wisdom, we risk falling into “idiot compassion,” where were you just launch into a situation thinking you are going to be helpful, but end up actually making it worse  •  and thirdly, compassion is often linked with skillful means, or effective action  •  this pairing emphasizes the fact that compassion is not something we just dream about, but it shows up in our actions. 

[This episode was originally published on July 12, 2022]  Recently I came across a disturbing study indicating that people who spend a lot of time in silent meditation practice can actually become less loving, less generous in their interactions with others  •  that made me think about the importance of balancing the simplicity of meditation with the cultivation of friendship, love, and kindness  •  my teacher, Trungpa Rinpoche, emphasized that meditation practice, at its essence, is a form of kindness: making friends with yourself  •  he stressed that making friends with yourself is the basis for making friends with others  •  basic mindfulness is the ground for doing pretty much anything; but we need more than mindfulness alone  •  we need to infuse the spaciousness that develops through meditation practice with love and warmth  •  it said that if the mind is still and clear, like a clear glass of water, even a tiny thimble full of color can change the tint of the entire glass  •  if we drop just one drop of loving kindness into that glass, it pervades the whole thing  •  by cultivating mindfulness or clarity of mind we are providing a landing spot for drops of compassion to fall and pervade throughout the entire system. 

The focus of this episode is listening  •  we might think of listening as something passive, but it is actually a very active process, one that is closely associated with paying attention  •  a traditional dharmic example of listening fully and properly is that of a deer in the forest: when a deer hears an unfamiliar sound, its listening becomes instantly heightened  •  listening is talked about as the first step in developing insight or prajna  •  some of the things that prevent us from being able to hear the teachings are distractedness, spacing out, not having control over our mind, and having preconceptions which filter and distort what we hear  •  true listening is based on getting out of oneself, and on not jumping to conclusions  •  true listening includes the entire atmosphere: the gestures, the quality of the day, the other people in the room, the way the room was set up, and the spaces where nothing was said  •  Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche once said, “Hearing does not mean just using your ears, it means using all your senses. For instance, when you hear a Dharma talk, you may smell the incense burning on the shrine, which inspires reverence for the lineage. After that, whenever you burn incense, you have a memory of that, and a connection with the teachings you heard in that setting. You could say that you are smelling the Dharma.”  •  so listening is our gateway into the teachings of the Dharma. 

The Buddha's life can be seen as a template for our own journey along the Buddhist path  •  the Buddha grew up in a palace, surrounded by safety, comfort, and security  •  but growing up in such a sheltered environment, he started to feel claustrophobic and curious  •  one day the Buddha snuck out of the palace grounds with his attendant and encountered a series of “teachers”: someone who was very ill; someone who was extremely old; and the body of a dead person  •  he kept asking, “What is wrong with that person? Does that happen to everyone?”  •  then he encountered a wandering sage — someone who had no possessions, but who seemed totally at ease and untroubled  •  the Buddha's attendant explained that the sage was pursuing the meaning of life  •  these encounters motivated the Buddha to abandon his palace life, and he began his own long journey of discovery  •  he studied with many teachers, but he grew more and more frustrated and disappointed; nothing really seemed to work  • the Buddha realized he'd have to figure it out on his own  •  so he just sat down under a tree and determined not to get up until he'd figured it all out  •  at that point, a young woman appeared and offered him some yogurt, which gave him physical strength and nourishment  •  freshly revived, the Buddha then sat there, fully present, doing nothing, staying put like a rock mountain  •  he endured all sorts of temptations, all sorts of possibilities, all sorts of escape hatches — but he just stayed there, steady, simple, and unmoving, until he had his breakthrough  •  his awakening was catalyzed by a simple act of human kindness. 

As you get older, your sense of physical balance declines a bit;  and so you might think, well, I'll just try to be balanced and just stay there  •  but if you're working with a trainer, they deliberately try to throw you off balance  •  they're looking to see if you can return to balance when you're thrown off — which is the whole point  •  in meditation practice, we're continually trying to find the balance between too tight and too loose  •  as soon as you start to notice that you're losing your balance, you bring yourself back, until eventually the slipping itself brings you back  •  the Buddhist term “middle way” means finding a middle way between all sorts of extremes  •  for example, finding a middle way between “eternalism” on the one hand and “nihilism” on the other  •  eternalism is related to the blind hope that somehow everything is going to work out, and nihilism is the assumption that nothing is going to work out  •  the middle way approach cuts through both extremes: you don't buy into the assumption that some savior figure is going to come save the day and rescue you; on the other hand, you don't conclude that everything's hopeless and you're on your own  •  in a way, you carry such extremes with you like guardrails: you bounce off them and then come back to center  •  it's a very dynamic process: we can regain our balance; we can find a middle way between such extremes  •  like the compassionate bodhisattva, as soon as we slip, the slipping itself brings us back.  

In this episode, I'd like to explore the topic of confusion  •  a traditional chant has the line, “Grant your blessing so that the path may clarify confusion”  •  as you practice meditation and see how your mind works, you begin to uncover deep patterns of confusion — not confusion in the ordinary sense, but fundamental misperceptions that can lead to increased suffering for ourselves and others  •  for instance, it's important to clarify our relationship with time: not confusing what you have experienced in the past, what you're experiencing now, and what you might experience in the future  •  in meditation practice we notice how much of the time we're dwelling and obsessing about things that happened in the past or about things in the future that may or may not ever happen  •  in meditation practice we actually invite our confusions and misunderstandings to reveal themselves so we can figure out how to deal with them and how to free ourselves from the traps that they set  • when we extend a warm welcome to our confusion, it actually freaks them out, so to speak, because misunderstandings and confusions thrive on our ignorance and avoidance  •  the idea is to find some kind of middle way: we're not trying to fix anything, and we're not trying to avoid anything; we're just taking a fresh look and cultivating a little more self understanding and clarity.