Wherever you are, whatever you do, it’s essential to acknowledge your experience as something ordinary, the natural expression of your true mind. If you don’t try to stop whatever is going on in your mind, but merely observe it, eventually you’ll begin to feel a tremendous sense of relaxation, a vast sense of openness within... Continue Reading →
The way to experience one’s state of being is simply to relax. In this case relaxation is quite different from the setting-sun idea of flopping or taking time off, entertaining yourself with a good vacation. Relaxation here refers to relaxing the mind, letting go of the anxiety and concepts and depression that normally bind you.... Continue Reading →
Most of us search for peace and happiness in our thoughts, feelings, activities, relationships and our experiences of the body and the world. We hope for a time in the future when our minds and the world will settle down, so we can finally experience the peace of mind for which we long. However, this... Continue Reading →
At the heart of every addictionis the attemptto run awayfrom ourselves. To flee our sorrow, self-doubt, anxiety, shame, fear, guilt, loneliness. To be somewhere other than where we are. To be out of the Now. Meditation, true meditation, courageously dismantles the core addiction,the addiction to 'somewhere else',to 'another Now',to 'not here'. In true meditation, we... Continue Reading →
Our life is an endless journey; it is like a broad highway that extends infinitely into the distance. The practice of meditation provides a vehicle to travel on that road. Our journey consists of constant ups and downs, hope and fear, but it is a good journey. The practice of meditation allows us to experience... Continue Reading →
“Most beginners start with the idea that meditation is supposed to be peaceful. If they feel peaceful, they conclude that they are doing things right. Soon enough a disturbing thought or emotion erupts, and this is identified as a problem. We do not like disturbances. We start off with this dualistic preference. We want smooth... Continue Reading →
The practice of meditation does not involve discontinuing one's relationship with oneself and looking for a better person or searching for possibilities of reforming oneself....The practice of meditation is a way of continuing one's confusion, chaos, aggression, and passion - but working with it. CHOGYAM TRUNGPA RINPOCHE
Utilizing those few seconds when you find yourself willing or even desiring just to take a break from the daily grind to observe your mind rather than drifting off into daydreams. Practicing like this, "one drip at a time," you’ll find yourself gradually becoming free of the mental and emotional limitations that are the source... Continue Reading →
Repeated thoughts and stories are almost always fueled by an unacknowledged emotion or feeling underneath. These unsensed feelings are part of what brings the thought back time and again. Future planning is usually fueled by anxiety. Remembering the past is often fueled by regret, or guilt, or grief. Many fantasies arise as a response to... Continue Reading →
“So keep it short. And keep your aspiration—that our whole day will be our dharma practice, that it’s not just sitting on your cushion. Your cushion, yes, is to get your mind settled, get the awareness clear, set up good motivation, but then we have to use our daily life, everyone we encounter, everything we... Continue Reading →
Millions of people in this world are interested in some version of meditation, or yoga, or one of the many so-called spiritual activities that are now so widely marketed.A closer look at why people engage in these practices reveals an aim that has little to do with liberation from delusion, and everything do to with... Continue Reading →
The beautiful thing about the dharma is that whatever arises is fine. The Buddha never said that some thoughts or feelings are bad and we should reject them. And there is no need to make a big deal about them or make them special either.I think the point is to be natural with our experience…and... Continue Reading →
When engaging in meditation practice, we should feel it to be as natural as eating, breathing and defecating. It should not become a specialized or formal event, bloated with seriousness and solemnity. We should realize that meditation transcends effort, practice, aims, goals and the duality of liberation and non-liberation. Meditation is always ideal; there is... Continue Reading →
When we look deeply into ourselves, we see both flowers and garbage. Each of us has anger, hatred, depression, racial discrimination, and many other kinds of garbage in us, but there is no need for us to be afraid. In the way that a gardener knows how to transform compost into flowers, we can learn... Continue Reading →
Many sorrows of the world arise when the thinking mind is disconnected from the heart. In meditation we can reconnect with our heart and discover an inner sense of spaciousness, unity, and compassion underneath all the conflicts of thought. The loving heart allows for the stories and ideas, the fantasies and fears of the mind... Continue Reading →
A friend of mine has been taking care of her ninety-three-year-old mother. The doctors say that her mother will die any day. For more than a year, my friend has been teaching her mother meditation exercises that have been very helpful. She began by watering the seeds of happiness in her mother, and now her... Continue Reading →
Through the practice of meditation, we gradually begin to relate with our world, our friends, and other situations. And slowly we begin to trust the world as well. We begin to feel that the world is not as bad as we thought— there might be something worth learning. However, we cannot just go out and... Continue Reading →
"Start where you are. This is very important. (Meditation) practice is not about later, when you get it all together and you're this person you really respect. You may be the most violent person in the world- that's a find place to start. That's a very rich place to start- juicy, smelly. You might be... Continue Reading →
Much of our mental suffering comes from how tightly we hold our beliefs. In the monastery my teacher Ajahn Chah used to smile and ask, "Is it true?" He wanted us to learn to hold our thoughts lightly.Within the stillness of meditation we learn to observe how words and images arise and then vanish. When... Continue Reading →
In the practice of meditation, the way to be daring, the way to leap, is to disown your thoughts, to step beyond your hope and fear, the ups and downs of your thinking process. You can just be, just let yourself be, without holding on to the constant reference points that the mind manufactures. Chogyam... Continue Reading →
