Planet Dharma - The Launch Pod

Teachings based on the book "Gems of Dharma, Jewels of Freedom" by Gampopa. Part 2 of 3 We are constantly seeking satisfaction. Merely accepting the cycle of getting temporary satisfaction and then seeking again is switching off. You need to transcend it instead. --- First...response to a student question: "Don't we just accept that there is a cycle of getting temporary satisfaction and then seeking again?" Concept: Switched-Off Potential (for Enlightenment) Sensei: "What are you taking refuge in, my friends?" Another incisive retreat talk! podcast.clearskycenter.org http://www.planetdharma.com/

First...response to a student question: "Don't we just accept that there is a cycle of getting temporary satisfaction and then seeking again?" Concept: Switched-Off Potential (for Enlightenment) Sensei: "What are you taking refuge in, my friends?" Another incisive retreat talk!

Teachings based on the book "Gems of Dharma, Jewels of Freedom" by Gampopa. Part 1 of 3 --- The Four Impediments to Awakening Why don't you want to awaken? Get ready for impact. Talk given at winter retreat in Dec. 2009, Miki, Hyogo, Japan. Note: Quote attributed to Neils Bohr > actually by Schrodinger to Bohr. podcast.clearskycenter.org http://www.planetdharma.com/

The Four Impediments to Awakening Why don't you want to awaken? Get ready for impact. Teachings based on the book "Gems of Dharma, Jewels of Freedom" by Gampopa. Talk given at winter retreat in Dec. 2009, Miki, Hyogo, Japan. http://awaken.inthislifetime.net Note: Quote attributed to Neils Bohr > actually by Schrodinger to Bohr.

Some topics covered in this talk: skandhas (composites), the awakening experience, dealing with pain, "karma is cetana (will or decision)", being hurt and how to forgive Full talk: What Does it Mean to Awaken? Part 4/4 podcast.clearskycenter.org http://www.planetdharma.com/

Some terms and topics covered in this talk: skandhas (composites), the awakening experience, dealing with pain, "karma is cetana (will or decision)", being hurt and how to forgive

Full talk: What Does it Mean to Awaken? Part 3/4 In this talk: Samatha meditation (develops calm and concentration resulting in bliss) Six types of samatha meditation: visualization, mantra, mudra, devotional, energy, and breathing. Plus, Vipassana meditation: insight --- In this talk: Samatha meditation (develops calm and concentration resulting in bliss) Six types of samatha meditation: visualization, mantra, mudra, devotional, energy, and breathing Vipassana meditation: insight What is reality? From the point of view of Buddhism, there is no object to be found in the universe anywhere. All objects are made up of composite parts. A human being is made up of these composite parts: form, feeling, perception, consciousness, factors of consciousness podcast.clearskycenter.org http://www.planetdharma.com/

In this talk: Samatha meditation (develops calm and concentration resulting in bliss) Six types of samatha meditation: visualization, mantra, mudra, devotional, energy, and breathing Vipassana meditation: insight What is reality? From the point of view of Buddhism, there is no object to be found in the universe anywhere. All objects are made up of composite parts. A human being is made up of these composite parts: form, feeling, perception, consciousness, factors of consciousness

Full talk: What Does it Mean to Awaken? Part 2/4 The separation between the mind that's experiencing a state and the state that you're experiencing is fundamentally meditation. Meditation practices are tools that you use to get between you and your habitual run-on mind. --- "Fundamentally, meditation means the ability to witness what's going on in consciousness while it's going on in consciousness." "If you don't see that the state you're in right now -- while you're in a state of anger or in a fight -- is more important than the outcome of the fight, you'll always be fighting. [...] If you put the state you're in right now first, you're meditating, which doesn't mean you have to say to yourself 'I'm not angry.' You step back from the state you're in to look at what it's like to be in that state." "Meditation is the process of learning how to observe the state you're in -- physically, emotionally and mentally -- without getting all bent out of shape about it." "Meditation practices are basically levers or wedges to get in between you and your state to pry the mind and the state apart from each other. If I can pry myself free from that state a little then I'm in a position to look at its nature .... and learn something useful ... and realize that it doesn't really matter what state arises." "The separation between the mind that's experiencing a state and the state that you're experiencing is fundamentally meditation. Meditation practices are tools that you use to get between you and your habitual run-on mind." podcast.clearskycenter.org http://www.planetdharma.com/

"Fundamentally, meditation means the ability to witness what's going on in consciousness while it's going on in consciousness." "If you don't see that the state you're in right now -- while you're in a state of anger or in a fight -- is more important than the outcome of the fight, you'll always be fighting. [...] If you put the state you're in right now first, you're meditating, which doesn't mean you have to say to yourself 'I'm not angry.' You step back from the state you're in to look at what it's like to be in that state." "Meditation is the process of learning how to observe the state you're in -- physically, emotionally and mentally -- without getting all bent out of shape about it." "Meditation practices are basically levers or wedges to get in between you and your state to pry the mind and the state apart from each other. If I can pry myself free from that state a little then I'm in a position to look at its nature .... and learn something useful ... and realize that it doesn't really matter what state arises." "The separation between the mind that's experiencing a state and the state that you're experiencing is fundamentally meditation. Meditation practices are tools that you use to get between you and your habitual run-on mind."

Full talk: Part 1 of 4 We don't have to lead lives of quiet desperation. Sensei tells us: "The key to awakening is being aware of your own state, almost as if it's not your own." --- We don't have to lead lives of quiet desperation. Perhaps we are too lazy to investigate the nature of our own consciousness, perhaps we have doubts. We fool ourselves into thinking we can get true happiness from objects that are transitory and fundamentally... unsatisfactory. Sensei tells us: "The key to awakening is being aware of your own state, almost as if it's not your own." "Ask yourself one question: 'What is inherently unpleasant or uncomfortable or undesirable in this thing?' "In the process of taking apart your views of things, you find that a lot of the things you're building your happiness on are doomed to end. Can they possibly, then, create everlasting peace?" podcast.clearskycenter.org http://www.planetdharma.com/  

We don't have to lead lives of quiet desperation. Perhaps we are too lazy to investigate the nature of our own consciousness, perhaps we have doubts. We fool ourselves into thinking we can get true happiness from objects that are transitory and fundamentally... unsatisfactory. Sensei tells us: "The key to awakening is being aware of your own state, almost as if it's not your own." "Ask yourself one question: 'What is inherently unpleasant or uncomfortable or undesirable in this thing?' "In the process of taking apart your views of things, you find that a lot of the things you're building your happiness on are doomed to end. Can they possibly, then, create everlasting peace?" http://www.clearskycenter.org/

We're obsessed with our lives. We reference everything back to ourselves. We need to let go of this obsession in order to access that which is greater than ourselves. You can't be busy with distractions. --- "The problem is that you want to have your cake and eat it, too. So you try to do the job and career and relationship thing AND stand on the edge of the cliff, but because you're clinging to the job and career and relationship, you're not actually ON the edge of the cliff. You try to convince yourself you're on the edge of the cliff when you're 15 miles from it. The teacher's job is nothing other than to disabuse you of the fact that you're not standing at the edge of the cliff, and to point where the edge of the cliff is." Terms used in the talk: "alaya vinjana" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Store_consciousness) Jataka tales (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jataka_tales) Jodo Shinshu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jodo_Shinshu) Kyentse Norbu Rinpoche (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzongsar_Jamyang_Khyentse_Rinpoche) guru yoga (Google it yourself ;-)) podcast.clearskycenter.org http://www.planetdharma.com/

"The problem is that you want to have your cake and eat it, too. So you try to do the job and career and relationship thing AND stand on the edge of the cliff, but because you're clinging to the job and career and relationship, you're not actually ON the edge of the cliff. You try to convince yourself you're on the edge of the cliff when you're 15 miles from it. The teacher's job is nothing other than to disabuse you of the fact that you're not standing at the edge of the cliff, and to point where the edge of the cliff is." Terms used in the talk: "alaya vinjana" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Store_consciousness) Jataka tales (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jataka_tales) Jodo Shinshu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jodo_Shinshu) Kyentse Norbu Rinpoche (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzongsar_Jamyang_Khyentse_Rinpoche) guru yoga (Google it yourself ;-))

Part 1 of 2 The mistake we make that hinders our spiritual development is that we take things personally, which feeds experiences back into the conditioned responses that we call the self. So what is the self? Our thoughts? Our emotions? Our body? --- Wake up in the morning and set your aspiration for the day. It's fundamental for "working the bowl upstream into the more radiant fields of consciousness." The mistake we make that hinders our spiritual development is that we take things personally, which feeds experiences back into the conditioned responses that we call the self. So what is the self? Our thoughts? Our emotions? Our body? This talk was given in March 2009 at Clear Sky Center, B.C., Canada. podcast.clearskycenter.org http://www.planetdharma.com/