What has always engaged me is working with practitioners who are deepening their commitment to the Dharma and then seeing them take a quantum leap in their understanding. My contribution to this commitment is working towards conveying a Theravadan practice with a Mahayana spirit.
The Theravadan practice of vipassana provides simple, direct instructions that can be immediately understood and applied in daily life as well as retreat practice. The Mahayana spirit has the beautiful attitude that we practice not for ourselves alone, but for all sentient beings. Between the two, the unfolding of liberation for ourselves and others becomes a simple, down-to-earth practice that anyone can do.
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 talk is directed to Vipassana practitioners who wish to include in their meditations the dzogchen practice and theory. It explores ways of integrating the understanding and meditation technique of the two traditions.
According to the Dzogchen teachings, an aspect of the nature of mind is non-dual awareness. But the Theravada understanding is that these is a distinction between consciousness and it's objects. How can we reconcile these views?
Two talks in one. The first describes my faltering steps in bodhisattva. The second examines different understandings of nirvana in the Buddhist tradition and compares them to the nature of mind described by Dzogchen.
This is really 2 talks in one, the first suggests different ways to work with strong emotions in both vipassana and dzogchen styles. The second relates the qualities of mindfulness and consciousness as used in Pali Suttas to the innate awareness of rigpa.
A useful way to view the unfolding of practice is through the two truths, conventional and ultimate. The purity of our true nature is revealed until a conditioned pattern of mind is encountered. When met with acceptance, the pattern becomes purified.
Metta is a powerful tool in the journey of awakening. The practice makes the heart more responsive and also offers purification, concentration, connection to all of life, and happiness.
In his teachings on dependent origination found in the Upanisa Sutta of the Samyutta Nikaya, the Buddha explained the path in such positive terms as joy, rapture, tranquillity, and happiness.
The three characteristics of existence -- impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and not-self -- summarize the state of this world as in constant dissolution. Yet, a refuge can be found in an ever-available awareness.
