| Introduction |
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| Des Moines, NM, August 1, 2010 |
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Importance of clear intention; when translation problems arise in source material for practice, problems often result in practice; practice is developing capacity to experience whatever arises; constraints due to limits on willingness, capacity or know-how.
| Movement of Mind |
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| Des Moines, NM, August 2, 2010 |
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Practice questions: discussion of the evolution and iterative nature of the five step practice; experiencing “the mess” rather than attempting to name what arises; thought, sensation and emotion are all forms of movement in mind; notice the movement.
| Ending Reactivity |
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| Des Moines, NM, August 3, 2010 |
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Modern shift in religions from transcendence toward embracing the human condition; ending reactivity so we can experience whatever arises; living with uncertainty using the four steps of standing up; acting without categories.
| Trusting the Unknown |
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| Des Moines, NM, August 4, 2010 |
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Clarifying your questions; trusting the unknown; three vows: individual freedom, bodhisattva,Vajrayana; dealing with difficult emotions; experiencing resistance.
| Welcoming Reactive Emotions |
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| Des Moines, NM, August 5, 2010 |
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Meditating when in pain; distinction between being stretched and being stressed; key is not hardening against experience; overuse of the terms “samadhi” and “mindfulness”; working with reactive emotions by welcoming them; Rumis’ poem “A Guest House”; bodhichitta; practice intensely with little fanfare.
| Obstacles in the Body |
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| Des Moines, NM, August 6, 2010 |
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Answering questions on thoughts and “subconscious gossip”; mantras; taking and sending; obstacles in the body from experiences we were unable or unwilling to fully experience; Dzogchen and Mahamudra; dakinis; groundlessness.
| Emotion in Practice |
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| Des Moines, NM, August 7, 2010 |
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Working with emotional energy in practice; not seeking to eliminate emotion; faith and devotion; removing emotions from practice limits engagement in experience.
| Faith |
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| Des Moines, NM, August 8, 2010 |
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Responding to questions on longing and desire; faith and refuge; vajrayana vows; Mahamudra instructions :“no placing, no reference, no missing the point” and “no distraction, no control, no working at anything;” ending wars; martial imagery; Tao Te Ching and groundlessness.
| Engaging Reactive Emotions |
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| Des Moines, NM, August 9, 2010 |
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Major traditional metaphors in Buddhism include war and farming; sometimes more useful metaphors are space, weather and evolution; courage and faith needed to engage reactive emotions with loving-kindness; combining tenderness and effort.
| Understanding and applying texts |
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| Des Moins, NM, August 9, 2010 |
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Mahamudra, translation, and how to read texts like Tilopa’s Ganges Mahamudra; the metaphor of space; relating to thoughts and other “movements of mind” in mahamudra; looking in a different way and resting in the looking; the three kayas.
| Four pitfalls of Mahamudra |
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| Des Moins, NM, August 10, 2010 |
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Four pitfalls of Mahamudra: making an object out of experience; thinking you can make thoughts or experience empty; thinking that naming things is enough; “buy now, pay later” — practicing to get enlightened.
| Commentary on text, practice concerns |
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| Des Moins, NM, August 10, 2010 |
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Commentary on “The Wisdom Experience of Ever-Present Good;” resting deeply; practices such as primary practice and four immeasurables to transform energy and deepen resting; natural awareness taking expression as compassion; working with comparing mind by coming back to body.
| Continued discussion of text |
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| Des Moins, NM, August 11, 2010 |
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Continued discussion of “The Wisdom Experience of Ever-Present Good;” ordinary mind; danger of dullness; when goal-seeking arises, return to the body; why texts were deliberately hidden
| Sky gazing and other practices |
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| Des Moins, NM, August 11, 2010 |
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Practice of sky gazing; working with intense experiences; the five step practice (from the Anapanasati sutra); imagining experience at a distance — and reeling it in slowly — to attenuate painful intensity; taking and sending as a way of forming relationships with alienated aspects of ourselves; more on the three kayas.
| Life as experience |
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| Des Moins, NM, August 12, 2010 |
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Uchiyama’s “How to Cook Your Life” as a commentary on the four immeasurables; equanimity through seeing life as no more and no less than what we experience; building capacity to relate to life in ways that end suffering (without afflictive reactions); experiencing completely can be painful but not disturbing; joy.
| Teaching as a role, not an identity |
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| Des Moins, NM, August 12, 2010 |
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Teaching as a role, not an identity; creating learning situations and deep listening; giving away positive virtues such as trust, generosity, etc.; distinguishing information and knowledge; learning how to learn; transmission; teaching as a shared aim relationship.
| Mind killing and reactive patterns |
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| Des Moins, NM, August 13, 2010 |
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Recognizing and countering four forms of “mind killing” in which reactive patterns are used to induce us to act against our own interests; idol of the cave: attempts to replace our experience with others’ goals; idol of the marketplace: language is used to mislead us; idol of the theater: theories or philosophies are used to overwhelm us; idol of the tribe: more cohesion is assumed than actually exists.
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Follow UM
A Trackless Path II 13
Continued discussion of “The Wisdom Experience of Ever-Present Good;” ordinary mind; danger of dullness; when goal-seeking arises, return to the body; why texts were deliberately hidden