The Wisdom of No Escape
Synopsis – When we embark on a spiritual journey we often do this out of a sense of basic dissatisfaction with our lives and thus we search for some relief from our misery. Ironically it is just this struggle to seek pleasure and to avoid pain that is the cause of our suffering. Contrary to … Continue
Greetings from Vietnam!
Happy New Year 2013! Dear Shambhala friends: Greetings from Vietnam! I have been here in Danang for two months now, as the director of a new US program to help people with disabilities. We’re one of 2 projects USAID is funding in central Vietnam related to the legacy of the Vietnam War. One is digging … Continue
True Leadership
This is the second in a series of articles based on the Six Ways of Ruling, a teaching a teaching that was first presented by the founder of Shambhala, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, in 1978 and further expounded upon by his son, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, in his book Ruling Your World (Chapters 22-23). The “Six Ways” … Continue
Benevolent Leadership
This article is the first in series of six which I hope to post here based on “The Six Ways of Ruling,” a teaching that was first presented by the founder of Shambhala, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, in 1978 and further expounded upon by his son, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, in his book Ruling Your World (Chapters … Continue
Powerlessness and Ruling Your World: Reflections from the Heart of Recovery
Every week, a group of 15-28 individuals whose lives have been touched by addiction to substances and behaviors gather at the DC Shambhala Center to practice meditation and discuss how it relates to their own experiences of addiction, compulsion, and recovery. While meditation is common to many of us in recovery, what meditation means varies … Continue
The Colors of Our Emotions
Recently I took the workshop called Maitri Five Wisdom Energies with Acharya Richard John. This specific teaching is unique to the Shambhala Buddhist world though it is based on the understanding of five wisdom energies—also know as the five buddha “families”—which are core in the study of Tibetan medicine and in Vajrayana Buddhism. These energies … Continue
Five Ideas for Practicing Mindfulness in Daily Life
Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche has said that true confidence is synchronization of mind and body. This rings true for me, based on experience. I recently came away from a dathun (4 week meditation and mindfulness retreat), and when people ask me how the experience made me feel, the best answer I could give them was, “confident.” … Continue
Like
Tweet
