Mindfulness

On the auspicious Treldha Tsechu, Phakchok Rinpoche shares with us four profound verses from the 5th chapter of introspection of Shantideva’s Bodhisattvacharyavattara to recall the kindness of the Buddha, of Guru Rinpoche and of the lineage masters who have transmitted the sacred Dharma to us.

Rituals at Tibetan Buddhist Dharma Centers can delight, intrigue, and/or confuse newcomers. Here we offer some brief guidelines for the curious onlooker.

Phakchok Rinpoche wishes everyone a happy 2022 and shares very useful advice from Dza Patrül Rinpoche for both mundane and spiritual activities.

In this article, Andrea Sherman shows how commitment to the paramita (perfection) of patience can be an antidote to anger and frustration when we care for those with dementia.

Although some readers might believe Buddhism and business have little to do with one another, history shows us a different story. The Buddha himself taught merchants and rulers, and members of the merchant class aided in spreading the teachings throughout Asia. Buddhist teachers and rulers recognized that laypeople need to take or give loans and to exchange commercial goods. But in doing so, we can be expected to conform to standards of fairness, honesty, and compassion in our interactions.

Andrea Sherman shows how we can utilize the six paramitas to touch the human spirit through virtual technology.

The Buddhist tradition offers a number of antidotes to loneliness. Because the Buddha taught dependent origination– that everything arises dependently, connection matters.

Learn about an ancient Buddhist tool to overcome FOMO.

Repeated Placement is the third stage of our calm abiding meditation.  In shamatha meditation, our practice proceeds gradually so that we are able to quickly recognize when our attention wanders off.  Here, Tulku Migmar Tsering explains how repeated placement works.Repeated placement means that as soon as we notice we are distracted we bring the mind back.  Here Tulku explains that if we allow our wandering to go on, it makes the mind very “heavy”.  And then it is harder for us to be mindful and to meditate.  So he suggests that we learn to do this in three seconds–don’t forget our focus.

“Meditation training with focus” takes many forms. As we begin to build a habit of mindfulness, we can use one or more of these techniques. For example, in a meditation session or sometime in our day, we may focus our attention lightly on a sound. How so? We simply rest our mind on the sound of our choice. Then, when we notice that our mind has wandered away, we gently guide it back to the sound. That’s all there is to it–bringing our mind back to the object of focus again and again. We call that process “mindfulness”. In this video teaching, Tulku Migmar Tsering advises us on how we can use meditation training with focus to cultivate a habit of mindfulness.

Hilary Herdman shows how ritual practice tames our minds as we perform particular physical and verbal actions.

Correct meditation posture helps our minds to settle and our breath to flow naturally. In traditional Buddhist texts, we read that we should cross our legs and keep our spines erect. Correct meditation posture helps our minds to settle and our breath to flow naturally. In traditional Buddhist texts, we read that we should cross our legs and keep our spines erect.