Words of Wisdom

“Remember to remember to catch yourself before things catch and entangle you. It’s not outer objects that entangle you but inner attachment and fixation that entangles you. Why take the bait and get hooked, swallowing it all hook-line & sinker, and being pulled out of your element--when things and perceptions arise through the sensory gates? Better to enjoy seeing and smelling the enticing bait, and letting it hang out there; this is the practice of freedom and autonomy, nonattachment,  equanimity, and the essential practical point of cultivating present Awareness itself. Awareness...

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Simply aware of the arising-fallingOf all and everythingRight before your eyes Like a dreamMirageSit-com Letting it come and goLetting goLetting be

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  Simply aware of the arising-fallingOf all and everythingRight before your eyes Like a dreamMirageSit-com Letting it come and goLetting goLetting be Breathing outinto itAnd inout of it Grokking it allAs part of yourself Like film-meditation(who the projector?) Letting go totallyLetting bePurely presencing Being itInseparablefrom one and all                               Lama Surya Das, from  “Co-Meditations”

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I started the new year at our 19th annual winter Dzogchen Center meditation retreat, which we've been holding for the last ten or more years on the snowy banks of the mighty Hudson at the Garrison Institute in New York, right across from Bear Mountain and West Point. I love going there every winter and watching the river flow by, while praying, meditating, chanting, and walking through the lovely woods.  My students and I spend the week dancing the life of awakefulness into being through practices including meditative mindfulness training, centering, presencing, Tibetan energy yoga, self-inquiry,...

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"Today the human soul asks the question: What can I do to preserve the beauty and wonder of our world and to eliminate the anger and hatred and inequality that inevitably causes it-- in that part of the world which I touch? What can you do TODAY, this very moment?" -- The Dalai Lama, Sept. 11, 2001

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Lama Surya Das'  WEEKLY WORDS OF WISDOM "Here is the essence of meditation practice and letting go, which implies letting come and go-- letting be. Catching yourself before things catch you. I try to remember that I am the cause of all of my suffering, due to the habits and conditioning of my own mind; for it's not what happens but what you make of it that makes all the difference."

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Dr. Jennifer Howard is a internationally acclaimed coach, licensed psychotherapist, teacher, energy healer, and is a leading thought leader on spirituality and psychology.  She is also the host of the popular radio show, "A Conscious Life." How do you feel when you don't know the answer to a question? You might be thinking, well that depends on the question. Yet, many people feel anxious when they don't have answers. As children some of us were told that it's not ok to question things, or that someone who acts like they "know" is the real authority so asking questions might imply that you are less...

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"I just came back from conducting our annual summer Dzogchen Center ten day intensive meditation retreat in Garrison, NY, on the banks of the Hudson River. During that time, I thought a lot, with my friends students and colleagues there, about the future of Buddhist wisdom and practice, and where it's coming from and going; preservation and adaptation, opportunities and challenges; commercialization and communication, both outreach and in-reach; sectarianism and ecumenicism; psychotherapy, meditation and neuroscientific research; the overlap of prayer, meditation, and mindfulness in action (such...

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Genocide poses a crisis of conscience to all of us who care about the world beyond the small circle of ourselves. Yesterday I heard Mia Farrow speak and show slides at the World Trade Center in Boston about the humanitarian crisis and genocide in Darfur, West Sudan, where millions have perished. An actress, mother and activist, she is now focused full time on the Sudan crisis as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors on behalf of the United Nations Children's Fund. In Khartoum, the capital of that country--Africa’s largest--mass murderer Omar Al Bashir has won re-election and is now the first head-of-state...

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I was teaching a weekend meditation workshop in Seattle for Earth Day yesterday, and visited the arboretum and a research greenhouse at the U. of Washington there. My old friend John Perkins, economist and shaman, sent me this to think about and share. Buddhism teaches that the whole world is my body, and sentient beings my heart-mind. We are each like cells in the body of the cosmos. "10 Things You Can Do to Save the Earth Dear Friends, As part of the celebration of Earth Day, I wanted to send this very important message to you. Thank you for your continued support and all that I know...

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