Meditation

Shamatha (a stilled and settled state of mind) and vipashyana (an exceptionally perceptive state of mind) are levels of meditative concentration taught in all forms of Buddhism.

Gungthang Rinpoche’s text warns us that before the Dharma practice of tomorrow takes place, the death of today may come sooner.

We need to exert effort to rid ourselves of all obstacles to concentration, such as flightiness and mental dullness, during whatever meditations we may be doing.

The Balanced Sensitivity program and its exercises aim to serve as a bridge between traditional Buddhist thinking and methods and the emotional problems we all experience and conceptualize in a Western way.

It is useful to not look at the mind as a “thing” but as mental activity, occurring moment to moment and which ​​can be non-conceptual or conceptual.

Shamatha emphasizes stabilizing meditation. Vipashyana emphasizes discerning meditation. A state of vipashyana is pervasive with being a state of the joined pair: stabilizing and discerning meditations.

Although there are several variations in ways to practice the four close placements of mindfulness, here we examine the Theravada methods as taught by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu.

The Kadam traditons’s sutra-level guru-meditation can be very helpful for some of the problems that have caused unhealthy relationships to develop with spiritual teachers in the West.

To reach enlightenment and benefit all others, we need to regard everyone as equal and instead of cherishing only ourselves, cherish all others as our primary concern.

Dr. Berzin explains Karma Kagyu mahamudra meditation as presented in the Ninth Karmapa's seminal text.