Seeing Everything as Appearances of the Bardo  Whatever types of appearances might arise in the bardo state, there is no real difference between the states. There is no real difference; they are all just appearances of the in-between bardo period. It is important to try...

Guidelines for effectively applying the Buddhist teachings to our lives so that they bring about positive results.

Finding Inspiration We have looked at the framework from which these teachings about integrating our life derive, and there are just a few more points I want to add before I open it up for questions. This is concerning the term “inspiration.” We have the Sanskrit word...

The Difference Between a Healthy and Inflated Ego Firstly, some questions. There was one question during the break, which was what is the difference between the “self” and the “me,” or the “I.” I think that since this question was asked by a psychologist, and terminology is a...

Questions Adding the Four Immeasurables to the Meditation In our last session we tried the exercise with a focus on our mothers. Any questions about the meditation, about the process and so on? Can we say that the meditation on the four immeasurables is linked to this practice...

[As an introduction to this training program, see: Work-Life Balance: How to Get More Satisfaction in Life] Introduction This weekend, we are going to discuss and practice methods for integrating our life. We don’t actually find them in the Buddhist teachings or elsewhere....

We have been looking at methods for integrating the various aspects of our lives. We’ve seen that in order to deal with the various things in our lives and in order to follow the spiritual path in a more whole-hearted way, it’s very important to have a clear idea of all the...

Recap We’ve been looking at some methods that help us to integrate our lives. We’ve also looked at the background from which these practices derive. In the larger Buddhist context, we are aiming to ensure that our future lives continue to have a precious human form like we...

Exercise to Harmonize the Various Aspects of Our Personalities Another application of this meditation method using the five types of deep awareness is as a method to become more aware of all the various facets of our personalities and to try to integrate and bring them into...

Introduction His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaks of Buddhism as having three aspects: Buddhist psychology and science – how the mind works, as well as cosmology Buddhist philosophy – a highly developed system of logic, and a very deep analysis of reality, cause and effect, and...