Dharma If You Dare

"I undertake to train myself to refrain from getting lost in phenomena" -- a suggestion from Sensei for a New Year's -- (from falling asleep in my own stories about me) --- Sensei offers a suggestion on something to do for a New Year's resolution for 2013. Some quotes from Sensei: "Where do you tend to undermine your own unfoldment?" "It's not hard to awaken. You just have to want to do it." Defin...

Part 4: Q & A In this full talk, the "Map to Awakening" metaphor is a journey from west to east—in this case Kyoto to Tokyo—with the arrival point being the awakened state. --- The metaphor: Traveling west to east, from Nagoya to Shizuoka to Yokohama before reaching Tokyo. "Tokyo" is the awakened state, while any city along the way is still part of conditioned existence. Question: "Could you speak...

Part 3: The Awakened State In this full talk, the "Map to Awakening" metaphor is a journey from west to east—in this case Kyoto to Tokyo—with the arrival point being the awakened state. --- Part three of four on Doug Sensei's "The Map to Awakening" talk The ongoing metaphor:  "Tokyo" = Awakening "The ego is an artificial boundary produced to defend itself against being swallowed up. That the ego i...

Part 2: Heading to "Tokyo" (Planetary Consciousness) In this full talk, the "Map to Awakening" metaphor is a journey from west to east—in this case Kyoto to Tokyo—with the arrival point being the awakened state.  --- "We are one cell each in a body called humanity. And this, as I see it, is where the dispensation and the map for the future lies in terms of the evolution of human consciousness." --...

Part 1: First, You Need the Map! In this full talk, the "Map to Awakening" metaphor is a journey from west to east—in this case Kyoto to Tokyo—with the arrival point being the awakened state.  --- "The awakened consciousness is THE evolutionary step for humanity in total. The destination for the human species is awakening." -- Doug Duncan Sensei "You're going to be seeing more people awaken more s...

In meditation you just notice what arises rather than seeking after experiences, which are conditioned by the ego's need for stimulation, recognition and structure. --- Doug Duncan Sensei: "In meditation you're not trying to _change_ your sensations, your passions, your lusts -- you're trying to see it clearly." "All the skandhas -- form, feelings, perceptions, etc. -- happen at the same time. It'...

In meditation you just notice what arises rather than seeking after experiences, which are conditioned by the ego's need for stimulation, recognition and structure.  --- "Awakening isn't so much that you're fixing what's wrong or improving what's gone off as you are expanding your range to include what you exclude." "Namgyal Rinpoche mentioned two ways to increase your intelligence: increase the r...

The nature of addiction is an attempt to escape the pain at the core of our being. Resisting the urge to give in rather than face the appetite or addiction takes patience and determination.  --- In this concluding section, Sensei answers such questions as: How do you live in the moment and still plan for the future? Aren't there authentic pleasures that are not based on addiction? How can you not...

The nature of addiction is an attempt to escape the pain at the core of our being. Resisting the urge to give in rather than face the appetite or addiction takes patience and determination.  --- In the end, the nature of addiction is an attempt to escape the pain that is at the core of all of our beings. Getting on with the spiritual work means learning to be okay in the present moment, just as it...

The nature of addiction is an attempt to escape the pain at the core of our being. Resisting the urge to give in rather than face the appetite or addiction takes patience and determination. --- Part 3 of a public talk given in Winnipeg, Canada, in Sept. 2009 http://www.planetdharma.com/

The nature of addiction is an attempt to escape the pain at the core of our being. Resisting the urge to give in rather than face the appetite or addiction takes patience and determination.  --- "If you want freedom you have to come to terms with being okay in the now doing nothing." -- Doug Duncan Sensei "All of your bad states are entirely your responsibility. Your state is totally under your co...

The nature of addiction is an attempt to escape the pain at the core of our being. Resisting the urge to give in rather than face the appetite or addiction takes patience and determination. -- "If you look at the nature of your consciousness, you're always one step ahead of yourself or perhaps one step behind yourself, but very rarely are you actually in this moment just as it is." -- Doug Duncan...

Part 3: You Cannot Let the Unwholesome Run You The real work is to pay attention to and recognize what's going on in inside -- our mental states. We cannot let ourselves be ruled by subconscious conditioning.  --- In this last part of his talk, Doug Sensei gets down to the nitty-gritty. It's your work to do. We need to pay attention to and recognize what's going on in inside -- our mental states....

Part 2: Why Wait for Spring? The real work is to pay attention to and recognize what's going on in inside -- our mental states. We cannot let ourselves be ruled by subconscious conditioning. --- It's the basics for awakening. Recognize the wholesome for the wholesome. Recognize the unwholesome for the unwholesome. And you always know that the unwholesome state is unwholesome. You just aren't admit...

Part 1: Nobody's Perfect The real work is to pay attention to and recognize what's going on in inside -- our mental states. We cannot let ourselves be ruled by subconscious conditioning. --- "sabbe sankhara dukkha'ti" All conditioned phenomena are filled with suffering. This talk was given by Doug Duncan Sensei on Aug. 14, 2010 at Clear Sky Center, BC, Canada. http://www.planetdharma.com/

Sensei answers questions and riffs energetically on cause and effect -- karma -- and a range of other subjects from the point of view of the Buddha (ultimate truth vs. relative truth) --- Doug-sensei says: "Action is intention. Be very careful about this. There's no thing that you do at any moment ever that isn't intended. Every single thing you do is intended, whether you acknowledge the intentio...

Sensei talks about going against the flow by meditating, reflecting and taking on the challenge to let go, abandon, renounce, and give up the idea that samsara is resolvable. --- Doug Sensei says: "Your journey to awaken is upriver! Samsara is noted for being endless. You are not going to awaken by keep makin' the same choices, goin' down the same stream. Unless, of course, the choice you're makin...

Doug Sensei rapidly outlines the Buddhist teachings -- how to awaken -- giving life to them with direct commentary suited for people today. --- "You're not looking at suffering clearly enough. You're drugging it out. You're in a dream state. Instead, you have to see the true nature of what you're attached to -- that it's impermanent, that it's subject to loss, that you can't ever own it, and that...

Part 3: Wake Up, Little Suzy Teachings based on the book "Gems of Dharma, Jewels of Freedom" by Gampopa.  Your preferences are shaped, formed by conditioning. Ultimately everything is insubstantial and you need to see that. --- Your parents have done their job, but they mentored you for a worldly existence. "The insubstantiality of the problem and the insubstantiality of the person experiencing th...

Teachings based on the book "Gems of Dharma, Jewels of Freedom" by Gampopa. We are constantly seeking satisfaction. Merely accepting the cycle of getting temporary satisfaction and then seeking again is switching off. You need to transcend it instead. --- Student question: "Don't we just accept that there is a cycle of getting temporary satisfaction and then seeking again?" Sensei: "What are you t...

Teachings based on the book "Gems of Dharma, Jewels of Freedom" by Gampopa.  --- The Four Impediments to Awakening Why don't you want to awaken? Get ready for impact. Talk given at winter retreat in Dec. 2009, Miki, Hyogo, Japan. Note: Quote attributed to Neils Bohr > actually by Schrodinger to Bohr. http://www.planetdharma.com/

Some topics covered in this talk: skandhas (composites), the awakening experience, dealing with pain, "karma is cetana (will or decision)", being hurt and how to forgive http://www.planetdharma.com/

Part 3: Seven Types of Meditation In this talk: Samatha meditation (develops calm and concentration resulting in bliss) Six types of samatha meditation: visualization, mantra, mudra, devotional, energy, and breathing. Plus, Vipassana meditation: insight --- In this talk: Samatha meditation (develops calm and concentration resulting in bliss) Six types of samatha meditation: visualization, mantra,...

Part 2: What is Meditation? The separation between the mind that's experiencing a state and the state that you're experiencing is fundamentally meditation. Meditation practices are tools that you use to get between you and your habitual run-on mind. --- "Fundamentally, meditation means the ability to witness what's going on in consciousness while it's going on in consciousness." "If you don't see...

Part 1: No More Quiet Desperation We don't have to lead lives of quiet desperation. Sensei tells us: "The key to awakening is being aware of your own state, almost as if it's not your own." --- We don't have to lead lives of quiet desperation. Perhaps we are too lazy to investigate the nature of our own consciousness, perhaps we have doubts. We fool ourselves into thinking we can get true happines...