“In Zen meditation, anything that comes in your mind will eventually leave, because nothing is permanent. A thought is like a cloud moving across the blue sky. Nothing can disturb that all-encompassing vastness. This is the Dharma.”

In a collection of talks and anecdotes, Jakusho Kwong-roshi, a Dharma successor of Shunryu Suzuki-roshi, presents his approach to Buddhist teaching. Containing photos of Kwong-roshi with his teachers, as well as a selection of his vibrant calligraphy, Mind Sky explores the profound beauty of Zen history and practice, nature, and the philosophy of the ancient Zen master Eihei Dōgen.

With an elegant simplicity, Kwong-roshi shows how Zen is experiential rather than intellectual. And with persistent practice, realization is already yours.

The mind can be a potent tool, used to guide extraordinary achievements, inspire good works, and incline your spiritual path toward peace and awakening. But the mind can also produce thoughts that lead to suffering. For many people, thoughts run rampant and seem to oppress or control their lives. Even the Buddha tells us that before his enlightenment, he sometimes found his mind preoccupied by thoughts connected with sensual desire, ill will, and harm. But he figured out how to respond to thoughts skillfully and developed a step-by-step approach to calm the restless mind. Now, Insight Meditation teacher Shaila Catherine offers an accessible approach to training the mind that is guided by the Buddha’s pragmatic instructions on removing distracting thoughts. Drawing on two scriptures in the Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, Shaila shows you how to overcome habitual modes of thinking, develop deeper concentration, and discover the insights into emptiness that are vital for a liberating spiritual path.

Following the Buddha’s pragmatic approach, Shaila guides you through five steps for overcoming distraction and focusing the mind:

Replace unwholesome thoughts with wholesome thoughts.
Examine the dangers of distracting thoughts.
Avoid it, ignore it, forget it.
Investigate the causes of distraction.
Apply determination and resolve.

Each chapter includes exercises and reflections to help you cultivate the five steps to deeper concentration. You’ll learn about your mind and develop your ability to direct your attention more skillfully in meditation and daily activities. And ultimately, you’ll discover for yourself how these five steps boil down to one key realization: In the moment you recognize that a thought is just a thought, you will find yourself on the path to a life of remarkable freedom.

Alejandro Chaoul on Body Buddhism (#135)

Posted March 18, 2022

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features an interview with Dr. Alejandro Chaoul, who has studied Tibetan yoga for thirty years with the tradition’s greatest masters, including Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche and Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. Dr. Chaoul and host Daniel Aitken explore

Tsa Lung Trul Khor (“channel/wind obstacle-clearing techniques”) yoga practice and its place in Dzogchen meditation;
the practice of “Body Buddhism,” integrating the body with the mind and breath;
the benefits of purification practices like Tsa Lung Trul Khor and the subtle body;
practices to help restore “dimmed awareness” to clarity;
quick techniques that can be applied immediately in practice and daily life for balancing;
his book with Wisdom, Tibetan Yoga: Magical Movements of Body, Breath, and Mind;
and more.

Remember to subscribe to the Wisdom Podcast for more great conversations on Buddhism, meditation, and mindfulness. And please give us a 5-star rating in Apple Podcasts if you enjoy our show—it’s a great support to us and it helps other people find the podcast. Thank you!

About the Interviewee

Dr. Alejandro Chaoul is a senior teacher at The 3 Doors, an international organization founded by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche with the goal of transforming lives through meditation. He has studied Tibetan yoga for thirty years with the Bön tradition’s greatest masters, including the late H. H. Lungtok Tenpai Nyima, Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak, and Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, having trained in Triten Norbutse Monastery in Nepal and Menri Monastery in India. He completed the seven-year training at Ligmincha International and received his PhD in Tibetan Religions from Rice University. Dr. Chaoul is the founding director of the Mind, Body, Spirit Institute at The Jung Center of Houston. He is the author of Tibetan Yoga: Magical Movements of Body, Breath, and Mind, Chöd Practice in the Bon Tradition and Tibetan Yoga for Health and Well-Being.

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H. H. the 42nd Sakya Trizin, Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, & B. Alan Wallace in Conversation (#134)

Next Episode

Daniel A. Hirshberg: Nyingma Lore and Lineage (#136)

Ven. Bhikkhu Anālayo and Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche: Early Buddhism and Dzogchen (#133)

Posted January 21, 2022

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features a discussion with special guests Venerable Bhikkhu Anālayo and Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche.

Ven. Anālayo, Rinpoche, and host Daniel Aitken discuss many Buddhist ideas and practices, comparing what different Buddhist traditions have to say about them, including

how the Buddha practiced;
understanding mindfulness across different Buddhist traditions;
the difference between mindfulness and awareness and how we translate the original terms for these practices;
defining terms like space and emptiness and how we think about emptiness;
emptiness and compassion;
and much more.

Remember to subscribe to the Wisdom Podcast for more great conversations on Buddhism, meditation, and mindfulness. And please give us a 5-star rating in Apple Podcasts if you enjoy our show—it’s a great support to us and it helps other people find the podcast. Thank you!

About the Interviewee

Ven. Bhikkhu Anālayo is a scholar-monk who was born in Germany and ordained in Sri Lanka. He completed a PhD thesis on the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta at the University of Peradeniya in 2000, which was later published as Satipaṭṭhāna, the Direct Path to Realization. He is the author of numerous books on meditation and early Buddhism, such as Satipatthāna: The Direct Path to Realization, Perspectives on Satipatthāna, Satipatthāna Meditation: A Practice Guide, Superiority Conceit in Buddhist Traditions, and Rebirth in Early Buddhism and Current Research. He is a Faculty Member at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, co-founder of the Āgama Research Group, a resident scholar and core faculty member at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, and a member of the Numata Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Hamburg.

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche is the author of two bestselling books and oversees the Tergar Meditation Community, an international network of Buddhist meditation centers. He is the son of the renowned meditation master Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and was formally enthroned as the seventh incarnation of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche by Tai Situ Rinpoche when he was twelve years old. When he was twenty years old, Rinpoche was appointed as the functioning abbot of Sherab Ling Monastery. In addition to his extensive background in meditation and Buddhist philosophy, Mingyur Rinpoche has held a lifelong interest in psychology, physics, and neurology. He teaches regularly throughout Europe, North and South America, and Asia.