Welcome to guided poetry meditations with author and poet John Brehm. We’ve recorded these readings and provided them for your meditation because, as John writes in his introduction to The Poetry of Grief, Gratitude, and Reverence, “hearing a poem read aloud after a period of meditation can feel remarkably different—more resonant, more moving, more impactful—than simply reading it silently to yourself when you are in an ordinary state of mind. When you absorb a poem in the open, alert, highly sensitized state that meditation can induce, the words sink in more deeply, and we may experience the truth of what A. R. Ammons said, that ‘poetry is a verbal means to a non-verbal source,’ a way for language to take us beyond language, beyond thought, to something much richer and more mysterious.”
These meditations are 5, 10, or 20 minutes long and each includes John reading a poem shortly before the meditation period ends. We invite you to pause, take some time, create quiet space for reflection and, perhaps, rediscovery. As John notes in the appendix to The Poetry of Grief, Gratitude, and Reverence, “poetry helped me see.”
If you wish to hear John’s introduction on how to meditate with the poems, you can listen below.
“Those Winter Sundays,” Robert Hayden
“Song for the Turtles in the Gulf,” Linda Hogan
“Traveling through the Dark,” William Stafford
“Concurrence,” Denise Levertov
“What Meets the Eye,” Ruth Stone
“Putting in the Seed,” Robert Frost
“Morning, East Wallingford,” John Brehm
“See the Flowers,” Ranier Maria Rilke
“Fern, Coal, Diamond,” Arthur Sze
Thupten Jinpa: Mind Training (#191)
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This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat features special guest, Thupten Jinpa. Since 1985, Jinpa has been the principal translator to the Dalai Lama, accompanying him to the United States, Canada, and Europe. He is an accomplished author and translator. His Wisdom Publications credits include the Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics series, multiple titles in The Library of Tibetan Classics series, the Wisdom Academy courses Tsongkhapa’s Madhyamaka, How The Mind Works, and much more.
In this episode host Daniel Aitken and Jinpa discuss:
- his upcoming Wisdom Academy course Mind Training and the related book;
- the benefits of lojong and how he uses it in his daily life;
- the power of mantra;
- how to take a proactive stance with your emotions and self-awareness; and
- much more!
Wisdom Podcast listeners are invited to save $100 off Mind Training with code WPODMIND. Additionally, listeners can save 40% on Jinpa’s previous Wisdom Academy courses, Tsongkhapa’s Madhyamaka and How the Mind Works with code WPODJINPA through August 12.
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 helps other people find the podcast. Thank you!
