Lojong Introduction

This talk introduces a new topic, the Tibetan Buddhist Lojong trainings.  These trainings were developed around the year 1,000 C.E. to support integrating Buddhist principles and practices into daily life routines.  The core of Buddhist teaching is compassion, that is, the path leading to liberation from distress.  This core practice is integrated into Lojong through Tonglen, which is a Tibetan compassion meditation.  The most famous contemporary representative of the benefits of Lojong is Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama.

The talk provides an overview of the training; over the next several weeks, different training points will be explored.  Peter’s approach to this training is an attempt to make the archaic nature of the training aphorisms more understandable for contemporary American meditation students.

The notes prepared for this talk will be posted after this posting.

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Awakening With Tranquility

This dhamma dialogue continues the exploration of the seven factors of awakening, focused on passadhi, tranquility.  During the discussion, Peter explained the different categories where tranquility is placed in addition to a factor for awakening.  It’s function of balancing the awakening factor of energy was emphasized, focused on the peaceful quality of the “flow” of energy through different self-states.

Here are the notes prepared for this discussion:  AWAKENING WITH TRANQUILITY

Next week’s discussion will explore the awakening factor of concentration.

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