Encourage curiosity and questions. Create a sense of wonder and awe.
Build connections. Start dialogue. Promote conversation. Give them resources.
Send them on their way in search of an answer. Ask them to share their findings.
Challenge them to go deeper, see connections, draw out implications.
Ask them to contribute. What do they see? What questions do they still have?
Keep going.
Who's next?
Clarify your practice. Let your practice clarify you.
Showing posts with label teach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teach. Show all posts
Monday, February 29, 2016
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Space to fail.
My teacher, Younge Khachab Rinpoche, has been extremely generous with me.
He trusts me a lot, and I work hard because of that trust.
He told me back in 2006 to start a local Sangha in Seattle. I wasn't ready. Sure I knew the teachings, I knew the meditation techniques, I knew the uniqueness of the lineage and the impact these teachings have. I knew the mechanics, but I wasn't ready to lead. I was just settling into my own practice, how was I to lead and help others?
In 2007 we had a small, intimate group of Dharma practitioners. A close-knit Sangha that was committed to practice. Rinpoche told me to start a public meditation group. I wasn't ready. I was more comfortable leading a group. I was more comfortable setting a course and leading discussions, answering questions. But I wasn't ready to put myself out there.
In 2008 we started a public meditation group at Embrace the Moon. Kim Ivy was generous to open up her community, to provide us a space to do work that we were passionate about. That was a tremendous learning curve for me, to have to teach a wide variety of students with a diverse range of meditation experience. That experience is invaluable. That experience deepened my practice because I still had a lot of work to do.
Rinpoche, more than any other person I know, gave me the space to fail. He pushed me, tore down my boundaries. He never let me get comfortable. He always exposed me, made me vulnerable.
Trusting someone enough to give them the space to fail, what more of a guide could we hope for?
How do we be that person for those that come after us?
He trusts me a lot, and I work hard because of that trust.
He told me back in 2006 to start a local Sangha in Seattle. I wasn't ready. Sure I knew the teachings, I knew the meditation techniques, I knew the uniqueness of the lineage and the impact these teachings have. I knew the mechanics, but I wasn't ready to lead. I was just settling into my own practice, how was I to lead and help others?
In 2007 we had a small, intimate group of Dharma practitioners. A close-knit Sangha that was committed to practice. Rinpoche told me to start a public meditation group. I wasn't ready. I was more comfortable leading a group. I was more comfortable setting a course and leading discussions, answering questions. But I wasn't ready to put myself out there.
In 2008 we started a public meditation group at Embrace the Moon. Kim Ivy was generous to open up her community, to provide us a space to do work that we were passionate about. That was a tremendous learning curve for me, to have to teach a wide variety of students with a diverse range of meditation experience. That experience is invaluable. That experience deepened my practice because I still had a lot of work to do.
Rinpoche, more than any other person I know, gave me the space to fail. He pushed me, tore down my boundaries. He never let me get comfortable. He always exposed me, made me vulnerable.
Trusting someone enough to give them the space to fail, what more of a guide could we hope for?
How do we be that person for those that come after us?
Monday, May 19, 2014
Temporary and Final
Why do people meditate?
Is it to experience a calm mind? To rest in peace? Is it an escape from the constant turmoil and stress that pervades our day? Is it to experience blissful mental states and profound happiness?
The reason people meditate varies, but all of them can be summarized as being of temporary or final benefit.
All of the teachings given by the Buddha were simply meant to accomplish the welfare of beings. This welfare of beings is considered to be two-fold: the temporary goal of the joys of this life, a better future and a higher rebirth; and the final goal of complete freedom and total omniscience.
Many people strive diligently for the aims of this life in hopes of securing happiness and a better future. Actually, looking around that is pretty much the mold we are all made from. Rare indeed is it to encounter those who honestly seek out complete freedom and profound insight into the human condition.
Meditation can help you accomplish both. In the beginning in brings you great joy, frees you from suffering and discontentment. In the middle you abandon chasing temporary and fleeting apparitions and you encounter a deep sense of freedom and insight. In the end, you tirelessly work to accomplish the welfare of beings. Just like the Buddha.
Why do you meditate?
Is it to experience a calm mind? To rest in peace? Is it an escape from the constant turmoil and stress that pervades our day? Is it to experience blissful mental states and profound happiness?
The reason people meditate varies, but all of them can be summarized as being of temporary or final benefit.
All of the teachings given by the Buddha were simply meant to accomplish the welfare of beings. This welfare of beings is considered to be two-fold: the temporary goal of the joys of this life, a better future and a higher rebirth; and the final goal of complete freedom and total omniscience.
Many people strive diligently for the aims of this life in hopes of securing happiness and a better future. Actually, looking around that is pretty much the mold we are all made from. Rare indeed is it to encounter those who honestly seek out complete freedom and profound insight into the human condition.
Meditation can help you accomplish both. In the beginning in brings you great joy, frees you from suffering and discontentment. In the middle you abandon chasing temporary and fleeting apparitions and you encounter a deep sense of freedom and insight. In the end, you tirelessly work to accomplish the welfare of beings. Just like the Buddha.
Why do you meditate?
Friday, April 25, 2014
You could probably figure this out on your own.
Given the time, the discipline and the effort, you can learn and master anything. You can start with curiosity, learn, study, read and reflect. You could make mistakes, false starts and follow dead end paths. You could make outlines, throw them out, rewrite them, correct them and then go back to what you read and try to see if it all matches up.
You could do all of those things, and in the end you might succeed. You definitely would make progress and learn something.
Or you could consult an expert.
The expert could direct your efforts and attention to what is most worthwhile. She could give you a foundation of knowledge and understanding so that you can easily build a fortress of knowledge and experience. She would let you make mistakes, and then point out through your own experience how to improve.
Do this. Don't do that.
She will teach you how to connect the dots, draw out the implications. When you are focused on the what and how, she slips in the why. When your focus is narrow, she gives you the big picture. When doubt and uncertainty creep in, she makes the unreasonable seem reasonable.
You still need to put in the time, discipline and effort. You still need to make mistakes, go back and learn, reflect and contemplate. But you don't need to do it all by yourself.
Find yourself a good mentor. Ask questions. Listen. And do the work.
The best experts start out as amateurs.
You could do all of those things, and in the end you might succeed. You definitely would make progress and learn something.
Or you could consult an expert.
The expert could direct your efforts and attention to what is most worthwhile. She could give you a foundation of knowledge and understanding so that you can easily build a fortress of knowledge and experience. She would let you make mistakes, and then point out through your own experience how to improve.
Do this. Don't do that.
She will teach you how to connect the dots, draw out the implications. When you are focused on the what and how, she slips in the why. When your focus is narrow, she gives you the big picture. When doubt and uncertainty creep in, she makes the unreasonable seem reasonable.
You still need to put in the time, discipline and effort. You still need to make mistakes, go back and learn, reflect and contemplate. But you don't need to do it all by yourself.
Find yourself a good mentor. Ask questions. Listen. And do the work.
The best experts start out as amateurs.
Friday, April 11, 2014
Vairocana
OM AH HUNG BHAGAVAN VAIROCANA OM
Vairocana is one of the Five Family Buddhas.
His pure land is Akanishta, meaning Unsurpassed, representing the true nature of reality in which emptiness and dependent origination are inseparable. His color is white, representing the activity of pacifying conflict, disease, problems and obstacles. His hands are in the mudra of teaching the Dharma holding a Dharma Wheel, or Dharmacakra- representing the continual motion and change that forever turns and brings about transformation and development.
Vairocana is the Buddha that represents completely purified ignorance. Ignorance is like a blank dullness, that state of unknowing where we don't know what to do to make our life meaningful. Vairocana represents the transformation of that ignorance into the wisdom of the true nature of reality, thoroughly understanding the nature of our own mind and the world around us and how we are to unite compassion and wisdom in order to fulfill our own aims and the aims of others.
He rides a lion possessed with all the major and minor marks. The lion is the sovereign of all animals. His sovereignty is not appointed by divine right or out of self-righteousness or self-promotion, it is the rightful authority to act. To not act would be to fall from wisdom into the ignorance of selfishness and fear. In this way, the lion is an unerring source of refuge and protection, carrying the bewildered and confused into the peaceful grove of clarity and insight.
In regard to our own mind and self, Vairocana represents the aggregate of form. We are all very attached to our physical bodies; how we feel, how we look. Our fixation on our own condition and state lead us down the rabbit hole of self-grasping and ignorance, further intensifying our fear and discontentment. As we purify this self-grasping and transmute it into wisdom and insight, we are able to break free from the confines of our own limited view and understanding. We can embrace a larger scope.
When we deeply contemplate and integrate the wisdom and symbolism of Vairocana, we can learn how to transmute ignorance and selfishness into an opportunity for wisdom and purpose. We are able to step outside of fear, doubt and uncertainty. We attain the awakened form of the Buddhas that transcends the confines of place and time. The form or shape of our life is one in which we guide, teach and lead others out of confusion and habitual patterns into wisdom and clarity. Our body becomes like a rainbow- apparent yet empty of existing in any fixed manner- dancing like an illusion that carries out the benefit of others, teaching them how to overcome conflict and problems, setting out the path and providing the support and resources to embody their own awakened form.
To attain such a state would be unsurpassed- for not only would you have fulfilled your own aims, but you would have fulfilled the aims of others.
Go ride that lion.
Vairocana is one of the Five Family Buddhas.
His pure land is Akanishta, meaning Unsurpassed, representing the true nature of reality in which emptiness and dependent origination are inseparable. His color is white, representing the activity of pacifying conflict, disease, problems and obstacles. His hands are in the mudra of teaching the Dharma holding a Dharma Wheel, or Dharmacakra- representing the continual motion and change that forever turns and brings about transformation and development.
Vairocana is the Buddha that represents completely purified ignorance. Ignorance is like a blank dullness, that state of unknowing where we don't know what to do to make our life meaningful. Vairocana represents the transformation of that ignorance into the wisdom of the true nature of reality, thoroughly understanding the nature of our own mind and the world around us and how we are to unite compassion and wisdom in order to fulfill our own aims and the aims of others.
He rides a lion possessed with all the major and minor marks. The lion is the sovereign of all animals. His sovereignty is not appointed by divine right or out of self-righteousness or self-promotion, it is the rightful authority to act. To not act would be to fall from wisdom into the ignorance of selfishness and fear. In this way, the lion is an unerring source of refuge and protection, carrying the bewildered and confused into the peaceful grove of clarity and insight.
In regard to our own mind and self, Vairocana represents the aggregate of form. We are all very attached to our physical bodies; how we feel, how we look. Our fixation on our own condition and state lead us down the rabbit hole of self-grasping and ignorance, further intensifying our fear and discontentment. As we purify this self-grasping and transmute it into wisdom and insight, we are able to break free from the confines of our own limited view and understanding. We can embrace a larger scope.
When we deeply contemplate and integrate the wisdom and symbolism of Vairocana, we can learn how to transmute ignorance and selfishness into an opportunity for wisdom and purpose. We are able to step outside of fear, doubt and uncertainty. We attain the awakened form of the Buddhas that transcends the confines of place and time. The form or shape of our life is one in which we guide, teach and lead others out of confusion and habitual patterns into wisdom and clarity. Our body becomes like a rainbow- apparent yet empty of existing in any fixed manner- dancing like an illusion that carries out the benefit of others, teaching them how to overcome conflict and problems, setting out the path and providing the support and resources to embody their own awakened form.
To attain such a state would be unsurpassed- for not only would you have fulfilled your own aims, but you would have fulfilled the aims of others.
Go ride that lion.
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
What do teachers teach?
Does a good teacher teach you the method, the skills?
Is it all about the information?
Once you have gathered all the knowledge and can do the practice by rote, are you learned?
The best teachers teach you the path, the journey. They push you to your limits and then give you the resources and support needed to figure out how to break through them. They inspire you to look deeper.
They encourage the evidence based doubt of the scientist and the reason based doubt of the debater. They understand the value of a good question and teach you to be brave enough to ask it.
The truly great ones teach you how to carry the ball yourself. They show you how to bring your practice and knowledge into a new environment and still be able to connect the dots. They teach you how to stand up, shoulder the weight, and to do it with patience, kindness and generosity.
You should read Stop Stealing Dreams by Seth Godin, it redefines what school is for and lays out a new approach to teaching and learning.
Is it all about the information?
Once you have gathered all the knowledge and can do the practice by rote, are you learned?
The best teachers teach you the path, the journey. They push you to your limits and then give you the resources and support needed to figure out how to break through them. They inspire you to look deeper.
They encourage the evidence based doubt of the scientist and the reason based doubt of the debater. They understand the value of a good question and teach you to be brave enough to ask it.
The truly great ones teach you how to carry the ball yourself. They show you how to bring your practice and knowledge into a new environment and still be able to connect the dots. They teach you how to stand up, shoulder the weight, and to do it with patience, kindness and generosity.
You should read Stop Stealing Dreams by Seth Godin, it redefines what school is for and lays out a new approach to teaching and learning.
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