In this modern society, we try very hard to avoid being alone with ourselves, and when we have free time we fill it with texting or social media. We are so scared to face our neurosis. Practice is a training so we are more and more comfortable in our own company. It starts when we sit down on our butts to do practice the first time.
Here is a meditation song to sing right after waking up. Such a song can resonate into every moment, every action, and give strength to make a day better by connecting with love and genuine presence. It comes from Padmasambhava, and the tune is original, the same as Tulku Urgyen sang in Tibetan, but the words are translated into English. Erik and I just recorded it this morning after waking up. Everyone is invited to use the song.
For almost all countries that Buddhism came to, it was a force of civilization. Japan, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Tibet, Mongolia, all got their written languages from Buddhist scholar-missionaries. But not China. China was a civilized country at the time, with its own language and literature when Buddhism arrived.
Chogyam Trungpa creates a subtle link to the power of this Shambhala ancestral sovereign and that is why I was interested in exploring, on this latest journey to the Forbidden City. But the best part of the story was in something special the emperor created and also that he gave the 5th Karmapa something that links Chinese history to the Kagyu lineage forever. My journey there is part of that link.
Windhorse is the energy of the present moment, which contains this force because it is the only time we can feel basic goodness. —Sakyong Mipham.
Zombiism is a word that encapsulates the rise of a modern trend; the age of the living dead. When having too much of everything has simply overwhelmed the senses and left an awful lot of people in a semi-conscious state.
To understand Bhutan, you must know Padmasambhava, affectionately known as Guru Rinpoche, who brought Buddhism here in the eighth century. He is the backbone of Bhutanese culture.