Skip to content

LEVEKUNST · art of life magazine

FINDING YOUR OWN SEAT

Remain for a little while in naturalness. According to you, this could a simple form of quietude, a gentle kindness, a relaxed and curious intelligence, or an awake and yet unattached open state of awareness.

HOW TO GROW A BIGGER HEART

There is such a need for bigger hearts, vast minds, for more tolerance, kindness and attitudes that includes everyone. We have enough racism and so many other way to exclude each other. We all know how painful it is to be the left out, to be the excluded or even the suppressed minority. Sometimes for absolutely no reason.

A LIFE WELL LIVED

Chadral Rinpoche encouraged us to recognize our ‘true nature,’ because absolutely nothing else will be of any use to us in the long run. This and this alone is the chief and crucial point. In recognizing and practicing, one brings into balance all other factors in one’s life.

A THREE-MINUTE MARY’S HEART MEDITATION

Sit, lie or stand just like that, for a moment. Two or three breaths. Now imagine, and it doesn’t matter if this is a clear image or just a thought, that Mary is present right here, with a big heart that just loves you unconditionally and deeply wants all the best for you.

THE HEART OF LO GEKAR

In The Heart of Lo Gekar, the ancient story is re-imagined from a woman’s point of view. In the hours after the battle ends, our heroine senses something more than conquest. She senses that the battle is not yet over. We follow her up the mountain trail where we see her find the demon’s heart, cast aside yet still beating, on the mountainside where the gompa will eventually rise.

WELCOME TO THE BEEHIVE BUS

In those moments, when my face is squished between someone’s butt-cheek on my left and someone else’s crotch on my right, I begin question my decision to live in Kathmandu. I start to get irritated. Do people not realize this is my face? Dear lord. Someone just farted.

ALLSONG

“You” are not more important than the lute, As “you” tend to misunderstand “yourself”. Your deepest fear, sadness, hope, those that you still have to recognize, are harmonic progressions in the One Song, The game of swirly rainbow music light that any protest or noise in your mind is made of. Any name, any forgetfulness, any drama of whatever tone, is a variation of the Rainbow Song.

INTRODUCTION TO GROUP STUDY OF SACRED BOOKS

Reading sections out loud invites us to delve deeper into the material. It is too easy to just skim over difficult material while reading by yourself but what you found difficult someone else probably did too. I’m always amazed in a class to learn what I read but didn’t really understand when someone inquires about it!

THE CO-EMERGING OF THE TANTRIC FEMININE & MASCULINE PRINCIPLES

When we all are more aware of these innate principles or qualities in us, we are able to benefit ourselves and others through a deeper understanding and a more cooperative, non-dualistic way of being in the world. When we isolate or separate the two, there is division, tension and competition. This duality can create anger, aggression, hatred, fear, dishonesty and many other mental and emotional disturbances.

DIGITAL DILEMMAS PART 1

There can be no doubt that our digital age has extraordinary and beneficial advantages but nothing in the material world comes to us without a price. What is the price of digital technology? Can we offset the dangers by being more aware or are we all inextricably caught up in this seemingly unstoppable electronic tide?

MEMORY AND IMPERMANENCE

Scientists studying memories have found that memories are a most creative affair, morphing over time and with each recalling, until they bear little resemblance to an actual event. Like everything else, memories are impermanent, making the very idea of them a bit self-oxymoronic.

AIM FOR BUDDHAHOOD IN THIS LIFETIME

Go for the highest goal, the real deal: full buddhahood in this lifetime. I’m not saying lower goals aren’t needed. The simplest meditation attainments help, of course. However, going for the highest goal opens more possibilities and yields more benefits you are probably not aware of.

CHANTING THE HEART SUTRA IN ENGLISH

Chanting creates a bridge between the understanding of the head and the understanding of the heart. It brings body, speech and mind together in one flowing gesture. It is a joyful thing to do, which naturally brings forth your dignity; effortlessly you sit straight up, you concentrate, you relax and go through the words without any hesitation.

My parents, in the mid-eighties, before I made their existence more complicated.

FOR MY MOM

I’ve spent these early adult years pursuing a listless nostalgia for a wholeness I couldn’t remember how to articulate. Being in the presence of the Dalai Lama reminded me that I never needed to look further than my own mother, who has shown me selfless love from the beginning.

ANCIENT MEDITATIONS FOR MODERN TIMES

Many ancient Asian meditation practices have come to the West since the early 60’s. But are they of benefit in this modern day and age? We have lost our groundedness and centeredness due to being more in our heads, we constantly ask why, how, who, what, when? And therefore we are always analyzing and over thinking things.

WHEN IT’S HARD TO BE COMPASSIONATE

How does one respond compassionately to the negative confusion that drives men to assault women — meaning, how can victims of assault respond in a way that mitigates negativity rather than perpetuates it? Given that the issue is systemic, it seems that angry, irritated, traumatized, or violent reactions are the only avenue available to us in face to face encounter.

UNDER THE KIND GAZE OF AMA YANGRI

In 2016 I was fortunate enough to visit several power places of Padmasambhava, spending some weeks in retreat at one, and doing meditation and puja at others. I will share some of my experiences in the hope of encouraging others to visit these holy sites which confer blessings even though one lacks faith or even interest.

WITHOUT EMOTION, THERE IS NO WAY TO PUT THINGS INTO EFFECT

One of my first questions to a teacher was about emotions. In my mistaken view, Buddhists were people who had subjugated all their conflicts, and so they lived continually in a state of equilibrium, which, for me, made them unshakable, but also somewhat insensitive. If I practiced Buddhism, would I become a person in total self-control, cold and without emotions?

WHEN THE LONE OWL CALLS

I lived less than a hundred meters away from an old village cremation ground and witnessed the unceasing flow of processions, sometimes weekly, sometimes monthly. The solemn groups of family, friends and community members who carried the deceased on their final journey to fires of dissolution all passed by my small abode.

LIVING LITERATURE: THE ART OF THE PUJA

Lowell Cook, poet and author based in Nepal writes on how it is to be part of a major transmission of knowledge in the Vajrayana tradition. It was a unique and historic event with Dharma students gathering from all corners of the world to receive the empowerments.