37 Practices

Pende

Every experience has infinite dimensions. Can you experience all of them without struggling against any of them? If you can, then suffering comes to an end - so obvious, so simple, so deep, and so wonderful.
-Ken Mcleod 

Introduction 37 Practices

Rely on silence! You become aware of a silence - a silence that is always there, even in your darkest moments, a silence that includes everything and cannot be fathomed, a silence that allows you to listen to your heart, your body and your mind in a way you did not know was possible. Rely on Silence! - Ken Mcleod

37 Practices - Verse 1-3

Compassion isn't some kind of self-improvement project or ideal that we're trying to live up to. Having compassion starts and ends with having compassion for all those unwanted parts of ourselves, all those imperfections that we don't even want to look at.

37 Practices - Homage To Compassion

Give up your life. Give it all up. Do not base your life on what can be taken away from you - wealth, possessions, health, family, friends, fame, respect, even your own life. If you have those, savor them, knowing that they all must come to an end. But do not base your life on holding on to them. - Ken Mcleod

37 Practices - Verse 4-7

Forget about being good or bad. Bring attention to your life. Experience what is actually happening in you. Know what you are doing and how it affects others. - Ken Mcleod

37 Practices, Verse 8-9

Look again and again at what cannot be seen. At some point you see nothing - you really see nothing. You know, through your own experience, that there is no you in you, no fixed point, nothing. That experience makes all the difference. - Ken Mcleod

37 Practices - Verse 28-30

The whole point of meditation or prayer or whatever we are trying to do is to discover the fundamental principle of human nature, to go into this deep nature, to touch our mind, the fundamental principle of totality, nonduality. The moment we reach this experience there is no room for heavy concepts, heavy emotions or sentimentality. Just be! At the moment of this experience, there are no concepts labeled by the dualistic mind. At such a time there is no Buddha, no God, no heaven or hell. Just being - the great peace, the great satisfaction. - Lama Yeshe

Already home - part 1

No matter what kind of consciousness we might consider, the clear light of innermost awareness pervades it. Ice, even when it is solid and very hard, does not pass beyond the nature of water. In the same way, no matter how gross, tough, or coarse conceptions might be, the place from which they dawn and the place into which they vanish when we no longer think them does not pass beyond innermost awareness. - Dalai Lama

Already home - part 2

It is important to have a structure for your daily meditation practice which is inspiring and wholesome. Stephan Pende helps you to find your own style in your practice. Our meditation practice can be effortless and joyful.

Structure of a daily meditation practice

Chitta means “mind” and also “heart” or “attitude.” Bodhi means “awake,” “enlightened,” or “completely open.” Sometimes the completely open heart and mind of bodhichitta is called the soft spot, a place as vulnerable and tender as an open wound. It is equated, in part, with our ability to love. Even the cruelest people have this soft spot. Even the most vicious animals love their offspring. As Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche put it, “Everybody loves something, even if it’s only tortillas.” - Pema Chodron

Bodhicitta - The Essence of Awakening

Stephan Wormland, MA in clinical psychology and trained in Gestalt therapy. He has studied and practiced meditation in multiple Buddhist traditions for over 30 years and spent altogether 5 years in meditation retreats. Stephan was a monk in the Tibetan tradition for 11 years and teaches meditation in Buddhist centers in Europe.

37 Practices - Verse 28-30

Natural Meditation podcast