I'm putting a new podcast out into the world. On Anchor. Please go find it. Search for "Scharpening the Mind" or just my name. Thank youبقلم Daniel Scharpenburg

Generosity, Virtue, Patience, Diligence, Concentration, Wisdom.To donate by Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/DanielScharpenburgMy Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/DanielSchMy Books: https://danielscharpenburg.com/books/My blog: https://danielscharpenburg.com/بقلم Daniel Scharpenburg

Student goes to Master Ma and says, "I want you to teach me" Master Ma says, "You already have the greatest treasure within you."What can this story tell us about ourselves?بقلم Daniel Scharpenburg

Some monks were afraid of ghosts in the woods. They went to the Buddha and asked what they should do. The Buddha offered Kindness as an antidote to fear.بقلم Daniel Scharpenburg

Compassion! by Daniel Scharpenburgبقلم Daniel Scharpenburg

Is Buddhism Simple? Why or Why Not?بقلم Daniel Scharpenburg

The Four Immeasurables are a list of virtues that are said to help us counteract negative mental states.بقلم Daniel Scharpenburg

What Are We Talking About When We Talk About Zen by Daniel Scharpenburgبقلم Daniel Scharpenburg

Godless Mystic: the Buddha's Journey by Daniel Scharpenburgبقلم Daniel Scharpenburg

The Way Out of Suffering by Daniel Scharpenburgبقلم Daniel Scharpenburg

What defilement could ever arise? by Daniel Scharpenburgبقلم Daniel Scharpenburg

Be Real and Live Your Best Life by Daniel Scharpenburgبقلم Daniel Scharpenburg

Patience by Daniel Scharpenburgبقلم Daniel Scharpenburg

"They just didn't recognize their Buddha nature when they saw it." by Daniel Scharpenburgبقلم Daniel Scharpenburg

The Essence of Things-Just-Like-This by Daniel Scharpenburgبقلم Daniel Scharpenburg

Community, nature, love.Are we on the right path ?bringing oneself back to the center.

Uber interviews, sex , truth , love, the art of not giving a fuck , the Buddha and some spoken word .Woodstock is still very alive in some parts of the world we stumbled ACROSS a couple getting down in the middle of the streets of the Bay ...

Taking this man on a tour while picking his brain and getting down to the core of our society.

Picked up this Gorgeous man, 6,3 wearing a fine suit in the middle of a little surf town called Byron BAY AUSTRALIA :) we got down to it pretty quick and ladies I suggest you act just as fast because this man is amazing inside and out ! He spills all about the heart and what makes a man happy :) I'll tag him in the post so you can check him out! yo…

Uber PODCAST! unscripted I pick up random people of the streets and interview them about the world as it is today ???meet Ruby !!! an absolute legend blows us away with her forward thinking on Reality xo

Master Nice Guy by Daniel Scharpenburgبقلم Daniel Scharpenburg

this is a guided meditation designed to help us cultivate loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimityبقلم Daniel Scharpenburg

chapters 1 & 2 byJack Black

Autobiography have a career Criminal

Follwing the silent meditation, Alan gets to a few remaining questions, including one about his experience with Shambala and Kalachakra. A fascinating discussion and series of stories follows. Meditation starts at: 0:05بقلم B. Alan Wallace

Before the silent meditation, Alan mentions a few points about Bodichitta. After the silent meditation, we go back to the last few aphorisms of the Lo-Jong. We finish the Seven Point Mind Training with a quote from Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche... and then go back to the very first aphorism of the Lo-Jong: the preliminaries. Meditation starts at: 03:21 (…

Before the session's meditation, Alan raises the issue of retreat and expedition for after the retreat is over. After the meditation, there are a few questions about the relevance of doing short-term retreats in Dzogchen/Mahamudra/Vajrayana; is it worthwhile to chase after lamas, teachings and empowerments? How to live in the modern world after a l…

Meditation front loading: The porousness of the mind. It is possible that influences can go both into and out from the mind. Like when praying to your guru and getting a response. Does the response come from the guru or from a deeper aspect of your own mind? All that matters is that the advice is taking you further along the path. So in practice of…

Silent session, followed by one question regarding the origin of people within a lucid dream. They all stem from the substrate consciousness. Even when lucid, they are not puppets on your string. As the relative dharmadhatu has no clear boundaries, it is porous so it is possible for a visitation to occur. There are accounts of people having visions…

From the seventh point of Atisha's mind training: 'Adopt the three principle causes' These causes are: 1. Following a qualified mentor - Alan told the story of the first person to encounter the Buddha. - Alan taught that we should see through the person and not reify them (or ourselves). Seeing all teachers equally whether it be as a emissary of th…

This practice is a variation for shamatha without a sign. The method this morning being balancing earth with sky: shamatha with support, with quasi support and without support. Alan taught more on what rigpa is (and what it is not) and on the analogies with dream yoga. Meditation starts at: 13:18 (silent, not recorded)…

Alan begins with two quotes from William James regarding aspiration. The guided meditation is on developing your personal aspirations and the causes to fulfill them. Discussion of Aspiring Bodhicitta and engaging Bodhicitta. Within engaging Bodhicitta, shepherd like Bodhicitta, Navigating Bodhicitta, and King like Bodhicitta. Alan continues with th…

As you merge the mind with space, maintain a flow of knowing of the sheer absence of thought. It is a knowing of emptiness that can lead to an open expanse. Meditation starts at: 6:40 (silent, not recorded)بقلم B. Alan Wallace

Tonight the meditation is front loaded by looking at two ways we can view the adversity that will no doubt effect us and those we see as belonging to us. Firstly, non lucidly with relative bodhichitta which still has an element of self centeredness, or secondly with ultimate bodhichitta, the view from the bardo, from emptiness or from rigpa. After …

In this short session Alan front loads our week of meditation practice speaking of how we can rollback the layers of conceptual overlay to conceptual and then primal mentation - the first raw sense of presence different from space. This too can be melted away to the substrate consciousness. Meditation starts at: 10:15 (silent, not recorded)…

Tonight we return to the meditation on the two bodhicittas. Before the silent meditation, Alan give a short preamble on the importance of motivation for one's practice. Once one engages in any virtuous practice such as meditation, charity work or any other type of work for others, one accumulates merit. But how this merit will manifest will depend …

This morning we have our last silent meditation in the second cycle of Shamatha without a sign. Alan gives a short preamble, stressing the importance of having contentment in once's practice: knowing right in the moment of the practice that one does it correctly and taking satisfaction in it. Also, having deep faith that one can, in fact, achieve S…

The session starts with a silent meditation on the two Bodhichittas. After the meditation, Alan talks about ultimate and relative bodhichitta and their connection. Next, we go to the subject of lucid dreaming: 1) waking induced lucid dream, 2) dreaming induced lucid dream, and 3) state check and prospective memory/mindfulness. Then the Lojong is fu…

The session starts with a short explanation of today's meditation (silent meditation, not recorded), a variation of Shamatha without a sign as taught by Padmasambhava. After the meditation, Alan talks about the significance of Shamatha on the Path and how to deal with all the suffering of which we become more and more aware as we expand our awarene…

The two bodhicittas may seem incompatible, if there is not someone really there, then how to feel compassion? From the other side, when seeing someone in anguish, it seems so real. This is falling to the extremes of nihilism and substantialism, as we deepen the practice the two enhance each other. From ultimate bodhicitta, we realise the lack of in…

From the substrate, which is in the nature of delusion, a stirring of karmic energies eventually leads to the full elaboration of conceptual designation, everything crystallising in its place with its defined borders. In this practice we are trying to roll this back by oscillating between inquiry (who is the agent) and relaxation. All actions perfo…

Before the meditation Alan discusses from which perspective you can do the tong-len practice - from your ordinary self or from the platform of Avolokishrvara. Alan explains how shamatha can be developed in the context of stage of generation practice. After the meditation Alan continues with the fifth point of the text - 'The whole of Dharma is synt…

For the practices of awareness of awareness, Alan begins by saying to release your awareness into space with no object, then let awareness of beginning ware be most explicit. Then begin the oscillation. Meditation starts at: 8:30 (silent, front loaded at start of session) Alan discusses the inner and outer mandala - the inner and outer conditions f…

Meditation – continue as described yesterday with one meditation on ultimate Bodhicitta and one on relative Bodhicitta. Continuation of the discussion on transmuting the death process. If have habitual practice of converting adversity into the path then when the final adversity of death arises you will be able to convert that. During the dying proc…

We lock onto an object, reify it and then attachment or aversion arises. The discovery model allows the mind to heal itself by doing nothing but maintaining cognizance. Discussion of blessings arising from Buddha nature. Meditation – Rest for a while without grasping. As the clarity and warmth of awareness becomes really obvious then explicitly att…

Alan again front loads the meditation by comparing Atisha's Lam Rim texts and Seven Point Mind Training text and the role of discursive meditation in both. We can be encouraged that although Ultimate and Relative Bodichitta might seem high and complex ideals we have already begun training our minds in each of these with our range of meditations. Af…

Alan front loads this session by looking at the difference between this practice and Dzogchen - grasping - and looks at how practice is ideally couched in a supportive way of life. After the meditation session Alan shares with us Atisha's list of complete conditions for achieving Shamatha, starting with the outer conditions. This takes us naturally…

Today's evening session begins with the continuation of the discussion on the power of prayer and blessings. Alan gives a few examples of how blessings work and their possible bandwidth and draws analogies with the so-called placebo effect. After that, we move onto a beautiful practice of the stage of generation of Avalokiteshvara - the embodiment …