Dharma Glimpses with Judy Lief

In Buddhism there is a lot of discussion about fixed views, which are traditionally described as a pairing of fixation (being stuck in our own particular approach) and grasping (trying to build up ou…

Discipline is what grounds meditation and study and connects them with our activities in the world  •  the Buddha said discipline should be like tuning a stringed instrument: if you wind a string too…

Loving kindness and compassion are two strong currents that run through the entire Buddhist path  •  they are directly intertwined with the two sides of meditation practice: shamatha, or taming the m…

According to the Buddha, all sentient beings have buddhanature or bodhichitta  •  Trungpa Rinpoche spoke in terms of having “enlightened genes” — we have the DNA of buddhanature within us  •  our nat…

Meditation is based on the understanding that the deepest nature of human beings—buddhanature—is the capacity to grow and flourish and awaken, to express kindness and generosity and compassion  •  me…

The teachings of karma are vast and profound, and they are central to the message of the Buddha  •  the term “karma” is often oversimplified, dumbed down, and intermingled with notions of blame and r…

The spirit of dharma is more about the process of investigating than it is coming up with the right answers  •  it’s based on a sense of genuine interest and curiosity about the situation we are in, …

What is meditation’s role in finding nirvana within samsara?  •   samsara moves very quickly; confusion arises instantaneously, exploding and expanding so rapidly that we are overwhelmed  •  sitting …

Today’s topic is about how our moment-to-moment habits and impulses congeal into solid psychological realities or realms of existence  •  the wheel of life depicts six such realms—gods, jealous gods,…

Another section of the wheel of life breaks things down into twelve steps, which illustrate how we perpetuate samsara  •  the first step is ignorance, which is represented by the image of a blind gra…

A traditional image in Tibetan Buddhism is called the wheel of life; it pictures our life as a wheel that rolls along, and that we keep pushing along • the wheel of life is held within the jaws of a …

Samsara and nirvana are two fundamental concepts that run throughout the Buddhist tradition  •  Trungpa Rinpoche said it is by discovering the truth of samsara that we discover nirvana  •  samsara re…

According to the Buddha, there are four main postures for meditation: sitting, walking, standing, and reclining  •  walking meditation is often a part of group meditation practice, where there is alt…

The universal experiences of birth, sickness, old age, and death can serve as our teachers, interrupting assumptions that are not helpful in our journey  •  they can open our eyes to the ways in whic…

On the surface, meditation is so simple, but somehow through that simplicity a lot of learning happens  •  we notice how our minds work, how we operate  •  it’s like inviting a mirror to help us see …

The buddhist tradition and training is not about adding anything; it’s about removing, or taking away  •  removing confusion, selfishness, conflicting emotions, ego fixation, ego absorption  •  when …

The human mind is unique in that it can observe itself  •  many buddhist teachings, including the teachings on ego, come from simply looking directly at the mind and taking an interest in what arises…

Ego isn’t so much a “thing” as it is a project — one that we’re very invested in, and one that is under constant threat  •  the ego is a construct or overlay, which is not that useful  •  however, be…

The idea of “ego” in buddhadharma is different from the notion of having a healthy ego boundary, which is often associated with a sense of self-confidence, resilience, and inner strength  •  in Buddh…

The assumptions we make about human nature are an essential part of the Buddhist path  •  the view of Buddhism is the opposite of the view of "original sin"; it is the view of original purity, of ori…