Dharma Glimpses with Judy Lief

I find it inspiring to discover wisdom in the midst of so many ordinary stories, even simple children's stories  •  the Wizard of Oz is one such story  •  the main character is Dorothy, whose life ch…

Buddha nature, or “enlightened genes,” isn’t something outside of us that we need to construct or to import  • it is a force of awakening that is within us, and it is quite simple and quite natural  …

Today we are exploring four traditional methods or practices we can use to awaken our enlightened genes  •  the first method is cultivating loving kindness, or maitri, which is a key theme in the mah…

In this episode we will be looking at the obstacles we might encounter in trying to awaken our enlightened genes, as well as situations that support their awakening  • Trungpa Rinpoche called the fir…

Buddhists are always talking about awakening, but what does that actually mean?  •  Trungpa Rinpoche taught that what is being awakened are our "enlightened genes" — a term which implies that awakeni…

An important transition point on the Buddhist path occurs between the foundational stage, where we focus on our own development, and the mahayana tradition, where the focus is directed toward the cul…

Meditation practice doesn’t happen in a vacuum; it happens in the context of our life, and our life situations can vary tremendously  •  in extreme situations it can be easy to lose our connection to…

Buddhism’s emphasis on facing the reality of suffering could lead to the perception that the Buddhist path is only focused on what's wrong; but the Buddha also taught how to free ourselves from suffe…

The teachings of the Buddha are often divided into three components: intelligence or discriminating awareness; discipline; and meditation  •  there can be so much emphasis on sitting practice that th…

It may seem odd to talk about the benefits of “don't know mind” in a tradition that places such value on learning and on study  •  it also may seem odd because in the Buddhist tradition there is a gr…

The Buddhist path includes many methods for reminding us to wake up — from our blurriness, our sleepiness, and the busyness and distractedness of life  •  it's easy to get lost in the woods; reminder…

Is there a way to make a sane relationship with our bad deeds and our regrets, to learn from them and to move on from them?  •  it's not easy to face up to all that we've done; it's not easy to find …

Early Buddhist meditators spent quite a lot of time alone in retreat in remote, rugged areas  •  as a result, they were very much in tune with the the five basic elements of earth, water, fire, wind,…

A common idea about the spiritual path is that it is punctuated by gigantic breakthroughs, by big revelations  •  but many deep and important insights don't come in that way; they come in through gli…

Through infusing mindfulness awareness into our everyday actions, we can invoke or evoke a magical quality of existence, a natural wisdom, which is known as “drala”  •  there is a famous line from th…

A large part of our reality involves talking, or working with our speech; it is one of the main ways we connect with our world  •  but our speech can also get us into a lot of trouble, including usin…

The image of remaining like a log comes up in a number of different traditional Buddhist texts  •  think of a log rotting slowly in an ancient forest — it just lies there placidly, providing sustenan…

In exploring the idea of transmission, we're looking into how the teachings are passed on, how the teachings are taught, and how the student can access the teachings  •  but what do we mean by transm…