“This mind now is the dharma we have been looking for. Practicing the dharma means working with present appearances. Working with this mind now.”
Introduction to Buddhism is a 16-week cycle of teachings on introductory and foundational Buddhist topics, exploring the basic principles of Buddhism.
We often hear references to the three or more kāyas of the Buddha, but what are they and where are they? Hosted by Nalandabodhi Montréal, Mitra Karl Brunnhölzl taught an inspiring weekend workshop exploring the universe of the kāyas as presented in the Sūtrayāna and Mahayana traditions, as well as in the Vajrayana texts.
Christmas, New Year, all samsaric things like this naturally come. However, to practice Dharma, making a deep connection with our own mind, requires a lot of effort. Rather than turning inward, Lama Rabten Tshering noted that we tend to choose samsara– suffering. Why?
Engaging in self-reflection this way helps us to see things as they are, not as they seem. We invite ourselves to go deeper, to investigate our habitual patterns of judgment and values that we often take for granted. As we do so, we find that there is space there, a gap where we can decide how we want to proceed. We don’t have to be prisoners in our own mental cage.
“All there is, really, is the present moment. The past and future are both things that our thoughts can play with, but it is important to not get stuck in ideas of the past or the future. We need to focus on simply doing one thing right now.”
