Pema Chodron - Working with Shenpa (Getting Hooked) in Meditation

THE SHENPA SYNDROME

Learning to Stay
Berkeley Shambhala Center - by Pema Chodron

I'm going to introduce you to a Tibetan word, and if you went and looked for teachings on this, you wouldn't find any —unless you have listened to the taped teachings of Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, whom I'm studying with. Or, if you had heard my talks from yarne last year— the Gampo Abbey winter retreat, I taught on this subject. But, other than that, I don't think it exists anywhere. It does exist, but in the way that I'm going to teach it I give full complete credit to Dzigar Kongtrul because he's the one who has given lots of teachings on this, continues to do so, and it's had a very strong influence on my life and on my teachings. But, most importantly, on my own life.

This is a teaching on a Tibetan word: shenpa. The usual translation of the word shenpa is attachment. If you were to look it up in a Tibetan dictionary, you would find that the definition was attachment. But the word "attachment" absolutely doesn't get at what it is. Dzigar Kongtrul said not to use that translation because it's incomplete, and it doesn't touch the magnitude of shenpa and the effect that it has on us.

Dalai Lama: Inner Peace, Happiness, God and Money

Loneliness, Relationships & Happiness

After many years contemplating "loneliness" I have come to realize that the feeling I label as "lonely" is the feeling that arises when I have abandoned myself. I know what to do to be happy. When I am not doing those things or even worse, doing things that I know will eventually lead me to suffering I have abandoned myself and thus I feel "lonely". So, when I feel "lonely" I ask myself, "What is undone in my life that I want done? Am I eating well, exercising, meditating? Is the house clean, laundry done and are the bills paid? Is my integrity intact throughout my life? Am I being the person I choose to be in life? Etc" Typically, when I focus on myself, be true to who I am and move toward what I want and love I feel "good" - I feel happy - which is the ultimate goal.

The Peaceful Minds Center Thought For the Week

“Upset is merely a state of mind not a state of life ...”
~ Tom Notarianni Jr

All About Water

Article written by Dr. Sears www.askdrsears.com/

WHY YOUR BODY NEEDS WATER
Over 50 percent of an adult's body is water; that figure goes as high as 75 percent in an infant. Blood is 80 percent water and even muscles are 70 percent water. The waterway flows through your body, delivers nutrients to cells and carries away waste. Water acts as your body's cooling system, moving heat to the skin surface where it evaporates away in sweat and breath. Water lubricates joints, softens skin, and makes muscles work more smoothly. If your body is temporarily short of water - a condition called "dehydration" - every organ in your body is affected.

Made A New Friend Today

The Peaceful Minds Center Thought For The Week

"To maintain a truly peaceful mind we must train our minds to think in a way that allows us, during important moments, to not think at all”

 ~ Tom Notarianni Jr.

AWAKENING

The Best Relationship

The best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other. 

Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama and Personal Responsibility

"The Dalai Lama's philosophy is in the deepest and widest possible sense a philosophy of peace.  The Dalai Lama has understood there will be no future worth living unless everyone now takes personal responsibility for their own inner lives and universal responsibility for the pain and misery in the world.  He has understood that none of the major terrible problems that threaten survival of the earth can be solved by merely institutional or political methods.  Humankind, to survive, must undergo a massive and unprecedented change of heart, an ordered and passionate spiritual revolution that changes forever our relation to each other and our relation to nature.  It is only from such a revolution that the new vision the planet so desperately needs can arise - a vision that sees the connections between every thought and every action, the relation between the obsession with the individual self and its hunger for false securities and every kind of exploitation that is ruining the world."  ~ Andrew Harvey

Doing The Laundry

Many years of introspection have led me to the realization that life is merely and profoundly about doing the laundry...

 ~ Tom Notarianni Jr.

The Best Motivational Video

The Peace Pilgrim

"You are now in control of your life. You see, the ego is never in control. The ego is controlled by wishes for comfort and convenience on the part of the body, by demands of the mind, and by outbursts of the emotions. But the higher nature controls the body and the mind and the emotions. I can say to my body, "Lie down there on that cement floor ... Read Moreand go to sleep," and it obeys. I can say to my mind, "Shut out everything else and concentrate on this job before you," and it's obedient. I can say to my emotions, "Be still, even in the face of this terrible situation," and they are still. It's a different way of living. The philosopher Thoreau wrote: If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps he hears a different drummer. And now you are following a different drummer--the higher nature instead of the lower."

The Tao Doesn't Avoid The World

Do you think that you can clear your mind by sitting constantly in silent meditation? This makes your mind narrow, not clear. Integral awareness is fluid and adaptable, present in all places and at all times. That is true meditation... The Tao is clear and simple, and it doesn't avoid the world. ~Lao Tzu

Truths

If you don't make a habit of admitting uncomfortable truths, the truth as a whole will elude you.


~ Thanissaro Bhikku