Pilgrimage changed my life, and in the last twenty years since my first adventure to the holy sites of the Buddha in Northern India when I was just twenty years old, I’ve had the fortune to embark on five other excursions. Now I lead pilgrimages to sacred sites all over Buddhist Asia,...
The Gradual PathĀ Blog
Lam Rim on the Road: Reflections on the Perfection of Generosity
Dec 04, 2021
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Dharma teachings sometimes happen in mysterious ways, masquerading as everyday occurrences or through the behavior of unlikely characters. Several years ago, while working with marginalized populations, a patient taught me a treasured lesson. I was caught off guard when they handed me a package,...
The Perfection of Virtue or Morality | Step 25 of Awakening in 30 Steps
Aug 10, 2021
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There are three types of morality:
1) Restraining from causing harm
2) Accumulating merit through virtue
3) Benefiting all sentient beings
Want an assignment? Look up the ten non-virtues and their opposites.
Using my snowflake model how is the perfection of morality connected and enhanced by...
Preciousness of Human Life Inspires Appreciation | Step 9 of Awakening in 30 Steps
Jul 20, 2021
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Life is beginingless and consciousness is infinite.
Over the course of evolution our karma has compelled us to ascended and descend to various pleasant and unpleasant states of existence. But fundamentally we have always been trapped in a condition of blindness, not knowing who we really are,...
The Mentor Bonding Process | Step 5
Jul 13, 2021
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Work with virtue and vice using the mentor-bonding process.
The engine of enlightenment is a sacred relationship.
It’s in the context of a close relational bond that we will eliminate vice, and cultivate virtue, and achieve enlightenment. No one makes it alone!
We must strike a balance, a...
Four Parts of Karma
Mar 03, 2021
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There are what are called the four parts of karma. We think of karma as one thing but karma is actually many things. Not only is karma cause but karma is also the effect. They come together. They are interdependent. You can't have a cause without an effect.
The root verb for karma in Sanskrit...
View & Virtue
Oct 06, 2020
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One of Tsongkhapa's big critiques is that you cannot arrive at enlightenment without a good start. Don't throw out your conceptual knowledge. Don't throw out your ability to reason your way to enlightenment.
Go back for a second to the image of meditation in our culture. What does it look like?...
