Dharma Glimpses with Judy Lief
173 episodes - English - Latest episode: 2 days ago - ★★★★★ - 41 ratingsDHARMA GLIMPSES is an introduction to The Profound Treasury teachings of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, taught by Judy Lief. In these short, accessible talks, Judy invites listeners to explore the subtleties and delights of the Buddhist path of meditation and insight. She introduces listeners to some of the key ways that mark Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche's unique and brilliant exposition of the dharma in the context of contemporary Western society.
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Episodes
Episode 170: The Eightfold Path
April 23, 2024 12:00 - 8 minutes - 6.13 MBThe Eightfold Path is one of the early teachings the Buddha gave after his enlightenment • they are guidelines for living in accordance with the Dharma; they are guidelines for how to comport yourself, how to relate to one another, how to be in the world in a way that's more wise, more skillful, and more accurate • the first of the eight is right VIEW — cultivating clearer seeing, cultivating the ability to see for yourself, be curious, and to look deeply into the nature of your experien...
Episode 169: Back to Square One
April 16, 2024 12:00 - 7 minutes - 5.16 MBAs a student of Chögyam Trungpa, I heard the phrase “back to square one” quite a lot • he implied that doing something over and over again is very important — in our dharma practice, in our meditation, and in our studies • throughout his teachings, Trungpa Rinpoche put a great deal of emphasis on building a strong foundation, and on going back to the very earliest teachings of the Buddha, in particular to the teachings of the Four Noble Truths: the reality of suffering, the causes of suf...
Episode 168: Getting Somewhere
April 09, 2024 12:00 - 6 minutes - 4.78 MBBuddhism is often referred to as a path; not as a set of beliefs or a doctrine, but as a trail, a path, a walkway • it's a direction, or a guideline, or a map of sorts; you have an idea of trying to get somewhere, but you can't see where the destination is • so there's a quality of faith that if you walk along this path, you'll get where you'd like to go • walking on a path teaches you about your own resilience, your own strengths, your own fears and hesitations • you're confronted wit...
Episode 167: The Power of Walking
April 02, 2024 12:00 - 7 minutes - 5.19 MBWalking meditation is often introduced in the context of group practice: you're sitting and a gong rings, and then you stand up and begin walking; then another gong rings and you go back to sitting • this brings up a couple of interesting things • how do we transition from one state to another without losing it and needing to regroup on some subtle level? • we are brought face to face with the challenge of having a more continuous sense of mindfulness and awareness, rather than turning...
Episode 166: Walking Meditation
March 26, 2024 12:00 - 7 minutes - 5.16 MBIn this episode I'd like to explore the topic of walking meditation • in some ways walking meditation is a link between stillness and movement; it is a bridge between the quiet and peaceful state of sitting meditation and the activities of daily life • but in walking meditation, we're not trying to get somewhere; the walking itself is the point • in walking meditation, you place your attention on the contact of your feet with the earth or the floor • you pay attention as your balance...
Episode 165: Up To You
March 19, 2024 12:00 - 6 minutes - 4.63 MBIn this episode I'd like to explore the role of self reliance on the Buddhist path • the basic idea is that nobody can walk your path for you; even if we encounter the wisest teachers and most supportive community that ever existed, fundamentally, at some very deep level, each of us is on our own • we must confront our own mind, our own emotions, our own habits; each of us must discover what this journey of awakening is all about • the quality of self reliance is very much related to a...
Episode 164: Hidden In Plain Sight
March 12, 2024 12:00 - 7 minutes - 4.95 MBToday I'd like to explore the question of sacredness • there is a tendency to think that there are certain special things in life that are sacred, and then there's the rest of life, which is secular • is sacredness something that exists out there, or do we decide what is sacred? • in Buddhism there's an emphasis on seeing sacredness in the most mundane aspects of our ordinary life • viewing things with a sacred outlook has the power to reconnect us with a quality of wonder, a quality...
Episode 163: Tsk-tsk
March 05, 2024 13:00 - 6 minutes - 4.18 MBThis episode focuses on the faults and shortcomings we see in ourselves and in other beings: how do we become friends with ourselves, with all our faults, without excusing them and without concealing them? • why is it so easy to see everybody else's faults and so hard to look at our own? • I was inspired in part by a traditional poem called “Calling to the Gurus from Afar”; it's an example of a student being willing to show up as they are • here is the stanza I’m referring to: “My fau...
Episode 162: The Six Points of Mindful Speech
February 27, 2024 13:00 - 9 minutes - 6.32 MBIn this episode, I'd like to focus on meditation in action, and particularly on speech • in Buddhism there is a tremendous respect for the spoken word • speech is powerful; it can be beneficial, and it also can be harmful • because speech plays such a large role in our lives, it is an excellent basis for meditation in action, for cultivating our mindfulness and awareness • so I'd like to introduce what are called the six points of mindful speech — six things to pay attention to when y...
Episode 161: No Friendliness, No Path
February 20, 2024 13:00 - 6 minutes - 4.6 MBLoving kindness – known in Sanskrit as maitri – is a cornerstone of the entire Buddhist path • without loving kindness, no matter how much you meditate or how much you study the dharma, it will lack ultimate value • maitri is the valve through which the power of the dharma can flow • it is the foundation of true spiritual practice; it is transformative; and it is fundamental to our human nature • yet, ironically, it's easy to lose our connection, to lose that sense of the heart of th...
Episode 160: Don't Be So Gullible
February 13, 2024 13:00 - 7 minutes - 4.91 MBWhen Trungpa Rinpoche spoke about the importance of joining intellect and intuition, he was referring to combining learning and study with the practice of meditation • the practice of meditation helps us to overcome the chaos of conflicting emotions, while learning or sharpening the intellect leads to gentleness • the idea of learning in this case isn't necessarily about acquiring large amounts of of information; it is about cultivating an inquisitive mind • first you need to listen an...
Episode 159: Our Portable Stage
February 06, 2024 13:00 - 6 minutes - 4.72 MBWhen you go to a play, you see people who are pretending to be other people; they learn their lines and move about in scripted ways • they perform on a stage, and in front of the stage is an audience, people watching a little world unfold in front of them • so there are the actors, the audience, and the relationship between the two • Trungpa Rinpoche suggested that we're not all that different from actors on a stage • he used the metaphor of a “portable stage” that we carry around wi...
Episode 158: The Row, Row, Row Your Boat Sutra
January 30, 2024 13:00 - 6 minutes - 4.71 MBOne of my favorite nursery rhymes contains quite a bit of wisdom: “Row row, row, row your boat gently down the stream; merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream” • if we think of the stream as a stream of teachings, then we could consider the Buddha as the source of the stream • from that beginning a great river continues to flow over thousands of years • where does this stream flow? It flows into an ocean, which you could say is the awakening of the practitioner • you have a bo...
Episode 157: When You Lose Your Mind, Come Back
January 23, 2024 13:00 - 7 minutes - 5.21 MBThe phrase, “When you lose your mind, come back” describes a lot of what happens in meditation: repeatedly losing our minds, and repeatedly bringing ourselves back • the moment we’ve noticed we’ve lost it is the moment we can return • what are we returning to? the simplicity of the present moment • another phrase Trungpa Rinpoche used quite a lot was, “Don’t think too much” • what are the benefits and what are the limits of thinking and conceptual understanding? • in the Buddhist t...
Episode 156: Strength and Vulnerability
January 16, 2024 13:00 - 9 minutes - 6.31 MBAt our core is our tender heart, tinged with a touch of sadness • it is sweet and vulnerable • this soft spot may be deeply buried, but it is always there • even very simple or momentary experiences can connect us with this heart: you might watch a pair of swallows fly back and forth, over and over, bringing food to their hungry chicks, and something melts or softens in you • it is so beautiful to be touched in this way; but this inner core of tenderness can also make us feel threaten...
Episode 155: Three Aspects of Space
January 09, 2024 13:00 - 7 minutes - 5.18 MBTrungpa Rinpoche emphasized the importance of understanding space; he encouraged us to explore our experiences of boredom, our discomfort with stillness, and our tendency to fill space • he taught that the basic energy pervading all of space is love and kindness; so to cultivate greater kindness and love, it is important to relate to space and its qualities • he introduced three aspects or qualities of space • the first is that space is indestructible, because it doesn't come from anyw...
Episode 154: Space
January 02, 2024 13:00 - 7 minutes - 5.34 MBToday I'd like to explore the topic of space • the idea of space as it relates to meditation practice is connected with the notion of “gap” — noticing gaps at the end of each outbreath, noticing the little refreshing moments between things, which we often miss • our connection with space can be an almost embodied or physical sense of things: we can sense when a space seems threatening or welcoming • we can begin to explore our relationship with space very simply by noticing our tendenc...
Episode 153: Walls
December 26, 2023 13:00 - 7 minutes - 5.12 MBIn this episode, I'd like to explore the idea of walls — our internal walls, as well as the walls we create between ourselves and others • we're told we need to have clear boundaries; at the same time, we have the challenge of how to bridge the gap between self and others • the wall between ourselves and others is not always so visible; it can take us by surprise as we try to connect in some way • there are times when we deliberately create walls: when we are developing a meditation pra...
Episode 152: Peace
December 19, 2023 13:00 - 6 minutes - 4.67 MBI've been thinking a lot recently about peace, especially the Buddhist view of peace • it's one of those ironic things: throughout history people have longed for peace and prayed for peace, yet we seem unable to free ourselves from conflict, war and struggle • what’s more, our desire for peace can actually manifest as aggression: “if I can defeat my enemy, then I'll be able to finally have some peace” • when we talk about peace, what do we really mean? how is peace talked about in diff...
Episode 151: Energies of Engagement
December 12, 2023 13:00 - 7 minutes - 5.47 MBBuddhist training has two sides, somewhat parallel to pure science and applied science • there is the meditation aspect, the inward journey; and there is the application of that in the world, or meditation in action • we all have the capacity to help; we all have the capacity to cultivate compassion and also to cultivate wisdom and insight, so that compassion is intelligent • but each of us has to find our own way to engage • according to the Buddhist teachings, there are five fundam...
Episode 150: Joy
December 05, 2023 13:00 - 7 minutes - 5.18 MBLately I've been thinking about the slogan, “Always maintain only a joyful mind” • at the same time, I've been haunted by the teachings that describe samsara, the nature of reality, as an ocean of suffering • if the world is marked by endless suffering, how can you be joyful? and if the world is fundamentally good and wholesome, how do you account for suffering? • the Buddha's earliest teachings on the Four Noble Truths — suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, ...
Episode 149: Disappointment
November 28, 2023 13:00 - 6 minutes - 4.46 MBIn this episode, I'd like to explore such things as resistance, avoidance, procrastination — and why it’s so hard to keep going • I think such things are connected with expectations and its partner, disappointment • in one form or another, or at one time or another, I think most of us have had these kinds of experiences • but we don't need to view such things as character flaws or annoying obstacles; they actually are an important part of the whole spiritual path • if you never felt ...
Episode 148: Holding It Together
November 21, 2023 13:00 - 6 minutes - 4.69 MBThis episode is about groundlessness and uncertainty • how do we respond when we are no longer on familiar ground, when we feel insecure? • it can feel so uncomfortable that we might begin to panic; and often, when we reach that point, we scramble — we scramble to find some new secure ground to replace the one that we have left • so we go on a search to find some basis that is reliable, something we can count on, some sense of solidity • sometimes meditation is taught as a way to fin...
Episode 147: Mahayana Mentality
November 15, 2023 02:00 - 7 minutes - 5.24 MBOne function of meditation practice is the quality of exposing and uncovering what's going on inside our thoughts and feelings • when we practice, the basic fundamental pattern that becomes obvious is how much our thinking revolves around our own needs and wants and desires • we look at what is there without judgment, without being embarrassed, without trying to prove anything • all of this provides ground for what Trungpa Rinpoche referred to as cultivating a Mahayana mentality — a me...
Episode 146: Mahayana Mentality
November 15, 2023 02:00 - 7 minutes - 5.24 MBOne function of meditation practice is the quality of exposing and uncovering what's going on inside our thoughts and feelings • when we practice, the basic fundamental pattern that becomes obvious is how much our thinking revolves around our own needs and wants and desires • we look at what is there without judgment, without being embarrassed, without trying to prove anything • all of this provides ground for what Trungpa Rinpoche referred to as cultivating a Mahayana mentality — a me...
Episode 146: Five Powerful Supports
November 07, 2023 13:00 - 7 minutes - 5.03 MBThe “five powers” are five supports for your practice • they are: determination, familiarization, seed of virtue, remorse, and aspiration • with determination, you're willing to do what it takes to get from here to there; it is connected with having some sense of why we're doing this all together; with determination, we just keep going • familiarization is becoming familiar with our own potential of awakened heart, becoming familiar with our patterns of confusion and awake • it is ge...
Episode 145: Grasping, Greed, Hatred and Ignorance
October 31, 2023 12:00 - 8 minutes - 5.81 MBAll beings truly want to be happy and content; so why do we continually and repeatedly create situations for ourselves and others that only lead to greater suffering? • so many large-scale problems in the world, such as warfare, famine, hatred, injustice, poverty, can be traced back to just four simple patterns: grasping, greed, hatred and ignorance • they are tricky, because they start out so simply and innocently • for instance, with grasping, maybe we're window shopping and we see a ...
Episode 144: Possibilities
October 24, 2023 12:00 - 6 minutes - 4.62 MBMany classical Buddhist texts on meditation say that the best place to meditate or to practice is a quiet place in the forest, free from distractions, pleasant and refreshing • but what if you're a busy mother? what if you're struggling to pay the bills by taking on three jobs? what if you're dealing with a chronic illness? what then? • if we spend all of our time resenting the circumstances we're in, we will be frozen and unable to do anything • at some point we simply have to surrend...
Episode 143: Small Thoughts, Big Consequences
October 18, 2023 00:00 - 7 minutes - 5.03 MBIn Buddhist psychology, even large scale events and large emotional upheavals can be traced back step-by-step to simple little things • just a thought, just an idea, just a memory, just a little emotional undertone can quickly expand and expand until it's out of control • you could view this as bad news in seeing how quickly things escalate beyond our control, or you could think of this as good news in that even difficult and intense situations can be traced back and we can unravel them,...
Episode 142: Trading Places
October 10, 2023 12:00 - 8 minutes - 5.85 MBThe Mahayana path, the path of the Bodhisattva warrior of wisdom and compassion, has a great deal to do with how we relate to ourselves and to one another • what kind of others do we include in our world? • what kind of underlying feelings do we honestly have about the people in our lives and the people we encounter? • everybody is worthy of our attention, but usually we engage in a lot of picking and choosing: who is worthy of our attention and who is not • the practice I want to br...
Episode 141: An Outrageous Idea
October 03, 2023 12:00 - 7 minutes - 5.11 MBThe Mahayana, or open path, is the path of the Bodhisattva — the enlightened warrior of wisdom and compassion • at the core of the Mahayana path is an outrageous vow, called the Bodhisattva vow, where we vow to emulate the great Bodhisattvas of wisdom and compassionate action • the Bodhisattva vow, conventionally speaking, makes no sense at all • you vow to save all sentient beings as vast as they are throughout space and time • you might think, that's pretty darn presumptuous to mak...
Episode 140: In Praise of Inefficiency
September 26, 2023 12:00 - 7 minutes - 5.24 MBThis period of history has been marked by incredible leaps in efficiency: things that used to take a great deal of time and effort can get done more quickly and easily than ever • but there are whole areas of reality that can't be accessed by efficiency, no matter how quick or clever or speedy we are • in fact, the harder we try and the speedier we get, the further away we are • there's a value, at least once in a while, of taking a break from trying to be efficient, from trying to get...
Episode 139: Filters, Frames and Blind Spots
September 19, 2023 12:00 - 8 minutes - 5.62 MBIn Buddhist psychology, a lot of emphasis is placed on the process of perception because the way we perceive —and misperceive — has tremendous consequences • in grade school we are taught an oversimplified view of what it means to have a sense perception: there's an object out there, and there's the eyeball, and the brain, and boom, just like that, a perception • you might say, I saw an apple, but of course you never just see an apple — you see everything around the apple as well • all...
Episode 138: When You Lose Your Mind, Come Back
September 12, 2023 12:00 - 7 minutes - 5.25 MBThe phrase, “When you lose your mind, come back” describes a lot of what happens in meditation: repeatedly losing our minds, and repeatedly bringing ourselves back • the moment we’ve noticed we’ve lost it is the moment we can return • what are we returning to? the simplicity of the present moment • another phrase Trungpa Rinpoche used quite a lot was, “Don’t think too much” • what are the benefits and what are the limits of thinking and conceptual understanding? • in the Buddhist t...
Episode 137: The Role of Discipline
September 05, 2023 12:00 - 7 minutes - 5.11 MBIn the dharma a great deal of emphasis is placed on integrating meditation practice and study • interwoven throughout is the need for discipline, the need to apply our training to the real challenges of life • if you look at the role of discipline in terms of meditation practice and study, it’s very simple: you have to do it • it takes effort and commitment to stick with study, to stick with practice • even when we are not studying or practicing, discipline is the thread that ties it...
Episode 136: Balancing Act
August 29, 2023 12:00 - 7 minutes - 4.89 MBSince we are the only ones who know what’s really going on during any session of meditation, or in life generally, we have a responsibility to be our own meditation instructors, working with the patterns that capture our particular mind from time to time • many years ago I was introduced to pairs of qualities that can help us in identifying different kind of traps, or extremes, we can fall into, as ways to bring ourselves back into balance • the first pair talks about the two poles of an...
Episode 135: Peacefulness in the Midst
August 22, 2023 12:00 - 7 minutes - 5.18 MBI used to carry around a cartoon that depicted a beautifully robed monk with a Japanese shoji screen behind him, everything perfectly in its place—and behind the screen everything was complete chaos • it’s very tempting to create a façade of tranquility and peacefulness in our meditation practice and ignore what’s behind the screen: the roiling emotions and thoughts, the confusion and history and regrets • how do we unify our world so there’s not a front and a back, a side we present to ...
Episode 134: The Play of Emotions
August 15, 2023 12:00 - 7 minutes - 4.93 MBEmotions are a natural part of who we are • they can be powerful—even overpowering—or they can be subtle, almost an undercurrent • they can be very inspiring, or they can be very disruptive • if you trace negative emotions back to their source, you discover that they arise from an ongoing battle where everything is taken personally • if you trace that battle back to its source, you find a sense of duality • it’s almost like the emotions are the army of ego: the troops, the scouts, ...
Episode 133: Letting Go
August 08, 2023 12:00 - 6 minutes - 4.7 MBI recently had a problem with my computer—whatever I put in my "trash" would just stay there; I couldn’t empty it • I started thinking about how that could describe our personal “trash”—our freak-outs and obsessions, our worries and regrets, as well as what we read in the news • we can shove that stuff deep within us, and sometimes it’s not so easy to know how to let it go • one approach is not to take anything in: closing our hearts, closing ourselves to the pain and confusion within ...
Episode 132: Eight Everyday Preoccupations
August 01, 2023 12:00 - 8 minutes - 6.11 MBThe eight everyday preoccupations are eight ways we occupy our minds in order to avoid experiencing things directly • they act as a kind of a central filtering mechanism, separating out the things that feed our ego from the things that challenge it • because of this filtering mechanism, we get jerked around into a very reactive way of living and thinking • all of our thoughts and actions curve inwardly to a kind of self-centered preoccupation: what’s in it for me? how does it affect me...
Episode 131: Genuine Effort
July 25, 2023 12:00 - 7 minutes - 5.51 MBEffort plays a very important part on the Buddhist path; it’s one of the three main components of discipline, meditation, and knowledge • effort is where the rubber meets the road; it’s where things get tested and become real • Trungpa Rinpoche talked about effort in terms of combining discipline and delight • he used three analogies to describe three different approaches to effort • the first is a jack rabbit, racing along with a burst of enthusiasm and then collapsing in exhaustion...
Episode 130: Two Kinds of Bypassing
July 18, 2023 12:00 - 7 minutes - 5.31 MBSomeone recently asked me, “Am I spiritually bypassing?” • I took that term to mean using one’s practice or spiritual path as an escape, or relief, from the responsibilities of regular life in this world • it is a relief in a way, to take a break from the relentless struggles of daily life • is it possible to practice meditation in a way that’s not bypassing all of that, while at the same time recognizing the need to have some relief from the relentlessness of life? • I think there is...
Episode 129: Lighthearted Practice
July 11, 2023 12:00 - 7 minutes - 5.55 MBToday I’d like to explore the problem of becoming an adult • the world of children is filled with magic and fantasy and stories, with vivid perceptions and playfulness • but as we grow up we’re supposed to get over all that, and develop adult-like qualities • gradually, year-by-year, the magical world of childhood fades away • yet many of the great spiritual masters say what we really need to do is to become more like children, and less like adults • when we take a lighthearted app...
Episode 128: Simple Compassion
July 04, 2023 12:00 - 8 minutes - 5.76 MBThe word “compassion” can seem so overwhelming in the face of all the suffering in the world that it can stop us in our tracks • while we’re imagining all the great gestures of compassion that we might do, we can miss the small, ordinary, daily acts of compassion that really do affect our world • some of the hardest compassion to feel is just being present with suffering that isn't fixable • this is what people in the hospice setting often do: they simply sit with someone who is passin...
Episode 127: Beginning and Ending with Kindness
June 27, 2023 12:00 - 7 minutes - 5.38 MBThe attitude that’s encouraged whenever we embark on a spiritual journey is not to approach it simply as a means of self improvement, but to switch our normal way of operating so that we are thinking about others • traditionally this is talked about as beginning by raising bodhichitta and ending by dedicating the merit • when we sit down to practice meditation, or to begin any project, we start by connecting with tenderness of heart and the desire to use our actions in order to benefit o...
Episode 126: Settling and Looking
June 20, 2023 12:00 - 7 minutes - 5.41 MBWe are all familiar with meditation as a way to tame and quiet the mind • another important aspect of meditation is clear seeing, or insight: the power of meditation to reveal the intricacies of the workings of our minds • a traditional image for untamed mind is that of a pond stirred up by the wind • all the silt in the pond is mixed with the water, making it murky • as the wind dies down—when we sit still and practice mindfulness—the water begins to clarify, and we can see more lay...
Episode 125: Loneliness
June 13, 2023 12:00 - 8 minutes - 6.17 MBThe feeling of loneliness, which is familiar to many of us, can be a very vulnerable and slightly threatening feeling • Trungpa Rinpoche emphasized the value of relating to loneliness as well as the value of being in community • he said that without relating with your loneliness, you can’t really be in community in a way that’s healthy; it can just be people leaning on one another, and can therefore be knocked over very easily • but by developing a strong sense of oneself and accommoda...
Episode 124: Hub, Spokes, Rim
June 06, 2023 12:00 - 7 minutes - 5.46 MBThere are many ways to look at the connection between spirituality and our everyday lives • in the Buddhist tradition, the basic components are very simple and straightforward: they are wisdom, compassion, and effective action • an image that illustrates how theses three components work together is that of a wheel — a wheel with a hub, spokes, and a rim • the hub at the center connects the wheel to the energy source; it distributes that energy through the spokes to the rim • in term...
Episode 123: Nobility
May 30, 2023 12:00 - 8 minutes - 6.05 MBWhen the Buddha spoke of being “a son or daughter of noble family,” what was he referring to? • in India, where the Buddha taught, there was a caste system with very clear distinctions between the noble castes, the less noble castes, and the untouchables • the closest thing in many Western societies is being born into wealth or being born into poverty • with extreme wealth comes access to extreme power; you basically enter a different dimension, one accessible to only the privileged fe...
Episode 122: Optical Illusions
May 23, 2023 12:00 - 7 minutes - 5.04 MBToday’s topic is perception, how we see our world • each of us sees things a little bit differently, and optical illusions highlight this fact • in one well known optical illusion, some people see a chalice, while other people see two women facing each other • which is it? • you might see a chalice when everyone around you sees two women • the problem begins when we take our version as solid and real, when we clamp down on our particular way of viewing the world and close our mind ...