Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche ~ The Empty Nature of Thoughts ~ Dzogchen

A reading for meditation of the Kaccānagottasutta taken from Samyutta Nikaya (SN 12.15). In this sutta, Venerable Kaccānagotta asks the Buddha about right view, and the Buddha answers that right view arises when one sees the origin and cessation of the world. The main theme of the text is the avoidance of the extremes "existence" and "non-existence" with respect to the world, and instead seeing the world in terms of the Middle Way which is illustrated by the twelve links of dependent origination. The one with right-view understands this. This translation is an amalgam of Walshe, Bodhi, Thanissaro, and Sujato. A Sanskrit and Chinese (Saṃyuktāgama 301; also a partial quotation in SĀ 262) parallel text is also extant. Although there is considerable agreement across versions, the Sanskrit and Chinese texts are more or less identical to each other and both slightly different from the Pāli version. The text is cited in Sanskrit in works by Nāgārjuna and his commentators. 🔆 These podcasts are not monetized. If you benefit from these podcasts and would like to support our nun's hermitage, there are two options to donate - via Paypal using this email address: vivekahermitage@gmail.com with PayPal or using this direct link: https://paypal.me/VivekaHermitage or become at Patron at: https://www.patreon.com/jayasara 🙏 May whatever goodness arises from these readings/offerings be for the benefit of all sentient beings.

8 Feb 20239min

This is a selection of key pointers from Nisargadatta taken from the texts "I am That" and "The Nisargadatta Gita" - intended as a guided meditation. Original text of "I am That" edited and compiled by Maurice Frydman. The Nisargadatta Gita edited by Pradeep Apte. 🔆 These podcasts are not monetized. If you benefit from these podcasts and would like to support our nun's hermitage, there are two options to donate - via Paypal using this email address: vivekahermitage@gmail.com with PayPal or using this direct link: https://paypal.me/VivekaHermitage or become at Patron at: https://www.patreon.com/jayasara 🙏 May whatever goodness arises from these readings/offerings be for the benefit of all sentient beings.

4 Feb 202334min

"Wu Hsin" (meaning No Mind) was a fictitious character created by Roy Melvyn to create and structure a series of pith teachings and pointers to the Absolute, based on key non-duality teachings. Despite the controversy around the "deceit" in publishing these works as words from an "authentic" Chinese Master, I have chosen to upload these readings as they are some of the clearest pointers I have read. Please be aware of the context as to how they were created. In essence, we are all really imaginary "persons" anyway! Roy Melvyn (1947-apparently died in 2017? -TBC ) was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Eastern European immigrant parents. It wasn't until the 1980s that his interest in spirituality and religion began to blossom and his investigations into the Western religions began. By the late 90s, he was writing about the more mystical aspects of Eastern meditative pursuits, exploring the writings of Dogen, Jiddu Krishnamurti, both Shunryu and D. T. Suzuki and Ramana Maharshi among others. These pointers were taken from the book: "Solving Yourself". 🔆 These podcasts are not monetized. If you benefit from these podcasts and would like to support our nun's hermitage, there are two options to donate - via Paypal using this email address: vivekahermitage@gmail.com with PayPal or using this direct link: https://paypal.me/VivekaHermitage or become at Patron at: https://www.patreon.com/jayasara 🙏 May whatever goodness arises from these readings/offerings be for the benefit of all sentient beings.

1 Feb 202330min

The Root Verses on the Six Bardos are some of the most famous sections of The Great Liberation Through Hearing in the Bardo (Bardo Tödrol Chenmo), a treasure text revealed by the fourteenth century tertön Karma Lingpa. This text offers instructions on each of the six intermediate states (bardo) and helps us to live a better life while preparing for death and beyond. The Bardo Thodol , is a text from a larger corpus of teachings, the Profound Dharma of Self-Liberation through the Intention of the Peaceful and Wrathful Ones. It is the best-known work of Nyingma literature, known in the West as the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Translated by Adam Pearcey 🔆 These podcasts are not monetized. If you benefit from these podcasts and would like to support our nun's hermitage, there are two options to donate - via Paypal using this email address: vivekahermitage@gmail.com with PayPal or using this direct link: https://paypal.me/VivekaHermitage or become at Patron at: https://www.patreon.com/jayasara 🙏 May whatever goodness arises from these readings/offerings be for the benefit of all sentient beings.

30 Jan 202310min

A selection of Thoreau's verses taken from "Walden" and various Journals written by him. Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) was an American philosopher, poet, a leading transcendentalist, and environmental scientist whose major work, Walden, draws upon each of these identities in meditating on the concrete problems of living in the world as a human being. He sought to revive a conception of philosophy as a way of life, not only a mode of reflective thought and discourse. Thoreau’s work was informed by an eclectic variety of sources. He was well-versed in classical Greek and Roman philosophy, ranging from the pre-Socratics through the Hellenistic schools, and was also an avid student of the ancient scriptures and wisdom literature of various Asian traditions. 🔆 These podcasts are not monetized. If you benefit from these podcasts and would like to support our nun's hermitage, there are two options to donate - via Paypal using this email address: vivekahermitage@gmail.com with PayPal or using this direct link: https://paypal.me/VivekaHermitage or become at Patron at: https://www.patreon.com/jayasara 🙏 May whatever goodness arises from these readings/offerings be for the benefit of all sentient beings.

25 Jan 202316min

Excerpts taken from the text "All Else is Bondage" by Wei Wu Wei. Terence James Stannus Gray (14 September 1895 – 5 January 1986), better known by the pen name Wei Wu Wei, was a 20th-century Taoist philosopher and writer. Between the years 1958 and 1974 a series of eight books appeared attributed to the mysterious 'Wei Wu Wei'. These works draw on a variety of sources, including Taoism, specifically the texts attributed to Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, Buddhism, especially The Heart, Diamond and Lankavatara Sutras, and Chan Buddhism as taught by Hui Neng, Huang Po, Hui Hai, etc., as well as the teachings of Padma Sambhava and Sri Ramana Maharshi, among others. 🔆 These podcasts are not monetized. If you benefit from these podcasts and would like to support our nun's hermitage, there are two options to donate - via Paypal using this email address: vivekahermitage@gmail.com with PayPal or using this direct link: https://paypal.me/VivekaHermitage or become at Patron at: https://www.patreon.com/jayasara 🙏 May whatever goodness arises from these readings/offerings be for the benefit of all sentient beings.

22 Jan 202341min

This is a selection of reflections taken from Lusseyran's books "And There Was Light" and "Against the Pollution of the I." Jacques Lusseyran (19 September 1924 – 27 July 1971) was a French author and political activist. Blinded at the age of 7, at 17 Lusseyran became a leader in the French resistance against Nazi Germany's occupation of France in 1941. He was eventually sent to Buchenwald concentration camp because of his involvement, and was one of 30 of his group of 2000 inmates to survive. He wrote about his life, including his experience during the war, in his autobiography "And There Was Light". 🔆 These podcasts are not monetized. If you benefit from these podcasts and would like to support our nun's hermitage, there are two options to donate - via Paypal using this email address: vivekahermitage@gmail.com with PayPal or using this direct link: https://paypal.me/VivekaHermitage or become at Patron at: https://www.patreon.com/jayasara 🙏 May whatever goodness arises from these readings/offerings be for the benefit of all sentient beings.

19 Jan 202316min

These direct and clear pointers to the Deathless have been extracted from various Dhamma talks given by Ajahn Sumedho. Ajahn Sumedho (born Robert Karr Jackman, July 27, 1934) is an American Buddhist monk and one of the senior Western representatives of the Thai forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism. He was abbot of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, UK, from 1984 until his retirement in 2010. A bhikkhu since 1967, Sumedho is considered a seminal figure in the transmission of the Buddha's teachings to the West. 🔆 These podcasts are not monetized. If you benefit from these podcasts and would like to support our nun's hermitage, there are two options to donate - via Paypal using this email address: vivekahermitage@gmail.com with PayPal or using this direct link: https://paypal.me/VivekaHermitage or become at Patron at: https://www.patreon.com/jayasara 🙏 May whatever goodness arises from these readings/offerings be for the benefit of all sentient beings.

15 Jan 202313min