The Capacity to Feel

The Capacity to Feel (from Sutra Session 20 00:48:58.00 - 00:57:02.00)

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Eight minutes about

• the capacity to feel,


• "feel whatever arises, don't believe any of it",


• "we move into victim when we believe them" (our feelings),


• Toltec teaching and book - Be impeccable with your Word,


• doubt: "great doubt, great awakening; little doubt, little awakening; no doubt, no awakening",


• "I am not able to handle it" - no, it is about "how are you are going to do it, we don't have any choice to it", and the


• experience of life, what do you do with it, be an active agent: "oh, I can't be an active agent there", "first I have to be able to experience it ... that's where it starts".

Finally, this is non of Ken's teachings, but I hope he also finds this slogan by Scott Campbell funny:

Zurich, Paradeplatz, 2012-02-21

Guru Yoga prayer and Four Instructions of Gampopa

In this clip, Ken McLeod translates the Guru Yoga prayer as he recites it in Tibetan. His translation in the talk is a bit different than the translation published here.

For instance, the second line "Give me energy to be free of need" could also be "Give me energy to be free of the pointlessness of life.

The third line "Give me energy to stop ordinary thinking" could also be "Give me energy to let materialistic thoughts go."

The clip ends with the Four Instructions of Gampopa.


Prayer (from Sutra Session 7 00:32:58.00 - 00:36:22.00)

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Giving up hope and fear

Hope and Fear (from ATPII05: A Trackless Path II (retreat) 0:19:39.09 - 0:23:22.20)

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Joan: I'm motivated. I put a lot of effort into my practice and my question is, when is the end of reactive emotion?

Ken: Line two, verse three, Reactions are endless. It's about hope and fear isn't it? What are hope and fear? 

Joan: One is what we grasp for, the other is what we try to avoid.

Ken: Yes. What would your practice be like if you let go of hope and fear?

Joan: Probably blissful.

Ken: Maybe.

Ken:  Try again. If I may, I'll just up the ante a little bit. Okay? Nothing is ever going to change in your practice for the next 20 years. Do you still practice?

Joan: Knowing me, yes. It's the only thing that makes sense.

Ken: There you go. You just gave up hope and fear. It's actually a really, really important point. And always come back to that. It's the only thing that makes sense right now. So what happens in the future is actually inconsequential. It's a very, very tough instruction, but you arrived at it yourself, so you're stuck with it! It's not an easy one, but it's a very, very useful one. Okay?