The following talks and courses are offered to anyone. Please click on the talk title to take you to the recording. If you find them of benefit and would like to make a teacher’s gift, you are welcome to do so here.
Wasting Our Time
Vipashyana Space Awareness
Vipashyana means “seeing fully and precisely.” We refer to sitting meditation as shamatha, being directly mindful of what is happening on the spot. But there is always vipashyana awareness of a larger space. Joining mindfulness and awareness is the heart of our meditation and our whole life. 5 talks.
Highly recommended to begin here.
Mindfulness of Breathing
The Life and Death of Breath
Being mindful of our breathing is the most basic meditation practice. Breathing is mostly invisible, but through mindfulness, we tune into its subtle power to relax our tense body and tame our wild mind. Over time, such a simple practice helps us open our heart and live and die with courage and compassion. Single talk.
Fresh Start, Further Touch
What do we do when we are totally lost in our practice, wandering far away? Why is simply coming back to the breath not the full instruction? What are we covering up? Single talk.
Taking Our Posture and Tasting Our Heart
A simple approach to confusion and challenge in our meditation practice is to take a good posture and tune into our soft spot. Single talk.
Weapons of Compassion: The Four Karmas
Compassion is peaceful at heart, but must engage with sharp clarity. In the Buddhist tradition, there are four compassionate actions: pacifying, enriching, magnetizing, and destroying. How do we know what’s appropriate? In particular, how do we work with aggression? When must we “destroy”? Four talks.
Trusting the Path of Nontheism
This talk and discussion explores our personal experience of what and who we trust, particularly on a spiritual path. Single talk.
Renunciation, Patience, and Wisdom
A Three Yana Journey
Renunciation is the ground of meditation, recognizing self-centered passion and letting it go. Patience is the path of a bodhisattva, working with vulnerability and aggression. Wisdom uncovers our ever present awareness on the spot, giving a glimpse of no path. All three work together like a circle. Single talk.
Pandemic Panic, Grief, and Compassion
In this time of so much suffering and uncertainty, our mind can spin out in fear or sink into depression. In this online gathering, we will explore together how to open our heart, embrace our feelings, and be of service to the world.
A more personal talk hosted by the Halifax Shambhala Center on May 14, 2020.
The Bone of Existence
The Path of a Lonely Buddha
Once a meditator picked up a bone in a charnel ground, and wondered how this bone came to be. Upon reflection, they realized it came from someone dying. Then how did death come to be? This lone practitioner proceeded step-by-step to penetrate their direct experience. Ultimately, they came full circle to realize the root of their confusion and suffering. Four talks.
Grandmother’s Soup
The Charnel Ground of Birth, Life, and Death
A charnel ground is an isolated place where dead bodies are abandoned, and so it is full of life with wild animals feasting. Life and death are on full display. In our life, the charnel ground is our own mind. Meditation is a gentle way of opening our hearts to the chaotic and fertile richness of our whole being. Single talk.
Recordings from Shambhala Online
Already Awake: Seeing Our Buddha Nature
Explore this recorded Shambhala Online course at your own pace.
In this recorded weekend retreat, we explore the Buddha’s teachings on buddha nature and the fundamental truth that we are “already awake.” The course contains close to 4 hours of recordings for self-paced study and practice.
Earth, Water, Fire and All the Elements:
Reading The Sadhana of Mahamudra
as if for the First Time
Explore this recorded Shambhala Online course at your own pace.
The Sadhana of Mahamudra was received by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1968 when he was in retreat seeking inspiration for how to present the dharma in the West. The sadhana brings together the highest and most profound teachings of mahamudra and ati. With daring compassion, Trungpa Rinpoche made this practice open to everyone.
Living Within the Sadhana of Mahamudra:
A One Day Retreat
Explore this recorded Shambhala Online course at your own pace.
This recorded one-day retreat looks at two parts of The Sadhana of Mahamudra text, which are rarely read. The first is the opening prose in which Trungpa Rinpoche describes the state of the world and his inspiration for writing the sadhana. The second is his conclusion where he gives instruction on how to take this teaching forward and writes of his own personal aspiration for the future. This gathering began with sitting meditation and chanting the sadhana together. Afterwards, there was a talk and discussion. This retreat recording is open to all.
Opening the Heart of Mahamudra
Mahamudra, the great vision, is the direct experience of the true nature of our mind and all experience. It is generally a special transmission and practice only given to advanced students in secret. However, Gampopa was famous for teaching it widely in Tibet, and recently Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Thrangu Rinpoche, and other great teachers have taught mahamudra openly to all. Mahamudra is a journey of glimpses. Meditation practice is the first step and ground for tuning into the nature of our mind, but the leap comes when we open our heart to ourselves and our world in everyday life. This course recording is open to all.
Primordial Stroke: Opening the Heart of Ashe
This is a recorded course led by John Rockwell in 2024 to help Shambhala practitioners deepen their understanding and experience of Ashe, “the primordial stroke,” and the practice of raising windhorse. This course recording is open only to graduates of Warrior Assembly or Kalapa Assembly.
John Rockwell 