Mahamudra Meditation Guide

John Wilde, modified 10 Years ago at 1/26/14 5:31 PM
Created 10 Years ago at 1/26/14 5:31 PM

Mahamudra Meditation Guide

Posts: 501 Join Date: 10/26/10 Recent Posts
Found this. Looks interesting.

http://www.mahamudracenter.org/mmcmembermeditationguide.pdf
Change A, modified 10 Years ago at 1/26/14 6:33 PM
Created 10 Years ago at 1/26/14 6:25 PM

RE: Mahamudra Meditation Guide

Posts: 791 Join Date: 5/24/10 Recent Posts
Definitely has some interesting exercises which can help one know the mind better.

Author has also been influenced by Tarthang Tulku's Time, Space, and Knowledge vision which I consider to be a great book which could only be written by a genius. I used to consider the likes of Einstein as geniuses but I had to change my mind after reading this book.
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Jake , modified 10 Years ago at 1/26/14 7:58 PM
Created 10 Years ago at 1/26/14 7:58 PM

RE: Mahamudra Meditation Guide

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There's a teacher named Steven Tainer who was a senior student of Thartang Tulku who apparently 'edited' a lot of the TSK material, and my impression is that that's a euphemism for basically writing it. He does a class at Berkeley Bhuddist Monestary which is archived on their website. Greeeeat teacher emoticon Teaches the kind of approach you seem attracted to, John. You might enjoy his stuff.

Also might like
http://www.amazon.com/Pointing-Out-Great-Way-Meditation/dp/0861713044
Change A, modified 10 Years ago at 1/26/14 8:26 PM
Created 10 Years ago at 1/26/14 8:26 PM

RE: Mahamudra Meditation Guide

Posts: 791 Join Date: 5/24/10 Recent Posts
Yes, in the Wikipedia page about Steven, it is written that it was he who ghost wrote TSK. Truly a work of a genius.

Why do you keep the knowledge about teachers like Steven to yourself, Jake? emoticon
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Jake , modified 10 Years ago at 1/27/14 10:07 AM
Created 10 Years ago at 1/27/14 10:07 AM

RE: Mahamudra Meditation Guide

Posts: 695 Join Date: 5/22/10 Recent Posts
lol, I've mentioned him here and there!!
Check out the archived classes, there is some incredibly good stuff. He teaches a sort of combined taoist-buddhist-confucian approach. It's great. Extremely down to earth, non-dogmatic, and yet a deeply practiced guy.
John, one or more of his semesters has focused on the four immeasureables i think.

His Toaist teacher is a man named Liu Ming. I forget what Liu Ming's Western given name was (he is a Westerner). They wrote a book together in the 80's or early 90's which presented a Toaist take on the ox-herding pictures (featuring monkey and sage rather than a boy and an ox). Really incredible book which goes from the most basic beginning practice through very profound advanced stuff in a very rich and inspiring way.

It's called 'Dragon's Play' and i recommend it to anyone who is interested in a holistic, human approach to practice which includes every aspect of our nature without rejecting anything prima facie. Steven and Liu Ming are both well practiced in Tantric and Dzogchen Buddhism as well as Toaist practices.
J C, modified 10 Years ago at 1/27/14 5:29 PM
Created 10 Years ago at 1/27/14 5:29 PM

RE: Mahamudra Meditation Guide

Posts: 644 Join Date: 4/24/13 Recent Posts
Change A.:
Definitely has some interesting exercises which can help one know the mind better.

Author has also been influenced by Tarthang Tulku's Time, Space, and Knowledge vision which I consider to be a great book which could only be written by a genius. I used to consider the likes of Einstein as geniuses but I had to change my mind after reading this book.


I can't tell if this is genuine or sarcastic... I'm thinking sarcastic but I'm not sure.
T DC, modified 10 Years ago at 1/28/14 5:44 PM
Created 10 Years ago at 1/28/14 5:44 PM

RE: Mahamudra Meditation Guide

Posts: 516 Join Date: 9/29/11 Recent Posts
Here's a bit more detail on the writing of the book, which I found in one of the comments on amazon.

"..Meanwhile Tarthang Tulku, Rinpoche, was writing this book. Actually writing is a misnomer, he had a brilliant student that he would sit down with and dictate/discuss the passages with. Tarthang Tulku was an amazingly adept communicator, charismatic, and had a way of filling tons of meaning into very simple, "beginner's English" (he was learning English on the fly, and teaching his students Tibetan). It was the student's job to "translate" Tarthang Tulku's discourses into the heart of the book. Tarthang Tulku was a stickler for detail, and would ask the student to read what he wrote, they would discuss it and hammer out the meaning. So essentially what you are reading is not Tarthang Tulku hammering out words at a typewriter to be edited, it is a mash-up of dictated to, edited by BOTH sides, translation/rephrasing, and collaboration. I heard many, many dharma discourses by Tarthang Tulku during my time at the Center, and while Tarthang Tulku never spoke like he does in this book (he had "broken" English at the time) or wrote like this book, the book is CLEARLY a product of his mind, and the concepts and principles and turns of phrase echo and reinforce everything he was teaching us at the time. I think in many ways his residential group of students also served as a testing "lab" for much of what ultimately went into this book."

Looks like an interesting book!
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Jake , modified 10 Years ago at 1/29/14 9:56 AM
Created 10 Years ago at 1/29/14 9:56 AM

RE: Mahamudra Meditation Guide

Posts: 695 Join Date: 5/22/10 Recent Posts
It's a great book!
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Jake , modified 10 Years ago at 1/29/14 9:57 AM
Created 10 Years ago at 1/29/14 9:57 AM

RE: Mahamudra Meditation Guide

Posts: 695 Join Date: 5/22/10 Recent Posts
J C:
Change A.:
Definitely has some interesting exercises which can help one know the mind better.

Author has also been influenced by Tarthang Tulku's Time, Space, and Knowledge vision which I consider to be a great book which could only be written by a genius. I used to consider the likes of Einstein as geniuses but I had to change my mind after reading this book.


I can't tell if this is genuine or sarcastic... I'm thinking sarcastic but I'm not sure.


... Why?
J C, modified 10 Years ago at 1/29/14 10:22 AM
Created 10 Years ago at 1/29/14 10:22 AM

RE: Mahamudra Meditation Guide

Posts: 644 Join Date: 4/24/13 Recent Posts
. Jake .:
J C:
Change A.:
Definitely has some interesting exercises which can help one know the mind better.

Author has also been influenced by Tarthang Tulku's Time, Space, and Knowledge vision which I consider to be a great book which could only be written by a genius. I used to consider the likes of Einstein as geniuses but I had to change my mind after reading this book.


I can't tell if this is genuine or sarcastic... I'm thinking sarcastic but I'm not sure.


... Why?


It's so ridiculously over the top that it comes off as a parody of a book review, especially the last sentence.
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Jake , modified 10 Years ago at 1/29/14 10:35 AM
Created 10 Years ago at 1/29/14 10:35 AM

RE: Mahamudra Meditation Guide

Posts: 695 Join Date: 5/22/10 Recent Posts
Hmm, maybe the explanation is in vastly different cultural assumptions and different ways of valuing different cultural contibutions. For instance, personally i value philosophical and contemplative contributions to culture more highly than I do physics contributions in most cases, but that's just my bias.

So to me the statement just seemed pretty straightforward, and possibly reflected a shift Change A went through at some point in his life when his priorities and admirations/aspirations shifted somewhat. Maybe.
Or maybe he *was* being a little sarcastic lol!
Change A, modified 9 Years ago at 12/31/14 7:41 PM
Created 9 Years ago at 12/31/14 7:41 PM

RE: Mahamudra Meditation Guide

Posts: 791 Join Date: 5/24/10 Recent Posts
Exercises on Knowing Time and Space are excellent starting on page 117.
Change A, modified 9 Years ago at 1/1/15 5:31 PM
Created 9 Years ago at 1/1/15 5:31 PM

RE: Mahamudra Meditation Guide

Posts: 791 Join Date: 5/24/10 Recent Posts
Change A.:
Exercises on Knowing Time and Space are excellent starting on page 117.

Although I was familiar with similar exercises as the ones in this guide (Tarthang Tulku's Time, Space, and Knowledge), after doing the exercises this time around, I found that these helped me pin point the dullness that would set in my mind sometimes and I would become aware of what that dullness was about. For example I would have an idea as to what time and space my mind was trying to be in and about what knowledge.

Highly recommended.

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