MEDITATE like a JEDI

Metaphors, Confusion, and Meditation - 6jan23

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Jan 6
2 min

Metaphors, Confusion, and Meditation - 6jan23

It is a dark irony that the metaphors created by good hearted teachers, with the intention of benefitting their befuddled students have been misunderstood by so many and (as such) have done more harm than good. Over numerous decades it has been my experience that when encountering an opaque teaching one must first explore the possibility that it is more figurative than literal, reverse engineer it from metaphor to simile, and then dig even deeper. What if the Buddha had no us

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Lama Jigme Gyatso

Jan 5
1 min

Breathing, Duality, Meditation - 5jan23

Mindfulness and meditation (together) make up twenty-five percent of the Buddha’s eight-fold path. But how could that relate to the mechanics of breathing? It all boils down to neuroscience. Inhalation is the domain of mindfulness; for each IN-breath accesses our sympathetic nervous system which is wired to notice vulnerably, passively, viscerally, and randomly. Exhalation is meditation’s home base as each OUT-breath triggers our parasympathetic nervous system to physically r

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HUMILIATION: the underlying fear - 3jan23

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Jan 3
1 min

HUMILIATION: the underlying fear - 3jan23

In the early 1980’s Rush sang, “…humiliation, the underlying fear…”. Wanna know a secret? Fear of scorn is baked into the cake of what it means to be a mammal, to be a member of: a pack, or a heard, or a tribe. We evolved to hate scorn and obscurity as if they threatened our very survival, for in a very real sense they did. We, therefore, ignore, or repress, or scold, or mock this fear at our peril. When this rather uncomfortable feeling rears its scabby head we could contemp

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Depression is NOT a Character Flaw - 2jan23

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Jan 2
1 min

Depression is NOT a Character Flaw - 2jan23

Not all meditation teachers are created equal. Some of them are wise, many are foolish, and some are downright cruel: convincing the disabled and the vulnerable that their illnesses are character flaws and spiritual indictments. If you struggle with depression or borderline personality disorder please go to the PCRM website and find an M.D. who practices Psychiatry from a plant-based world view. Doctor Michael Greger M.D. explains how peer reviewed studies have shown a causal

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Depression, Loss, and Meditation - 31dec22

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Dec 31, 2022
1 min

Depression, Loss, and Meditation - 31dec22

Depressive anxiety disorder is a thief, robbing us of time, and joy, and even hope; for who’s to say that it couldn’t return? It is imperative, therefore, to go to the PCRM website and find a plant-based psychiatrist to ensure that depression’s physical preconditions are remedied. Ironically we could harness the weight of sorrow and frenzy of fear to drive our contemplations of stress, interdependence, impermanence, and even no self. Our freedom meditations could help us to s

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Lama Jigme Gyatso

Dec 29, 2022
1 min

The Test of a Teacher - 29dec22

There are many meditation teachers: ordained, or not, affiliated, or independent, carbon copies, or self-styled, greedy, or generous, controlling, or laid-back. The test of a teacher is not their beauty, wealth, popularity or prestige but rather the efficacy of their instruction. When encountering a teacher: receive their instructions, apply them once every twelve hours for seven consecutive days, and then evaluate your results. Have they made you more anxious, angry, and blu

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Tao Te Ching, Comprehension, and Meditation - 28dec22

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Dec 28, 2022
1 min

Tao Te Ching, Comprehension, and Meditation - 28dec22

I am going to tell you a secret about the Tao Te Ching. It is its own best commentary. But don’t take my word for it, put it to the test. Get a hold of the most dubious translation of Lao Tzu’s opus magus, read six chapters aloud, every 12 hours. Doing so you’ll get through all 81 chapters every week, not to mention 52 times every year. As the seasons pass, as if by magic, the author’s original intention could make itself apparent to you, even if (towards it) the translator h

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Lama Jigme Gyatso

Dec 17, 2022
2 min

Taoism for Meditators - 17dec22

Beware of stupid white men, crafting commentaries of commentaries, without ever having marinated in the eight-one chapters of the Tao Te Ching! For like blind guides, the very method with which they teach the Tao, ignores its tenants. Lao Tzu’s opus magus is a love letter to the path of yin; warning us of its opposite. That yang’s way of rigidity, fear, controlling tendencies, elitism, competition, and cruelty will (eventually) foil our fondest dreams, while making a reality

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Lama Jigme Gyatso

Dec 11, 2022
1 min

Clearing our Minds - 11dec22

When ten minuets of daily guided meditation fails to deliver the concentration or clarity we desire we must question the purpose and methodology of meditation. Buddha taught that our stressors are exacerbated by indulging our controlling tendencies of shoving, reaching, and clinging. The methods Shakyamuni taught were antithetical to CHOOSING our perceptions, emotions, intentions, thoughts, memories, or imaginings. Every twelve hours allow the mechanisms of mindfulness and re

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Restlessness, Stress, and Meditation - 8dec22

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Dec 8, 2022
1 min

Restlessness, Stress, and Meditation - 8dec22

Meditation that wrestles with mental stress and physical restlessness is NOT meditation, but rather its analog. Like those pale, red, unnaturally “perfect” tomatoes at the supermarket that although look beautiful are rather tasteless. When we sit cross legged upon the floor, hands in lap, spine erect and STRIVE to select our physical or mental experience; that is NOT meditation but rather concentration. It is an example of our controlling tendencies masquerading as surrender;

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Lama Jigme Gyatso

Dec 6, 2022
1 min

Panic Attack Solutions - 6dec22

Morpheus explained “…the mind cannot exist without the body…” nor can panic attacks. Our triggers are a stew: both physical and mental. So go to the PCRM website and find a plant based psychiatrist - https://www.pcrm.org/findadoctor . Meanwhile, the next time you awake with a panic attack: get dressed, and walk briskly around your block. Access vulnerable mindfulness during each inhalation by mentally reciting “Notice this…”, then physically relax and mentally release during

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Lama Jigme Gyatso

Dec 4, 2022
1 min

Decoding the Tao Te Ching - 4dec22

Have you read the Tao Te Ching? Was the author drunk, a stroke survivor, or was he incredibly wise? The basic thesis of its 81 chapters is that the great path of profound fulfillment is traversed by being: flexible, passive, vulnerable, and laid-back. The genius of this book (of the beneficial way) is that the only way to comprehend its teachings is embrace those attributes. But how could we do that? Two tricks: FIRST recite six chapters of the Tao Te Ching every twelve hours

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Meditating while your Parents Argue - 28nov22

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Nov 28, 2022
1 min

Meditating while your Parents Argue - 28nov22

When we sit down to meditate, while parents argue within our hearing, how are we to accept that ugliness? Like a toddler in the surf, aware that he cannot stop the breakers from passing between his legs, as they rush forward and then retreat; we do not accept the cruelty that loved ones perpetrate against each other because we’re indifferent but rather because we are fundamentally wired to do so. During each exhalation our parasympathetic nervous system automatically stimulat

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Lama Jigme Gyatso

Nov 27, 2022
1 min

Death of Self - 27nov22

It is ironic how that which was intended to accelerate the path of enlightenment has muddied waters and troubled hearts. For it has been assumed that selflessness is a literal phenomena to be intellectually understood and viscerally believed. In light of the Satipatthana Sutta’s promise (that full enlightenment could be accomplished in as little as seven years, no less seven days) could selflessness be figurative? Shedding our assumptions, as a butterfly does their chrysalis,

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Lama Jigme Gyatso

Nov 20, 2022
1 min

The Myth of the Monkey Mind - 20nov22

Elitist meditation teachers (not all of them villains, most of them fools) have convinced the unwashed masses that meditation consists of either mind-blanking, or unwavering concentration and that if anything else happens then we are a failure and have wasted time. They tell us unlikely stories, convincing us that we have a, so called, “Monkey Mind” screaming as it jumps from branch to conceptual branch in the jungle canopy of our brain. And the sincere and tender-hearted who

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Rigidity, Creativity, and Flow - 19nov22

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Nov 19, 2022
1 min

Rigidity, Creativity, and Flow - 19nov22

Why is it that when neuroscientists hook meditation “masters” to their monitors they find that although these teachers access their Executive Attention Networks (heightening their focus) they fail to train their Default Mode Networks and enhance their creativity? Could it be that most folks confuse mindfulness for concentration and tragically strengthen the neural pathways responsible for their controlling tendencies? You hear it every time a teacher instructs, “…and when you

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Medicine Buddha, Elitism, and Tantra - 18nov22

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Nov 18, 2022
1 min

Medicine Buddha, Elitism, and Tantra - 18nov22

Ignore the elite or lazy minded! One needs no permission to invoke Medicine Buddha. Nor is he anything other than an architype of our enlightened potential. Contemplate right-view with sixteen recitations of the rhetorical question: “How could I relax into the awareness of Medicine Buddha above my crown?” Next practice right mindfulness during each inhalation by mentally reciting “Notice this…” and right meditation during each exhalation by silently reciting “relaxing!” for t

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Lama Jigme Gyatso

Nov 14, 2022
1 min

Slippery Thoughts - 14nov22

Actively striving to examine our thoughts is like taking a long hot bath when the bar of soap has gotten so soft, that when our fingers wrap around it, the bar shoots out, defying our grasp. And active concentration is symptomatic of our controlling tendencies. All we need do is use our autonomic nervous system in an easy and efficient manner, stand back, and reap the rewards. When we silently and mentally recite: “Notice this…” and then “relaxing!” in HARMONY with our breath

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Lama Jigme Gyatso

Nov 13, 2022
1 min

Intrusive Thoughts - 13nov22

If your dark and violent thoughts are a threat to others go to https://www.pcrm.org/findadoctor to find a plant-based Psychiatrist. When intrusive thoughts arrive (between meditation sessions); interrupt your pattern with sixteen “Step-back” squat thrusts before a Buddha image. When they arrive during meditation mentally play with these rhetorical questions (four rounds each): “How could this… feel stressful?” “How is this… dependent?” “How could this… always change?” and “Ho

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Lama Jigme Gyatso

Nov 11, 2022
1 min

Haters gonna Hate - 11nov22

Haters gonna hate, which really sucks if you’re a healthy mammal, for we evolved to value the esteem with which others hold us, as well as our actual importance to our social group. The purpose of meditation is NOT to undermine our mindfulness, our ability to notice our circumstances, no less our feelings about them. Why then do we meditate? To make peace with the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and to release our resistance to them, and to our resistance to our inner

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MEDITATE like a JEDI​

MEDITATE like a JEDI​

MEDITATE like a JEDI

MEDITATE like a JEDI