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Video: Mind Training with Thupten Jinpa, Ph.D. (Part 1)
Thupten Jinpa addresses the importance of Mind Training and how this kind of practice can help people gain greater peace and happiness in daily life. Excerpted from a talk given at the Sacred Stream Center in Berkeley, CA. Thupten Jinpa is the author of A Fearless Heart: How the Courage to Be Compassionate Can Transform Our Lives, and English translator for His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Video: How the Courage to Be Compassionate Can Transform Our Lives with Thupten Jinpa, Ph.D.
In this talk based on his book, “A Fearless Heart: How the Courage to Be Compassionate Can Transform Our Lives,” Thupten Jinpa offers insight into helpful practices such as Mind Training, and the Compassion Cultivation Training he developed. He also discusses his life as a monk, as a husband and father, and decades-long work with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Recorded at the Sacred Stream Center in Berkeley, CA on May 20, 2015.
Blog: Journey On It: Finding Our Way Home
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
The Journey is a process of going inward that helps us discover who we are and what our relationship is to the world around us. Seekers trying to understand the mystery of their experience can be found in every culture that has existed on the planet. Different societies have different names for these seekers – medicine men, medicine women, the ones who cure, the ones who know. Cultures with these kinds of references for their seekers tend to be cultures that exist closer to the earth.
In cultures whose traditions are closely tied to the natural rhythms and processes of the Earth, the Earth itself is the place where all inquiry begins and ends. In order to know when to plant successful crops, its rhythms must be measured. In order to measure its rhythms, seekers have looked skyward to measure the Earth’s rhythms against the patterns of the sky.
Article: Relationship as a Vehicle for Consciousness
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
Relationship forms the core of our experience as humans. We define ourselves and are defined by the nature of our relating. The Buddhist concept of interdependence affirms that nothing exists independently. Everything exists interdependently. In relationship, we do not and cannot exist independently of one another.
It is through relationship that we come to know ourselves. It is through relating that we hold up a mirror to others for them to come to know themselves. Others do the same for us, providing us with information about ourselves that we could not see without the lens of relating. In this way, relationship provides us with a path of revelation. As we learn more about ourselves, our experience takes on richer meaning.
Blog: Finding Power in Powerlessness
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
The roots of anger, and indeed, the roots of many potentially destructive emotions, lie in powerlessness. Most people would not choose destructive emotions as a way to gain control over circumstances if they could learn to tolerate not having control over the situations around them.
It is important to be gentle with yourself and have self-compassion as you learn to be present with your anger. It is easier to be compassionate with yourself if you can trust your ability to take responsibility for any way you may have harmed yourself or another with anger. In this way, you won’t look for the easy “out,” but instead learn everything you have to learn from the way you have related to your anger. In this way, you can understand the roots of your anger more fully, make amends where needed, and honor the information contained in your anger.
Blog: Listening to Anger
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
There is a Mahayana Buddhist idea that everything in our experience is part of the path to enlightenment. This is very important to remember when we find ourselves wanting to avoid relating to others because it seems too overwhelming. We must remember that everything that comes up in our experience is workable.
Blog: Having Compassion for Yourself and Others
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
How attentively do you listen to yourself? Are you engaging in negative self-talk? Are you seeing your own self-talk reflected in how you talk to others? Are others having a reaction? Is it hard to ignore or deny that reaction?
Here’s a hint: There is probably a part of yourself that is hearing that negative self-talk and having a reaction similar to those around you who you might be treating in the same way. This is one of many benefits of being in relationship. We can learn about ourselves and see ourselves through the lens of relationship.
Blog: Being Present in Relationship
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
It is a common tendency to think that if we just ignore a problem, it will either go away on its own or we won’t feel its effect. Ignoring our problems leads to confusion about what is real and what is true. Unfortunately, one of the most common responses to this state of confusion is to go into denial about the fact that the effect of not being present is causing a problem.
Blog: Interdependence
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
In a recent podcast, Robert Thurman, noted Buddhist scholar, asked, “What would you do if you realized that you would never be able to get off the subway car you were on this morning – that you were going to be with those people for infinity?”
For one thing, it would probably change the way we viewed those people. If we are all in a subway car together cruising through eternity, it would probably be a good idea to start figuring out how to get along.
I have spent many years trying to help people figure out how to get along through my Depth Hypnosis practice and teaching. Mostly I try to help people figure out how to get along with themselves – because you really can’t get along with anyone else until you have yourself figured out.
Special Announcement: The Stages of the Path with Robert Thurman
Sunday, April 10th at 7:00 pm, Robert Thurman returns to the Sacred Stream Center for a talk on Lam Rim, the three principle aspects of the path to enlightenment based on Atiśa’s 11th-century root text and Je Tsongkahpa’s The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. Dr. Thurman has a deep understanding of this text and will share his insights covering topics that include the preciousness of human life, the importance of maintaining a positive attitude, and the intention of the bodhisattva. We hope you will join us for this every special evening.
Article: Forgiveness
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
True forgiveness is serious business. To forgive or be forgiven is a complex and stirring process that requires each party to dive deeply inward in order to restore peace. To reach a place of true forgiveness, we must set our sights on the heart of the conflict and begin the necessary work of self-examination required to find and release our attachment to the offense. Only then can we truly be free from our pain.
Special Announcement: Geshe Pema Dorjee: Compassion in Action Tour
Join spiritual master Geshe Pema Dorjee for this series of teachings on compassion, mindfulness and leading a happier and more engaged life. He will be making appearances in the Bay Area, Mount Shasta, Nevada City, Auburn, and Santa Cruz – and the tour begins at the Sacred Stream Center with a special talk, Compassion in Action.
Article: A Call to Action: How Depth Hypnosis Fulfills Stanislav Grof’s Manifesto for a New Paradigm and Definition of Healing
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
I had the good fortune to attend a conference this year where Stanislav Grof was presenting a paper on his work in developing new therapeutic paradigms over the last half century. Stanislav Grof is a man to whom we all owe a great deal.
Over the last fifty years, he has been instrumental in generating innovative and fresh perspectives on the definition of healing, in response to the medical, psychiatric, and psychological establishment’s approaches to this topic. He has managed to create important changes, working both from within these establishments and outside of them. Without his tireless dedication to the redefinition of psychological health and imbalance, we would not be in the position we are in today to offer the transformative processes of Depth Hypnosis to as wide an audience as we do.
Special Announcement: Help Preserve Consciousness on the Planet – Today
So many of you have generously given us your time, your art, your money, and your kindness over the years. Thank you! Because of you, it is possible for us to help preserve wisdom for the sake of healing the planet and to further compassionate consciousness in the world. Without community, without your help, the Sacred Stream could not continue. For this reason, we humbly ask that you remember us this year as you make your tax-deductible contributions.
Article: Driving with Bob: One Short Day on Tour with Robert Thurman
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
Venus was rising in the eastern sky as we headed south for the next event where Robert Thurman was presenting a paper. This was to be the third major lecture he would deliver within thirty-six hours, and Bob was full of energy, settling into his computer to finalize the notes for this lecture.
As I drove, dawn illuminated the hills and valleys. The clouds on the horizon echoed their undulations. There were no other cars on the road. I had never been to the old mansion where the conference was taking place, and I was a little worried about my navigational skills.