Learn about the Tenzin Gyatso Institute’s Scholars program, inspired by HH Dalai Lama.

Mindfulness probably means slightly different things in different traditions of meditation. At WMRI we usually talk about three principles for using an object, such as the breath, a candle or even the state of non-distraction itself, as the focus of our meditation.

1) Mindfulness – which is the pure knowing or awareness of the object.
2) Watchful Awareness – making sure that we are keeping our attention gently focused on the object
3) Abiding or Remaining Spaciously – It is said that we should ‘train in letting the mind remain’. We should remain in whatever we are aware of, be it:
—meditating with an object like watching the breath, or
—simply remaining in the state of non-distraction or pure awareness of the present moment.

The Tenzin Gyatso Institute’s Scholars program is a revolutionary program, inspired by HH Dalai Lama, to bring the living tradition of Tibetan Buddhist wisdom together with the insight and intelligence of modern scientific research. If nothing else Tibetan Buddhist philosophy will become much more accessible and relevant for people if the world views that it refutes or builds upon weren’t only those that were in vogue in India fifteen hundred years ago. But as one scientist says in the following video maybe the Tibetans couldn’t have sent a man to the moon, but if they had been part of the project we could have gotten there without having to fight about it.

Josh Korda deftly combines poignant cultural observations, challenges of following a spiritual path and quotes from the Buddha.

I posted my interview with Josh Korda the teacher at Dharma Punx NYC a couple of weeks ago. You can find it by clicking here.

Below is the video I made of the talk Josh gave that night. I have titled the talk the Implications of Spiritual Practice and Relationships. Josh deftly combines poignant cultural observations, challenges of following a spiritual path and quotes from the Buddha. Plus he has a good sense of humor. Enjoy!

p.s. Keep an eye out because next week, Josh will make his debut as a whatmeditationreallyis.com blogger.

This post is all about a practical demonstration of the measurement problem which has been discussed in a more general way in the previous post, click here to read it.

This central statement is where we left off:
Only when a measurement is carried out, ONE of the variety of possible states of any given quantum system is magically picked out and is then called "reality". This reality depends on how the observer looks, i.e. on the particular way the experiment is carried out. The process of picking out one of many possibility is what we call 'collapse of the wave function'. Nobody knows how the system 'truly' looks like, and when we look we see only one aspect.

The double-slit experiment is a very tangible and certainly the most prominent way to demonstrate how the measurement problem can manifest. It works as follows:

H.H. Sakya Trizin gives an overview of Tibetan Buddhist meditation and where we can begin.

Dr Paul Ekman is regarded as a world expert on emotions. His 1970s research shows that emotions are universal and the expressions associated with some emotions are common to all humans.
In recent years, Paul Ekman was invited by HH the Dalai Lama to enage in discussions on the nature and quality of our emotional lives and compassion, and co-authored Emotional Awareness.

Anurag Agawal talks about meditation and the 'I Meditate New York' program.

Ringu Tulku talks about what meditation really is.