Author: Luna Kadampa

Your self is fictional so you can rewrite it. The reason I’m saying this is because a friend just sent me this very interesting article: Eastern philosophy says there is no “self.” Science agrees. I think the whole thing is worth reading (and not that long). And I can’t resist addressing a few bits ‘cos the emptiness of the self is my favorite meditation. They say that this idea of “me” is a fiction, although a very convincing one. Buddhism has a word for this concept — anatta, which is often translated as “no self” — which is one of the…

This might be Kadam Adam’s most accessible, practical, and experiential Podcast to date, which is really saying something. The conversation serves as a very useful overview of how meditation, mindfulness, and Buddhist wisdom can help us navigate the challenges we all meet as we make our way through life, and that includes both practicing and non-practicing Buddhist listeners alike. Kadam Adam also guides a 15-minute meditation at the end! He explains why he loves doing these Podcasts: I guess the essence of it has always been just this simple, ongoing conversation with individuals and organizations about how daily meditation practice…

In a recent article I was saying we could feel happy about the 3+ thousand people-strong International Kadampa Buddhist Festival. Alternatively … we could feel grumpy about it. Point being, how we feel about it is largely up to us. During this last Festival a friend shared an insight, somewhat excitedly ‘cos he really got it: Everything is a state of mind. Including the Festival! And having attended a million Festivals, all of which, to be honest, have felt different not least depending upon my million moods, I know exactly what he means. Venerable Geshe-la’s view of these New Kadampa…

A guest article by Jan J, a long-term Kadampa Buddhist practitioner. Here are some experiences that remind me how the hidden truth of karma is constantly influencing our lives – how we’re all part of a complex symphony composed by causes and conditions. Pooh sticks karma Yesterday I was arranging for four family members to meet up for a walk, and after a lot of back and forth about when to meet, where to walk, which café etc, I found myself wondering if it was worth it. Surely, I thought, it should be easier to get four adults together in the…

Why do we run from that discomfort we encounter as we turn inwards? How to feel better and more at peace about ourselves? How do we prioritize or not feel guilty when we are tight for time? What might be a realistic expectation for someone as they begin this journey of meditation? https://soundcloud.com/thefitvisionpodcast/enhancing-our-mental-and-emotional-wellbeing-with-kadam-adam-starr?ref=clipboard&p=i&c=0&si=A785A47E2E834FFAB7C08E5C724BA4E3&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing https://open.spotify.com/episode/7dpIg2ereY2xYHjIZlfFqM?si=216f4d147c3b4e45 Just a few of the practical questions and fantastic replies on this latest podcast by Kadam Adam Starr. I have no hesitation in recommending this to you, your family, your friends, and anyone else you know who could become interested in meditation if only they had…

My niece Molly decided yesterday that it’d be a grand idea for her and me to take granddad/dad to Oppenheimer at 1:30 in the afternoon. Can’t remember the last time he or indeed I went to a 3-hour matinee. After we had laboriously moved seats a couple of times (don’t ask), and ten minutes in when he’d managed to fix his hearing aid in the dark, all proceeded very well. And he helped himself happily to half our Galaxy Minstrels, disdaining the large tub of popcorn (“noisy!”) and a slushy.   After the movie, once the small elevator arrived at…

Basically, at any given moment everyone around us is feeling happy or sad, and doing good or bad things – if the former we try to rejoice/feel happy for them, if the latter we try to feel compassion. Carrying on from this article, What’s there to be happy about?  Back in London, I asked the nice doc to try halving my mother’s Parkinson’s medications so that she can perhaps say a word again here or there or move her facial muscles enough for a small smile – plus we agreed that it’s hard to know what these medications are doing…

In which case, though, if everything is empty and dream-like, not really happening, only appearing to be happening, how are we supposed to communicate with others?! How can we even say hello, let alone explain anything? Carrying on from this article: Buddhas required – apply within. Here’s an answer from the Request to the Lord of all Lineages: When I search with my wisdom eye, All the things that I normally see disappear And only their mere name remains. With this mere name I simply accept everything for the purpose of communicating with others. One thing I get from this…

In general, the mind of enlightenment (Skt. bodhichitta) is the wish to attain enlightenment in order to free all living beings permanently from their suffering. Sitting here in the Rockies last week, like you do, reading The Mirror of Dharma, I was struck by how Venerable Geshe Kelsang described it: Bodhichitta is the mind that spontaneously wishes to attain enlightenment to benefit each and every living being every day. We need to have a sense of what that might mean and how it could work, I was thinking, in order to develop bodhichitta. And how can we imagine ourself benefiting…

The only reason Buddha Shakyamuni appeared in this world, the so-called “Unforgetting World”, was to wake us sentient beings up so that we could experience lasting freedom and happiness. The only reason ANY Buddha, also known as “Awakened One”, appears anywhere in any world is for this purpose. Venerable Geshe-la has said that the real meaning of meeting Geshe Kelsang is to realize emptiness. Realizing emptiness is what wakes us up from these strange dysfunctional dreams of samsara. However, it’s not that easy to wake people up. For starters most of us, probably, are way too immersed in our waking…