GINA SHARPE

October 27, 2014

Arouse Energy Now

On the night of the Buddha’s awakening, he vowed: “I shall not give up my efforts until I have attained liberation by perseverance, energy and endeavor.”

October 20, 2014

Open Heart, Faithful Life

Faith, an essential ingredient in our spiritual journey, is the first of the five spiritual faculties the Buddha taught as necessary for awakening. Faith is first because it is the ground on which awakening unfolds.…

October 13, 2014

Powerful Faculties

As we enter the Autumn season, we contemplate landscapes that remind us that we, as part of nature are shedding the Summer season to make room for Winter, inevitably giving way to renewal and light. …

October 6, 2014

Look Deeply, Be Free

This waking life is like a dream.   If we know we’re dreaming, will we hold on to the people in the dream?  get upset about how we feel or that we lost something in that…

September 29, 2014

Who Thought That Thought?

The Buddha said “In whatever way [we] conceive, the truth is ever other than that.”  Does that shake you up?  Remember that more often than not, we’re in a state of delusion.  We don’t see…

September 22, 2014

What Experiences Experience?

We have been reflecting on the teaching of not-self, exploring personal experience through the five aggregates—Form, Feeling, Perception, Mental Formations and Consciousness. Form corresponds to material, or physical, factors of experience, including not only our…

September 8, 2014

A Most Unusual Teaching: The Five Aggregates

Continuing our conversation from last week, the notion of the insubstantiality of what we call self is unique to the Buddha’s teaching.  Under investigation, the components of what we call “self” are distinct and constantly…

September 1, 2014

What is this thing called “Self”?

Importantly, development of the Wisdom aspect of the Noble Eightfold Path is grounded in seeing the ephemeral nature of what we call “self.”  The Enlightenment Factor of Investigation helps us in this endeavor.  When we…

August 25, 2014

Beginning Again

Welcome back from our short Summer vacation.  I trust you enjoyed the beautiful weather we have had and that the activities in which you engaged were supportive of your inner peace and happiness. The transition…

November 3, 2014

Freedom and Emptiness

For the last two days, I sat with His Holiness (“HH”) the Dalai Lama to receive his teachings. This year, the quality of his teachings seemed to take on more urgency.

October 27, 2014

Arouse Energy Now

On the night of the Buddha’s awakening, he vowed: “I shall not give up my efforts until I have attained liberation by perseverance, energy and endeavor.”

October 20, 2014

Open Heart, Faithful Life

Faith, an essential ingredient in our spiritual journey, is the first of the five spiritual faculties the Buddha taught as necessary for awakening. Faith is first because it is the ground on which awakening unfolds.…

October 13, 2014

Powerful Faculties

As we enter the Autumn season, we contemplate landscapes that remind us that we, as part of nature are shedding the Summer season to make room for Winter, inevitably giving way to renewal and light. …

October 6, 2014

Look Deeply, Be Free

This waking life is like a dream.   If we know we’re dreaming, will we hold on to the people in the dream?  get upset about how we feel or that we lost something in that…

September 29, 2014

Who Thought That Thought?

The Buddha said “In whatever way [we] conceive, the truth is ever other than that.”  Does that shake you up?  Remember that more often than not, we’re in a state of delusion.  We don’t see…

September 22, 2014

What Experiences Experience?

We have been reflecting on the teaching of not-self, exploring personal experience through the five aggregates—Form, Feeling, Perception, Mental Formations and Consciousness. Form corresponds to material, or physical, factors of experience, including not only our…

September 8, 2014

A Most Unusual Teaching: The Five Aggregates

Continuing our conversation from last week, the notion of the insubstantiality of what we call self is unique to the Buddha’s teaching.  Under investigation, the components of what we call “self” are distinct and constantly…

September 1, 2014

What is this thing called “Self”?

Importantly, development of the Wisdom aspect of the Noble Eightfold Path is grounded in seeing the ephemeral nature of what we call “self.”  The Enlightenment Factor of Investigation helps us in this endeavor.  When we…