The Launch Pod
By Achariya Doug Duncan
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Podcast Description
These are recorded, edited talks given by Achariya Doug Duncan, Canadian-born Buddhist teacher in the lineage of Namgyal Rinpoche. Doug Sensei, as he is known, offers a compassionate, humorous, and highly practical approach to awakening. For more information, please visit: http://www.dharma-japan.org/ or http://www.clearskycenter.org/
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Heading to “Tokyo” (Planetary Consciousness) | "We are one cell each in a body called humanity. And this, as I see it, is where the dispensation and the map for the future lies in terms of the evolution of human consciousness." -- Sensei Doug Duncan For the first part of this talk, listen to the previous Launch Pod podcast, "First, You Need the Map!" (FYI: The geographical progression eastward is Kyoto b Nagoya b Shizuoka b Tokyo) "We want our explorations to be wider, more incorporating than they have been in the past." "Samsara means from the ego point of view our lives go around and around on the same circle." "You're unfolding as a human being, but where you end up is going to be determined by which map and which aspiration you have." "If we want to survive and thrive as a species, and if we want the planet to be habitable, and if we want to be in good places, we have to see the self as other." "You are me and I am you." | 5/2/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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First, You Need the Map! | "The awakened consciousness is THE evolutionary step for humanity in total. The destination for the human species is awakening." -- Doug Duncan Sensei "You're going to be seeing more people awaken more speedily and more easily than ever before in history." "The absolute bottom-line fear, the main issue, for every human being throughout their life is the fear of disappearing, which is equated to mental illness. After all, mental illness is a real possibility. You see people fracturing and falling apart regularly and you're going to see more and more of it. Being "in control" is a way of managing the fear, of keeping you from mental illness. The idea of giving up control triggers the fear of losing a sense of who you are. It's a fear of disappearing, of being absorbed. The closest understanding we have of that is the fear of mental illness, where you're no longer compos mentis; you're no longer sane." "Will meditation drive you crazy? No, life drives you crazy. Meditation shows you that life is crazy. If you don't meditate you can assume that life is normal, but the minute you start meditating, life looks pretty crazy." "In terms of the awakening experience, you have to meet these fears of being out of control, of being crazy, of losing your identity. Because that's how the ego has projected the awakening experience back onto itself as the reason for not doing it. Don't think you can't do it (awaken), because the depth of your being knows you can. The depth of your being is prepared for it. The organism knows that this is part of the potential program. Your brain, your body, your organism as a human being knows it has the capability and the possibility for awakening." "In most conventional ways when we say I love somebody, it means 'I can control them' or 'I can manipulate them' or 'I'm with her/him because I like being controlled by her/him'; 'I like the way she/he controls me, I like way she/he manipulates me'. And this is what we call love. Because love is usually a deal--a deal about your ego and their ego being able to dance to similar music. And it's not a bad thing. I'm not putting this down at any level. But that deal doesn't lead to awakening. Having said that, you can still be married and have a family and be awakened, but you can't set up family and profession and kids as a false destination. You've got to bring them toward awakening; it doesn't work the other way around." | 2/25/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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3 |
Meditation and the Ego’s Needs, Part 2 of 2 | "The ego is an unfulfilled need whose time has passed." | 10/18/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Meditation and the Ego’s Needs, Part 1 of 2 | "Awakening isn't so much that you're fixing what's wrong or improving what's gone off as you are expanding your range to include what you exclude." "Namgyal Rinpoche mentioned two ways to increase your intelligence: increase the range of what you eat and increase the range of your sexual experience." "'Unwholesome' means choosing things that you may be habitually comfortable with but which aren't taking you forward. They're holding you in place in a limited conditioning based on security and comfort." "When you start to meditate and you're doing Amitabha practice, this is a place where rather than seeking after familiar and comfortable experiences you just note the ones that are arising." "You really need just two things for awakening: a good heart -- the actual desire for the welfare of other beings -- and determination (cetana)." This talk was recorded on April 7, 2010 at Maitreya House in the United Kingdom http://crystalgroup.org.uk/maitreya.htm | 10/7/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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The Nature of Addiction/Appetite Part 5 of 5 | In this concluding section, Sensei answers such questions as: How do you live in the moment and still plan for the future? Aren't there authentic pleasures that are not based on addiction? How can you not identify with the objective world in a healthy way that still allows you to function? | 6/10/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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The Nature of Addiction/Appetite Part 4 of 5 | In the end, the nature of addiction is an attempt to escape the pain that is at the core of all of our beings. Getting on with the spiritual work means learning to be okay in the present moment, just as it is, without need for stories or elaborations, knowing that we're going to die, that no absolute security is to be found, that everything is impermanent. Part 4 of 5, public talk, Winnepeg, Canada, Sept. 2009 | 6/10/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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The Nature of Addiction/Appetite Part 3 | Part 3 of a public talk given in Winnepeg, Canada, in Sept. 2009 | 4/22/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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The Nature of Addiction/Appetite Part 2 | "If you want freedom you have to come to terms with being okay in the now doing nothing." -- Doug Duncan Sensei "All of your bad states are entirely your responsibility. Your state is totally under your control as long as you can exercise the mindfulness to be present in the moment. When you remain present you won't go to the addiction or to a negative mind state." "On the spiritual path, you're not fighting your addiction, you're fighting the inability to face the appetite or addiction. It takes patience and determination to sit through the state and study the pattern, rather than simply being driven by early childhood conditioning." From a public talk given in Winnepeg, Canada in September 2009 | 4/15/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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The Nature of Addiction/Appetite Part 1 | "If you look at the nature of your consciousness, you're always one step ahead of yourself or perhaps one step behind yourself, but very rarely are you actually in this moment just as it is." -- Doug Duncan Sensei The nature of appetite or addiction is thinking, 'What's next?'" In our modern lifestyles, we are addicted to being busy, always going from one thing to next, seeking happiness in the next moment. This is an addictive pattern. Seeking cannot produce peace and contentment. Happiness cannot be found in the next moment. Only in breaking the pattern, the addiction to the immediate reward of the chemical rush, do we find that consciousness can reside pleasantly in this moment, undisturbed for a period of time. The cycle of addiction is rooted in a strong sense of survival in one's being. Rather than fighting against it, look at it with reason. Decide to meditate, to do nothing but rest peacefully in the moment for one or two hours a day. In meditating, one's habit is absent, so initially boredom will arise. Boredom is the result of the withdrawal from mental addiction, the addiction to 'What's going to happen next?' Boredom is followed by fear and anxiety, which have some survival value. So how do you marry the survival value of planning and organizing with the idea of being present in the moment? Stay tuned. | 2/19/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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You Cannot Let the Unwholesome Run You (How to Get Comfortable When It’s Not Really Possible (Part 3 | In this last part of his talk, Doug Sensei gets down to the nitty-gritty. It's your work to do. We need to pay attention to and recognize what's going on in inside -- our mental states. And not let ourselves be ruled by subconscious conditioning. Mantras mentioned: Chenrezig (Jewel in the Lotus) mantra (for your heart): Om Mani Padme Hung Manjushri mantra (for your head): Om A Ra Pa Tsa Na Dhih Vajrapani (The Holder of the Diamond) mantra: Om Vajrapani Namah Hum Deity: Red Shinji, wrathful Red Manjushri: the most wrathful of all the deities in the mandala | 12/3/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Why Wait for Spring? (How to Get Comfortable When It’s Not Really Possible (Part 2 of 3) | It's the basics for awakening. Recognize the wholesome for the wholesome. Recognize the unwholesome for the unwholesome. And you always know that the unwholesome state is unwholesome. You just aren't admitting it. Om ah ra pa tsa na dhih. Hail to the wisdom that is ripening. (Manjushri mantra) This talk was given by Doug Duncan Sensei on Aug. 14, 2010 at Clear Sky Center, BC, Canada. | 11/5/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Nobody’s Perfect: How to Get Comfortable When It’s Not Really Possible (Part 1 of 3) | "sabbe sankhara dukkha'ti" All conditioned phenomena are filled with suffering. This talk was given by Doug Duncan Sensei on Aug. 14, 2010 at Clear Sky Center, BC, Canada. | 10/10/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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What is Karma (Action)? | Doug-sensei says: "Action is intention. Be very careful about this. There's no thing that you do at any moment ever that isn't intended. Every single thing you do is intended, whether you acknowledge the intention or not." Reference: Prajna Paramita = The Heart Sutra `http://www.tricycle.com/dharma-talk/the-heart-sutrab Relevant section: "O Shariputra, all dharmas are forms of emptiness, not born, not destroyed, Not stained, not pure; without loss, without gain. So in emptiness there is no form, no sensation, conception, discrimination, awareness. No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind." Ultimate vs. Relative Truth = The Buddhist Doctrine of Two Truths From p. 41 Luminous Mind, Kalu Rinpoche: "All things can be viewed according to two levels of reality: the relative or conventional level and the ultimate level. These two truths correspond to two points of view, two visions of reality: the relative truth or view is relatively or conventionally true but ultimately illusory, and the ultimate truth or view is definitively true, the authentic experience beyond all illusion. All samsaric perceptions are experiences of relative truth. Nirvana, which is beyond illusions and samsara's suffering, is the level of ultimate truth." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_truths_doctrin | 8/13/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Your Journey is Upriver! | Doug Sensei says: "Your journey to awaken is upriver! Samsara is noted for being endless. You are not going to awaken by keep makin' the same choices, goin' down the same stream. Unless, of course, the choice you're making is to meditate, contemplate, reflect, study, listen to your mentor. But fundamentally you have to take the challenge -- not just to meditate or contemplate, but to take the challenge to go upriver for you! And no Buddha can do this for you." "It's not about rebelling against society. It's not about fixing or destroying society. It's irrelevant. Your challenges are irrelevant to what society is doing. Your challenge is to leave it behind, to walk on, to let go, to abandon, to renounce, to give up the idea that samsara is resolvable!" Term: skandhas For a good explanation: http://tibetanlama.com/buddhism/The_Five_Skhandas.asp Text used: "Gems of Dharma, Jewels of Freedom," the classic handbook of Buddhism, by Gampopa (This podcast episode now contains the corrected sound file -- no sound dropouts.) | 6/25/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Get Off Your Royal…..! | "You're not looking at suffering clearly enough. You're drugging it out. You're in a dream state. Instead, you have to see the true nature of what you're attached to -- that it's impermanent, that it's subject to loss, that you can't ever own it, and that which owns it is itself a dream." Continuing with another talk from Dec. 2009 retreat, Doug Sensei rapidly outlines the Buddhist teachings -- how to awaken -- giving life to them with direct commentary suited for people today. An overview of the teachings from the book, "Gems of Dharma, Jewels of Freedom," the classic handbook of Buddhism by Gampopa, considered the 12th century forefather of the Kagyu traditions of Tibet. Translated by Ken and Katia Holmes in 1994, "according to the detailed explanations traditional to the Karma Kagyu Lineage". See: http://www.samyeling.org/ Part 1: The Prime Cause -- The Enlightened Essence (having the awakened potential -- you have Buddha nature) Part 2: The Basis -- A Precious Human Existence Part 3: The Condition -- The Good Mentor Part 4: The Means, The Mentors' Instruction Part 5: The Kaya of Perfect Buddhahood Part 6: Non-Conceptual Enlightened Activity to Benefit Beings Sensei starts out: "We're talking about samsara and nirvana. Samsara and nirvana are the same insofar as their actual nature is spaciousness. The form it takes is different according to the delusion. Insofar as you're subject to delusion you're in samsara. Insofar as you're not subject to delusion you're in nirvana. The nature of samsara is that it's repetitive -- it just keeps going round and round. The key characteristic is that in samsara because of the delusion you're subject to suffering. In nirvana you're not subject to suffering because you're not subject to the delusion. So then how do you get free from the delusion?" "The nature of the guru, the lama, the Buddha, is to point out blind spots. You don't need the lama to practice, to study, to reflect or contemplate on the Dharma. That you can do on your own. But what you can't do is see your blind spots." "Ignorance doesn't mean you're stupid. It means you're just not looking. From that POV, your neurosis is simply that you don't look past what you already know. It's the nature of the ego." | 6/17/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Wake up, Little Suzy | Your parents have done their job, but they mentored you for a worldly existence. "The insubstantiality of the problem and the insubstantiality of the person experiencing the problem ends every problem. And by having meditative concentration, you just tell that little imp --- poof!" "Bliss, clarity, non-clinging is your birthright." Buddhist term: Sambhogakaya | 6/9/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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The Remedy to the Four Impediments (Part 2 of 3) | First...response to a student question: "Don't we just accept that there is a cycle of getting temporary satisfaction and then seeking again?" Concept: Switched-Off Potential (for Enlightenment) Sensei: "What are you taking refuge in, my friends?" Another incisive retreat talk! | 5/3/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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The Four Impediments to Awakening | The Four Impediments to Awakening Why don't you want to awaken? Get ready for impact. Teachings based on the book "Gems of Dharma, Jewels of Freedom" by Gampopa. Talk given at winter retreat in Dec. 2009, Miki, Hyogo, Japan. http://awaken.inthislifetime.net Note: Quote attributed to Neils Bohr b actually by Schrodinger to Bohr. | 2/23/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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What Does it Mean to Awaken? Part 4 | Some terms and topics covered in this talk: skandhas (composites), the awakening experience, dealing with pain, "karma is cetana (will or decision)", being hurt and how to forgive | 1/7/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Seven Types of Meditation (What Does it Mean to Awaken? Part 3/4) | In this talk: Samatha meditation (develops calm and concentration resulting in bliss) Six types of samatha meditation: visualization, mantra, mudra, devotional, energy, and breathing Vipassana meditation: insight What is reality? From the point of view of Buddhism, there is no object to be found in the universe anywhere. All objects are made up of composite parts. A human being is made up of these composite parts: form, feeling, perception, consciousness, factors of consciousness | 12/22/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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What is Meditation? (What Does it Mean to Awaken? Part 2/4) | "Fundamentally, meditation means the ability to witness what's going on in consciousness while it's going on in consciousness." "If you don't see that the state you're in right now -- while you're in a state of anger or in a fight -- is more important than the outcome of the fight, you'll always be fighting. [...] If you put the state you're in right now first, you're meditating, which doesn't mean you have to say to yourself 'I'm not angry.' You step back from the state you're in to look at what it's like to be in that state." "Meditation is the process of learning how to observe the state you're in -- physically, emotionally and mentally -- without getting all bent out of shape about it." "Meditation practices are basically levers or wedges to get in between you and your state to pry the mind and the state apart from each other. If I can pry myself free from that state a little then I'm in a position to look at its nature .... and learn something useful ... and realize that it doesn't really matter what state arises." "The separation between the mind that's experiencing a state and the state that you're experiencing is fundamentally meditation. Meditation practices are tools that you use to get between you and your habitual run-on mind." | 12/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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No More Quiet Desperation (What Does it Mean to Awaken? Part 1) | We don't have to lead lives of quiet desperation. Perhaps we are too lazy to investigate the nature of our own consciousness, perhaps we have doubts. We fool ourselves into thinking we can get true happiness from objects that are transitory and fundamentally... unsatisfactory. Sensei tells us: "The key to awakening is being aware of your own state, almost as if it's not your own." "Ask yourself one question: 'What is inherently unpleasant or uncomfortable or undesirable in this thing?' "In the process of taking apart your views of things, you find that a lot of the things you're building your happiness on are doomed to end. Can they possibly, then, create everlasting peace?" http://www.clearskycenter.org/ | 11/21/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Are You At the Edge of the Cliff? (Part 2) | "The problem is that you want to have your cake and eat it, too. So you try to do the job and career and relationship thing AND stand on the edge of the cliff, but because you're clinging to the job and career and relationship, you're not actually ON the edge of the cliff. You try to convince yourself you're on the edge of the cliff when you're 15 miles from it. The teacher's job is nothing other than to disabuse you of the fact that you're not standing at the edge of the cliff, and to point where the edge of the cliff is." Terms used in the talk: "alaya vinjana" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Store_consciousness) Jataka tales (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jataka_tales) J**o Shinshu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jodo_Shinshu) Kyentse Norbu Rinpoche (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzongsar_Jamyang_Khyentse_Rinpoche) guru yoga (Google it yourself ;-)) | 10/30/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Are We Our Thoughts? (At the Edge of the Cliff Part 1) | Wake up in the morning and set your aspiration for the day. It's fundamental for "working the bowl upstream into the more radiant fields of consciousness." The mistake we make that hinders our spiritual development is that we take things personally, which feeds experiences back into the conditioned responses that we call the self. So what is the self? Our thoughts? Our emotions? Our body? This talk was given in March 2009 at Clear Sky Center, B.C., Canada. | 10/25/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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You Don’t Have to Be “Smart” | To meditate, you don't have to be "smart," says Doug Sensei. You just have to see clearly. In this edited talk excerpt, Sensei discusses "the Purification of View" (from the Abhidhamma) and provides a useful meditation exercise to help one come to understand nama and rupa (mind and matter), the knowledge of which constitutes the first stage of insight and leads to overcoming doubt on the Path. | 9/24/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Fundamental Friendliness | These are recorded, edited talks given by Achariya Doug Duncan, Canadian-born Buddhist teacher in the lineage of Namgyal Rinpoche. Doug Sensei, as he is known, offers a compassionate, humorous, and highly practical approach to awakening. For more information, please visit: http://www.dharma-japan.org/ or http://www.clearskycenter.org/ | 7/28/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Introduction to Meditation (Part 3 of 3) | Sanskrit terminology used in this talk include: bardo and Tathagatagarbha. For more information, visit http://awaken.inthislifetime.net | 7/3/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Introduction to Meditation (Part 2 of 3) | Visit http://dharma-japan.org for full details. | 6/24/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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An Introduction to Meditation | In this discussion on the seven types of meditation, you'll encounter the following Sanskrit terms: samatha, vipassana, rupa/arupa jhana Talks are edited lightly to remove extraneous material. For more information on the activities of Doug Sensei, please visit: http://www.dharma-japan.org or http://www.clearskycenter.org/ | 6/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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On the Senses and Consciousness Part 2 of 2 | This talk was given for a retreat in Guatemala on Feb. 26, 2004. Part 2 of 2. For more information on the activities of Doug Sensei, please visit: http://www.dharma-japan.org or http://www.clearskycenter.org/ | 5/10/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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On the Senses and Consciousness Part 1 of 2 | This talk was given for a retreat in Guatemala on Feb. 26, 2004. It is part one of two. For more information on the activities of Doug Sensei, please visit: http://www.dharma-japan.org/ or http://www.clearskycenter.org/ | 4/30/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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The Left/Right Brain and Capital “M” Mind Part 3 of 3 | Last part of a talk given in Kyoto, Japan, in November 2008. Your feedback is appreciated! | 2/28/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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The Left/Right Brain and Capital “M” Mind Part 2 of 3 | This talk was given in Kyoto, Japan, in November 2008. It is Part 2 of 3. | 2/20/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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The Left/Right Brain and Capital “M” Mind Part 1 of 3 | This talk was given in Kyoto, Japan, in Nov. 2008 | 2/10/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 34 Episodes |
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