Taming the Elephant Mind: A Handbook on the Theory and Practice of Calm Abiding Meditation - Softcover

Rinpoche, Lama Choedak

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0994581300 ISBN 13: 9780994581303

Publisher: Sakya Losal Choe Dzong Tibetan Buddhist Society of Canberra, 2016

Synopsis

Mindfulness and meditation are two aspects of the Eight Fold Noble Path taught by the Buddha in 500 BC. Buddhists have been practising these for many centuries and have made a valid contribution to create peace in people’s lives. Today people think Buddhist teachings are scientific, logical, practical and sensible. Buddhism does not need science to prove the authenticity of its teachings. It only needs people to engage in meditation and promote it as such, without watering it down for the purposes of mere stress reduction and performance enhancement. A large number of people have taken on what is known as Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Therapy and it has been promoted as if it was developed by someone in recent years, without giving credit to the teachings of the Buddha. Elsewhere, others try to promote the same by calling it Compassion Based Stress Reduction Therapy. The form of meditation the Buddha taught and practiced is called ‘Calm Abiding Meditation’ and it is the remedy for all 84,000 afflictions - not just stress. The teaching of the Buddha is wisdom based reduction and elimination of all afflictions and sufferings. This handbook consists of notes compiled primarily to accompany the 8-Week Course on Calm Abiding Meditation that I conduct for students of Buddhism and the general public. I have been conducting these courses for over 18 years. There are also many of my students who have been facilitating this course on a regular basis throughout Australia and New Zealand. Nowadays, a few Tibetan Buddhist centres are starting to offer classes on Calm Abiding Meditation, but they are usually taught as a philosophical explanation of the topic without devoting any time to sit in quietness and do the practice of meditation. Over the years I have adapted these courses to provide practical techniques for the general public. It is not necessary to hold any religious beliefs in order to benefit from Meditation. Calm Abiding Meditation might also be useful for people of other faiths who wish to enrich their religious life. You will gain the most benefit by practising every day, even for just a few minutes, rather than from longer occasional bursts of enthusiasm. Even when you are not meditating formally, you can carry the bene^its into your daily life by doing everything with a sense of purpose and a gentle attitude. Enlightened experiences do not necessarily occur only on the meditation cushion. You may have such an experience walking to the shops, provided you walk along with a calm, clear and stable mind! Calm Abiding Meditation tunes our minds to the wave length of spaciousness, freedom and happiness. If you desire these qualities, may you find them by following the practices contained in this booklet! Lama Choedak Rinpoche 2013

About this title

About the Author

Lama Choedak Rinpoche was born in the yak hair tent of a nomad family on the Tibetan plateau in 1954. He grew up as refugee Nepal where he took ordination as a monk while still attending Nepalese high school. As a novice monk Lama Choedak was accepted by the great Tibetan master His Eminence Choegye Trichen (1920-2007). Rinpoche proved to be a particularly bright student and was close to His Eminence, acting as his personal attendant for six years in Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha. He completed twelve years of rigorous monastic training under Choegye Trichen’s guidance, including a traditional three-and-a- half year solitary meditation retreat, which was sponsored by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Lama Choedak encountered many foreigners and was encouraged by Lama Yeshe to help bring Buddhism to the West in the eighties. He took up a postgraduate scholarship at the Australian National University and caught the attention of the few Canberrans interested in Tibetan Buddhism. In 1989, Sakya Losal Choe Dzong (SLCD) the Tibetan Buddhist Society of Canberra, was officially launched Rinpoche continues to promote the practice of Calm Abiding Meditation, acknowledging its benefits as a popular secular mindfulness technique, as well as recognising the importance of its Buddhist origins. Since 1996, he has conducted several 8-week meditation courses each year and a 10-day annual residential retreat at SIBA Retreat Centre in East Gippsland, Victoria, which have become some of the most popular events on the Australian Buddhist calendar. Lama Choedak Rinpoche’s profound explanation of meditation and its everyday relevance is renowned for its lucidity, authenticity and humour. His teachings are offered from the heart, and spiced with the richness of his experience, dedication and realisation.

Edition details

• Publisher: Sakya Losal Choe Dzong Tibetan Buddhist Society of Canberra
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0994581300
• ISBN 13: 9780994581303
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 102