Dharma Glimpses with Judy Lief Judy Lief

[This episode first aired on July 26, 2022] Random labeling, or kuntak in Tibetan, is a two-step process: first we select some portion of our perception and give it a label; then, once we’ve done that, we fixate on it and make it solid • we make something that really doesn’t exist into something that’s seemingly solid, and we do that over and over again • there’s a famous saying: “Fish don’t exist” • there are lots of things swimming around in the se...

[This episode originally aired on July 19, 2022] The Tibetan term for compassion—karuna—can be translated as “noble heart” • in the Buddhist teachings, compassion is almost always linked with another quality that actually changes the sense of what it might mean • in this episode I will talk about three such pairings: compassion with emptiness, compassion with wisdom, and compassion with skillful means • linking compassion with emptiness places it in ...

[This episode was originally published on July 12, 2022] Recently I came across a disturbing study indicating that people who spend a lot of time in silent meditation practice can actually become less loving, less generous in their interactions with others • that made me think about the importance of balancing the simplicity of meditation with the cultivation of friendship, love, and kindness • my teacher, Trungpa Rinpoche, emphasized that meditation practice, at...

The focus of this episode is listening • we might think of listening as something passive, but it is actually a very active process, one that is closely associated with paying attention • a traditional dharmic example of listening fully and properly is that of a deer in the forest: when a deer hears an unfamiliar sound, its listening becomes instantly heightened • listening is talked about as the first step in developing insight or prajna • some...

The Buddha's life can be seen as a template for our own journey along the Buddhist path • the Buddha grew up in a palace, surrounded by safety, comfort, and security • but growing up in such a sheltered environment, he started to feel claustrophobic and curious • one day the Buddha snuck out of the palace grounds with his attendant and encountered a series of “teachers”: someone who was very ill; someone who was extremely old; and the body of a dead person&...

As you get older, your sense of physical balance declines a bit; and so you might think, well, I'll just try to be balanced and just stay there • but if you're working with a trainer, they deliberately try to throw you off balance • they're looking to see if you can return to balance when you're thrown off — which is the whole point • in meditation practice, we're continually trying to find the balance between too tight and too loose • as ...