Therapy, at first glance, appears to be like going to the doctor: I have pain in my elbow (or emotions) and I don’t want to cope with it on my own, so I head to a specialist in such things who can give me a remedy. But emotions aren’t like elbows — they don’t get… Continue reading The Role of the Therapist
Karma: all of our actions and thoughts have inevitable results, both positive and negative, for better or for worse. Navigating our lives—and future rebirths—depends on understanding causality: how karma works. Understanding karma is crucial to reaching our goals, both material and spiritual. Video: Audio: How Karma Works part 1 Looking at the Buddhist texts we’ll… Continue reading How Karma Works
Living in community can be challenging, since we need to balance the demands of many different relationships and personalities. Spiritual community can be attending teachings or church events as part of an urban lifestyle, or as deep as living in a rural residential spiritual center. It’s likely that some conflict will emerge, or we will… Continue reading Life in Community
Spirituality is inclusive of all parts of a person’s life. A spiritual lifestyle is about cultivating the inner dimensions of deep meaning in everything we do. Physical health, career and livelihood, family and relationships, are all part of wellbeing and fulfillment. There must be a sense of connected wholeness between who we believe we are,… Continue reading What is a Spiritual Lifestyle?
The Heart Sūtra is the most recited, copied, and studied text in all schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. It reviews the foundations of Buddhist philosophy while revealing the profound Perfection of Wisdom: the doctrine of emptiness. In this class series, we will study the Sutra in Sanskrit, discuss the key philosophical points of Buddhism, and reveal… Continue reading Decoding the Heart Sutra
The Lotus Sūtra is a magical place, filled with wonders beyond conception. There are infinite bodhisattvas of various sorts, countless worlds illuminated by Buddha’s wisdom (Kubo and Yuyama 15), and a primordial Buddha materializing in a giant flying stūpa temple (Kubo and Yuyama 175), among other extraordinary occurrences. While the stated location for the teaching is Vulture Peak (Kubo… Continue reading Accessing the Lotus Sūtra
I studied and practiced Daoism seriously for several years before I encountered Buddhism. I did a two-year immersive (meaning I lived at a rural community with cultivators, teachers, and students, where we practiced and studied every day) training in classical Chinese medicine, Qigong and Taiji, Internal Alchemy, and Daoist meditation practices. Although I have since… Continue reading What made you believe in Traditional Chinese Medicine?
In studying Buddhism, I’m struck by the apparent friction between Siddhartha Gautama the man, and Shakyamuni Buddha who has conquered birth and death. Was Gautama a normal human who, through dedication and persistence, made the discovery of Enlightenment? Or was he a supernatural Being who incarnated in a human form merely for the purpose of… Continue reading Gautama: Man vs. Cosmic Being
Stages of herbal healing in Ayurveda. Defining rasayana, the path of soma, amrit, nectar. Entheogens, spiritual use of herbs. Defining adaptogen, improving vitality with herbs. Taught by Mojohito Tchudi in Cambria, California on July 30, 2017. To subscribe to the podcast of these recordings, put this link in your favorite podcast app: https://mojohito.com/feed/podcast/ https://mojohito.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Herbal-Meditation-Allies-podcast-Mojohito-von-Tchudi-Enlightened-Experience-2017.mp3Podcast: Play in new… Continue reading Herbal Meditation Allies
The core of the buddhist disciplines is putting it into practice. There are many approaches to buddhist philosophy and science: the eightfold path, the seven-step method for developing radical compassion, the six perfectionizers, the five yogic stages, the four noble truths, the three principal paths, the two collections, and developing single-pointed concentration, to name but… Continue reading Reflections on Guanyin