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Meditation for Teens...upcoming workshop in Washington DC

Teens face a broad spectrum of causes and conditions for tension and anxiety, which affect their emotional well-being and their whole family. Meditation for Teens is a program designed to help teens address symptoms of depression, stress, and anxiety, and to help them concentrate on what is meaningful. Studies show that teenagers benefit from a regular mindfulness and meditation practice by improving their sleep, concentration, and dealing with strong emotions.

 

During this 6-week program at the Ashtanga Yoga Studio in Washington DC, teens will meet each week as a group with instructor Matteo Pistono to practice meditation techniques that hone concentration, relaxation, and focus. Matteo has been practicing meditation for over two decades, and teaching to adults and teens, in schools and privately, in the DC metro area for the last seven years. The techniques Matteo will teach include learning how pinpoint and reduce areas of tension in the body and mind, regulate breathing to help induce calm, and balance focus and relaxation. Students are welcome to ask questions and engage in dialogue during class, and they will be encouraged to begin a daily meditation practice on their own of 10 minutes a day. The aim of the course is to provide students with a solid basis to continue meditation and stress reduction techniques independently after the course ends.

 

Sundays from Oct 08, 2017 - Nov 12, 2017 from: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Sign up for the course here.

 

 

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next book close to finishing...

2016 was a quite year as I was writing this book...now I'm in the final stages of editing the manuscript of Sulak Sivaraksa's biography.
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In the Shadow of the Buddha (French translation) Sous le Regard du Bouddha

Dans ce livre extraordinaire, Matteo Pistono nous fait partager dix ans de pèlerinage au Tibet occupé par les Chinois, sur les traces d’un grand mystique et au service des Droits de l’Homme.

Sous le regard du Bouddha de Matteo Pistono réunit dans une même quête la recherche spirituelle  Read More 
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anniversary of Terton Sogyal (2015)

My first encounter with Tertön Sogyal was seeing this striking photograph of him at the Rigpa meditation center in London; that evening I also met Sogyal Rinpoche for the first time. I had just arrived in England for a master’s degree program in Buddhist philosophy at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. After seeing the photograph, I started asking questions about Tertön Sogyal’s life; though I spoke with lamas, Western scholars, and Tibetan historians, no one could
tell me much about him except that Tertön Sogyal was the Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s teacher and a Vajrakilaya adept. Despite knowing so little about him, I felt an inexplicable connection to the tertön. I was also drawn to Tertön Sogyal’s teachings by observing Sogyal Rinpoche’s extraordinary embodiment and example of a Dzogchen yogi, and his immense kindness in revealing Tibet’s wisdom tradition through his own teachings.

After receiving my degree in London, I went to Tibet to follow in Tertön Sogyal’s footsteps, to sit where he meditated in hermitages and caves, and to speak to lineage holders, including Khenpo Jikme Phuntsok, who helped me to visit some of the tertön’s holy sites. From the late 1990s to 2008, I traveled to Tibet a dozen times,  Read More 
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Thomas Merton in the Himalayas; Interview with Harold Talbott

Father Thomas Merton and Chatral Rinpoche in Darjeeling, 1968
Thomas Merton in the Himalayas, An Interview with Harold Talbott
Excerpt from Tricycle: the Buddhist Review, Summer, 1992

In his best selling biography, the Seven Storey Mountain (published in 1948), Thomas Merton tells of his conversion to Catholicism and subsequent entry into Our Lady of Gehtsemani, A Cistercian abbey in Kentucky. to a world savaged by war, Merton’s embrace of a Christian life was made all the more authentic by his Cambridge-educated intellect, stunning candor, and the New York street humor he acquired while attending Columbia University.

Single handedly, he restored credibility to the very possibility of contemplative virtue which had long been denigrated by liberal intellectuals and traditional Christians alike. His was a voice of sanity, filled with sacred wonder, and replete with inquiry and contradiction.

Merton appreciated perspectives refined by their distance from the society and considered them essential to maintaining the health of the community.  Read More 
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Tertön Sogyal's revelation of the Wish-Fulfilling Jewel Guru Statue

from Chapter 9 of Fearless in Tibet

DISCOVERING THE WISH-FULFILLING JEWEL GURU STATUE
Drikok Encampment, Eastern Tibet
Year of the Earth Ox to the Iron Hare, 1889–1891

In Tertön Sogyal’s 35th year, he revealed a guidebook to the Wish-Fulfilling Jewel Guru Statue, which stated, “Just as the veins of the body converge at the heart, go to the auspicious cave in the remote area of Derge where there are seven stone steps. You will see unmistakably, on the rock wall, an eight-spoked wheel. In the middle of the wheel there will be dakini script. There, behind, look for the extraordinarily blessed statue that liberates any individual who is fortunate to lay eyes upon it.”

The guide also instructed Tertön Sogyal about the astrologically appropriate date for revelation, the number of disciples who should accompany him, and the purification rituals to conduct, all of which needed to come together perfectly for the treasure revelation. The guidebook concluded, “When Guru Padmasambhava hid this statue, he entrusted it to Rahula and the naga treasure guardian named Jeweled Goddess. These two guardians will watch over the Wish-Fulfilling Jewel Guru Statue for many centuries.  Read More 
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Fearless in Tibet hits the bookstores and ebooks

Today is the publication date for 'Fearless in Tibet: The Life of the Mystic Tertön Sogyal' and I bow in gratitude to the many masters who have blessed the project, and especially Sogyal Rinpoche and Khenpo Jikme Phuntsok. May the aspirations of the masters be spontaneously fulfilled!

I'll be speaking at Tibet House in New York tomorrow, May 28th at 7 pm, and then in Washington DC at the International Campaign for Tibet on May 29th at 6:30 pm. Then I take the book to the West Coast. Full dates are above; click on EVENTS.  Read More 
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The photograph of Tertön Sogyal by Alak Gurong

Except from Chapter 19 of “Fearless in Tibet: The Life of the Mystic Tertön Sogyal”

Jentsa and Xining, Northeastern Tibet
Year of the Water Ox to the Wood Tiger, 1913–1914

One chilly morning, Tertön Sogyal told his host he needed to go to Nyenbo Dzari Lake to conduct a ritual. Alak Gurong and a few of his attendants and monks saddled the horses and they left straightaway. Arriving at the high mountain lake known for its medicinal qualities, the group made camp while Tertön Sogyal began a ceremonial offering of beer and juniper smoke to the tellurian spirits and treasure guardians. He instructed everyone to leave him alone and told them to walk to the center of the frozen lake and to break open a large hole. When they returned, he told them to stay at the campsite; he then walked to the center of the lake. No sooner had Tertön Sogyal arrived at the hole than he dove headfirst into the frigid water. The group ran to save Tertön Sogyal from certain hypothermia. But they could see nothing when they looked into the cold water. They did not know what to do. Worried and anxious, some began to cry. Minutes seemed like hours.

“What have we done?”

“Our refuge has died.”

As if a lion were roaring, Tertön Sogyal emerged from the lake with a rush of wind. He held in his right hand a Buddha statue and in his left hand a bejeweled treasure casket  Read More 
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Tertön Sogyal in Golok and collaboration with Dodrupchen Rinpoche

Extract from "Fearless in Tibet: The Life of the Mystic Tertön Sogyal"

Tertön Sogyal, with his wife and son and attendants, had crossed the Yellow River watershed and entered Golok. This gigantic landscape swallows travelers in dust storms and wind that can knock a sturdy Tibetan horse flat to the ground. Tertön Sogyal relied upon the treasure guardians to show the route. They steered the reins past the southern turnoff toward Kandze and ventured due east across the highland ranges with its rolling golden grasslands that extended as far as the eye could see. As they entered the sparsely populated region of southern Golok, the number of flat-roofed, stone-stacked houses in any village was no more than a dozen. Corn and barley sheaves hung among drying chilies from the three-story houses with the ubiquitous Tibetan mastiffs guarding the perimeter from sand foxes and wolves. Above the riverbanks where the barley terraces were planted, nomad children and women ran after Tertön Sogyal seeking his blessing, their devotion inspired by his tantric attire and nest of hair. In the high mountain meadows and pastures of rhododendron shrubs, and along the river basins, Tertön Sogyal’s caravan passed herds of yaks numbering in the thousands, tended by nomads.

This was the first time Tertön Sogyal had come to Golok, a region that rivaled Nyarong in its reputation of rugged nomads and roaming bandits. When locals camped for the night in Golok, horses were picketed under strong guard and men slept with their boots laced and their weapons at hand.  Read More 
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