A Place to Sit - Meditation Center in Boulder

09/04/2026

Is Life an Illusion? Some teachings say that life is an illusion; others, that it is created by karma. For realized masters who are beyond the control of karmic law, the world appears like a mirage, not as solid or real. For them, what is there to cause hatred or attachment, since everything appears to them as an illusion?

For most of us, however, life appears and functions as solid and real. As long as we function through karmic causation, we must follow its strict laws precisely. Phenomena seem to exist and continue because of our own karmic tendencies. It is like a dream: because we’re asleep, we believe it to be real.

Buddhist teachings say that the world is the creation of the mind. But how, we may ask, can our mind create a solid mountain in front of us?

No one is saying that the mind created the mountain. It is the concept of the mountain that the mind created. If there is no mind, then — whether the mountain is there or not — the idea, name, or thought of the mountain’s existence or nonexistence would not even come up. So the idea and designation of “mountain” is a fabrication of the mind.

The Buddha says in the Karmashataka Sutra:

Various karmas Have created various worlds.

The Buddha says in the Mahakarunapundarika Sutra:

The world is produced and manifested by karma. Beings are created by karma.They are caused by karma.They are individualized by karma.

The Abhidharmakosha says:

The variety of the world is born from karma.

Some might wonder: If life is like an illusion, what is the point of trying to improve our situation? After all, our lives are based on our reactions and the reflections of our mental habits, which in truth have no reality.

Nevertheless we must try to improve our illusory life. Otherwise we will keep getting bruised by illusory events. Since we don’t realize they’re illusions, we suffer just as if they were real.

~ Tulku Thondup in, Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth: https://amzn.to/3T8b4j8

08/13/2026

Brian Banks was a promising high school football star whose future collapsed after a false sexual assault accusation sent him to prison for five years.

Years later, his accuser admitted she had fabricated the story. With help from the California Innocence Project, Banks' conviction was overturned and he walked out of court a free man. He had lost scholarships, opportunities, and five years of his life, but eventually rebuilt his career, signing with the NFL and becoming an advocate for the wrongfully convicted.

His story remains a powerful reminder of how devastating a wrongful conviction can be.

💬 Can anyone truly be compensated for five years taken away by a wrongful conviction?

Sources: California Innocence Project, ESPN, NFL.

07/20/2026

07/12/2026

By practicing this Seven-Line Prayer to Padmasambhava, you will benefit countless sentient beings who share a karmic connection with you. Even if you are not yet able to help others, as your dharma practice deepen, you will benefit all those linked to you, whether through positive or negative karma.
📖 Download eBook:
https://khenposodargye.org/books/ebooks/invoking-guru-rinpoche-a-practical-commentary-on-the-seven-line-prayer/

06/28/2026

Today, June 22, marks the 67th anniversary of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi’s arrival in San Francisco in 1959, a journey that would become one of the most significant events in the history of Zen Buddhism in North America.

Born in 1904 in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, Suzuki was ordained as a Soto Zen priest by his father and later completed formal training within the Soto Zen tradition. Before coming to the United States, he served for many years as the resident priest of Rinso-in Temple in Yaizu, Japan, where he developed the quiet, disciplined approach to practice that would later influence thousands of Western students.

In 1959, Suzuki accepted an invitation to serve the Japanese-American congregation at Sokoji Temple in San Francisco. The temple had been established by Japanese immigrants and was rebuilding in the years following the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Suzuki’s original responsibility was to provide pastoral care and traditional Buddhist services for that community.

His arrival occurred during an important period in the transmission of Buddhism to the West. Earlier figures such as Nyogen Senzaki, Sokei-an Sasaki, and D.T. Suzuki had already introduced Zen thought and practice to American audiences. Shunryu Suzuki’s contribution would be different. He offered sustained training in Soto Zen practice and helped establish one of the first enduring Zen communities composed largely of Western students.

In 1962, his students organized what became the San Francisco Zen Center. Within a few years, the community established Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, the first Zen training monastery in the United States, followed by Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in Marin County. Together, these institutions became foundational centers in the development of American Zen.

Suzuki’s teachings emphasized the practice of zazen and the Soto Zen understanding that practice and realization are not separate. His talks, later collected in Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, remain among the most widely read introductions to Zen Buddhism in the English language and continue to influence practitioners around the world.

Sixty-seven years after his arrival in San Francisco, the institutions he helped establish continue to train students, host retreats, and transmit the Dharma. The anniversary serves as a reminder of a pivotal moment in Buddhist history—when a Soto Zen priest crossed the Pacific to serve a small immigrant congregation and became one of the central figures in the development of Zen Buddhism in America.

06/28/2026

What Is the Mind?

Well, then, where is this self-clinging? That which clings to “I” is the mind; that which clings to “other” is also the mind.

So the next question is: Where is the mind? It must be somehow in the body, because when the mind is not present, we have only a co**se. So ask yourself, is it in the top part ofwe have only a co**se. So ask yourself, is it in the top part of the body or the lower part? How big is it? What color is it? If you pull a hair out of your head, it hurts, doesn’t it? If you prick your foot on a thorn, it hurts, doesn’t it?

The mind and body must be somehow coextensive, mustn’t they? It’s as though the mind and body were stuck to each other. On the other hand, when someone is killed in an accident, where does the mind go? How did it leave the body and from where? It’s only when we examine the mind correctly that we discover how many false assumptions we have — false assumptions that, for the moment, are completely unnoticed.

We cling to things as though they were permanent and will last forever. This is the measure of our delusion, tightly fettered as we are by this so-called “I” of ours—this “I,” in the interests of which, our mind enslaves our body and our speech, and creates all sorts of difficulties and hardships.

When we arrive at a correct understanding of the mind, we can see that our present thoughts are just like waves on the water. At one moment they arise; at another they dissolve. And that’s all there is to it: the mind is nothing but thoughts.

The mind, which is empty, arises as thought, and this is also empty. The stream of consciousness, which is empty, is carried away by thoughts that are likewise empty. This is how the mind falls and remains in the six realms of samsara. It is the mind itself that fabricates samsara, and it does so because it fails to recognize its own nature. Now that we have some idea of the mind’s nature and how it works, we must bring it under control and master it.

In order to do this, it is said that that we must keep our body perfectly still. Moreover, if the body is straight, the subtle perfectly still. Moreover, if the body is straight, the subtle channels will be straight. If the subtle channels are straight, the wind-energy will be unobstructed. And if the wind-energy is unobstructed, the mind will rest in its natural, unaltered flow.

Therefore, keep your body still and reduce your speech to a minimum. Don’t think about what you have just been doing. Don’t think about what you are going to do later. Without concern for the past or the future, let your mind rest in its natural state. This state, in which the mind is left as it is, untampered with and natural, is called “rest” or “stillness.”

This “stillness” is actually just the mind itself. You could call it the “mind of the present moment,” or the “awareness of the present moment.” But whatever you call it, it is what—in this very moment—is actually knowing and joyfully aware.

A mind that is not agitated by thoughts concerning the past, present, and future, a mind that is thought-free, is a state that is stunningly vast and open. It is full of joy. Even when the mind’s nature is recognized, it is impossible to describe. It is empty. It rests in awareness. But this resting in the radiance of awareness does not last long. There is nothing permanent about it, for thoughts will certainly arise, strong and clear.

We talk about “arising” because thoughts flash into appearance like lightning in the sky, or swell like waves on the ocean. They are in constant movement. At the outset, thoughts appear and disappear in endless continuity. So, when beginners like us meditate, we must recognize thoughts as they arise. If we fail to recognize them, their movement continues unnoticed below the surface and we are carried away by them. Meditating like this is of no help to us.

If you are able to continue meditating properly, certain signs will appear. For instance, some people experience a kind of physical well-being. Others, because of the particular disposition of their subtle channels and energies, experience a powerful sense of bliss. For others, it is more like a deep sleep or an all-engulfing darkness. Whether you experience bliss or clarity, avoid any kind of expectation. Do not think to yourself, “Oh, my meditation is working. I’m making progress. If only I could have more of these experiences!”

On the other hand, if you experience a kind of darkness, a thoughtless blankness, clear it away over and over again. If you don’t, your meditation will sink slightly. Some people have lots of thoughts when they meditate — an unstoppable flood. If this happens to you, don’t get upset and think that your meditation is a failure. It is just a sign that you are becoming aware of all the thoughts that under ordinary circumstances pass unnoticed. So don’t let it bother you.

Don’t think you have to suppress or eliminate your thoughts. Whatever happens, it is said that you must meditate without hope or fear, doubt or expectation. That’s the main thing.

It is thanks to the blessings of the Lama that realization will dawn. Therefore pray to him, mingling your mind with his. If you do, there will come a moment when you will see that what is called the Buddha is not different from your own awareness, and that there is nothing to subdue or master other than your own thoughts. The sign that your meditation has hit the mark is that your devotion to the Lama will deepen and your compassion for beings will gain in strength. You will be your compassion for beings will gain in strength. You will be your own witness and you will gain great confidence in the practice.

If you gain control over your mind, then even if you are at the point of death, you will understand that it is only because of a particular thought that there is an impression of dying — but that the nature of the mind is utterly beyond both birth and death. It would be excellent if you could gain this confidence.

So keep this little, essential, instruction in your hearts. This conviction and confidence is what we call the Dharma — the inner qualities that you gain. If you vacillate and think of Dharma as something extraneous to you, thought up by somebody else, you will not benefit from it.8 Instead, do yourself a favor and get out of samsara! Be convinced that your mind must separate from samsara, with its karma and defilements. If you do, everything will be fine.

Please practice. Pray constantly that you will have no obstacles on your path and that you might be able to capture, in this very life, the primordial citadel. And I will add my prayers to yours.

- Dudjom Rinpoche - Counsels From My Heart

05/25/2026

Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809 in a small log cabin in Kentucky and grew up in poverty, surrounded by hard physical labor and loss. He had very little formal education and taught himself mostly through books borrowed from others. Long before politics, Lincoln understood struggle. Failure, grief, and loneliness were not strangers to him. They shaped the quiet strength people later admired in him.

The moment that changed his life came during the American Civil War, when the country stood on the edge of collapse. As president, Lincoln carried the weight of a divided nation while facing enormous criticism, pressure, and personal sorrow. During this period, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, a decision that changed the course of history and moved America closer to ending slavery.

One of the hardest lessons Lincoln learned was that leadership often means standing alone with difficult decisions. Before becoming president, he lost elections repeatedly, suffered business failures, and battled deep sadness throughout his life. Yet those struggles gave him empathy. He understood human pain not as an idea, but as experience. That is why his words carried humility instead of arrogance. One of his most remembered lines still feels timeless:

“I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true.”

Abraham Lincoln’s life reminds us that greatness is not always loud or confident. Sometimes it is simply the ability to keep moving forward with integrity while carrying more pain than the world can see.

05/23/2026

"Look forward to that time off. It’s not only that you don’t have to work but you don’t have to think also. It’s the greatest pleasure.”~Ringu Tulku Rinpoche

'Meditation Advice from Ringu Tulku Rinpoche', read the full article in 'The Ringu Tulku Archive' here:
https://bodhicharya.org/teachings/news/meditation-advice-from-ringu-tulku-rinpoche