Dharma Path

I signed up a week and a half ago for the Dharma Path program which is being offered by Lama Norlha Rinpoche's Monastery in New York. You commit to an hour of meditation each day, two hours a day on weekends. You can listen to the instructional talks as mp3 files. So far it's already been quite helpful. The program lasts seven months, and culminates in a 9 day retreat at the end of June. In addition, I will be qualified to teach up to the level I achieve. The format is different than what I would have anticipated: for each meditation session, sit in tranquility meditation for a third, contemplate our precious human birth (the first thought that turns the mind toward the dharma) for a third, and then finish with tranquility meditation for a third. One does this for 60 hours, and then moves on to the second thought that turns the mind toward the dharma, eventually covering all four thoughts.

I am still acutely aware of my shortcomings. Indeed, yesterday, I had an outbreak of jealousy, and before that I was nurturing fantasies of my superiority, but all I can say is that I'm making progress.