The Gradual Path Blog
The Mentor Bonding Process | Step 5 enlightenment mentor middle way virtue Jul 13, 2021

Work with virtue and vice using the mentor-bonding process.

The engine of enlightenment is a sacred relationship.

It’s in the context of a close relational bond that we will eliminate vice, and cultivate virtue, and achieve enlightenment. No one makes it alone!

We must strike a balance, a...

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Evoke the Mentor and the Jewel Tree Refuge | Step 4 buddhahood gradual awakening gradual path guru jewel tree lam rim spiritual mentor Jul 11, 2021

If you’d like, start memorizing the steps and recalling them prior to hitting play on the next video in the series. By the end of our journey they will be installed in your heart.

Humans learn best through mimicry with more skilled parental figures or mentors. Unlike childhood we now get...

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Prepare Body & Mind with Posture & Motivation | Step 3 gradual awakening gradual path lam rim six preliminaries Jul 09, 2021

Steps 1-6 are called the Ordinary Preliminaries and have to do with our meditation practice.

Prepare your body for meditation with a dignified and comfortable posture.

Prepare your mind for meditation with one of three kinds of motivation depending on your predisposition and capacity.

1)...

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Set Up an Altar & Make Offerings | Step 2 altar gradual awakening gradual path lam rim offerings Jul 05, 2021

The altar is our workbench.

What’s on the altar is that which we aspire to become.

The purpose of offering is to exercise or cultivate good qualities that will hasten maturation or manifestation.

With a pure heart offer anything - pure water, fresh fruit, flowers, lit candles, sweet...

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Create a Sacred Space | Step 1 altar gradual awakening gradual path lam rim sacred space Jul 04, 2021

 Create a sacred space to do the work.

What is the relationship between the environment and our state of mind?

Do we prioritize our psychological growth enough to designate an actual workspace for it?

What design elements would go into a space to make it inviting for you?

What about Mother...

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Awakening in 30 Steps gradual awakening gradual path lam rim Jul 03, 2021

Awakening in 30 Steps is a series of contemplations on each of the lam rim steps from Dr. Miles Neale's book Gradual Awakening: The Tibetan Buddhist Path of Becoming Fully Human.

The lam rim is not a linear sprint to a final destination, it’s a spiral-like process of gradual awakening.

...

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Coping With Your Darkest Night dark night of the soul david newell inner truth podcast Jul 02, 2021

Raw and full of lived wisdom, Dr. Miles Neale returns to the Inner Truth podcast to talk to David Newell about navigating through the dark night in the the midst of his own dark night.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Listen on Spotify

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Create a Sacred Space & Make Offerings essential nectar green tara lam rim lynn bell refuge six preliminaries three principles of the path Jun 29, 2021

Sitting cross-legged in an upright meditation posture facing an altar, I take refuge in the Three Jewels in Pali and then Tibetan. My voice is overshadowed by an unfamiliar sound on a loudspeaker – the call to prayer beckoning the Islamic devotees to the mosque. A reminder that I am no...

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Journey of Awakening: A Virtual Buddhist Pilgrimage buddhist holy sites buddhist photography buddhist pilgrimage inner journeys May 20, 2021

Acclaimed photographer and author Julian Bound and Buddhist therapist joins Dr. Miles Neale for an intimate conversation about the journey of awakening.

Julian’s stunning photographs from his many travels to sacred Buddhist sites throughout Asia as well as his latest book By Way of...

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Contemplative Psychology in a Modern Context contemplative psychology contemplative studies lam rim spiritual awakening May 17, 2021

Dr. Miles Neale recently talked to Tom Parkes of the Mentally Flexible podcast. In this episode they discuss:

  • The Contemplative Studies Program
  • How Miles’s childhood informed his spiritual life
  • The importance of presence in helping another person feel...
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Life as an Art | Third Eye Drops Podcast information warfare life as art meaning crisis michael philip third eye drops May 16, 2021

 Dr. Miles Neale returns to the Third Eye Drops podcast to talk to  host Michael Philip about living life as art, keeping the sacred alive without dogma, the meaning crisis, Joseph Campbell and more. 


"When you come across a quote, an idea, a song, whatever the medium is, and it...

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Short Life Lessons From Miles Neale | WorldClassPerformer.com bad advice bodh gaya buddhist pilgrimage dark night of the soul life lessons miles neale Apr 27, 2021

Where did you grow up and what was your childhood like? Did you have any particular experiences/stories that shaped your adult life?

I grew up in Hong Kong with tremendous privilege but often felt dissatisfied as if something essential was missing. By the time I was twenty I had made it to India...

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