The Gradual Path Blog
Whereas the steps leading to the first milestone of renunciation cultivated the view and skills for individual freedom, we have now transitioned to a series of steps leading to the second milestone of altruism.
This transition in emphasis from self liberation to liberation of others, is predicate...
Renunciation: Evolutionary Self-Care.
Congratulations on making it to the first milestone on our journey of awakening!
The gradual path is comprised of a series of reflections that step-by-step lead us to three major milestone or realizations:
1) Renunciation, the determination to be free.
2) ...
The Defects of Compulsive Life Inspire Disinterest.
Itâs not that life is suffering, itâs that the compulsive, mindless, unconscious life called samsara is suffering. In order to prompt our waking up from the long sleep we are asked to take a sobering inventory of just how dissatisfying it is to ...
Causality Inspires Agency.
What are your thoughts on pop culture versions of karma theory like the boomerang effect âwhat goes are comes aroundâ, or the law of attraction?
While everything is based on a principle of causation, the Buddhaâs emphasis with karma was on mental causation. Intentions ...
 What is refuge?
What have been our âusual suspectsâ, the sources we automatically turn to for quick relief? More than just behaviors and coping mechanism, what have been the relationships and subtle beliefs we have turned towards to provide safety and comfort?
While these may have provided temp...
Compare the pervasive attitude towards death found in industrialized verses indigenous cultures. Then ask how our attitude towards death changes our relationship to life?
The lam rim reflection on death has three sub-reflections:
1) Death is certain. Can you identify one thing that doesnât chang...
Life is beginingless and consciousness is infinite.
Over the course of evolution our karma has compelled us to ascended and descend to various pleasant and unpleasant states of existence. But fundamentally we have always been trapped in a condition of blindness, not knowing who we really are, and...
 Step 8 emphasizes the need for the student to be as prepared and qualified as the teacher for an optimal learning experience.
We are responsible for avoiding the 'three defects of the vessel'. Our mind is like a vessel, the teachings are an elixir. We canât be:
1) too full
2) leaky
3) contami...
 Find a Real-world Mentor.
Question for you, since we are at step 7, what is it about our culture and social media use that makes reflecting on more than three steps or points a challenge? And what is it about you that helps keep you moving forward on a more enduring path?
Distinguish the virtua...
 Step 6 concludes the Six âOrdinary Preliminaries,â a container or crucible for our visualization practice.
Can you integrate your personal spiritual practice - yoga, dance, martial arts, art, writing etc. - into this container?
Conclude your daily practice by offering a mandala.
A mandala is a...
Seven-step Mentor Bonding Process = a virtual reality psychotherapeutic encounter that we can have as many times as we wish, for however long we need, at no cost.
1) Admire Qualities - orients us towards the good in others countering the negativity bias.
2) Make Offerings - builds reciprocity, s...
Work with virtue and vice using the mentor-bonding process.
The engine of enlightenment is a sacred relationship.
Itâs 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 middl...
