This nine-day retreat took place between 6th October and 14th October 2018.
The Heart Sutra (Saturday – Sunday)
The Meditation and mantra recitation of Prajnaparamita, Mother of All the Buddhas, from Gonpo Wangyal (Sunday, Friday)
The Evocation of Samantabhadra (Monday-Tuesday)
The Meditation and Recitation on Vajrasattva who Purifies Errors and Obscurations (Wednesday)
Vajrasattva practice from Ngöndro (Thursday)
Padmasambhava practice from C. R. Lama (Thursday-Friday)
Purification practice using Padmasambhava as form, from C.R. Lama (Friday)
Uncovering the Presence of the Mother of All the Buddhas, from Gonpo Wangyal (Friday-Sunday)
In the course of the Friday and Saturday teachings, various series of Semdzin practices were introduced and their effects discussed.21 Semdzin Handout
↓ Download recordings: James Low – Germany – Eifel – 2018 October
1 Saturday - James Low – Germany – Eifel – 2018 October
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001 Blaming, Judging, Coming to Conclusions
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002 Shine Practice – Just Staying Peacefully
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003 Brief Remarks on Shine Practice
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004 Removing the Corset of Prejudice
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005 Organising Potential According to Our Categories
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006 Adding Our Associations
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007 Consciousness – Knowing Something About Someone
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008 From the Potential We Take What We Are Drawn to
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009 A Writing Exercise for the Afternoon
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010 Question – Collective Karma, Social Factors
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011 The Writing Exercise Instructions Repeated
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012 Self and Other
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013 There Never Was a Raw Potato
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014 Identities, Processes and Something Enduring About Me
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015 The Heart Sutra
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016 Sitting Practice – Being With What Is Happening
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017 Inside Looking Out – Immediacy and Openness
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018 Thoughts in Meditation
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019 Question – Using the Mind to Find Something Out
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020 Question – Is Interpretation the Same as Karma?
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021 Letting the Past Go
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022 Evening Sitting
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023 Stillness and Movement Inseparable
2 Sunday - James Low – Germany – Eifel – 2018 October
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024 Refuge and Bodhicitta
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025 Question – Tibetan Texts, Word Order and Rhythm
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026 Grammar and Relative Truth
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027 Commodification, Value and the Construction of Delusion
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028 Open Sitting Practice – Dissolving Agency
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029 The Sense That We Are Someone Singular
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030 Talking and Listening
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031 Continuing With the Heart Sutra
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032 Question – Fake News, Everything Is an Opinion
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033 Free of Signs and Identification
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034 Free of Stains and Freedom From Stains
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035 Without Decrease or Completion
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036 Question – Memory, Mindfulness
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037 Looking More Clearly – The Rippling Surface
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038 Question – Unborn, Unceasing
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039 Text – The Prajnaparamita Sadhana
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040 The Visualisation – Merging in Non-Duality
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041 The Mantra – Ending the Practice
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042 The Functioning of Tantra
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043 Question – Taking the Concretised Vision Seriously
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044 Question – All-Encompassing Wisdom
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045 Question – Why Purification Practice? Simple Practice
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046 Sitting Practice – Ego and Awareness
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047 Emptiness in Tantra and Dzogchen – Recognising the Ground
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048 Grasping, Hoping for Something
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049 Introduction to the Padmasambhava Practice
3 Monday - James Low – Germany – Eifel – 2018 October
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050 Artifice – Freezing the Flow
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051 Question – How Can the Bad Be Padmasambhava?
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052 Ethics – Freedom With the Other
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053 Lessons of Practice – Working With Circumstances
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054 Back to the Heart Sutra
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055 Key Points From the Heart Sutra
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056 The Ethics Linked to the Heart Sutra
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057 Sitting With a Tree
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058 Text – The Evocation of Samantabhadra
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059 Question – Seeing or Being
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060 How the Ground Is Related to Practice
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061 Everything Is the Radiance of the Ground
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062 Question – Difference From Deep Depression
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063 The Qualities of Awareness of the Ground
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064 The Arising of Sentient Beings
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065 Samsara Comes Into Formation
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066 Dissolving the Solidity of the Self-Formation
4 Tuesday - James Low – Germany – Eifel – 2018 October
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067 Ignoring and Delusion
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068 Question – Undivided Integration
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069 About Ignorance and the Ego
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070 Clarity, Contact
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071 Question – The Coffee and Everything Else
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072 Question – Sense Consciousness, Expansive Awareness
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073 Question – The World Coming to Me
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074 Attachment
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075 Connected With People
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076 Text – The Five Afflicting Poisons Increase
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077 Question – Poisons and Attribution of Value
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078 The Functioning and Purification of the Poisons
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079 Back to the Ego – Patterns Arising and Dissolving
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080 About Initiations and Learning
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081 Everything Inside the Mind – Experience and Commentary
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082 Question – When We Sleep
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083 Question – Eye Consciousness
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084 Question – All Beings Liberated, No Matter, Movement, Time
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085 Question – Non-Abiding Awareness
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086 Text – Ignorance Without Recollection
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087 Text – Blankness With Presence, Bardo States
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088 Non-Recollection, Awareness and Ignorance
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089 Question – Clarifying the Term Recollection
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090 Becoming More Aware of What Duality Means
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091 Talking to a Neighbour – They Are Your Experience
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092 The Ethics Intrinsic to Non-Duality
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093 Question – When the Other Is Exclusive
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094 Question – Levels of Experience, Raw Experience
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095 The World of Your View – Access to Awakening
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096 Question – People Coming Together, Resonance
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097 Text – Subtle Longings Intensify, Delights Torment
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098 Continuing With the Flavour of the Meditation
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099 Music and Movement
5 Wednesday - James Low – Germany – Eifel – 2018 October
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100 Sound in Refuge Recitation
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101 Faith
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102 Text – The Ground on Which Errors Are Purified
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103 The Errors Which Are to Be Purified
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104 Question – Ignorance, a Defence, Karmic Consequence
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105 Errors, Thoughts, Objects, Classification, Means of Arising
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106 Some Remarks About Merit
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107 The Method by Which Errors Are Purified
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108 The Vajrasattva Visualisation
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109 The Hundred-Syllable Mantra
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110 Commentary on the Mantra – Part 1
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111 Question – Link to the Five Skandas, Ways of Talking and Thinking
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112 Commentary on the Mantra – Part 2
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113 Sound Arising From Emptiness, Dissolving Into Emptiness
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114 Mantra Commentary – Part 3, Suposyo Me Bhava
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115 Mantra Commentary – Part 4, Sarva Sidhim Me Prayaccha
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116 Question – Is There Going Back After Realisation?
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117 Question – Vajra, Benza, Accuracy and Trying Your Best
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118 Question – Eating Meat, Tsok
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119 Concluding the Method by Which Errors Are Purified
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120 The Potency of the Effective Application of the Antidotes
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121 The Potency of Total Renunciation
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122 The Potency of Abandoning the Return to Error
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123 Results Gained From Purifying Errors
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124 Difficulties Experienced When Errors Are Not Purified
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125 The Benefits of Expiating Sins
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126 Reviewing How You Behave
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127 Opening to What Is Open – Recognising the Cheater
6 Thursday - James Low – Germany – Eifel – 2018 October
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128 Some Understanding From the Refuge Prayer
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129 Dana – Offering Something in Response to Receiving
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130 Text – The Vajrasattva Practice
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131 Vajrasattva Arises
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132 Absorbing the Dharma
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133 Text – From the Letter A
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134 Question – Transformation, Antidotes
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135 Question – Structure in Work Situations
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136 Text – Washed Clean and Pure, Mantra
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137 Purification, Clarity and Compassion
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138 Reading Through the Mantra Again
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139 Question – Seed Syllable Variation
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140 Guru Yoga Practice
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141 Primordial Purity, Instant Presence, Garab Dorje's Three Statements
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142 Absolute Truth and Relative Truth
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143 Text – The Padmasambhava Practice
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144 Refuge, Bodhisattva, Seven-Branch Practice
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145 Visualisation, Prayer and Mood
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146 The Four Initiations – Merging and Purification
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147 In an Instant of Recollection – Offerings, Praise
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148 The Experiences That Arise When You Come Out of the Practice
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149 Question – Attachment to Meditation Experiences
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150 Text – We Pray to the Guru of Self-Liberating Awareness
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151 The Call of Impermanence
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152 Here When We Are Here
7 Friday - James Low – Germany – Eifel – 2018 October
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153 Practices, Powerlessness, Lack
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154 Resistance and the Repressed
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155 Text – Sharing the Offering
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156 Question – The Five Elements in Terms of Light
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157 Back to Sharing the Offering
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158 Dedication of Merit
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159 Prajnaparamita Practice
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160 Text – Purification Practice Using Padmasambhava as Form
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161 Question – Recommended Time of Day for the Practice
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162 Positions for Practice – Let the Body Move as It Needs to
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163 Adhering to Our Scripts for the Body
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164 Staying Authentic in Openness Like an Ocean
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165 Staying Relaxed in Awareness
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166 Question – Clarity Like Light
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167 Allowing the Forms of the World to Be as They Are
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168 Receptivity
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169 Semdzin Practice
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170 Luminous White A
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171 Responses to Luminous White A
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172 Phat
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173 Responses to Phat
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174 The Sound of Ha
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175 Responses to the Sound of Ha
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176 The Struggle of the Asuras
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177 Responses to the Struggle of the Asuras
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178 Using the Semdzins for Yourself
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179 The Sound of Hung
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180 Responses to the Sound of Hung and Further Advice
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181 Red Letter Ram
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182 Responses to Red Letter Ram
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183 Red Ball or Letter Ram With Light Shining Forth
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184 Responses to Red Ball or Letter Ram With Light Shining Forth
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185 Deity on the Tip of the Nose
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186 Responses to Deity on the Tip of the Nose
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187 Sequences of Practices
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188 Text – Uncovering the Presence of the Mother of All the Buddhas
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189 Impermanence, Revulsion, Without Doing Anything Artificial
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190 Only Names and Definitions Put by Your Mind
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191 Question – Committing Time to Frothy Friends
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192 Tsok Offering – We Are Padmasambhava, Choosing the Open
8 Saturday - James Low – Germany – Eifel – 2018 October
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193 Absorbing These Ideas
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194 The Concrete – Asking How
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195 Sitting – Finding the Mind of the Heart
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196 Availability in the Guru Yoga Practice
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197 Knowing How You Tie Yourself in Knots
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198 Semdzins – Second Series, Pink Sphere
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199 Responses to Pink Sphere
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200 Central Channel – Expansion and Return
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201 Responses to Central Channel Expansion and Return
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202 Sharp Inhalation Through Side Channels Into Central
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203 Responses to Sharp Inhalation Through Side Channels Into Central
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204 White Ball on the Tip of the Nose
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205 Responses to White Ball on the Tip of the Nose
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206 Advice on Using the Semdzins
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207 Question – Practices Summary Sheet
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208 Question – Making Oneself the Child of Another, the Other the Child of Oneself
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209 Question – When to Use Phat
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210 Question – Meaning of Semdzin
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211 Text – Regarding the Mind, Five Questions
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212 Question – I Just Feel So Stupid
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213 Designed to Tire You
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214 Text – Due to Relying on Reificatory Identification
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215 ‘I’ Remains While All ‘I Ams’ Vanish
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216 Comment – Anger Towards the Teacher
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217 Question – Is It Compassionate to Tell Stories? Emptiness of ‘I’
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218 Semdzins – White A
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219 Responses to White A
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220 Mind and Energy as a Hung
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221 Comments on Mind and Energy as a Hung
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222 Direct Attention to Sound
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223 Responses to Direct Attention to Sound
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224 Small Deity Inside the Heart
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225 Responses to Small Deity Inside the Heart
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226 Semdzins – Third Series, Gradual Understanding of Emptiness
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227 Responses to Gradual Understanding of Emptiness
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228 The Semdzin of Direct Understanding of Emptiness
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229 The Semdzin of Impermanence
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230 Five Elements – Relax in It
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231 Just After a Thought Has Manifested
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232 The Semdzin of Union
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233 Hung or Crystal Ball Travelling in Space
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234 Dynamic in a Dynamic World
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235 After Padmasambhava Practice – Keeping a Connection
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236 The Radiance of the Buddha – Departing With Sweetness
9 Sunday - James Low – Germany – Eifel – 2018 October
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237 Working With Circumstances, Difficulties and Problems
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238 Text – Only Emptiness, Devoid of Inherent Self-Identity, Play and Games
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239 Distinguishing Concepts, Free of Duality, Light, Easy, Connected
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240 Let the Mind Flow Freely – Not Something for You to Do
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241 Reflecting on Gratitude – Pockets of Darkness
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242 Intrinsic Presence, Effortlessly Arising
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243 Garab Dorje's Three Statements
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244 Whatever Feelings Come
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245 Every Possibility Is Within This – Open to Life as It Is
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246 Bringing the Sensation of Leaving Into the Body
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247 Relaxing the Desire of the Ego – Who Is Doing This?
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248 Pristine Illumination, Awareness at Home in Swimming
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249 Ethics – Balanced, Grounded and Clear
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250 Improving and Developing Clarity – The End of All Things
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251 Dedication of Merit
