Approaches to religion | Vividness

So I suggest that spirituality and religion start not from a system of belief that offers comfort and meaning, but from a first-hand glimpse of a different way of relating to the vicissitudes of life. And this shows up not as a thought, a wish or an interpretation, but as a direct experience. It is seen and felt, not construed or imagined. It is e

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way. If liberation is the central aspiration of your life, periods of intensive meditation practice can be of inestimable value. They generate tremendous energy, power, and insight. But there are also cycles of living actively in the world, developing generosity, morality, truthfulness, and compassion, qualities more easily expressed in daily life

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Buddhism envisages a transformation, a very radical transformation, of the way in which ordinary people feel themselves and the surrounding world. And so, in this sense, I have coined for Buddhism a special term to contrast it with a religion. I would call it a “way of liberation,” a way of liberation from the ordinary way in which most civilized a

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Non-dual vision—rigpa—enlightenment—is the essence of ambiguity. It is the goal of the Buddhist path. To approach rigpa, we gradually abandon “reference points.” Those are our fixed ideas about ourselves, about others, and about the relationship between self and other.