I recently had the opportunity to interview Dr. Reginald A. Ray of the Dharma Ocean Foundation for Elephant Journal. Reggie Ray brings to the table “four decades of study and intensive meditation practice within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, as well as a special gift for applying it to the unique problems, inspirations, and spiritual imperatives of modern people. He currently resides in Crestone, Colorado, where he is Spiritual Director of the Dharma Ocean Foundation, a non-profit educational organization dedicated to the practice, study and preservation of the teachings of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and the practice lineage he embodied.”
Part 1:
Spirituality & Daily Life: Interview with an American Meditation Master."In Buddhism we call it buddha-nature, but buddha-nature isn’t simply an established state. It is a process of being in the river of spiritual maturation that goes on-&-on, never reaching a static point. Perfection, in this case, refers to fulfilling the journey of the human life. When are fully and completely with what it means to be human, we have let go of any attempt to pin ourselves down, solidify ourselves, or encrust ourselves at any stage. It is an unending, open process. When we have completely let go of any attempt to withdrawal from life or freeze ourselves, that’s what I mean by perfection."Click here to continue reading part 1
Part 2:
"People will tell you that they are going on vacation because they want to experience the world with a certain kind of freshness; they want to be a little bit surprised by reality. All these things that they are talking about are really spiritual goals, and there is spiritual longing in wanting to take a vacation. The problem is they get back from vacation and tell you that none of it was there! They are looking to the relative world trying to fulfill something that is already within us, and can only be found by relating directly with that larger Self."Click here to continue reading part 2
Part 3:
"Dharma is about this life—it is about working with our given names and our given identities, and the institutions that we have in this culture. The minute we have to adopt any thing in our relative state of being that identifies us and takes us away from this reality, in my opinion, it is not dharma any more. I don’t know what it is."Click here to continue reading part 3
