This week we discussed the phenomenal Notes on Complexity: A scientific theory of connection, consciousness, and being, by Neil Theise. This short book on complexity theory is easy to read yet profoundly impactful. Below is a passage about 'inherent existence', a central theme in Buddhist philosophy. I included the links to order this book, and Do Hard Things, through the Grand Forks Library, if anyone is interested! 

From Notes on Complexity, pg 95:

"We have searched deep into the smallest recesses of existence- down into the quantum foam and space-time itself and nowhere could we find an object with inherent existence in and of itself.

While bodies turned out to be composed of cells, cells are composed of molecules, then atoms, then everything down in the quantum realm. At the smallest, Planck scales, the very smallest creations of all are wholes without parts that merely emanate from space-time and dissolve back into it like phantoms-there but not there, real but not real. Everything only looks like a thing from its own particular vantage point, the level of scale at which it can be seen as "itself," as a whole. Above that level of scale, it is hidden from view by the higher-level emergent properties it gives rise to. Below that level, it disappears from view into the active phenomena from which it emerged. Every one of these entities cloaks itself in the appearance of being something material, something solid, something real, but such appearances can be verified from selected perspectives, each of which necessarily excludes all others."

Notes on Complexity:

https://grandforks.bc.catalogue.libraries.coop/eg/opac/record/128795936?locg=24

Do Hard Things:

https://grandforks.bc.catalogue.libraries.coop/eg/opac/record/128248256?locg=24

How fast did these past two months go?? Thank you to all who joined us for this session and in 2025. I know how hard it is to make time for the events and activities we care about in our busy lives. Meditating is "paying yourself first", like the oft-repeated investment catchphrase. Just as we know we should put some money away for our retirement, we would do very well to set some time aside each day to generate merit and wisdom, through meditation practice, for our daily lives and for our future.

Last week we spoke about the Four Thoughts Which Turn the Mind [to the Dharma], a short prayer read before beginning meditation to kindle our motivation and inspire our practice. Basically the four thoughts are: the rarity of this precious human birth; impermanence; karma; and the basic unsatisfactory nature of life. For how long will we enjoy the freedoms and opportunities of this life? What will happen after that? These are the questions we are encouraged to consider. Contemplating these points deeply is transformative. The prayer is included below, with the Tibetan and English transliteration. If you are doing the practice of Vajrasattva on our own you may wish to include these few lines before you begin each sitting.

Next week is a total lunar eclipse, visible in its totality (sky permitting) for those of us on or near the west coast. It's especially cool that it is on March 3rd (3/3) and will reach its maximum at 3:33am! Eclipses are high karma periods, so this is an especially powerful time to do Vajrasattva practice. If you haven't made it to the group and have been meaning to, this is an amazing time. Here is a link with more eclipse information: https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/@5918118?iso=20260303

ན་མོ༔ བསླུ་མེད་གཏན་གྱི་མགོན་པོ་བླ་མ་མཁྱེན༔

namo, lumé ten gyi gönpo lama khyen

Homage! O lama, my unfailing and constant protector!

དལ་འབྱོར་འདི་ནི་ཤིན་ཏུ་རྙེད་པར་དཀའ༔

daljor di ni shintu nyepar ka

This free and endowed human birth is very difficult to obtain.

སྐྱེས་ཚད་མི་རྟག་འཆི་བའི་ཆོས་ཅན་ཡིན༔

kyé tsé mitak chiwé chöchen yin

Everything that is born is by its nature impermanent and bound to die.

དགེ་སྡིག་ལས་ཀྱི་རྒྱུ་འབྲས་བསླུ་བ་མེད༔

ge dik lé kyi gyundré luwamé

Beneficial and harmful actions bring their inevitable results.

ཁམས་གསུམ་འཁོར་བ་སྡུག་བསྔལ་རྒྱ་མཚོའི་ངང་༔

kham sum khorwa dukngal gyatsö ngang

The three realms of saṃsāra are an ocean of suffering.

དྲན་ནས་བདག་བློ་ཆོས་ལ་འགྱུར་བར་ཤོག༔

dren né dak lo chö la gyurwar shok

Recognizing this, may my mind turn towards the Dharma. 

Greetings! I hope the Fire Horse year has gotten off to a favourable start for you all! This past Tuesday we finally got snow in Grand Forks, and unsurprisingly our meditation group met online only. We talked about Losar traditions and how it is celebrated at the Ngakde centre in Germany. Below is a picture of the Ngakde altar all ready for Losar morning! After completing rituals and prayers for auspiciousness there was feasting and celebrating, both here and there! Juniper and I made another batch of khapse (Tibetan cookies, pictured below) which we can enjoy tomorrow.

How is saying "I'm sad" different from "I am experiencing a wave of sadness"? What about telling yourself "I can do this" vs. "She/You/Name can do this"? This week we discussed these statements with excerpts from Steve Magness' book Do Hard Things (from the Alex Honnold article a couple weeks ago). Each of the second sentences above create a "distanced" perspective, giving space between ourselves and our emotions. The positive impact of shifting our perspective has been well researched; below I've included a short excerpt from a Psychology Today article on the topic.

This linguistic trick is a fascinating mind hack, shown to reduce our stress response. In Buddhist-speak, we would say it helps us reduce our attachment. While our association with the word "attachment" probably resembles "really like", such as "Don't give away that shirt, I'm really attached to it", the Buddhist term is used to discuss both gross and subtle level experiences, such as attachment to our sense of self. As this is the bedrock of our experience of samsara, it rightly gets a lot of attention. Not only do we interrogate attachment in philosophical learning, we also employ various techniques in meditation to loosen our attachments, including visualizing ourselves in different forms and making physical and imagined offerings. When we are attached to wealth, for instance, it isn't the money that's the problem, it's how we feel about it, and then, what we do because of those feelings. Reducing our attachment proportionally increases our peace of mind, and our wisdom. 

From Psychology Today:

Ariana Orvell of the University of Michigan and colleagues (2020) had participants reflect on a series of future- and past-oriented negative personal experiences of varied intensity using distanced and immersed self-talk. They found that a “subtle shift in language—silently referring to oneself using one’s own name and non–first-person-singular pronouns… promotes emotion regulation.” Compared to first person (“immersed”) self-talk, distanced self-talk reduced participants’ emotional reactivity to negative experiences of varying levels of intensity. The findings held for future and past events, across types of events, and regardless of participants’ differing levels of emotion.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/insight-therapy/202012/science-based-technique-coping-stress/amp

This week we talked about the Buddha’s first teachings, the Four Noble Truths- the Truth of Suffering, the Cause of Suffering, the Cessation of Suffering, and the Path. At first glance these four might not seem to suit our cultural preoccupation with the pursuit of happiness, but they are in fact a guide for just that. The Buddha basically said Life is hard, then you die…and then do it all over again. It’s one battle after another. If there was no escape I’d say let’s make the best of it. But there is a way to gain control of your mind, to end the cycle of suffering. That’s really good news. Here, let me show you. 

The Truth of Suffering is evidenced everywhere, once you see it. I thought of it this week with the viral Crying Horse- a stuffed toy that was accidentally produced with its muzzle sewn upside down. Stores in China can’t keep it in stock, its sad face so, so relatable.

So when you’re having a hard time, reflect on pain as an inherent characteristic of samsara. It’s not you, or a shortcoming of yours, it’s just the way it is. But it doesn’t have to be. Take advantage of this precious life, this chance to change your karma and control your future.

Following up on this past week's discussion about meditation and the brain, below is a link to the article Justin referenced. It compares brain scans from Alex Honnold (of the recent, historic Taipei 101 climb) to the scans of Buddhist meditations. Spoiler alert- both showed a reduced fear response. The article is actually an excerpt from his book, Do Hard Things. No, we don't have it in our local library (I just checked at work today) but I am bringing it in from another library and will let you all know if it's a good read :)

This is a fascinating topic with much to explore, and very supportive as we begin integrating meditation into our lives, so I've added another short article and a link to Rinpoche's reading list.  While this information is on our GF website I have included it here from our center in Germany (the English website!).This is a great place to explore more about our lama Urgyen Rinpoche, Vajrayana meditation including ngondro practice, and our center in Germany. A short excerpt from the site: 

Buddhism offers practical tools for navigating the complexities of modern life. When we gather in our regional communities across Germany, Austria, and Canada, we're not retreating from the world—we're learning how to engage with it more skillfully. Our Sangha meetings provide a space to explore how meditation and Buddhist principles directly address the stress, conflicts, and decisions we face every day. (https://ngakde.org/en/regionalgroups.php)

Alex Honnold article:

https://stevemagness.substack.com/p/a-look-into-alex-honnolds-brain

Short article about meditation, happiness, and brain scans, featuring the popular Buddhist monk and author Matthieu Ricard:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-worlds-happiest-man-is-a-tibetan-monk-105980614/

A list of Rinpoche's recommended reading, with many of Ricard's books:

https://ngakde.org/en/readinglist.php