Questions & Answers 27. Zoom 03.2023

8 March 2023. James Low had invited questions from people watching his Zooms, which he began to answer.

Note: the constant cuts in this video result from the removal of James Low's periods of silence, while waiting for the consecutive translation from the German translator.

Index

"(00:00) Padmasambhava said, 'Though the view should be as vast as the sky, keep your conduct as fine as barley flour. Please expand.'"

"(03:59) There's a question from somebody who's been practicing Dharma for 30 years and suffers from health problems of particular autoimmune diseases, which affect the whole nervous system, making it very difficult to meditate or even just relax. Most of the time, there's some tension in the body, which makes meditation difficult, and the person is often discouraged."

"(09:07) During our daily activities like work and planning, how to maintain awareness of an open fresh mind? The requirements of normal life require concentrating on tasks, goals, results, and achievements, so that my work produces something of value that is judged by other people. So, how to stay with the precision of the task while maintaining open awareness?"

"(13:47) Although the view never feels very far away, I find that I'm not sitting to meditate as often as I used to. Should I set the time and stick to it and write myself reminders?"

"(18:25) You have talked of other realms and so on, but is it possible to take a completely secular approach to Dzogchen?"

"(24:14) A question wanting a repetition of the five questions of inquiry of the mind."

"(28:20) I have a teacher, a western disciple of a Tibetan Lama. He is authorized to teach, but not to give empowerments or tantric teaching. Can I think of him as my guru or as my teacher? He says I should see his guru as my guru, but I have not met this guru."

"(30:17) I am a beginner psychotherapist. Are there techniques in psychotherapy whose foundation is the Dzogchen teachings? Can this help the patient?"

"(33:15) Is one way to interpret the term sentient beings as self-states, in terms of a psychological perspective?"

"(34:45) Concerning Padmasambhava practice, what is the difference between an outer mantra and an inner mantra, with respect to their meaning usage and effects?"

"(43:16) What can we do practically to distinguish awareness of itself by itself versus the awareness based on reified self?"

Video at https://youtu.be/gLik8cQt7bw?si=cETr773pjMT3TW82