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Unfettered Classes
Podcasts & Audio Files
Periodically, Ken conducts courses on specific topics, such as mahamudra or the four immeasurables. Or he may give a course on a particular text, such as The 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva. These courses are recorded and posted on the UM website for everyone, e.g., people who missed a class and want to catch up or people who are unable to attend the course in person and want to follow it.
These resources are free. Your support, through donations, will keep them available to everyone. To donate, please click here.
Below are links to .mp3 files of these podcasts grouped by class. Select a grouping from the list below to see the list of files for that class. When you click on a file title, a new window will open to play the sound file. You can put the window in the background and continue to browse while you listen.
To listen online now click on a title below.
To download the mp3, right-click the title (if you are a Windows user) or option-click the title (if you are a Mac user).
To subscribe to this series as podcasts go to iTunes Music Store.
- Ganges Mahamudra (Class, 4 files) Jan, Feb 2010, Los Angeles, CA
- Sutra Session (Q & A, 8 files) ongoing, varied
- Meditations (Class, 1 file) ongoing, various
- Eightfold Path (Class, 2 files) May, 2010, Los Angeles, CA
- Ideology and Wisdom (Workshop, 4 files) May 2009, Los Angeles, CA
- Surviving Stressful Times (Workshop, 4 files) January, 2009, Los Angeles, CA
- Heart Sutra workshop (Talk, 4 files) September 2008, Los Angeles
- Anything’s Possible (Talk, 2 files) 2008, Port Townsend, WA
- Then and Now (Class, 37 files) 2007 - 2008, Los Angeles
- Who Am I? (Class, 4 files) 2008, Los Angeles, CA
- Making Things Happen (workshop, 4 files) 02/03/08, Los Angeles
- Money and Value (workshop, 4 files) 12/02/07, Los Angeles, CA
- Four Immeasurables (Class, 6 files) February - May, 2007, Los Angeles
- Mahamudra (Class, 6 files) November - December, 2006, Los Angeles CA
- Relationship and Conflict (tele-teaching, 4 files) October, 2006, Los Angeles
- Practice Issues (Talk, 3 files)
- What Do I Do Now? (Class, 4 files) August 2006, Los Angeles CA
- 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva (Class, 20 files) April-June 2006, Los Angeles CA
- Other Talks
- Learning from the Lives of Lineage Holders (Talks, 3 files) November-December 2004, Los Angeles CA
FI 01: The Four Immeasurables
Introduction
The context for the four immeasurables in Buddhist practice, how they differ from other emotions including their power to transform ordinary experience into presence; how different traditions view the immeasurables; clarifying pain, hurt, suffering and harm; the purpose, cost and benefit of practicing the four immeasurables; meditation instruction on equanimity practice, Q&A
Duration 01:19:38
FI 02: The Four Immeasurables
Equanimity
Reading assignments for class; participants' experience with equanimity meditation including preference and prejudice towards one's self; willingness, know-how and capacity in applying the immeasurable; reaction to 'experiencing the world knowing me just as I am'; judgement versus discernment; sitting in experience versus deduction and analysis. Commentary on the two types of experience: social/shared experience and individual/actual experience; being complete in the world of individual experience; how equanimity arises naturally in the world of individual experience; questions from participants on the two worlds of experience; meditation instruction for loving kindness.
Duration 01:37:25
FI 03: The Four Immeasurables
Loving-kindness
Participants' experience with loving-kindness meditation including opening to what arises; doesn't wishing oneself to be happy actually separate you from certain experiences; is it unrealistic to think of the world wishing you happiness and peace; how this meditation impacts life off the cushion; is there a specific order to the immeasurables; how to work with fear; what is meant by 'opening' to experience; the purpose of practice and its effect on one's life; is our natural state to be open or closed to what arises. Commentary on decay and corruption in the four immeasurables; meditation instruction for compassion.
Duration 01:31:57
FI 04: The Four Immeasurables
Compassion, part 1
Participants' experience with compassion meditation and related reading including experiences with heartbreak and movement of energy; being present in the suffering of others; are goals useful in practice; intention and results; compassion and boundaries; what is meant by 'the open space of no response'; what is meant by 'non-residing'; working with the line 'May I experience the world wishing me freedom from pain'; the satisfaction of despising. Commentary on adolescence striving and parental mind; meditation instruction for compassion.
Duration 01:29:54
FI 05: The Four Immeasurables
Compassion, part 2
Participants' comments and questions on compassion meditation including: Should we say the verses used in these meditations aloud or to ourselves?; Does the line in the compassion meditation, 'May I experience the world wishing me freedom from pain', impose an unrealistic ideal upon the world?; difficulty in extending these verses to include others; the relationship between compassion, despair, and joy; What are you opening to when being compassionate towards others?; How does one find the balance between justice and compassion Commentary on social and adult expressions of the four immeasurables and spiritual longings passage from the reading assignment; meditation instruction for joy.
Duration 01:22:18
FI 06: The Four Immeasurables
Joy
Participants' comments and questions on compassion meditation including: joy, passion, excitement, and fun; what is meant by the line "May I experience the world celebrating my efforts"; sympathetic joy; is "the world celebrating my efforts" a form of external validation; how impermanence may appear to contradict cause and effect; how can I "enjoy the activities of life itself" when life becomes sticky; what does one do if you can see a situation clearly but may not have the capacity to act as the situation demands. Commentary on energy transformation passage from the reading assignment; what participants got from the class; where to go from here.
Duration 01:34:44