The four Brahma Viharas or Divine Abodes of Buddhism are all aspects of the same, simple, subjectless emotion: the sense of well-being. The bipolar emotions that see-saw back and forth over the rock of contentment will never be at rest and will never bring peace. That’s okay, because all the…
Kenneth Folk considers himself a “ruthlessly unsentimental” and pragmatic dharma teacher. This is because he is willing to toss anything out, including the Buddha, if at any point he doesn’t find those teachings really helpful. His dialog was especially timely, as mindfulness is rapidly gaining mainstream acceptance: both intellectually through the confluence of Buddhism, neuroscience and psychotherapy, and culturally through the embrace of pop culture and the corporate world, especially the tech sector, including gatherings like Wisdom 2.0 and Google’s “Search Inside Yourself” classes.
I have been accused of “watering down the dharma.” By defining an arahat (also arhat and arahant) as someone who has “gotten off the ride” and can see experience as process, as opposed to a cartoon saint, I have ruffled more than a few feathers. Here are some questions, along…
As long as meditation is defined as sitting silent and alone, it’s not going to catch on. We are human primates. We are social in our very bones. Isolation is punishment. Silence is dull. Here is another definition: meditation is the bringing of attention to experience, and training in meditation…
The Kenneth Folk Dharma website is focused on directly realizing the happiness that does not depend on conditions. The main teaching here is Kenneth Folk’s “3-Speed Transmission,” which is a comprehensive set of practices designed to lead to both timeless realization and developmental enlightenment. May you be happy. Kenneth Folk