And Sparks will Fly

And Sparks will Fly

Elephant Magazine, Winter 2006

Dr. Reggie Ray is one of the first examples of an historical synthesis: the wisdom of the East and the technological know-how of the West. That’s not just hype: until 1959, when the Reds rolled through Tibet, Buddhism was something you read about in National Geographic. Then, suddenly, in a diaspora equal to the genocide that caused it, 2,500 years of Buddhist wisdom found itself forcibly exported across the snowy Himalayas. Chögyam Trungpa was perhaps foremost among these Tibetan gurus—leaving behind his monk’s robes for suits & sake, he put his ancient tradition into terms accessible and relevant to a new America. Among his first students was a young, precocious scholar by the name of Reggie Ray. 30 years later, Dr. Ray is an Acharya—an honorific similar to ‘Master’ or ‘Roshi’—and, with Pema Chödron, one of the best in the West at communicating the everyday profundity of the East.

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The Three Lineages

The Three Lineages

Lion’s Roar, December 2005

Inspiration, innovation, institution—Reginald A. Ray looks at the different manifestations of lineage and how they maintain their awakened quality.

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Good Cause

Good Cause

Lion’s Roar, March 2004

“When we understand how our mind works, the practice becomes easy.” Reginald A. Ray discusses the close connection between Buddhist philosophy and practice.\n\nReginald A. Ray discusses the close connection between Buddhist philosophy and practice.

“When we understand how our mind works, the practice becomes easy.” Reginald A. Ray discusses the close connection between Buddhist philosophy and practice.

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Books that Burn

Books that Burn

The Practice and Philosophy of the Buddhist Path

Lion’s Roar, January 2004

According to Reginald Ray, Buddhist philosophy and practice can’t be separated. Once you understand, through study, what the Buddha is saying about his own awakening, you are already within the fiery process of the path.

According to Reginald Ray, Buddhist philosophy and practice can’t be separated. Once you understand, through study, what the Buddha is saying about his own awakening, you are already within the fiery process of the path.

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That Problematic “Self”

That Problematic “Self”

Lion’s Roar, November 2003

“Self” is a purely conceptual construction says Dr. Reginald A. Ray in his fourth and final article exploring the “self.” He says, “What makes one’s ‘self’ so problematic is its degree of isolation from our actual experience, its rigidity and dissonance with reality beyond itself.”

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Deconstructing the ”Self”

Deconstructing the ”Self”

Lion’s Roar, September 2003

If the “self” is ultimately nothing more than a figment of our imagination, what is this figment like and how does it come to seem so real? In the third of four posts on the self, Dr. Reginald “Reggie” Ray breaks it down.

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Why Me?

Why Me?

Lion’s Roar, July 2003

In the second of a four-part series on the definition of “self” in Buddhist teaching, Dr. Reginald (Reggie) Ray asks: If the “self” is ultimately fictitious, how and why does it come to be at all?

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Who, Me?

Who, Me?

Lion’s Roar, May 2003

In the first of a four-part series on the definition of self Dr. Reginald (Reggie) Ray explains how Buddhism describes several kinds of ‘self’ and ‘not-self,’ each of which has its role to play in our spiritual life.

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Blood, Bone, Space and Light

Blood, Bone, Space and Light

Lion’s Roar, March 2003

Reginald Ray talks about the four foundations of mindfulness, and how, when we look closely into our bodies, we find nothing but space, drenched in sunlight.

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To Touch Enlightenment with the Body

To Touch Enlightenment with the Body

Lion’s Roar, January 2003

In the second of a three-part series on Buddhism and the body, Reginald Ray talks about how the body is not just the pathway to realization but the embodiment of enlightenment itself.

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Kobun Chino’s Trailer

Kobun Chino’s Trailer

Lion’s Roar, November 2002

Reginald Ray writes a remembrance of Zen master and famed calligrapher Kobun Chino Roshi, who died tragically with his young daughter in July, 2002.

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The Floating Heads

The Floating Heads

Lion’s Roar, September 2002

Many Western Budddhists, says Reginald Ray, perpetuate the mind/body, secular/sacred dualism that has marked our culture since early Christianity.

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The Red Coat and the Teaching of Impermanence

The Red Coat and the Teaching of Impermanence

Lion’s Roar, July 2002

“Only when I realized that our time together was limited was the veil stripped away. In that moment, I discovered a love for her that had nothing to do with my own preconceptions.” – Reginald A. Ray

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Waiting. Waiting. For What?

Waiting. Waiting. For What?

Lion’s Roar, May 2002

Meditation is often considered a self-contained activity, different from our actual life. More accurately, meditation is training for life. But most profoundly, meditation is life itself—not just any life, but our own most intimate and secret life. Meditation discloses our truest life process, its incomparable awareness, energy and movement. In fact, sitting on the meditation cushion, we can be living far more fully and profoundly than at any other time.

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The Practice of Karma

The Practice of Karma

Lion’s Roar, March 2002

Reginald A. Ray on how T’hrinlay Wangmo transformed an horrific incident into a situation of blessing through her understanding of karma.

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Understanding Karma

Understanding Karma

Lion’s Roar, January 2001

Everything we do affects the future in ever-widening ripples of cause and effect. If our actions are virtuous, then the karmic results will be positive, whereas if our actions are unvirtuous, the results will be negative.

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What’s the Use of Suffering?

What’s the Use of Suffering?

Lion’s Roar, November 2001

The biggest mistake we can make, according to the Buddha, is to discount or minimize our suffering. Why? Because it is the fiery gate through which we must pass to engage the spiritual path.

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Hold the Grief of the World

Hold the Grief of the World

Reginald Ray, Shambhala Mountain Center, Sept 15-17, 2001

It is very easy to become confused in this world and think that either things are hopeless or that they are okay. We can be distracted for days or even weeks and months at a time, and forget about working on ourselves at all. Then something like September 11 suddenly happens, and you realize that life could end at any second for any of us.

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Friends, There is Suffering

Friends, There is Suffering

Lion’s Roar, September 2001

“Friends, there is suffering.” These words represent the beginning of the Buddha’s first teaching after his enlightenment. Why is the Buddha stating the obvious? Did he really think his listeners were unaware of the fact of suffering? Did he find something particularly insightful or profound in this observation?

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Religion Without God

Religion Without God

Lion’s Roar, July 2001

What does it mean to be a religion without a God? More broadly, what does it mean to live without an exterior savior of any kind?

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