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	<title>dharmatalks</title>
	<link>http://blog.dharmadudeunplugged.com</link>
	<description>with dharmacharya gurudas sunyatananda</description>
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		<title>Ask the Monk &#8211; Questions about gurus and teachers</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This week&#8217;s question, &#34;I&#8217;ve seen a lot of press about self-proclaimed gurus, spiritual teachers and self-help &#8216;experts&#8217;, who seem to either be in it for the money, or on some kind of cultish power-trip. How do you recommend spotting such people, and protecting yourself from them?&#34; As it happens, I am very familiar with the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.dharmadudeunplugged.com/?p=753</link>
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		<title>Transcending appearances</title>
		<description><![CDATA[What do we do, when we encounter someone whose behaviours demonstrate a lack of maturity, compassion or balance? This past weekend, there have been some wonderful discussions going on between friends, members of the Sangha and students, concerning this very topic. To the uninitiated or unfamiliar, it might appear to be lacking compassion, when I, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.dharmadudeunplugged.com/?p=747</link>
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		<title>Tonglen and the Path to Healing</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Several people have asked me to elaborate more on what I meant by the word &#34;tonglen&#34;, in my request for students of the Dharma of Compassion, and all those who are sincerely interested in healing the violence and oppression in Tibet to join us each night for a minimum of one hour of undistracted sitting. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.dharmadudeunplugged.com/?p=746</link>
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		<title>Do no harm</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Dharma of Compassion is based on the development of three focal practices, as taught by the Buddha in the sixth century, B.C.E. These fundamental practices are a commitment to do no harm (often referred to as “right living” or morality), a commitment to concentrated meditation (called “calm abiding”) and a commitment to manifest knowledge [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.dharmadudeunplugged.com/?p=744</link>
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		<title>Choose Love</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Spiritual growth is the action of Life itself. When we begin to truly embrace the truth that nothing separates us from what some might call “God”, and what others recognise as an impersonal field of energy – a Creative and Universal Intelligence &#8212; our experience mirrors that realisation. Peace, healing, satisfaction and calm begin to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.dharmadudeunplugged.com/?p=741</link>
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		<title>Beyond the parlor tricks&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Few of us read the Harry Potter series with a belief in flying brooms, house elves or centaurs — even those of us for whom magick is a very real and a serious part of our spiritual paths. We understood that the laws of nature don’t work that way, and that the flying brooms and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.dharmadudeunplugged.com/?p=739</link>
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		<title>Impermanence</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Enlightened One taught that even loss and betrayal could bring us awakening. When we think about it, our awakening comes as a direct result of our taking wakeful steps&#8230; that is, bringing mindfulness to every experience, regardless of how we might initially perceive that experience or event. The foolish farmer pays a service to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.dharmadudeunplugged.com/?p=738</link>
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		<title>A reflection on Mindfulness</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In the Digha Nikaya, one of the early Buddhist texts, Buddha Sakyamuni is recorded as saying, &#8220;When these Brahmins teach a path they do not embrace themselves or know, saying, &#8216;This is the only true path,&#8217; this cannot possibly be so. Just as a line of blind men go on, clinging to each other, and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.dharmadudeunplugged.com/?p=735</link>
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		<title>Why?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[For nearly thirty years now, my students have understood the importance of asking the question, “Why?” It is the essential question to ask, before engaging in any enterprise, pursuit or activity.&#160; The more clearly one understands “what their why is”, the more readily they will be able to craft a successful outcome. But there is [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.dharmadudeunplugged.com/?p=725</link>
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		<title>Madness and Enlightenment</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Student: &#34;Is it possible to achieve enlightenment without becoming mad?&#34; Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche: &#34;We are mad anyway, in different degrees. We may not become completely mad unless we are maniacs- religious maniacs or political maniacs, whatever- unless we lost control of the situation. We have a sort of medium madness going on all the time, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.dharmadudeunplugged.com/?p=721</link>
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