Reginald Ray: Dark Retreat
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Tami Simon speaks with Reggie Ray, a teacher and scholar in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition with four decades of experience with the practice of meditation. He’s the founder and spiritual director of Dharma Ocean and an author whose writings include Touching Enlightenment, Indestructible Truth, and Secret of the Vajra World, as well as several audio programs including Your Breathing Body and Meditating with the Body. Reggie is also a teacher with whom Tami has studied closely for the past eight years. Reggie discusses his recent experiences in dark retreat as well as the true goal of meditation and Reggie’s view of the meaning of spiritual practice. (51 minutes)
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yummy!
Comment by flo — November 17, 2010 @ 12:35 am
Thank you. This time with you has brought light to my path particularly the reminder that the journey is the goal.
Comment by Ruth — November 20, 2010 @ 8:25 am
Reggie kindly shares his experiences of his most recent month long dark retreat. He says that most meditation practiced in the Western World is a defense mechanism against our being human.
In his first week he experienced vast unbounded consciousness and joy. But this is not the main point. If he returned here his life would still be fettered to conditioned patterns of complexes reacting to painful events. This affects how we see the World. Freedom comes from identifying, reliving, befriending, speaking to, and learning from our complexes. Reggie has identified 65 of them. Does anyone know where I can find a description of these?
The goal of meditation in his tradition is to be completely accepting and open to everything that arises in our body/mind and life; this includes all of our emotions and our use of defenses against pain. The path is the goal. Living life is the goal. This talk is a beautiful sign pointing towards the goal. Thank you.
Comment by Stanley — December 4, 2010 @ 6:57 am
I am grateful for Reggie and Tami’s conversation here, as it affirms much of my own experience. My work and personal path emphasizes our embracing our humanity, diving into our tangles to foster healing and wholeness.
If I stress the human side, it’s because I see how it can be looked upon as “lesser” in spiritual work. I know that’s how I felt about it for a long time!
What I was most afraid of was my darkness. And yet turning towards my darkness is how I found (and continue to find) freedom from the reactivity and compulsion that drives me. It’s how I untangle.
What I heard Reggie saying is that we we need to embrace our human experience alongside our Divine wholeness in order to find deep freedom. It’s a beautiful paradox, and in my view, inherently, wonderfully intentional.
There is a kindness at work that brings these tangles up to the surface of awareness. I see it as an inherent longing to wake up, to be whole. In the same way an acorn longs to be an oak tree, we long to be the fullest expression of who we are. And that means diving down into the darkness as well as looking up….
How beautiful to embrace our human experience – the light and shadow.
In gratitude, Karly Pitman
Comment by Karly Pitman — March 3, 2011 @ 11:46 am
It is great to hear all this, it is so refreshing in the sense that I did a similar work not in the darkness but practicing the work of LINGO who believes, it takes 5 years to re-bult your personality, it took a little longer than that, untill like 3 to 6 months ago something happened i felt something that was extrange to me the fear left and i felt so liberated and since then my life inside of me is changing and a feel like living my life and i am doing diferent things.
I need to add to this that I did practice meditation during the last 35 years. but i don’t think it would have happened with out doing the workbook of LINGO
Comment by claudia heugel — March 17, 2011 @ 8:29 am
Thank You Tami for this great interview. I can related with Reginald on keep opening dark rooms and what I fear next. The more I stayed in the darkness,the more peace I feel
Comment by Enrique — March 23, 2011 @ 3:17 pm