the first Buddhist-inspired academic institution to receive United States regional Institute, accreditation; while Chogyam Trungpa was establishing Naropa in Boulder, Colorado, with a vision of taking the best elements of Western scholarship and combining them with an emphasis on the Eastern wisdom tradition (naropa.edu, 2016), Namgyal Rinpoche was likewise promoting cross-cultural teachings in Canada through founding Centennial Lodge of the Theosophical in Toronto, and the a 400 acre non-sectarian retreat centre in Society Dharma Centre of Canada, central Ontario dedicated to awakening, compassion, awareness and wisdom. This is where I first met him in 1978 and he became my meditation teacher; all of this history informed my training in mindful awareness. As Gunaratana emphasizes: Buddhism is 2,500 years old, and any thought system of that vintage has time to develop layers and layers of doctrine and ritual. Nevertheless, the fundamental attitude of Buddhism is intensely empirical and anti-authoritarian. Gotama the Buddha was a highly unorthodox individual and real anti-traditionalist. He did not offer his teaching as a set of dogmas, but rather as a set of propositions for each individual to investigate for himself. His invitation to one and all was and see.” ...See for yourself (Gunaratana, 1993, “Come p. 38). This orientation has made Buddhism an attractive philosophical system for many of us raised within the Western scientific paradigm. My motivation to learn meditation did not arise from a desire to relax, reduce stress, or learn a strategy for managing my students’ behaviours; I was on a spiritual quest for as I understood it - insight into transcendental truth. ‘enlightenment’ meditation is essentially a practice of investigative personal discovery” (Gunaratana, “Insight 1993, p. 39). Throughout the years that I spent teaching junior and senior high students, in an attempt to pursue this type of investigative personal discovery, my personal meditation practice
Institute, the first Buddhist-inspired academic institution to receive United States regional accreditation; while Chogyam Trungpa was establishing Naropa in Boulder, Colorado, with a vision of taking the best elements of Western scholarship and combining them with an emphasis on the Eastern wisdom tradition (naropa.edu, 2016), Namgyal Rinpoche was likewise promoting cross-cultural teachings in Canada through founding Centennial Lodge of the Theosophical Society in Toronto, and the Dharma Centre of Canada, a 400 acre non-sectarian retreat centre in central Ontario dedicated to awakening, compassion, awareness and wisdom. This is where I first met him in 1978 and he became my meditation teacher; all of this history informed my training in mindful awareness. As Gunaratana emphasizes: Buddhism is 2,500 years old, and any thought system of that vintage has time to develop layers and layers of doctrine and ritual. Nevertheless, the fundamental attitude of Buddhism is intensely empirical and anti-authoritarian. Gotama the Buddha was a highly unorthodox individual and real anti-traditionalist. He did not offer his teaching as a set of dogmas, but rather as a set of propositions for each individual to investigate for himself. His invitation to one and all was “Come and see.” ...See for yourself (Gunaratana, 1993, p. 38). This orientation has made Buddhism an attractive philosophical system for many of us raised within the Western scientific paradigm. My motivation to learn meditation did not arise from a desire to relax, reduce stress, or learn a strategy for managing my students’ behaviours; I was on a spiritual quest for ‘enlightenment’ as I understood it - insight into transcendental truth. “Insight meditation is essentially a practice of investigative personal discovery” (Gunaratana, 1993, p. 39). Throughout the years that I spent teaching junior and senior high students, in an attempt to pursue this type of investigative personal discovery, my personal meditation practice