At the beginning of September, sitting with my dharma brother, Vincent Horn, I completed the 100-day practice vow I set forth in May. I was able to do so in large part thanks to my teacher, Hokai Sobol, who both encouraged me to take the vow and helped me in so many ways through out. I’ve had the intention of writing this post, sharing with you some of my experiences, and it’s long overdue. I also have a few other posts I started during the 100 days that I’ll follow up with after this post.
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The core of Buddhadharma has to do with unfolding the miracle of meaning itself. This dynamic has both a knowing (mind) and a concerned resonating (heart) aspect to it. -Hokai Sobol
I have a series of posts I’m writing this week in which I’ll share my experiences so far as well as instructions and teachings given to me by Hokai Sobol during the 100 Day Vow I’m currently doing. He has encouraged me enthusiastically to do so and I’m extremely grateful for him for taking so much time to guide me in my practice, and to share that with you as I walk this path.
As a quick note, these posts will include paraphrases from Hokai’s instructions, and I won’t always quote them simply to make things easier to read. On occasion I will quote word for word and note that for anything that I felt particularly stood out. So, basically, if you read anything that blows you away, that’s Hokai
In this post I want to provide a little context around the practice I’m doing, detailed here – why I’m doing it, how I’m doing it, and why I’m doing that way. If that makes sense.
Over the last year or so I have embraced a strong second person relationship to the divine, and in that, surrender and receiving have become important. (And even that has now started to evolve beyond itself, but I’m trying to begin at the beginning here in recounting this). At the same time, practice and my experience has become more and more subtle, and with that the form my practice takes has mirrored it, allowing me to deepen it. Hokai has been invaluable in this process since I started to work with him over a year ago, and particularly in creating this practice vow and the practice itself.
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I haven’t posted at all since starting my 100 Day Practice vow over 50 days ago, but I have a series of posts coming this week that I think you’ll really enjoy. They’re mostly filled with teachings and instructions given to me by Hokai, along with my own experiences along the way.
The first place I want to start is to simply share the practice with you, without commentary. This will provide context in some of my other posts as the practice is the starting point for the deeper meaning contained within the practice and teachings. I hope that my experience and sharing Hokai’s teachings will provide inspiration and possible clarity for your own practice, as well as providing some insight into the flavor of Vajrayana practice. Here is the practice that I have been doing:
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