For your contemplation: Appreciative thoughts and kindness-empowering visualizations are shared in this gentle meditation.

As the River flows . . .  May all beings be happy -- May all beings be safe -- May all beings be well -- May all beings be peaceful and at ease.

Sit comfortably, focus, center . . . approach and enter your meditative mind.  Or simply listen. 

(Length: 28 minutes)

Written and shared here by Mark Winwood of the Chenrezig Project.

It is auspicious awareness for Dharma practitioners to remain mindful of how each of our lifetime's event/moments present opportunities for empowering wisdom to arise and abide.

Then, as insights blossom, long-held perspectives and self-oriented attitudes, no longer useful or relevant, may transform in vastly unexpected ways.

Consider: the flourishing of these insights -- and how we engage with them -- depends on no one but ourselves.

(Length: 13 minutes)

Written and shared here by Mark Winwood of the Chenrezig Project with accompanying music composed and performed by the San Francisco Bay-area musician Bobby Vega. 

The inherently potent merging of Tibetan Buddhism-supported mind states, in concert with the vibrational qualities of Sanskrit sounds and syllables, provides a direct, enriching stimulus to the energies -- and results -- of our Dharma practice.

This has been understood and experienced by practitioners for centuries, who will recite teachings and prayers in their own Tibetan language but have preserved and practice their mantra recitations in Sanskrit, knowing a mantra's intrinsic 'merit' lies mainly in its vibrational qualities rather than in any psychological meaning that society, culture, civilization or humans have placed on it.

But initial 'mantra practice' challenges are not uncommon here in the West . . . 

(Length: 15 minutes)

Written by Mark Winwood of the Chenrezig Project, with accompanying music composed and performed by the San Francisco Bay-area musician Bobby Vega. 

Everything is changing, advancing . . . collectively and individually . . . moment-by-moment.

Until instinctive insights begin to manifest, reactions to impermanence set many of our challenges into motion, swirling into what Siddhartha termed afflictive mind-states (aka kleshas) of "dukkha" – ignorance-sourced confusions and complications leading to insecurity,  discontent, stress, anxiety . . . catchword “suffering”.

But with understanding comes appreciation and, once embraced, impermanence becomes profoundly fertile . . . vast and empowering . . . bringing forth perpetual opportunities . . . fluid, evolving, blossoming.

Impermanence -- it's the Greatest Show on Earth . . . fantastically alive . . . playing non-stop, both outside and inside your mind.

(Length: 12.5 minutes)

Written and presented by Mark Winwood of the Chenrezig Project, with accompanying music composed and performed by the San Francisco Bay-area musician Bobby Vega. 

Visualize a vast railroad terminal resembling New York City’s Grand Central Station, with newly dead people entering all the time, mulling around, eventually moving from the waiting room toward the track on which their departure train sits, ready to take them away on a sojourn through the Bardo of Becoming to their next destination.

And while we will all be there one day, the specific train for which each of us is ticketed differs, and the experiences of our journey upon it -- as well as the conditions resident within our destination -- are not randomly determined.

Rather, they are earned by Why and How we do the things we do in this life.

(Length: 10 minutes)

Written by Mark Winwood of the Chenrezig Project, with accompanying music composed and performed by the San Francisco Bay-area musician Bobby Vega. Read by Kathy Ambrose.

The legendary Lao Tzu was living and teaching a harmonious way of being -- simple, modest and true -- traveling throughout China centuries before Siddhartha's birth.

Upon achieving enlightenment, Siddhartha Buddha refined, deepened and shared similar ways to all who were inclined to listen. Then, after his death, these teachings were assembled and gradually morphed into what we today know as Buddhism's Mahayana curriculum.

The teachings of Lao Tzu . . . 

The awakened Bodhisattva path . . . 

Both so ancient, yet so relevant today.

(Length: 13 minutes)

Written by Mark Winwood of the Chenrezig Project, with accompanying music composed and performed by the SF-bay area musician Bobby Vega.

Consider: How convenient would it be to have a 'Karma' Replay Command Center into which we could call when needed to replay an action or moment we had participated in? 

An at-the-ready 'redo' button for any occurrence that, upon reflection, we'd like to correct or fix the 'why' or 'how' we behaved with others . . . and thereby repairing or 're-contenting' the unwholesome karmic seed that had been planted in our mindstream.

Nice to have?  You bet.

Useful?  Sure thing.

Necessary?  Let's talk . . .

(Length: 12 minutes)

Written by Mark Winwood of the Chenrezig Project, with accompanying music composed and performed by the SF-bay area musician Bobby Vega.

"How does my mind work?"

It was a question posed to the 21st Century Bodhisattva at the conclusion of a teaching.

After pausing to collect her thoughts, the Bodhisattva smiled softly and began to speak not only about the experiential mechanics of mind-flow, but of the path of progressive engagement that empowers one to begin to understand for themself.

(Length: 14 minutes)

Written by Mark Winwood of the Chenrezig Project, with accompanying music composed and performed by the SF-bay area musician Bobby Vega.

The historians tell us Siddhartha Gautama, the historical Buddha, lived more than 2,500 years ago in Northern India. Having uncovered and freed the enlightened mind, it is said he taught the path of similar achievement to others for 45 years, until his death at the age of 80.

Precious work, done remarkably well; obviously the Buddha and his teachings have had a uniquely far-reaching impact.

But consider: While affirming and honoring Siddhartha's awakened accomplishments, perhaps Buddhas are a little more 'everyday' . . . ? 

(Length: 12 minutes)

Written by Mark Winwood of the Chenrezig Project, with accompanying music composed and performed by the SF-bay area musician Bobby Vega.

Posed by a student to the 21st Century Bodhisattva at the conclusion of a teaching:

"There's this nagging question, What do I want? The truth is, it's slippery. How can I ever know what I truly want when everything is always changing . . . including my flip-flopping mind, the basis of my entire experience?"  

"Do you have any advice for me?"

After some moments of thought the Bodhisattva began to speak . . . 

(Length: 15 minutes)

Written by Mark Winwood of the Chenrezig Project, with accompanying music composed and performed by the SF-bay area musician Bobby Vega in collaboration with Chris Rossbach.