link to a recent Steven Tainer talk

link to the semester archive-- subject this semester is "nature of mind"
media.berkeleymonastery.org/steven/2015.asp

the most recent talk is exemplary in its clarity and sublime ordinariness: media.berkeleymonastery.org/steven/2015/20150429.mp3

I really like what I know about Steven Tainer, and I enjoyed the talk. I've looked for resources of his teachings in the past and aside from the few published works, I have been unable to find much. I emailed the folks at Berkely about past archived classes, but didn't get a response. Any ideas?

When I was attending his classes he was active with a very interesting group called the Kira Institute-- www.kira.org/ and there was a website called Ways of Knowing. www.waysofknowing.net/

At one time there were archives going back a few years on the monastery website, but I only see the one semester there now.

Man, those old archived talks were an amazing resource. I wonder why they were taken down and whether they still exist somewhere? I have a handful of them on my old laptop but sadly I don't have complete semesters for whatever reason anymore.

I really resonate with Steven's approach. This semester's talks have been really helpful to my practice. I love how he so deftly interweaves doing-practices and temporal cultivation (cultivation that develops over time) with non-doing-practices that step back or zoom out from the whole whirl of temporality. Often these two are conceived as very separate but how he presents this-- which resonates with how a traditional Dzogchen teacher like ChNNR teaches it as far as I can tell-- is that non-doing and temporal development are actually intimately related on the path, and that the a-temporal can actually be the basis for a non-linear path of development.

If only the current semester archive is being made available, it seems wise to download the lot asap. I know that's what I'm gonna do!

Yep, totally on it haha!

In the course of securing this semester's talks, I heard ST refer to this text: www.amazon.com/Vivid-Awareness-Instructi...1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Looks interesting, and Khenchen Thrangu is one of the most "user-friendly" lama/translators we still have with us.

non-doing and temporal development are actually intimately related on the path, and that the a-temporal can actually be the basis for a non-linear path of development. Jake

Sounds good, but can you break it down for me, particularly the second half? Thanks.

Also, do you guys have a favorite of his works? I have his book on Taoism, but I haven't read "Time, Space, Knowledge".

Dragon's Play is inexhaustible-- I'll be reading it 'til I die. Haven't ventured much into T,S, & K... It was earlier in his life, written as a student of Tarthang Tulku.

Holy Wow! Dragon's Play starts at $45 used at Amazon!

Try here-- www.dayuancircle.org/store/books/

$15; but that may change as supplies dwindle. Ming is the co-author; he died recently, and the book has been out of print for donkey's ages. Hence, the inflated price on Amazon.

Thanks, Kate. Looks like it's out of stock. I'll keep checking, though.

Bill, I will try to expand on that if you'd like-- in the midst of a busy weekend right now!
As for books, I really enjoyed the Time, Space, Knowledge books when I was a teenager. Later when I encountered Steven's talks I recognized the connection and Kate clued me in to the 'why' as Steven is credited as an editor I think rather than a writer. I've been meaning to seriously re-visit those works for several years and see how it relates to my experience and practice now.... And yeah, Dragon's Play is awesome and bottomless in my opinion