Reginald Ray

Reginald Ray

Reginald A. Ray, Ph.D., was Professor of Buddhist Studies at Naropa University and a teacher-in-residence at the Rocky Mountain Shambhala Center. He is the spiritual director of the Dharma Ocean Foundation and author of Secret of the Vajra World: The Tantric Buddhism of Tibet.

Recent Articles

¿Qué es el Dharma?

De acuerdo a Reginald A. Ray, dharma es un término fascinante porque integra muchos niveles de experiencia, desde nuestro primer momento en el camino, hasta el logro de la realización completa.

Understanding Karma

Reginald A. Ray examines the doctrine of karma, one of the most important yet most misunderstood of all Buddhist teachings.

Give and You Shall Receive

Reginald A. Ray argues that far from being a "lesser" practice, giving is central to all schools of Buddhism and essential to the relinquishment of ego.

Dharma.

What is Dharma?

Dharma is a fascinating term. It integrates many levels of experience—from our first moment on the path to the achievement of realization.

Buddhadharma Buddha Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche Lineage Reginald A. Ray Theravada Vajrayana / Tibetan Buddhism Zen Lion's Roar Buddhism

The Three Lineages

Inspiration, innovation, institution—Reginald A. Ray looks at the different manifestations of lineage and how they maintain their awakened quality.

Three in One: A Buddhist Trinity

The “three bodies of the Buddha” may seem like a remote construct, says Reginald Ray, but the three kayas are present in every moment of our experience.

What is Vipashyana?

Vipashyana as defined by Reginald A. Ray, an American Buddhist academic and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism.

How to Study the Dharma

Understanding Buddhism, says Reginald Ray, takes place in stages of ever-deepening and more direct experience.

The Practice and Philosophy of the Buddhist Path

Once you understand, through study, what the Buddha is saying about his own awakening, you are already within the fiery process of the path.

That Problematic “Self”

That Problematic “Self”

In the fourth and final post in his series on the Buddhist concept of "self," Dr. Reginald Ray talks about how we maintain our "self" and therefore suffer.

Deconstructing the “Self”

Deconstructing the “Self”

In the third in a four-part series by Dr. Reginald Ray on the "self" in Buddhism, he explores how we create the storyline of "self" and how to deconstruct it.

Why Me?

Why Me?

In this second in a 4-part series on the "self" in Buddhism, Dr. Reginald Ray explains that the "self," though a fiction, is a response to naked fear.

Who, Me?

Who, Me?

In the first in a series on the self in Buddhist teaching, Dr. Reginald Ray discusses the several kinds of "self" and the stages on the journey from our egohood to not-self.

Buddha statue in front of moss

Blood, Bone, Space, and Light

Reginald Ray talks about the four foundations of mindfulness. When we look closely into our bodies, he says, we find “nothing but space, drenched in sunlight.”

To Touch Enlightenment with the Body

In the part two of his series, Reginald Ray talks about how the body is not just the pathway to realization but the embodiment of enlightenment itself.

Kobun Chino’s Trailer

Reginald Ray writes a remembrance of Zen master and famed calligrapher Kobun Chino Roshi, who died tragically with his young daughter in July, 2002.

The Red Coat and the Teaching of Impermanence

“In that moment, I discovered a love for her that had nothing to do with my own preconceptions.”

Waiting. Waiting. For What?

Meditation, then, can show us our true and genuine life, with its freedom, its abundant creativity, and its joy.

The Practice of Karma

Reginald A. Ray on how T'hrinlay Wangmo transformed an horrific incident into a situation of blessing through her understanding of karma.

Religion Without God

Religion Without God

What does it mean to be a religion without a God? More broadly, what does it mean to live without an exterior savior of any kind?

On the Importance of Relating to Unseen Beings

While Westerners tend to view it as superstition or symbolism, Reginald Ray argues that spiritual ritual is at the very heart of tantric Buddhist practice.