Homework may be posted a day or two after any class. We appreciate your patience. If you do NOT see the most recent homework, please refresh or reload the Homework page: Press the F5 key (PC), or Command+R (Mac). Most web browsers also have an icon in the shape of a circular arrow next to the web address in the top bar. Click this to refresh the page.
- Human Body, Earth Body
- Fathomless Treasures
- EP: Cultivating Equanimity
- Seven Factors of Awakening
- Elders Sangha
- White Awake Sangha
Homework may be posted a day or two after any class. We appreciate your patience.
1. Sitting: For a minimum of 10-30 minutes per day. Do your best! Keep your meditation simple —No apps. (if you use apps- try using only a couple of times during the week)
2. Practice Gratitude: Write down or say to your assigned buddies from the first class, 3 things you are grateful for each day. They can be anything. Please also share with your “practice buddies” one thing you about aging that you noticed or explored each day.
3. Read & Reflect: The 5 Reflections & Impermanence Reflection. (found at the end**)
4. Reflect: I am of the nature to age. I am subject to aging. Aging is unavoidable
5. Contemplate the following questions.
a) What are your feelings about aging?
b) What do you look forward to?
c) What do you fear?
d) What negative images have you internalized? What positive images have you internalized? (Have they come from the media? Books? Your family? Professional contacts? Your community?)
e) Take a few moments to close your eyes. In your mind review your list of positive images. With this list in mind, create an image of your ideal elder.
f) Imagine going through your day as your ideal elder…interacting with your family, friends, professional colleagues, younger friends and others you might meet. How does this feel? What might you be doing?
6. Notice: Aging in yourself & others.
a) This week imagine all young people around you as they might appear 50+ years from today. See them with compassion & appreciation, as you imagine them.
b) When you are around older people reflect that they were young & envision them in their youth. Having lived all those years, they have a lifetime of memories and lessons that others often don’t realize are right inside. Treat them with honor & respect as you reflect on their lifetime of experience and wisdom.
7. Explore: And appreciate the vitality you currently have knowing & accepting that it will likely diminish with time. Whatever your current age, envision yourself as moving into or further into Elderhood, whenever that time comes for you.
**The 5 Daily Reflections:
- Reflect: I am of the nature to age. I am subject to aging. Aging is unavoidable.
- Reflect: I am of the nature to sicken I am subject to illness. Illness is unavoidable.
- Reflect: I am of the nature to die. I am subject to death. Death is unavoidable.
- Reflect: All that is mine, beloved and pleasing, will become separated from me. I will grow different, separate from all that is dear and appealing to me.
- Reflect: I am the owner of my actions. Heir to my actions. Born of my actions,
Related through my actions,
Abided supported by and live dependent on my actions.
Whatever I shall do, for good or for ill, of that I will be the heir.
Impermanence Reflection:
All conditioned phenomena are impermanent. Their nature is to arise and pass away.
To live in harmony with this truth, Brings the highest happiness.
Reminder: Although the class starts at 7:00pm (ET), Madeline will come to class at 6:50 to answer any questions each week.
1. Sitting: For a minimum of 10-20 minutes per day. Do your best! Keep your meditation simple (no apps or if you use them only a couple of times a week)
2. Practice Gratitude: Text or e-mail your buddies, 3 things you are grateful for each day. They can be anything. Please also share with your “practice buddies” One thing about impermanence that you noticed or explored.
3. Contemplate: What has already disappeared in your life…
a. Contemplate that things that are here today.. are gone tomorrow
b. Ask your self what really matters, what really counts?
4. Reflect: All conditioned phenomena are impermanent. Their nature is to arise and pass away. Living in accordance or harmony with this truth brings the highest happiness.
5. Notice: Impermanence around you. Aware of the changing nature of trees, the body (look in the mirror), other people or objects in your environment. What is your relationship to change?
6. EXPLORE: As you go through your days, search for something that is permanent, notice all the things that are impermanent. (That are changing!) Check this out with attitudes, perceptions, relationships, the body, feelings (pleasant, unpleasant, neutral), emotions, thoughts, experiences. Also explore impermanence as you go through your daily tasks, while at work, driving, riding your bike, walking, cooking or preparing meals, going to bed at night. Is anything permanent? Impermanence is one of the three makes of existence. Is it true that impermanence is a trait of existence?
Have Fun Exploring!
Please continue with the Week 7 assignment.
The home practice this week is to recognize moments of overwhelm as well as of apathy, passivity, indifference, or anything else that is an effort to deny the reality of what is happening right in front of you.
This requires a patient, kind and willing attentiveness to fully feel the response to what is happening. Sometimes yogis can deny themselves the delight and pleasure and joy of an experience because they are afraid if they feel it fully, they will become attached. Feel it fully, just don’t try to hang on to it.
So whether it is pain and sorrow or pleasure and joy, the practice is to allow oneself to let it completely (100%) wash through and let it be felt. Allow it be fully experienced as it is, in its totality, whether these feelings arise in response to external conditions or to meditative experiences.
Learning about equanimity is learning to not be afraid of feelings. This is different from using the mind to figure something out which can be a way of averting the eyes out of fear of facing what is being felt.
The feelings that we are practicing with do not have to be big and dramatic, though they could be. If you are ruminating about something, chances are you are trying to think your way through and out of something painful. So you are being asked to first recognize what your mind is up to and then see how it is related to a feeling that is in the background of your thoughts. Bring that feeling to the foreground – notice how it registers in your body. Be aware without the thoughts and stories about it, and see what happens. This is why it is good to practice with feelings of all sorts, not just the big dramatic ones that visit over and over. This is also why the allies of stillness and silence make being in the here and now possible. We are practicing and cultivating and uncovering the transformative Brahma Vihara of uppekha, equanimity.
A liberating understanding of equanimity asks us to fully experience both pain and pleasure, otherwise it turns into a concept that is used to avoid and separate. Please practice allowing oneself to let every experience to be fully experienced as it is.
The home practice is to continue with the practices that you’ve been working with, adding this question:
- What supports you when you notice yourself drawing conclusions about the way life events are going and when you are judging how your sitting practice is going?
- What supports you when you fall into these judgements and conclusions? What is the bigger picture? What do you have confidence and trust in, what supports you when you find yourself caught in thoughts of good and bad, of “I am a this” or “I am a that?”
Please continue with the Week 4 assignment.
Please continue with the first week’s practice but instead of only focusing on outer events that either work out or don’t, please include your experiences while in sitting meditation as well. In other words, observe what happens when things don’t “work out” while in sitting meditation (such as the mind being scattered, pain in the body etc) and also observe when things do go the way you think they should go or want it to go (such things as the breath being smooth, the mind being concentrated etc). Please be aware of coming to conclusions as in assessing yourself as a good or bad yogi according to these experiences.
Please continue with the current (Week 1) assignment.
As well, please be aware of the connection between things not working out and – and doubt. Doubts often arise when things don’t work out the way we wanted, hoped for, or expected. Explore the possible connection between things not working out and doubt; doubt in yourself, the practice, or any form of doubt whatsoever. What supports you in the midst of doubts?
The home practices this week are the same as for Week 1.
Poem
From The First Free Women: Poems of the Early Buddhist Nuns
Translated – Matty Weingast
Bhadra – Lucky
You always considered
yourself lucky
because things seemed
to work out
the way you wanted
Now luck has a different meaning.
Lucky to be walking a Path
that finds peace
in the arising
and passing
away
of
each
present
moment.
Regardless
of how things
work out,
or don’t.
—
The home practice –
During the week please be aware of times when you feel that things have worked out or are working out in a way that is satisfactory to you.
Please be aware of the times when you feel that things have not worked out or are not working out in the ways that you had hoped or wished or desired.
In these moments of recognizing how and whether things have worked out, or not, shift to the awareness of your great fortune in having discovered this noble path.
Shift the emphasis from whether things have worked out or not to the awareness of your trust in the path, your faith in the path, your commitment and confidence in the path.
Please come to class prepared to share how you have worked with the assignment and what you have learned.
Click here for a PDF of the home practices.
Seven Factors of Awakening –A Year Living These Treasures- Home practices #4
(Next class 5/10/24 at 6:00-8:30pm). HAVE FUN with these practices!
1) Sit every day. Try sitting for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. (More if you are able) Practice your meditation in silence.
Start your sitting practice remembering your intention to be Mindful, the first factor
of awakening. Asking: “What is being know right now? Is Mindfulness present right now or not? (laugh if not) Is it possible to connect with any quality of Mindfulness? Or to notice how the mind feels, when mindfulness is present. Get to know a sense of awareness, alertness, presence, or even a subtly pleasant quality of mindfulness.
This month, open to Investigation, the second factor of Awakening.
Investigation allows us to look at our experience in a very fresh, inquiring way-it’s being with our experience with openness. Investigation has to do with a silent inquiry of our experience- We are not analyzing or trying to fix anything, or trying to figure it out- Instead we are learning what’s wholesome, skillful, beneficial (kusala-)& what is not (Akusala) **More info on investigation at the end of home practices
Asking: Is there interest and curiosity about your experience? Asking the question itself is a form of investigation. Helps us not to assume that things are a certain way-not to draw conclusions without inquiring if they are true.
Technically this factor is known as investigation of Dharma’s – the 3 characteristics of all experiences- Knowing Impermanence– that everything changes–
Knowing Imperfect– experience is unsatisfactory, often we are discontented –we want more, or afraid of losing it, or don’t like it so we push away, or neutral- space out- just not satisfied Knowing impersonal—not self -it doesn’t belong to me, I am not in control of it. These 3 help us to release whatever the clinging is. Investigation discerns & illuminates the truth through discriminating wisdom-Knowing what’s what. Is there interest & curiosity, about your experience, right now or not? Begin to understand what are wholesome/skillful states of mind & what are not. It’s like we are turning on a light in a dark room & seeing clearly. Investigation can be understood as turning on the question, “What is this?” or ”What is happening? & letting the light of that question reveal the particulars of the present moment experience. (also see how we react to what is happening)
2) Continue this month of practice-. (Investigation can counter the hindrance of doubt)
When the awakening factors are present there is no room for the hindrances. The hindrances are absent. One simple way of understanding our practice is to nurture or let go-to release or let go, of the hindrances and to strengthen or cultivate the awakening factors. It is possible to be mindful of the hindrances as an object of meditation Both in formal practice & daily life practice! Recollect that the awakening factors point to freedom-free from greed, hatred, delusion- We can experience that in clear moments when the hindrances are absent. Might be nano-seconds and those moments can begin to grow .Awakening is a verb, a process!
Hindrance Hint: If a hindrance arises- get to know it And If what is arising is too difficult in this moment-open to your anchor or the 3 E’s- eyebrows, earlobe, elbow. Sometimes it is skillful when something is very strong to put it aside, especially if you’re willing to open to it when there is more steadiness of heart & mind. Requires patience.
3) Walking Meditation: Be Mindful when you are walking. Gently aware of the feet making contact with the ground.
4) Gratitude Practices: 3 things you are grateful for daily. Email or Text your buddies.
5) Pause Meditation: (Several times in your day)
6) Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s book, Factors For Awakening, https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/#FactorsforAwakening Please read pages 13-17
7) Please read daily, The Seven Factors of Awakening: Notice in sitting practice & daily life when any of the above states of heart or mind are present in your body, heart, and mind.
1. Mindfulness (sati)
Being aware of what is happening in the present moment
2. Investigation (dhamma-vicaya)
Investigation supported by wisdom.
Understands what are skillful/healthy/beneficial states of mind
and what are not.
3. Energy (viriya)-Diligence, effort.
Increased engagement with practice, especially freeing oneself from unskillful states.
4. Joy (piti)
Feeling of delight, rapture.
Touching that which is refreshing and beautiful, both within and without.
Arises when attention is absorbed
5. Tranquility (passaddhi)
Calming and stilling of body/ mind,
Ease, quietness of mind, relaxation
6. Concentration (samadhi)
The mind is focused, settled, steady and composed
The mind becomes unified around what we’re concentrating on,
one-pointedness of mind.
7. Equanimity (upekkha)
Balance, spaciousness, and non-reactivity of mind,
balance in the face of change, being aware of all phenomena w/o grasping or aversion
Sublime and extremely satisfying state of heart/mind
8) Please get to know, The Five Hindrances: Can you surround each with acceptance?
- Sense-desire: wanting, lust or greed, craving-fantasy.
- Aversion: ill will, hatred, anger, fear, boredom, annoyance, irritation, impatience, judging- guilt.
- Sloth & torpor: sleepiness, sluggishness, dullness, fogginess, lack of vitality.
- Restlessness and worry: anxiousness, agitation, nervousness, jumpiness.
- Doubt: Uncertainty, self doubt, skeptical doubt, uncertainty/indecision
A Gentle Hindrance Hint: How did-do we relate when these Hindrances arise in meditation & in our daily life? The best way is to relate with skillfulness is to recognize, know what is happening in the present, to be mindful. Simply acknowledge the hindrance is that has arisen in this moment in your life, in your practice. If possible, touch them with your heart. To connect with tenderness or caring, to befriend the hindrance, do your best not to judge them.
9) **More on Investigation: Investigation is awakening from ignorance. It is the wisdom factor of the mind, the investigation of truth. This factor discerns & illuminates the truth by discriminating wisdom. It distinguishing between what is skillful to the development of our practice & what is not. We discern to abandon the unwholesome & to cultivate the wholesome. We can choose to cultivate the wholesome & let go of the unwholesome. Example: If you feel an inclination to be generous, you can choose to water the seeds of generosity by following through on that inclination. Or you may be able to distinguish mean-spirited feelings & choose to let them go.
Questions to explore:
- Is this experience/action skillful or unskillful? Unskillful actions stem from desire, aversion, delusion. Skillful actions are rooted in generosity, compassion, loving-kindness. This can be our moral compass.
- Is this a habit pattern, a tendency?
- Are you taking this personally?
- Do you understand the nature of thought?
Click here for a PDF of the home practices.
Seven Factors of Awakening –A Year Living These Treasures- Home practices #3
(Next class 4/12/24 at 6:00-8:30pm) . HAVE FUN with these practices!
As you begin this month of practice- Get to know the reciprocal relationship between the 5 hindrances and the 7 factors of Awakening. When any of the Hindrances are present, by definition the awakening factors are absent. The opposite is also true. When the awakening factors are present there is no room for the hindrances. The hindrances are absent. One simple way of understanding our practice is to nurture or let go-to release or let go, of the hindrances and to strengthen or cultivate the awakening factors. It is possible to be mindful of the hindrances as an object of meditation Both in formal practice & daily life practice!
Recollect that the awakening factors point to freedom-free from greed, hatred, delusion- We can experience that in clear moments when the hindrances are absent. Might be nano-seconds and those moments can begin to grow .Ahh..Awakening is a verb, a process!
1) Sit every day. Try sitting for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. (more if you are able) Please practice your meditation in silence. Experiment with not using apps.
Recollect: Mindfulness helps us to see things as they are. Mindfulness deconditions the mind. In practice, we are meeting our past, our conditioning, our habits, tendencies-With Mindfulness we are meeting our conditioning & we are letting go. We are not reinforcing that which led to sorrow, agitation, worry, fear- instead nourishing awakening- Every moment of Mindfulness is a moment of awakening.
Start your sitting practice remembering your intention to be Mindful, the first factor
of awakening. Ask: “What is being know right now? Is Mindfulness present right now or not? (laugh if not) Is it possible to connect with any quality of Mindfulness? Any foundation of Mindfulness? With Mindfulness, begin to notice how the mind feels, when mindfulness is present. Perhaps, in getting to know a sense of awareness, alertness, presence, you might recognize a subtly pleasant quality of mindfulness. HINT: If a Hindrance arises- get to know it And If what is arising is too difficult in this moment-open to your anchor or the 3 E’s- eyebrows, earlobe, elbow. Sometimes it is skillful when something is very strong to put it aside, especially if you’re willing to come back to it when there is more steadinesses of heart and mind. It requires patience.
2) Walking Meditation: Be Mindful when you are walking. Gently aware of the feet making contact with the ground.
3) Gratitude Practices: Write down, 3 things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything. Email or Text them to your buddies.
4) Pause Meditation: (Several times in your day)
- Simply Pause
- Feel your feet on the floor
- Shift into relaxation-Soften muscles where you feel tension-
- Notice how the body feels,
- Widen attention over the entire body — Inhabit the body-
- Pay attention as if listening to body- and float the question, “What is happening right now?”
- Listen for the answer and let it go. Feel your feet on the floor.
5) Continue to Practice your Mindful activity of add another one in – Just pick an activity that you engage in daily—a simple, routine activity. Commit to integrating mindfulness into that activity every day. Such as: brushing one’s teeth, taking a shower, driving, standing, eating, walking, (up & down stairs), lying down, etc.
6) Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s book, Factors For Awakening, https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/#FactorsforAwakening Please read the chapter, pages 1-8 and Mindfulness 9-12 (if you haven’t already!)
7) Please read daily, The Seven Factors of Awakening: Notice in sitting practice & daily life when any of the above states of heart or mind are present in your body, heart, mind.
- Mindfulness (sati)
Being aware of what is happening in the present moment - Investigation (dhamma-vicaya)
Investigation supported by wisdom.
Understands what are skillful/healthy/beneficial states of mind
And what are not. - Energy (viriya)-Diligence, effort.
Increased engagement with practice, especially freeing oneself from unskillful states. - Joy (piti)
Feeling of delight, rapture.
Touching that which is refreshing and beautiful, both within and without.
Arises when attention is absorbed - Tranquility (passaddhi)
Calming and stilling of body/ mind,
Ease, quietness of mind, relaxation - Concentration (samadhi)
The mind is focused, settled, steady and composed
The mind becomes unified around what we’re concentrating on,
one-pointedness of mind. - Equanimity (upekkha)
Balance, spaciousness, and non-reactivity of mind,
balance in the face of change, being aware of all phenomena w/o grasping or aversion
Sublime and extremely satisfying state of heart/mind
8) Please get to know, The Five Hindrances:
- Sense-desire: wanting, lust or greed, craving-fantasy.
- Aversion: ill will, hatred, anger, fear, boredom, annoyance, irritation, impatience, judging- guilt.
- Sloth & torpor: sleepiness, sluggishness, dullness, fogginess, lack of vitality.
- Restlessness and worry: anxiousness, agitation, nervousness, jumpiness.
- Doubt: Uncertainty, self doubt, skeptical doubt, uncertainty/indecision
A Gentle Hindrance Hint: How did-do we relate when these Hindrances arise in meditation & in our daily life? The best way is to relate with skillfulness is to recognize, know what is happening in the present, to be mindful. Simply acknowledge the hindrance is that has arisen in this moment in your life, in your practice. If possible, touch them with your heart. To connect with tenderness or caring, to befriend the hindrance, do your best not to judge them.
Click here for a PDF of the home practices.
Home Practices #2
***(Next class 3/8/24 at 6:00-8:30pm)
HAVE FUN with these practices!
Get to know the preciousness of this life, of this moment
1) Sit every day. Try sitting for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. (more if you are able) Please practice your meditation in silence. Experiment with not using apps.
Start your sitting practice by calling to mind the qualities of Mindfulness:
Not forgetting what is before the mind in the present moment,
Presence of mind is standing near,
Remembering what is skillful, beneficial and what is not,
Close association with Wisdom through attention and clear comprehension. Listen to and be Mindful of whatever presents itself.
Also be Aware of any of the 4 Foundations of Mindfulness:
The body and it’s sensations (Sitting-touch points, sounds breathing) Or
The feeling tone, texture of your experience (Pleasant, Unpleasant, Neutral) Or
The condition of the mind clarity, alertness, quietness, busyness, greedy or not greedy, angry or not angry, deluded, confused or clear and stable OR an activity of the mind thinking about past of future, OR
Mindfulness of the Dhammas or Laws of Nature-Any Factor of awakening* arising or any hindrance* arising. (*see end of home practices for the lists of them) You can also simply sustain a present moment attentiveness- to know what your experience is.
Ask: “What is being know right now? Is Mindfulness present right now or not? (laugh if not) Ask, “How can I connect with this quality of Mindfulness?”
2) Walking Meditation: Be Mindful when you are walking. Gently be aware of the feet making contact with the ground.
3) Gratitude Practices: Write down, 3 things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything. Email them and if you all prefer to Text –exchange text info via e-mail and text your 3 gratitude’s daily. They can be 3 words or a phrase or a sentence.
4) Buddies and Groups: Make contact with you buddies. Decide how you will work together, what day & time you will meet, how frequently (could be monthly, once a month, twice a month, every week) Decide zoom, phone call, etc. Take time to discuss the practices you practiced in this second home practice sheet. If you don’t have a group, please let CIMC office know.
5) Practice the Mindful activity you wrote in the chat- Just one that you engage in daily—a simple, routine activity. Commit to integrating mindfulness into that activity every day. Such as: brushing one’s teeth, taking a shower, driving, standing, eating, walking, (up & down stairs), lying down, etc. This activity is designed to help bring mindfulness into your daily life.
6) Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s book, Factors For Awakening, will be our shared text. https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/#FactorsforAwakening Please read the chapter, Factors For Awakening pages 1-8 and Mindfulness 9-12
First Home practice:
7) Please read daily, silently or out loud, The Seven Factors of Awakening:
- Mindfulness (sati)
Being aware of what is happening in the present moment
2. Investigation (dhamma-vicaya)
Investigation supported by wisdom.
Understands what are skillful/healthy/beneficial states of mind
And what are not.
3. Energy (viriya)-Diligence, effort.
Increased engagement with practice, especially freeing oneself from unskillful states.
4. Joy (piti)
Feeling of delight, rapture.
Touching that which is refreshing and beautiful, both within and without.
Arises when attention is absorbed
5. Tranquility (passaddhi)
Calming and stilling of body/ mind,
Ease, quietness of mind, relaxation
6. Concentration (samadhi)
The mind is focused, settled, steady and composed
The mind becomes unified around what we’re concentrating on,
one-pointedness of mind.
7. Equanimity (upekkha)
Balance, spaciousness, and non-reactivity of mind,
balance in the face of change, being aware of all phenomena w/o grasping or aversion
Sublime and extremely satisfying state of heart/mind
8) Notice in sitting practice and daily life when: (Please be gentle with this exercise. We are starting slowly.
- any of the above states of heart or mind are present in your body, heart, mind. Even for a moment.
- any of the above they are not present even for a moment.
9) Please read daily, silently or out loud, The Five Hindrances:
- Sense-desire: wanting, lust or greed, craving-fantasy.
- Aversion: ill will, hatred, anger, fear, boredom, annoyance, irritation, impatience, judging-mind, guilt.
- Sloth & torpor: sleepiness, sluggishness, dullness, fogginess, lack of vitality.
- Restlessness and worry: anxiousness, agitation, nervousness, jumpiness.
- Doubt: Uncertainty, self doubt, skeptical doubt, uncertainty/indecision
A Gentle Hindrance Hint: How did-do we relate when these Hindrances arise in meditation & in our daily life? The best way is to relate with skillfulness is to recognize, know what is happening in the present, to be mindful. Simply acknowledge what the hindrance is that has arisen in this moment in your life, in your practice. If possible, touch them with your heart. To connect with tenderness or caring, to befriend the hindrance, do your best not to judge them.
Click here for a PDF of the home practices.
Home Practices #1
***(Next class 2/9/24 at 6:00-8:30pm)
1) Sit every day. Try sitting for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. (more if you are able) Please practice your meditation in silence. (Newer to practice 10 minutes a day– & check out CIMC”S Beginner Drop-in, Beginners workshop, Way of Awareness.)
2) Gratitude Practices: Write down, 3 things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything. When Buddies are assigned: Email them and if you all prefer to Text –exchange text info via e-mail and text your 3 gratitude’s daily. They can be 3 words or a phrase or a sentence. (More buddy info in next class)
3) Setting A Year Long Intention, Vow, Dedication: Finish writing your year long intention, vow, dedication. (What is my motivation in the Seven Factors of Awakening-A Year of Living these Treasures? What is my aspiration in life? What is my intention/vow right now?) Then put it someplace where you keep special things. Then, as you go through the year, let it be your compass, your underlying direction, in spite of changing outer circumstances. Let it carry you.
4) Please read daily, silently or out loud, The Seven Factors of Awakening:
- Mindfulness (sati)
Being aware of what is happening in the present moment - Investigation (dhamma-vicaya)
Investigation supported by wisdom.
Understands what are skillful/healthy/beneficial states of mind
And what are not. - Energy (viriya)-Diligence, effort.
Increased engagement with practice, especially freeing oneself from unskillful states.
4. Joy (piti)
Feeling of delight, rapture.
Touching that which is refreshing and beautiful, both within and without.
Arises when attention is absorbed - Tranquility (passaddhi)
Calming and stilling of body/ mind,
Ease, quietness of mind, relaxation - Concentration (samadhi)
The mind is focused, settled, steady and composed
The mind becomes unified around what we’re concentrating on,
one-pointedness of mind. - Equanimity (upekkha)
Balance, spaciousness, and non-reactivity of mind,
balance in the face of change, being aware of all phenomena w/o grasping or aversion
Sublime and extremely satisfying state of heart/mind
5) Notice in sitting practice and daily life when:
- any of the above states of heart or mind are present in your body, heart, mind. Even for a moment.
- any of the above they are not present even for a moment.
- Please be gentle with this exercise. We are starting slowly.
6) Please read daily, silently or out loud, The Five Hindrances:
- Sense-desire: wanting, lust or greed, craving-fantasy.
- Aversion: ill will, hatred, anger, fear, boredom, annoyance, irritation, impatience, judging-mind, guilt.
- Sloth & torpor: sleepiness, sluggishness, dullness, fogginess, lack of vitality.
- Restlessness and worry: anxiousness, agitation, nervousness, jumpiness.
- Doubt: Uncertainty, self doubt, skeptical doubt, uncertainty/indecision
A Gentle Hindrance Hint: How did-do we relate when these Hindrances arise in meditation & in our daily life? The best way is to relate with skillfulness is to recognize, know what is happening in the present, to be mindful. Simply acknowledge what the hindrance is that has arisen in this moment in your life, in your practice. If possible, touch them with your heart. To connect with tenderness or caring, to befriend the hindrance, do your best not to judge them.
HAVE FUN!!
7) Book & Guidelines: No reading this month Factors For Awakening – (for those who want a book) It can be found online here (in HTML, PDF, epub, mobi,etc.)
8) Agreed upon Guidelines for Yearlong Program. Practicing the ways below, together, every month can support us in our everyday lives thru noticing our immediate reactions. Remembering that we have an opportunity to pause, check in, & choose how we respond.
- Show up. Pay Attention. Speak your truth without blame or judgment. Let go of outcome and be open to outcome.
- All perspectives are welcome here. Notice your reaction to what is shared and have that be your practice in that moment.
- Everything we do here is voluntary. It is a courageous & generous act to share. It is a compassionate & generous act to deeply listen.
- Speak about what’s alive for you in this moment from your heart, your own experience, refrain from intellectual or philosophical sharing or long story telling, notice if may be judging or blaming another’s perspective. Is it possible to talk from a place of kindness and love?
- Notice what arises as you speak. Are we in touch with what is true and alive or we wanting to impress, to feel important, to be liked?
- Listen deeply; notice what arises within you as you listen. Where do we go when someone says something we agree with? When we hear something that triggers us?
- Please be lean of expression, meaning be mindful to stay on point vs. going tangential. We are a large group, and it would be good to hear from as many voices as possible. WAIT “Why Am I Talking?”
- If you’ve already spoken, think twice before choosing to speak again as it would be good to hear from those who have not yet
- Please refrain from offering advice unless it is specifically solicited or unless you ask the person’s permission.
- Please honor confidentiality. If you need to share with others out-side of this circle, please share from your own direct experience not that of other members in the sangha.-community
The next two were added from the workshop-chat ( I changed the second one to fit the program)
- Assume best intention from others.
- Share the learning you understood from the teachings & practices, not the personal story.
- rMarch 2024
- rFebruary 2024
- rJanuary 2024
- rNovember 2023
- rOctober 2023
- rSeptember 26, 2023
- rSeptember 12, 2023
- rAugust 2023
- rJuly 2023
- rJune 2023
- rMay 2023
- rApril 2023
- rMarch 2023
- rFebruary 2023
- rJanuary 2023
- rNovember 2022
- rOctober 2022
- rSeptember 2022
- rAugust 2022
- rJuly 2022
Practice and Compassion
There are times when things seem to fall apart, times we need to remember our practice, and compassion. It’s often useful to remember the Buddha’s First Noble Truth – There is suffering. And that all is impermanent, one of the Buddha’s Three marks of existence. And the Five Recollections: We age, we can get ill, we will die, we will know loss, my actions are my only true belongings.
We seem to suffer most when we are attached to the way things are, when we are full of aversion to change, to impermanence.
From Tricycle, Cultivating Courage (intro, Feb 8, 2024):
We must become brave in the face of all we fear. The Buddha as an embodiment of Compassionate Courage. We must learn to not turn away. To stay present. To meet every challenge and difficulty with compassion…. That courage isn’t about battling our demons so much as it is about dropping our armor – opening our hearts to embrace all of our experience.
Pema Chodron’s book – When Things Fall Apart. She talks how the practice of metta, and of compassion, can create a steadiness and peace, that is independent of condition. And as we steady and ground ourselves, we offer it to others.
Which requires Attention, Intention, and Effort, to support this steadiness.
From Pema: We need room for it all, the entire gamut of our feelings, of life. We are vulnerable, we are tender, and we can touch in on that vulnerability, that tenderness. We can hold ourselves with compassion.
What is compassion? From Sharon Salzberg: “Compassion is known in Buddhist teaching as the quivering of the heart in response to pain or suffering.” Which requires bearing witness, to our pain and the pain of others. Even when it feels unbearable. We can offer kindness rather than withdraw.
Things to ponder:
What does compassion mean to you? Self-compassion? Compassion for others.
When compassion feels too hard, how might you use practice and sangha to help?
Allow – Danna Faulds
There is no controlling life.
Try corralling a lightning bolt, containing a tornado.
Dam a stream and it will create a new channel.
Resist, and the tide will sweep you off your feet.
Allow, and grace will carry you to higher ground.
The only safety lies in letting it all in —
the wild and weak —
fear, fantasies, failures, and success.
When loss rips off the doors of the heart
or sadness veils your vision with despair,
practice becomes simply bearing the truth.
In the choice to let go of your known way of being,
the whole world is revealed to your new eyes.
2/13/24
We talked about viewing things in new ways. For example Sayadaw U Tejaniya says the mind “never wanders, where would it go?”.
Even though we have all used that language of the ‘wandering mind’, since it feels experientially true, U Tejaniya says that the mind is merely becoming absorbing into our thinking instead of absorbing into our breath, body sensations, or whatever object we originally chose. Does using that language give us a different perspective?
Another example is the wonderful way that Thich Nhat Hanh has used language to describe the steps of meditation practice. This video, called “Stop Running,” which was mentioned in our session, is a wonderful example of using the word “stopping’ to describe the practices of calming the mind, traditionally called Samatha practice.
Also mentioned was this technique, called the Six R’s, that describes the steps of coming back from the “wandering mind” or the “mind absorbed in thinking” when this inevitably happens:
Six R’s – Ven. Vimalaramsi
Recognize – What we are attending to: A plan, scheduling, a memory, a fantasy, a brilliant idea?
Release – the energy around thinking about that now. It can be done later.
Relax – Any tension in the body that resulted from the thinking
Re-smile – Came back to resting in the present moment
Reconnect – your attention to the breath or your meditation object
Resume – wash, rinse, repeat!
Refuge and Sangha
Traditional Buddhist Precepts ceremony: Taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha.
Sangha as a refuge, a way to be connected, be supported, a way to offer support to others.
Thich Nhat Hanh: “Members of your sangha may be your child, your partner, and a beautiful path in the woods. The blue sky and beautiful trees are also members of your sangha.” (Tricycle, The Next Buddha may be a Sangha, Jan 22, 2023)
Sangha as an essential part of our practice; it can hold us, make a container for us.
Thich Nhat Hanh: “The next Buddha may take the form of a community, a community practicing mindful living. And the practice can be carried out as a group, as a city, as a nation.” (Tricycle, Jan 22, 2023)
Zen Peacemaker’s Order, Three Tenets: Not Knowing, Bearing Witness, Loving Action.
In Sangha, we bear witness to others; they bear witness to us.
As elders, we can be held, and we can hold others. Sharing the wisdom of aging.
Larry Rosenberg: Our Practice is the Practice of Intimacy. Intimacy with ourselves, with others, with the present moment. (CIMC Newsletter Jan 31, 2023; Mar 3, 2023.)
In Sangha, we can be reminded of our own Buddha nature.
Thich Nhat Hanh poem, from (from “Call me by My True Names – The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh”, Parallax Press, 2005.)
You are me and I am you.
Isn’t obvious that we inter-are?
You cultivate the flower in yourself
so that I will be beautiful.
I transform the garbage in myself
so that you don’t have to suffer.
I support you – you support me.
I am here to bring you peace,
you are here to bring me joy.
November 28, 2023
We discussed using the Four Noble Truths as a daily refuge and actual framework for exploring stress, (Dukkha), and the cessation of Dukkha, in other words, as a practice instead of a view.
Readings from a wonderful little book from Ajahn Sumedho were discussed.
Here is the link to download a free copy of his revised book on the Four Noble Truths. This site is a rich treasure of Dharma writings and talks from Ajahn Sumedho and the other U.K. forest sangha.
November 14, 2023
Intentions, Effort, and Hooks.
We have intentions, aspirations, things we wish to do, ways we wish to be. This is often hard, especially in times of inner and outer distress, of high emotion. We need effort, often, to stay true to these intentions, to help us to make them manifest. And so we work with Wise Intention and Wise Effort, path factors on the Eightfold Path.
How do I use my practice to support my intention? How can my practice help me to notice what I’m doing, where I’m distracting myself from my intention? We come back to the breath, to our body. We come back to attention, noticing what is attracting us, what we’re pushing away. And being with that, accepting even our resistance.
From the early suttas:
Wise Intention: Whatever you intend, whatever you plan, and whatever you have a tendency toward, that will become the basis on which your mind is established. (SN 12.40)
Wise Effort: And when we notice our tendency is towards the not-so-skillful, or the non-beneficial, we need to Rouse the will, make an effort, stir up energy, exert our mind, and strive. (MN 141)
From Pema Chodron –
Don’t Bite the Hook (audiobook).
“How we get hooked, and how we can unhooked.” (Lion’s Roar, Jan 13, 2023).
Shenpa, the urge, the hook, that triggers us into tightening, into contraction, into habit. How can we not get hooked? We use effort to remember our practice of being with what is. With effort, we practice not contracting; by accepting that realities of impermanence and change.
By noticing, and accepting, we create space, and allow for possibility of not biting that hook. The global hook; personal hook. Both so important. We practice being with what is, seeing how we might be resisting, and loosening into the reality of what is.
We use our practice to not get hooked, to remember our intentions, and to use our effort to come back to the breath, to our body, to our wholeness. And just be, right here, right now.
—
The CIMC Sangha Life Committee (SLC) is a group that represents different sanghas of the CIMC community. See more about them on the CIMC website:
https://cambridgeinsight.org/our-community/sangha-life-committee/
Kathy Holmes represents the Elders Sangha on the SLC. She invites any of the Elders Sangha who have questions or concerns, or are simply curious, to contact her via email. Please include “Elders” in the subject line. kholmes45@gmail.com
Adrift (Mark Nepo)
Everything is beautiful and I am so sad.
This is how the heart makes a duet of
wonder and grief. The light spraying
through the lace of the fern is as delicate
as the fibers of memory forming their web
around the knot in my throat. The breeze
makes the birds move from branch to branch
as this ache makes me look for those I’ve lost
in the next room, in the next song, in the laugh
of the next stranger. In the very center, under
it all, what we have that no one can take
away and all that we’ve lost face each other.
It is there that I’m adrift, feeling punctured
by a holiness that exists inside everything.
I am so sad and everything is beautiful.
She Let Go (Rev Safire Rose)
She let go.
She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go.
She let go of the fear.
She let go of the judgments.
She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head.
She let go of the committee of indecision within her.
She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons.
Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, she just let go.
She didn’t ask anyone for advice.
She didn’t read a book on how to let go.
She didn’t search the scriptures.
She just let go.
She let go of all of the memories that held her back.
She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward.
She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right.
She didn’t promise to let go.
She didn’t journal about it.
She didn’t write the projected date in her Day-Timer.
She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper.
She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope.
She just let go.
She didn’t analyze whether she should let go.
She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter.
She didn’t do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment.
She didn’t call the prayer line.
She didn’t utter one word.
She just let go.
No one was around when it happened.
There was no applause or congratulations.
No one thanked her or praised her.
No one noticed a thing.
Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.
There was no effort.
There was no struggle.
It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad.
It was what it was, and it is just that.
In the space of letting go, she let it all be.
A small smile came over her face.
A light breeze blew through her.
And the sun and the moon shone forevermore…
She Let Go (poem by Rev. Safire Rose, c. 2003)
She let go.
She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go.
She let go of the fear.
She let go of the judgments.
She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head.
She let go of the committee of indecision within her.
She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons.
Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, she just let go.
She didn’t ask anyone for advice.
She didn’t read a book on how to let go.
She didn’t search the scriptures.
She just let go.
She let go of all of the memories that held her back.
She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward.
She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right.
She didn’t promise to let go.
She didn’t journal about it.
She didn’t write the projected date in her Day-Timer.
She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper.
She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope.
She just let go.
She didn’t analyze whether she should let go.
She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter.
She didn’t do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment.
She didn’t call the prayer line.
She didn’t utter one word.
She just let go.
No one was around when it happened.
There was no applause or congratulations.
No one thanked her or praised her.
No one noticed a thing.
Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.
There was no effort.
There was no struggle.
It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad.
It was what it was, and it is just that.
In the space of letting go, she let it all be.
A small smile came over her face.
A light breeze blew through her.
And the sun and the moon shone forevermore…
Homework
Besides continuing or renewing your daily meditation practice, (Fall is a great time to recommit whole heartedly!) bring awareness to experiences of change:
Changes in outer circumstances
Changes in the body, changing emotions, recurring thought patterns, etc.
Watching the dance between resistance and letting go
Quotations from the talk on “Dealing with Change:”
N.Y.T. Op Ed “Stop Resisting Change,” Brad Stulberg
Master of Change: How to Excel When Everything is Changing – Including You, Brad Stulberg
“You have to become a chaos to give birth to a dancing star.” – Nietzsche
“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it and join the dance.”- Alan Watts
“The sanctity of now” – Rupert Spira, You Are the Happiness You Seek
“When you’re completely in the now, you’re always standing in the middle of a sacred circle.” – Pema Chodron
Experiment with your personal ways of homecoming, centering.
It may be helpful to list them, knowing clearly what really helps.
Your daily practice, both meditation and throughout the day, moments of remembering, coming home to yourself, shifting from the world of distraction – (both external and within)
2) Hokusai (Most famous 19th century Japanese artist) Also most famous exponent of positive aging:
“Everything I have done before the age of 70 is not worth bothering with. At 75, I will have learned something of the pattern of nature, of animals, of plants, of trees, birds, fish and insects. When I am 80 you will see real progress. At 90 I shall have cut my way deeply into the mystery of life itself. At 100, I shall be a marvelous artist. At 110, everything I create […] will jump to life as never before. […] I used to call myself Hokusai, but today I sign myself ‘The Old Man Mad About Drawing.”
7 Homecomings:
1) Breath
2) The body, beginning of meditation, including subtle body or energy body
3) The body in movement: Gentle stretching, etc.
Walking: slow, mindful walking or walking for exercise
Personal practice: “With great respect & love I bow to this body:
Home of the self (essence self), Vehicle for awakening
Abode of pure awareness
4) Sacred place
5) Natural world Finding refuge in nature
6) Daily practice: meditation ideally 20-30 minutes and awareness practice throughout the day
7) 3 words from Shiva Sutras: “Remembrance is Bhairava” (Bhairava means the Lord, Mystery, That which is beyond words, God)
**Any moment of remembrance is sacred (the inner shift to remembering your refuges, homecoming)**
Two more this morning: 1) Stopping 2) Awareness to the heart center
Inspiring interview with Brother David Steindl-Rast (97 years old)
Lessons from the Dharma for coping with a significant loss
1) The Five Recollections:
I am of the nature to age.
Aging is unavoidable.
I am the nature to get ill.
Illness is unavoidable.
I am the of the nature to die.
Death is unavoidable.
All that is dear to me and everyone I love
are of the nature to change.
There is no way to escape being separated from them.
My actions are my only true belongings.
I cannot avoid the consequences of my actions.
My actions are the ground on which I stand.
2) Read The Magnanimous Heart by Narayan Helen Liebenson
3) Read Awakening Through Love: Unveiling Your Deepest Goodness by Lama John Makransky
HOME PRACTICE for June 13, 2023 Elders
Our elder years are so often times of aging and separation and loss, often times of experiencing fear, and finding the courage to face that fear. How might we meet those fears, what can we practice to help us remember courage?
We can practice the Buddha’s Five Recollections, or Five Remembrances.
1. I am of the nature to grow old; there is no way to escape growing old.
2. I am of the nature to have ill health; there is no way to escape having ill health.
3. I am of the nature to die; there is no way to escape death.
4. All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.
5. My deeds are my closest companions. I am the beneficiary of my deeds. My deeds are the ground on which I stand.
In those recollections, we are reminded to let go of self, and to remember that what is happening to us is part of life, not personal nor punitive. We experience all that life offers, pleasure and pain; we are not exempt from the full gamut of life’s experiences.
We can practice Right View, the first of the path factors of the Eightfold Path. Right View can be a way of alleviating suffering. By seeing that what is happening is simply what is, we can alleviate the extra suffering we often add with our second arrows, by wanting things to be other than they are.
Thich Nhat Hanh: Right View is not an ideology, a system, or even a path. It is the insight we have into the reality of life, a living insight…
Right View is a compass, an aspiration, a reminder. It is an insight and an acceptance of the reality of things, of how life is.
We can accept being in the in-between place, and not knowing.
Pema Chodron: The in-between place: …We aren’t told all that much about this state of being in-between… The challenge is to let it soften us rather than make us more rigid and afraid. Becoming intimate with the queasy feeling of being in the middle of nowhere only makes our hearts more tender. When we are brave enough to stay in the middle, compassion rises.
Compassion for ourselves, for those we might be caring for, for all beings also experiencing the whole gamut of life.
Koan: Not-knowing is most intimate
It takes courage to be in this in-between place, this place of not knowing. We can remember to soften into intimacy, with ourselves, with the moment, with this in-between place.
Poem: Allow, by Danna Faulds: There is no controlling life.… and practice becomes simply bearing the truth… (You can access the entire poem via Google.)
From Larry Rosenberg:
May we continue to look into ourselves.
May we see things exactly as they are.
And may such clear, direct seeing free us.
May 9 Homework – Kate Beers
The Wisdom of the Body
Your body is always present:
1. Think of a time when your mind and thoughts told you one thing but your body reactions told you something else. For example, denying you are angry to yourself and others but your body reactions reveal that you angry.
2. Take sometime to discover and experience your own body sensations. For example, when angry, perhaps your jaw tightens, your breathing becomes forced, your eyes narrow, etc.
3. List a few words that reflect your deepest values; and, using them as a mantra, discover your body sensations. For example, Integrity; kindness, gratitude, grace.
Let yourself appreciate how your mind/body is fully connected.
References:
Awake Where You Are: The Art of Embodied Awareness by Martin Aylward
The Wakeful Body: Somatic Mindfulness as a Path to Freedom by Willa Blythe Baker
Website:
Dialogue between John Makransky, Lama in Tibetan Buddhism and Richard Schwartz, Family systems therapist and founder of Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Becoming Our Compassionate Self: Integrating Parts of Ourselves into the Process of Spiritual Awakening
A Conversation Between Internal Family Systems and Tibetan Buddhism
April 11 Homework – Kate Beers
Bring kindness to your body
Suggestions:
• Metta / Body Scan
• Gentle Yoga
• Massage
Reference: Sharon Salzberg – Aging Wisely
Discover your own embodied wisdom
Meditate on a word or words that reflect a deep value and note your own body sensations. Allow yourself to experiment. Stay with words that fully resonate in your body. Let go of words that may feel conflicted. What do you discover?
Examples:
Gratitude, kindness, compassion, grace, integrity, authenticity, love, etc
References:
Martin Aylward – Awake Where You Are: The Art of Embodied Wisdom
John Makransky – Awakening Through Love: Unveiling Your Deepest Goodness
Our body is the first of the four foundations of Mindfulness – from the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha’s Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness. Often it’s our body where we first notice signs of aging, of becoming an elder.
The practice of acceptance, of ourself, of our body, of kindness towards ourselves, even our losses, is crucial. To accept, to witness ourselves, without judgement, and with care; to love them, to lean towards them, to embrace them.
Thich Nhat Hanh in his book No Mud, No Lotus, talks about the Sallatha Sutta, the Arrow sutta. The first arrow is that which happens, causes pain; the second arrow is fired by our own selves, is our reaction, our storyline, our anxiety. We add to our suffering with these second arrows.
Sharon Salzberg as she was turning 70 wrote a Tricycle article, Aging Wisely, with much the same themes – what happens to the body as we age as the first arrow, and “our tendency to rehearse some catastrophe, and thereby live it several times.” This rehearsing as the second arrow. One way to work with these, a doing a body scan along with the loving-kindness meditation; may each part of the body be happy.
Ruth King, in a Tricycle podcast, writes about kindness. “Kindness is a decision, a decision to incline the heart toward goodwill for all beings.”
Narayan tells of a Zen teaching:
A student asks his Zen master: How to be happy. The teacher replies: Complete unrestricted cooperation with the unavoidable.
Nancy Mujo Baker – “Living Without Why,” from Meister Eckhart. Without “why me, why now, why this?” Depersonalize the suffering that is innate in nature – the First Noble Truth: There is suffering. Personalizing our suffering is another form of second arrow.
How do we cooperate with those hard parts? What can we count on, rest in, to see us through, to sustain us. We come back to the first foundation, to our body, to our breath, to our center.
TNH poem – This Body is Not Me: (first lines)
This body is not me; I am not limited by this body,
I am life without boundaries.
Rumi poem –
I am not this hair
I am not this skin.
I am the soul
That lives within.
February 14, 2023 Homework
Focus on bringing metta or loving -kindness into both your meditation and at other times, perhaps using one of the traditional phrases. Examples: (create your own phrases)
May I and all beings live with loving-kindness
May I and all beings have ease of heart
May I and all being live with peaceful hearts
Refresh your practice. Always an invitation to re-commit to a daily practice of sitting meditation even if it’s for a short time. Increase your sitting to 20-30 minutes or more.
Remember how helpful it is to start with the body: a few minutes of gentle stretching or yoga shifts your energy and eases you into meditation more easily.
Simple exercise: breathing in metta, breathing out and sending metta to others
Reflections from the talk on Metta – loving kindness
Thich Nhat Hanh:
“Love is made of four elements: loving-kindness (metta), compassion (karuna), joy (mudita) and equanimity (upeksha). If your love contains these elements, it will be healing and transforming, and it will have the element of holiness in it. True love has the power to transform any situation and bring deep meaning to our lives.”
–From his little book How to Love
Love is a verb – it’s the energy of the heart
Unconditional love: Tulku Thondup’s book titled: The Heart of Unconditional Love: a Powerful New Approach to Loving-Kindness Meditation
“The good heart practice”
We can simply do what’s called ‘good heart practice,” called sampa zangpo in the Tibetan tradition.Tibetan Buddhist masters consider it the most important thing on the spiritual path, the dharma in a nutshell… It’s the universal dharma that can set our heart free from the constraint of self-centeredness, and from the inner poisons, like hatred and envy.” Anam Thubten
Rumi quotation:
“Always check your inner state with the lord of your heart.
Copper doesn’t know it’s copper until it’s changed to gold.
Your loving doesn’t know its majesty until it knows its helplessness.”
Thich Nhat Hanh:
“You need your own love very much. You have to be there for yourself . When you sit for meditation, you practice love.
January 10, 2023 Homework
Heroism, Courage, Love and Fear
Olivia Hoblitzelle: “The later years are most heroic.”
Heroism often requires effort and courage.
How do we remember to be the Heroes of our own lives?
How do we respond to our fears?
Metta – Love or Loving-Kindness – one of the four Brahmaviharas, the four Immeasurables, the Divine Abodes. The Buddha gave his Metta Sutta as the antidote to fear.
Metta as the antidote to fear. To confront Fear with Courage requires Love.
Here are some traditional Metta Sutta and phrase variations. Find or create what works for you.
May all beings be happy.
May they live in safety and joy.
All living beings,
Whether weak or strong,
Tall, stout, average or short,
Seen or unseen, near or distant,
Born or to be born,
May they all be happy.
– From the Insight Meditation Center in California
Some sangha versions:
May I be happy. May I be safe. May I be free.
May we be happy. May we be safe. May we be free.
May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be free.
May all beings be safe
May all beings be happy
May all beings have strength of heart.
May all beings know ease of well-being.
Poem by Michael Leunig:
Love and Fear
There are only two feelings, Love and fear;
There are only two languages, Love and fear;
There are only two activities, Love and fear;
There are only two motives, two procedures,
Two frameworks, two results,
Love and fear, Love and fear.
Krishnamurti: “Fear is an extraordinary jewel … which has dominated human beings for forty thousand years and more. And if you can hold it and look at it, then one begins to see the ending of it.”
Rumi poem: The Guest House – last stanza:
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
Even fear is a guest to be welcomed and treated honorably, an extraordinary jewel, a guide. To be welcomed and offered Metta. An extraordinary practice.
Galway Kinnel poem extract, from Flying Home:
From then on, love is very much like courage,
perhaps it is courage, and even
perhaps
only courage.
Reflections:
– Is the word “heroic” meaningful to you? Useful? In what way? Or not at all?
– Was there a challenging situation where you felt afraid, and managed to remember love, find courage?
– How might you have witnessed courage in another/
Homework for Elders:
Most important is your daily meditation practice. Focus especially on bringing awareness to subtle mood/emotional states.
Sometimes helpful to label: “worried” “content” “frustrated,” etc.
Pause practice: stop several times during the day, tune into your body, your feelings, and breathe with loving awareness
3rd Foundation of Mindfulness: emotions
Ajahn Chah: “Anything which is troubling you, anything which is irritating you, that is your teacher.”
“The Guest House” by 13th-century Sufi mystic Rumi (searchable online)
6 Steps for dealing with emotions
1) “welcoming practice” or “handshake practice”.
2) “Entertain them all” Invitation to investigate. Bring awareness to the body; come to the breath.
3) Bring awareness to emotions is a process of purification:
4) Meditation: most important ally: creates space. Every emotion has its wisdom — something positive to be discovered. “like a tiny flame of love in the heart waiting to guide you”
5) Expand your field of awareness: Tune into vast field of interconnectedness.
6) Metta/lovingkindness: “May I/you be free of fear and have ease of heart.” Whenever you turn your attention away from self to others, heart feels lighter. Transforms darkness of separation into feelings of connection
Hafiz, Sufi mystic, called it: “the encouragement of light”
Isabel Allende: “We all have an unsurpassable reserve of strength inside that emerges when life puts us to the test.”
Follow up to Emma’s’ presentation:
Link to Google Groups Tutorial
Link to join Elders Group
Link to join other Google Groups
Key points for review:
• “This Precious Human Body:” key contemplation in Buddhist tradition
• View: body as a mandala– a sacred universe
• Experiencing “the body in the body”
Reference to the subtle body, or the energy body
Includes chakra system from yogic traditions
Breath: bridge between the physical & subtle bodies
• Honoring the body before yoga, tai chi, chi gong, etc. (the words I use)
Hands in namaste: “With great respect and love I bow to this body, abode of pure awareness, vehicle for awakening.”
Feel free to experiment with phrases that feel right to you.
Pain meditation with Stephen Levine:
https://www.livingdying.org/softening-pain-meditation/
Grace and Grit: A Love Story, by Ken and Treya Wilbur
The Wakeful Body: Somatic Mindfulness as a Path to Freedom, by Lama Willa Blythe Baker
Hevajra Tantra says: “Great wisdom lives in the body”
Homework: Find ways to practice mindfulness of the body through your day
Remember the “Pause Practice:” stopping for 3-4 breaths, dropping awareness into the body.
Experiment with taking more time with the body scan at the beginning of meditation, or returning to it, as a way to bring awareness down into the body.
Remember to open, soften, and embrace whatever is happening and send kindness and compassion to your body.
Homework:
Bring careful attention to the nature of thoughts arising in meditation:
Do thoughts tend to go into the past or toward the future?
Notice when there is clinging/attachment or aversion.
Identify recurring mental habits that cause the most distraction, stress, suffering.
What quality do you need to cultivate in working with the mind?
Three resources:
Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness
Bhante Gunaratana, The Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English
Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening
Click here for the Elders Sangha listserv/google group.
Click here to learn more about kalyana-mitta groups at CIMC.
Play with the concept of centering, finding your center
Notice how meditation strengthens that, even if the mind is busy
Recommit to your practice: both sitting meditation and cultivating mindfulness throughout the day
Reflect on the phrase “the courage to suffer.” How do we find meaning in suffering, and where does our practice come in?
Remember to pause: stop! and simply come to the body and breath, centering yourself.
Quotes: “A mandala is a secret realm… Let’s each try to regard ourselves as a mandala, the sacred dimension that is made up of many sacred components….Because we are this living, intricate mandala made of so many components, we are ready to fall apart at any given moment…
This Mandala, this sacred universe, is who we are… This realization — knowing that there is no singular self in each of us, and instead we are this complex, beautiful, living
Mandala — is very liberating. It can give rise to courage, love, and joy in our hearts”
Anam Thubten
“There was no need to be ashamed of tears, for tears bore witness that a (person) had the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer. What is to give light must endure burning.” Viktor Frankl
Google link for Elders Sangha: http://groups.google.com/group/cimcelders?hl=en
Link to sign up for CIMC Newsletters: www.tinyurl.com/cimcaffinitygroups
Five Wisdom Treasures: Reflections on Practice
1) Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay)
“Approach your practice with a joyful heart. For me, breathing in and out is a great joy. Organize your practice so it is very joyful.”
2) Thay “Bring a unique dimension of love and devotion to your practice. You need your own love very much. When you sit for meditation, you practice love.”
3) Inspiring our practice: how do you do that? Know all your sources of inspiration: teachers, teachings, books, friends, situations, nature, etc.
4) Cultivating the quality of acceptance toward whatever arises either in meditation or during the day. A spontaneous mantra: “accept the losses”
5) Thay’s response to someone in pain: “Trust in the energy of mindfulness to hold everything that arises… Your wounded heart, your pain – that’s what brings you to the heart of the Buddha.”
Contemplate and experience the subtle power of Thay’s phrase “the energy of mindfulness”
Richard Rohr: “Your True Self is Life and Being and Love. Love is what you were made for and love is what you are.”
Homework:
** Choose a couple of ways to inspire your practice.
** If your meditation practice has been intermittent, make a commitment to deepen it. Even 5-10 minutes a day (best at the same time and in the same place), is better than no meditation at all.
** Remember: you can come home to yourself at any moment by simply pausing and tuning into the preciousness of your breath.
** When challenged by difficult circumstances or emotions, remember Thay’s phrase “the energy of mindfulness” and trust that it is stronger than the pain.
Remembering wise view: see impermanence of everything
Seeing world as play of consciousness
Everyone is a holy mystery:
Lakota Chief Noble Red Man
“Everyone is sacred. You are sacred. I am sacred. Every time you blink your eye or I blink my eye, God blinks Her eye. God see through your eyes and my eyes. We are sacred.”
Hello Sangha Friends,
It has been devastating few weeks, with one mass shooting happening right after another. It can seem we are caught in a neverending cycle of violence, trauma and grief. Please join us in offering karuna and metta to the victims of this violence, their family members, and all those impacted.
This Sunday June 12th from 5-7 PM is the next monthly meeting of the CIMC White Awake Sangha. We’ll use our time together to investigate our response to the most recent act of white supremacist terrorism: an attack on a supermarket in a largely Black neighborhood of Buffalo, New York – one of the worst racist massacres in recent American history.
We’ll honor and mourn those who were killed, reading their names aloud. We’ll hold space to explore our own bodily and emotional responses to the shooting – including possible feelings of grief, numbness, anger, and guilt – and we’ll engage in embodied practices to nurture and reset our nervous systems. Finally, we’ll spend some time identifying and connecting to the inspiration, courage, and resources we need to re-commit to our engagement in anti-racist action.
We’ll be working with the following prompts, which we invite you to reflect on in advance of our meeting:
- Recalling when you first heard or saw news about the Buffalo shooting, what sensations, impulses, emotions or images arise in your body? Does your body want to fight, flee, freeze or submit (play dead)? Is there a movement or sound your body would like to make that might help you discharge some of this trauma energy?
- Who or what inspires you in the work of uprooting racism and white supremacy? This might be a mentor, a benefactor, an ancestor, or anyone you look up to or whose story motivates you in this work.
As usual, we’ll meet for two hours, with breaks, breakout groups, and opportunities for open discussion. All are invited, regardless of their level of experience investigating race and whiteness, and no registration is required (zoom link below). Our goal is to build community as well as resilience, capacity, and commitment for the work of fighting systemic oppression in our hearts, communities, and (most especially) in our beloved Center. We look forward to seeing you there!
Warmly,
Alex, Beilah, Ben, Gina, Sherry, and Valerie
Hello Sangha Friends,
This month, we’ll be cultivating our readiness – through role-play and discussion – for difficult conversations with family members, teachers, and really, any white person with whom we’re engaging with in conversations about whiteness.
Many of us have experienced how difficult, frustrating, and draining conversations with family and community members about race and whiteness can be. That is why we tend avoid them, choosing to engage in anti-racist work in compartmentalized parts of our lives. But with White Supremacist violence on the rise and ongoing state-sanctioned violence against BIPOC folks, there has never been a more important time for us to call our people in. When we call other white folks in, we not only challenge ourselves and expand our comfort zones, we play a role in challenging the delusions and misperceptions white folks have been conditioned with, giving them an opportunity to grow with us and help them understand their shared stake in dismantling white supremacy.
In addition to embodied practice, meditation and discussion, we’ll be role-playing situations using the following prompts, which we invite you to reflect on in advance of our meeting:
Prompt #1: You’re at a family dinner, and a relative asks you what you’re doing on Sunday. How do you explain what the White Awake Sangha does? How do you respond to their questions and/or opposition? The relative responds to you using one or more of the following phrases:
- “I don’t have implicit bias, I’m not unconsciously racist. And I don’t think that you’re racist – and you’re being unkind to yourself by calling yourself a racist.”
- “I don’t have white privilege.”
- “I don’t identify as white, I’m Jewish/Irish/Italian.”
- “How can you talk about race if there aren’t any People of Color?”
- “That sounds like segregation. I marched in the 60s and we were fighting against segregation.”
Prompt #2: You’re in a meditation class led by a white teacher. A student who appears South Asian shares the following: “I feel like I’m just not good at this mindfulness thing, I have such a hard time focusing my mind and feel ready to give up. Do you have any advice?” The teacher says, “Don’t give up, your people have been meditating like this for thousands of years. It’s in your DNA!”
How do you respond? To whom?
As usual, we’ll meet for two hours, with breaks, breakout groups, and opportunities for open discussion. All are invited, regardless of their level of experience investigating race and whiteness, and no registration is required. We look forward to seeing you there!
If you have any accessibility needs order to participate in our meeting, please email me at: beilahbross@gmail.com, or simply come and let us know what you need when you arrive.
Warmly,
Alex, Beilah, Ben, Gina, Sherry, and Valerie