Homework

After Workshop

1. Formal Practice: Sit every day. Try sitting for a minimum of 10-30 minutes per day (more if you are able). Please practice your meditation in silence. If you use an app, please only use it a couple of times a week. Instructions for newer meditators, see point 8
2. Formal Practice: Standing & Walking: Practice standing meditation at least once in your day. Practice walking meditation at least once during the day as you move through the world.
3. The Seven Factors of Awakening Handout: Please read it everyday until we meet on February 14th at 6pm. In addition, take some time to explore the book that you received.
4. Gratitude Practices
   • Write down, text or e-mail “your buddy” from the workshop
     3 things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything. You can simply list tem or write a sentence for each one.
   • Thank someone every day
5. Ask yourself: What keeps you, from paying attention in your life? What keeps you from living more fully? What keeps you from living here in the present moment
6. Remember your intention, vow, dedication. If you haven’t completed writing it please do so and store it in a “special place”
7. Have fun!
8. Instructions for newer meditator
   •  It is helpful to find a quiet space or room, a consistent time, and a chair or cushion that best supports your sitting practice. Please use a timer (if using your phone, keep it at a distance away from where you are sitting).
   • Bring an attitude of kindness, curiosity and interest into your sitting practice. As you meditate, begin by settling into the body. Aware of sitting and of the sensations of sitting such as the body making contact with the mat or the floor, or your sitting bones on your cushion or chair. Then gently bring the attention to rest on the breathing either at the nostrils, the chest area or the abdomen. Use the breath as an anchor.
   • This practice is a practice of remembering, so when your mind wanders and you notice it wandering or you wake up from the story/trance you are in: Delight that you are awake, ground in the body and simply escort the attention back to the breath, the anchor. Every time you bring your attention back to the present moment, you are developing mindfulness.

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.
   • Listen to, be aware of and receive whatever presents itself.
   • Be aware of the body & its sensations (sitting or breathing).
2. Standing & Walking: Practice standing meditation at least once in your day. Practice walking meditation at least once during the day as you move through the world.
3. Gratitude Practices
   • Write down, say to a partner or friend or text a classmate 3 things you are grateful for each day. It can be anything.
   • Thank someone every day.
4. Ask yourself & Listen: What keeps you, from paying attention in your life? What keeps you from living more fully? What keeps you from living here in the present moment?
5. Please continue to read everyday & Enjoy your Cards– The Seven Factors of Awakening Handout- Begin to notice or sense in yourself moments when these beautiful qualities, start to make their way into your practice and/or daily life experiences. If you open, look, inwardly- in very simple ways- (perhaps, a moment or two of calm instead of chaos, or a moment or two of joy instead of despair, or a moment or two of ease instead of struggle)- the practice can deepen. In these moments or any moment of knowing of the Seven Factors of Awakening: We are asked to celebrate life, to embody our understanding- and this is a celebration of life itself!
6. First Factor of Awakening-Mindfulness is being aware of what is happening in the present moment.
7. Practice your daily mindful activity. Each day e-mail, or text your buddy what you experienced or learned while practicing the daily mindful activity you agreed to practice with in class.
8. Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s book, Factors For Awakening, will be our shared text. Please read the chapter, Factors For Awakening pages
   1-8 and Mindfulness 9-12.                                             HAVE FUN!

We will send an e-mail to you with homework early next week.

For now, continue below.

• 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.
  • Listen to, be aware of and receive whatever presents itself.
  • Be aware of the body and its sensations (sitting or breathing).
• Formal Practice: Standing and Walking: Practice standing meditation at least once in your day. Practice walking meditation at least once during the day as you move through the world.
• Gratitude Practices
• Write down, say to partner or friend or text a classmate 3 things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything.
• Thank someone every day

4) Ahhh…our practice is for the heart to awaken. Your life provides the perfect conditions to wake up. Awakening of the heart is only found exactly where you are.

Right now is a perfect time to practice calm and presence in the midst of all the changing conditions, in the midst of uncertainty. Continually greeting whatever is arising with compassion and balance, This is our practice!

Remembering, when we live in the present, the Seven Factors of Awakening naturally arise. What are the factors? Mindfulness, Investigation, Energy, Joy, Tranquility, Concentration, Equanimity.

So, practice mindfulness, presence, interest, curiosity, alertness, rapt attention, calm, steadiness and balance. Do your best to let go of unwholesome actions!

And remember: It’s our chance, statewide, countrywide, worldwide, to learn what it means to take something seriously while, at the same time, refusing to panic or be pulled into excessive fear. It’s not a choice between one response or the other, we must do both, simultaneously.

• Please continue to read everyday and enjoy your cards – The Seven Factors of Awakening Handout – Begin to notice or sense in yourself moments when these beautiful qualities, start to make their way into your practice and/or daily life experiences. If you open, look, inwardly- in very simple ways- (perhaps, a moment or two of calm instead of chaos, or a moment or two of joy instead of despair, or a moment or two of ease instead of struggle) – the practice can deepen. In any moment of knowing of the Seven Factors of Awakening: We are asked to celebrate life, to embody our understanding- and this is a celebration of life itself!
• First Factor of Awakening – Mindfulness. Mindfulness is being aware of what is happening in the present moment.
• Practice your daily mindful activity. Each day e-mail, or text your buddy what you experienced or learned while practicing the daily mindful activity you agreed to practice with in class.
• Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s book, Factors For Awakening, will be our shared text. Please read the chapter, Factors For Awakening on page 1-8 and Mindfulness 9-12.

Sending a virtual hug and love to all of you. Keep practicing!

 

April Homework (New homework see **)

• 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.
• Formal Practice: Standing and Walking: Practice standing meditation at least once in your day. Practice walking meditation at least once during the day as you move through the world.
• Gratitude Practices
  • Write down, say to a partner or friend, or text a classmate three things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything.
• Please re-read and practice the homework from March 20th and continue to enjoy your cards: The Seven Factors of Awakening. Notice or sense in yourself moments when these beautiful qualities start to make their way into your practice and/or daily life experiences. If you open, look inwardly – in very simple ways (perhaps, a moment or two of calm instead of chaos, or a moment or two of joy instead of despair, or a moment or two of ease instead of struggle) – the practice can deepen. In any moment of knowing of the Seven Factors of Awakening: We are asked to celebrate life, to embody our understanding – and this is a celebration of life itself!
• ** Everyday Daily Practice: Each day or many times a day. Stop, tune into your heart. That is where love, wisdom, grace and compassion reside. With a loving attention feel what matters most to you. Yes there may be anxious thoughts, worried or fearful thoughts, grief or trauma. But don’t let your heart be colonized by fear! Take time to quiet the mind and tend to the heart. go outside or look out a window at the sky. Breathe in, open yourself to the vastness. Sense the seasons changing. Breathe out and rest in loving awareness. Practice steadiness and equanimity. Look at the trees, learn from them. They remain still in the midst of it all. They are nature, you are nature. You too, can be the still-point in the center of it all!
• ** First Factor of Awakening: Mindfulness. Mindfulness is being aware of what is happening in the present moment.
• ** Do your best to ride out an emotion. Sometime, when you are aware of feeling fear, worry, anxiety, don’t act on the emotion. Rather, bring your mindfulness to the emotion and observe the changes it undergoes while you are watching it. You might choose to sit, stand or walk around quietly while you practice in this way. Things to notice are the various body sensations or tensions, the changes in its intensity, the various attitudes or beliefs that you have concerning the presence of the emotion. If after a time the difficult emotion goes away, spend some time noticing what its absence feels like (repeat during the month).
• ** Spend part of a day making a steady effort to be aware of any feelings of happiness, contentment, well-being, joy, pleasure, or ease. Even if your day is primarily characterized by the opposite of these, see if you can identify even subtle and seemingly insignificant moments of these positive states. It can be as simple as appreciating the texture of a chair or sofa you are sitting on or a flash of ease in your eyes as you notice the vastness of the sky. This is an exercise in discovering that these may be more a part of your life than your preoccupations allow you to notice (repeat during the month).
• ** Spend part of a day being aware of what feelings tend to pull you into a state of preoccupation. Sometimes there are patterns in the kinds of feelings that lead to becoming lost in thoughts. Common sources for distraction are desire, aversion, restlessness, fear and doubt. Are any of these more common for you than the others? What is your relationship to them when they appear? As you notice the patterns, does that change how easily you get pulled into their orbit? By clearly being mindful of their presence, can you let go of any of the ways in which these interfere with, or inhibit, whatever activities you need to do? (Repeat during the month.)

Sending a virtual hug and love to all of you! Keep practicing!

May Homework (New homework see **)

• Sit every day: Sit for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. More if you are able. Please practice your meditation in silence.
  Just silence. To simply sit in the present moment of being alive here and now. Feeling the care and support that comes from the life force in us, that we are alive, that we are breathing.
• Formal Practice: Standing & Walking: Practice standing meditation at least once in your day. Practice walking meditation at least once during the day as you move through the world.
• Gratitude Practices: Write down, say to partner or friend, or text a classmate 3 things you are grateful for or delight in each day.
• Re-read the List of the 7 Factors and Continue to Enjoy your Cards: Notice or sense in yourself moments when these beautiful qualities start to make their way into your practice and/or daily life experiences. In any moment of knowing, the Seven Factors of Awakening: We are asked to celebrate life, to embody our understanding – and this is a celebration of life itself!
• Continue This Practice: Each day or many times a day
  Stop, tune into your heart. That is where love, wisdom, grace and compassion reside. With a loving attention feel what matters most to you. Yes, there may be anxious thoughts, worried or fearful thoughts, grief or trauma. But don’t let your heart be colonized by fear! Take time to quiet the mind and tend to the heart. Go outside or look out a window at the sky. Breathe in, open yourself to the vastness. Breathe out and rest in loving awareness. Practice steadiness and equanimity. Look at the trees, learn from them. They remain still in the midst of it all. They are nature, you are nature. You too, can be the still-point in the center of it all!
• ** Life is so precious. Our life is so precious. Our practice is to live a life connected to awakening – this means to put our bodies, our minds, our hearts into living every moment of our lives.
• **First Factor of Awakening – Mindfulness. Mindfulness is being aware of what is happening in the present moment. Is mindfulness present right now or not? (Get to know the 4 Qualities of Mindfulness: Not forgetting, standing near or face to face with whatever is arising, remembering what is skillful or wholesome and what is not, and clear comprehension.)
• ** Second Factor of Awakening – Investigation discerns and illuminates the truth through discriminating wisdom – knowing what’s what. Is there interest and curiosity about your experience right now or not? Begin to understand what are wholesome/skillful states of mind and what are not.
• **Truth is always here, now. When we connect to this present moment – we delight, we rejoice. And when we are caught up in anxiety or fear or worry or whatever and then suddenly we remember, ahhh we are caught up – Knowing, wow I was really caught up, preoccupied by that thought, emotion. In that moment if we can be gentle and settle back into the present. We are beginning to remember, to wake up.
• **Spend part of a day making a steady effort to be aware of any feelings of happiness, contentment, well-being, joy, pleasure, or ease. Even if your day is primarily characterized by the opposite of these, see if you can identify even subtle moments of these positive states. This exercise is discovering that these moments may be more a part of your life than your preoccupations allow you to notice. (repeat during the month)
  
• **Spend part of a day being aware of what feelings tend to pull you into a state of preoccupation. Sometimes there are patterns in the kinds of feelings that lead to becoming lost in thoughts. Common sources for distraction are desire, aversion, restlessness, fear and doubt. Continue to notice: Are any of these more common for you than the others? What is your relationship to them when they appear? (repeat during the month)

• Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s book, Factors For Awakening, will be our shared text. Please read the chapter Analysis of Qualities on pages 13-17.

HAVE FUN!

Sending a virtual hug and love to all of you!  Keep practicing!

1. Sitting: For a minimum of 10-30 minutes per day. Do your best! Keep your meditation simple — no apps, just silence.
2. Practice Gratitude: Text or email your “practice buddies” from breakout groups 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 each day.
3. Contemplate: What has already disappeared in your life…
   1. Contemplate that things that are here today are gone tomorrow
   2. Ask yourself what really matters, what really counts?
4. Reflect: All conditioned phenomena are impermanent. Its nature is to arise and pass away. Living in accordance with this truth brings true happiness.
5. Notice: Impermanence around you. Aware of the changing nature of: Trees, flowers, birds, clouds, rain, sun, moon, stars, the body (look in the mirror – notice your hair, face), 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. 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 or chores, if you are working in any way, driving, cooking or preparing meals, going to bed at night. Is anything permanent? Impermanence is one of the three marks of existence. Is it true that impermanence is a trait of existence? Explore.
7. Have fun!

1. Sitting: For a minimum of 10-30 minutes per day. Do your best! Keep your meditation simple — No apps.
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.
3. Please also share with your “practice buddy” one thing you about aging that you noticed or explored each day.
   
4. Contemplate: All conditioned phenomena is impermanent its nature is to arise and pass away living in accordance with this truth brings true happiness.
5. Read & Reflect: Read the 5 Reflections daily (view at the end of homework). Reflect: I am of the nature to age. I am subject to aging. Aging is unavoidable or I have not gone beyond aging.
6. Notice: Aging in yourself and others.
   • 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.
   • When you are around older people, reflect that they were young and 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 and respect as you reflect on their lifetime of experience and wisdom.
7. Explore: And appreciate the vitality you currently have knowing and 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.
8. Have Fun!

The Five Reflections

1. Reflect: I am of the nature to age. I am subject to aging. Aging is unavoidable or I have not gone beyond aging.

2. Reflect: I am of the nature to sicken I am subject to illnesss. Illness is unavoidable. I have not gone beyond sickness or illness.

3. Reflect: I am of the nature to die. I am subject to death. Death is unavoidable. I have not gone beyond dying.

4. 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.

5. Reflect: I am the owner of my actions-karma, heir to my action-karma, born of my actions- karma, related through my actions-karma, abided supported by and live dependent on my actions- karma. 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.

1. Sitting: For a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. Do your best! Keep your meditation simple — no apps.
2. Practice Gratitude: Write down or say to partner or friend, or text or e-mail a person in the class, 3 things you are grateful for each day. They can be anything.
   Please also share with your “practice buddy” one thing about sickness or illness and death awareness that you noticed or explored each day.
3. Contemplate: All conditioned phenomena is impermanent. Its nature is to arise and pass away. Living in accordance with this truth brings true happiness.
4. Read & Reflect: Read the 5 Reflections daily.
   Reflect: I am of the nature to sicken.  I am subject to illness. Illness is unavoidable. I have not gone beyond sickness or illness.
   Reflect: I am of the nature to die.  I am subject to death.
   Death is unavoidable. I have not gone beyond dying.
5.  Notice: Everyone around you through these lenses:
   1. That they have already experienced or are currently experiencing or could experience Covid-19 or a serious medical condition. See this not as some mistake but instead, in a world of impermanence, as part of what we are asked to come to terms with in life.
   2. Hold your own past, present or future medical challenges as practice opportunities. How did you or might you use them as a source of awakening? What have you learned or are you learning?
6. Explore: If you get any symptoms or a cold, toothache, headache, etc, do your best to use it as an opportunity to soften around the unpleasant and investigate how resistance turns pain into suffering, the unpleasant into the unbearable. Open to the discomfort. Meet it with kindness. Soften, open, explore, continue to soften, make room for your life.
7. Explore: Every day, every morning, ask yourself, “As I go into this day, what is the most important thing? What is the best use of this day?” When you go to bed at night, look back at the day. What did you do with it? Did you move any closer to being more loving, compassionate, caring — to being more fully awake? Is your heart-mind more open? What did you actually do? Feel how little time there is and how important it is- how we spend our time in this precious human birth.
8. Notice: Everyone around you and yourself:
   For a period of time each day (could be as little as a one minute), see everyone around you (on Zoom, out your window, in your neighborhood, etc) and silently remind yourself, “I am going to die and you are going to die.” Notice how it affects how you relate to them.

Extra Credit: Through out your day, pause, take a break from your usual thoughts and wake up to the magic and vastness of the world around you. Look outside! This easy and spacious type of mindfulness practice is one of the most important practices during this time of the Pandemic!

I am grateful for your practice!

1. Sitting: For a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. Do your best! Keep your meditation simple — no apps.
2. Practice Gratitude: Write down or say to partner or friend, or text or email a person in the class, 3 things you are grateful for each day. They can be anything.
   Please also share with your “practice buddy” one thing about death awareness and separation that you noticed or explored.
3. Contemplate: All conditioned phenomena is impermanent — its nature is to arise and pass away. Living in accordance with this truth brings true happiness.
4. Read & Reflect: Read the 5 Reflections daily.
   Reflect: I am of the nature to die. I am subject to death.
   Death is unavoidable. I have not gone beyond dying.
   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.
5. Death practices: (if too much for you, please read these each day)
   • Remember & Gently, silently say to yourself a few times during the day, “I’m going to die.” You may notice the “stories of the mind drop away”. Then ask yourself, “What is happening right now?” Be aware of what is happening. If you notice that you are caught up in a story or a belief, in the moment ask yourself, “What would a dying person need or want in this moment?”
   • For a short period of time each day, see everyone around you as corpses (or skeletons) knowing that in time they will be gone from this Earth. Notice how it affects how you relate to them.

6. Separation practices:
   • Notice: Everyone around you through this lens:
     Practice keeping the 4^th reflection in mind as often as you can, with all the different encounters you have (on the phone, computer or in person). When you’re leaving a Zoom meeting, saying goodbye to a loved one, a friend, a co-worker, a neighbor, your pet(s). With a beloved person hug (physically or virtually) each other for three full breaths. Say to the person out loud or inwardly, “I love you” or “You matter to me” or whatever feels right in your heart. Knowing that we don’t know how long we have with each person.
   • Explore: Beginnings & endings, coming together & separations throughout your day. Use these times to acknowledge change. Practice pausing. Breathe & recognize that these precious moments can be moments of nourishing calm, mindfulness, don’t know mind or not knowing.

Extra Credit: Through out your day, pause, take a break from your usual thoughts & wake up to the magic & vastness of the world around you. Look outside! This easy & spacious type of mindfulness practice is one of the most important practices during this time of the pandemic!

I love and appreciate you & am grateful for your practice!

1. Sitting: For a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. Do your best! Keep your meditation simple — No apps.
2. Practice Gratitude: Write down or say to partner or friend, or text or email a person in the class, 3 things you are grateful for each day. They can be anything.
   Please also share with your “practice buddy” one thing about karma, the mystery of Life and/or death or awareness and continuity.
3. Contemplate: All conditioned phenomena is impermanent, its nature is to arise and pass away. Living in accordance with this truth brings true happiness.
4. Read & Reflect: The 5 Reflections daily.
   Reflect: I am the owner of my actions-karma, Heir to my actions-karma, Born of my actions-karma, Related through my actions-karma, Abided supported by and live dependent on my actions-karma. Whatever I shall do, for good or for ill, of that I will be the heir.

Explore: The Buddha wanted us to realize that we create our own happiness or suffering through our actions. If we truly understand the law of cause & effect we will act with integrity and face in the direction of true well-being and liberation. If we don’t, through our ignorance we are heading towards more sorrow and minimize our chance to awaken. Refrain from killing and practice The Guidelines for Happiness -“Do no Harm, Act for the Good, Purify the Mind. This is the teachings of all the Buddhas.” These guidelines address different areas where we can practice avoiding harmful actions and encourage compassionate actions.

• Honor all life – Refrain from killing and practice compassionate action
• Share your time & resources – Refrain from taking that which is not given and practice generosity
• Take care with sexual energy, respecting boundaries & offering safety – Refrain from using sexual energies unwisely or uncaringly and practice responsibility in all my relationships
• Speak kindly – Refrain from harmful speech and practice kind, truthful speech
• Develop a clear mind & healthy body – Refrain from the misuse of alcohol and drugs and practice caring for the body and mind.

  Practice this week with integrity – As you practice with the above guidelines, get to know Integrity. Don’t do it with the intention of being a better person. Practice with the intention of bringing more happiness into your life and the life of others! Every time you speak or act with integrity or virtue, notice if there is a feeling of well-being or how good it feels in your body, heart, mind.

5. Through out your day, pause, take a break from your usual thoughts and wake up to the magic and vastness of the world around you. Look outside! This easy and spacious type of practice is one of the most important practices during this time of the pandemic!
6. Extra Credit – Reflect: If happiness, ease, peace is our true nature, our essence, our Buddha nature – why don’t we experience it all the time? Does the sense of who we are get mixed up with experiences? We claim experience through thoughts, emotions, feelings, etc. as who we are. Is that who we are? Can we see more clearly? What can’t be removed from our true nature? What element of our experience is essential to us? What doesn’t arise and pass away? What is essential to us? What remains when everything that can be removed from us is removed? We can take away perception, sight, smell, textures, activities, relationships, etc. But, what accounts for the continuity of experience? What remains present?  Reflect on different ages 5, 8, 13. 20, 25, etc. What is continuous? Is it possible that awareness itself, remains consistently present with all experience? Reflect on awareness.

 Loving & appreciating all of you and am grateful for your practice!

Please practice formal meditation each day – whether sitting, or standing, walking, or lying down.

Please work with the phrases,  “May I rest in not-knowing, may I rest in calm.” Or, “May I take refuge in not-knowing, may I take refuge in calm.”

Please be prepared to come to class next week – to report on how you worked with the homework during the week.

Throughout this next week, in your daily life, whenever you feel something painful or difficult such anxiety, or fear, irritability, confusion, anger, boredom, or loneliness – something you don’t like feeling – please pause. Then name it in this way: “Ah, anxiety is like this.” Open to the feeling in the here and now, rather than giving it a life beyond this moment. Be aware of not adding thought to the actual experience that is happening.

And please continue to formally sit each day.

The assignment is to meet what is, whatever it is, in the here and now with metta (loving kindness) and compassion. Please practice not abandoning yourself, come what may.

Keep yourself company with friendly intentions especially while a painful emotion is occurring.

You may want to bring in some metta phrases. They may help you bring loving kindness to the painful.

Here are some suggestions:

May I be safe and protected

may I be peaceful

may live in love and in ease

 

Or Compassion:

May I care for this pain

May I care for this sorrow

 

The poem read this week was “Against Uncertainty” by Stanley Kunitz.