Homework

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!

• 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!

 

• 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!

• 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. Sit every day: Sit for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. More if you are able. Please practice your meditation in silence.
   1. **Question Do you find that you are applying effort by striving or by relaxing? How do you know if you are applying the right amount of effort?
   2. **Experiment with applying more effort in meditation. By sitting up straighter or by walking meditation before sitting. By mentally being alert & mindful of what is happening during the meditation. If applying more effort is agitating, try to match the increased effort with increased calm.
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. Gratitude Practices: Each day text/ e-mail your buddy 1-3 things you are grateful for. Can be anything.
4. Re-read the List of the 7 Factors and enjoy your cards
5. In formal sitting practice and throughout your day reflect & ask yourself:
   1. First Factor of Awakening – Mindfulness. Mindfulness is being aware of what is happening in the present moment. Is mindfulness present right now or not?
   2. Second Factor of Awakening – Investigation discerns and illuminates the truth through wisdom. Is there interest and curiosity happening right now or not? Is there suffering or not? Is this wholesome or skillful or not?
   3. ** Third Factor of Awakening – Energy (viriya)-Diligence, effort, enthusiasm, strength, courage, perseverance and persistence. Increased engagement with practice, wakefulness, alertness, clarity. Cultivating wholesome, skillful states and actions. Openness, interest willingness to let go of unwholesome, unskillful states & actions. How is the energy right now? Too much? Agitated? Not enough – sinking into Sloth & Torpor? How to balance it?
6.  **Daily Life Practices: Each week e-mail or text your buddy what you experienced or learned from exercise(s) below. Please do your best to do reflect and practice with one of the following Reflections and Practices (a-c) each week for the next month.
   • (a) Reflections: How easy is it for you to stay with a task until it is completed? How do you relate to obstacles or difficulties that arise? Do you have the persistence to be with them? Do you work on tasks past a point of diminishing returns?
     Practices: This week decide to complete a task that you have been intending to do, but haven’t. Notice your energy level when you think about doing this task, when you’re about to begin the task, while you’re doing the task and after you’ve completed the task. When did you feel the most energetic? Which part required the most energy? Did any give you energy? How might this affect your practice?
   • (b) Reflections: Which requires more energy for you – releasing or acquiring? Which gives you more energy – releasing or acquiring? How does this affect your meditation practice? How does this affect the quality of your life?
     Practices: This week decide to let go of a habit that you believe hinders your meditation practice. It doesn’t have to be a big item or habit. Notice your energy level as you contemplate letting go of this item, as you let go and after letting go. What took the most energy? Which step gave you the most energy?
   • (c) Reflections: In the list of the Seven Factors or Awakening, energy is listed after investigation and before joy. Why do you think this is? Do you experience a relationship between investigation & energy? Do you experience a relationship between energy and joy?
     Practices: Explore or study something that is interesting to you. It could be as simply as looking something up in Google or Wikipedia, or talking to an “expert” about something you’ve been curious about. While investigating, notice your energy level and your sense of well-being. Have they increased or decreased since you’ve started investigating? During the week, pay attention if a sense of well-being arises. How is your energy level when you have a sense of well-being?

7) **Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s book, Factors For Awakening: Please read the chapter Analysis of Qualities on pages 18-22

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

• Sitting Meditation:
• Sit every day: Sit for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. More if you are able. Please practice your meditation in silence.
• **Listen to and be aware of whatever presents itself.
• **Be aware of the body & its sensations (sitting or breathing), or the feeling tones (pleasant-unpleasant-neutral) or the condition of the mind (i.e. clarity, alertness of mind, the busyness or quietness of mind, or a specific activity of mind, like thinking)
• **In meditation: Do you find that contentment or joy arises?
• **After sitting: Contemplate, whether you are creating conditions for joy or repressing joy due to a belief that joy should not be experienced?

 

• Standing & Walking Meditation:
• **Be aware when you are standing or walking.
• **Be aware of the feet making contact with the ground.
• **Take a moment to notice your surroundings
• Gratitude Practices: Each day text or e-mail your buddy 3 things you are grateful for. Can be anything.
• Re-read the list of the 7 Factors & Enjoy your Cards
• In sitting practice & throughout your day reflect & ask yourself:

1. First Factor of Awakening-Mindfulness. Mindfulness is being aware of what is happening in the present moment. Is mindfulness present, right now or not?
2. Second Factor of Awakening. Investigation discerns & illuminates the truth through wisdom. Is there interest & curiosity happening right now or not? Is there suffering or not? Is this wholesome or skillful or not?
3. Third Factor of Awakening – Energy. Diligence, effort, perseverance & persistence. Cultivating wholesome, skillful states & actions. Openness, interest willingness to let go of unwholesome, unskillful states & actions. How is the energy right now? How to balance it?
4. **Fourth Factor of Awakening – Joy-Pity. Feelings of delight, rapture, happiness, pleasurable or rapt interest, dharma joy. Touching that which is refreshing & beautiful within & out.

• **Daily Life Practices: Daily Life Practices (adapted from Gil Fronsdal):
  Each week e-mail or text your buddy, one thing you experienced or learned from Practices(s) below. Please do your best to do reflect & practice with one of the following each week till 9/11/20

Reflection: What helps you feel ease, contentment, or joy? What are the activities that most easily bring you joy? Is it some kind of physical activity? Are you more likely to feel joy when you are with others or when you are alone? Do you experience joy that is not dependent on any particular activity? If so, what conditions bring about that joy? How easy is it for you to be in touch with the sources for your joy?

Practice: At the end of the day reflect on when you felt the greatest sense of well-being, joy, or contentment. Is there consistency to your sense of well-being on most days; e.g. do you feel the most ease in the morning or evening? Or does your sense of well-being depend mostly on the activities you’re doing? If possible, try meditating at different times in the day; e.g. early morning, lunchtime, early evening, or late evening. Is there a time of day when you feel more of a sense of well-being & ease in your meditation?

 

Reflection: How do you know when you have a sense of well-being, contentment, or joy? Is it more of a physical sensation or a mental sensation for you? How is feeling joyful different than feeling ill-at-ease or uncomfortable? What effect does joy have on you? What happens to your thinking & level of preoccupation when you are joyful?

Practice: Spend more time than you usually do with activities that support a feeling of well-being or joy. Notice how your body feels when you feel content or satisfied. Also, notice your mind state & emotional state when you have this feeling. Is the feeling of joy consistent or does it fluctuate?

 

Reflection: Please come up with a list of easy ways that you can increase the amount of joy during your daily life. What are some of the easy ways you can cultivate more delight? What are some of the obvious things that happen in your daily life that you overlook that might bring some degree of joy if you really noticed? Do some of them!

Practice: Spend more time than you normally would engaging in a hobby or activity that requires you to be focused. Notice the sense of well-being you have before, during & after being absorbed or engaged in an activity. When did you feel the most ease? Notice whether you have any beliefs, judgments or resistance to the activity & notice how that affects your feeling of contentment or well-being.

 

Reflection: During meditation do you find that contentment or joy arises? How can you tell whether you are creating conditions for joyfulness or repressing joy due to an underlying belief that joy should not be experienced during practice?

Practice: Before meditating, reflect on those things that inspire your mindfulness or practice. In meditation, notice any feelings of joy, well-being or pleasure that occur. Be sensitive to the physical sensations that come with the joy. Allow yourself to enjoy those feelings. Gently & patiently, let those feelings grow as you continue your meditation. If possible, have the sensations of joy be a source for your steadiness, concentration. After the mediation, briefly reflect if there is a relationship between your daily behavior & the experience of joy during your meditation.

 

Reflection: How is your sense of well-being when you are in the present?

Practice: Experiment with applying more mindfulness to your life. This can be done either by increasing the time in daily life activities; e.g. while brushing your teeth or doing the dishes. Notice whether your sense of contentment or well-being increases or decreases when you’re mindful.

•  **Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s book, Factors For Awakening, Please read the chapter, Rapture on pages 23-26

HAVE FUN!  Sending a Virtual Hug & Love to all of you!
Keep Practicing!  See you at the end of the month!

Seven Factors of Awakening July 31^st –Sept 11 Homework (New HW see **) ** NEXT CLASS 9/11/20 J HAVE FUN!  Sending a Virtual Hug & Love to all of you!  Keep Practicing!  See you in September!

Sitting Meditation:

• Sit every day: Sit for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. More if you are able. Please practice your meditation in silence.
• Listen to and be aware of whatever presents itself.
• Be aware of the body & its sensations (sitting or breathing), or the feeling tones (pleasant-unpleasant-neutral) or the condition of the mind (i.e. clarity, alertness of mind, the busyness or quietness of mind, or a specific activity of mind, like thinking)
• **In meditation: Notice if you feel ease, calm, tranquil. Notice whether there is attachment to the feeling. Also, notice if you feel agitated or restless. Is it possible to calmly know agitation or restlessness?

 

Standing & Walking Meditation:

• Be aware when you are standing or walking.
• Be aware of the feet making contact with the ground.
• Take a moment to notice your surroundings

 

Gratitude Practices: Daily text-email your buddy 3 things you are grateful for. Can be anything.

 

In sitting practice & throughout your day reflect & ask yourself:

1. First Factor of Awakening-Mindfulness. Mindfulness is being aware of what is happening in the present moment.
   Is mindfulness present, right now or not?
2. Second Factor of Awakening- Investigation. Investigation discerns & illuminates the truth through wisdom. Is there interest & curiosity happening right now or not? Is there suffering or not? Is this wholesome or skillful or not?
3. Third Factor of Awakening- Energy. Diligence, effort, perseverance & persistence. Cultivating wholesome, skillful states & actions. Let go of unwhole-some, unskillful states & actions. How is the energy right now? How to balance it?
4. **Fourth Factor of Awakening –Joy-Pity. Feelings of delight, rapture, happiness, pleasurable or rapt interest, dharma joy. Touching that which is refreshing & beautiful within & out. Is there a spark of Joy arising right now or not?
5. Fifth Factor of Awakening-Passaddhi-calm, tranquility, serenity, composure, ease. Calming & stilling of body/ mind, quietness of mind, relaxation. It is the soothing factor of the heart/mind that quiets disturbances. Is tranquility or calm arising right now or not?

**Daily Life Practices: Daily Life Practices (adapted from Gil Fronsdal):
Each week e-mail or text your buddy, one thing you experienced or learned from Practices(s) below. Please do your best to do reflect & practice with the following each week till 9/11/20 (and practice last months Joy HW- get to know the difference between Joy & Tranquility.)

• Reflection: What helps you feel tranquil, calm or peaceful? What are the activities that most easily bring you a sense of tranquility? Do you generally feel more peaceful indoors or outdoors? When you’re alone or with others? Do you feel more tranquil while talking or listening?
  Practice: At the end of each day reflect on when you felt the most calm or peaceful. Reflect on the conditions that supported that feeling & then reflect on the conditions that disrupted that feeling. Also, reflect on whether your level of calmness affected the calmness of others around you.
• Reflection: How does it feel to be tranquil? What is the feeling in your body? How is your mind state when you’re tranquil? How is feeling tranquil different than feeling “spacey” or complacent?
  Practice: Spend more time than you normally would with activities that support a feeling of calmness or easefulness. Notice how your body feels when you feel at ease. Notice your mind state & emotional state when you have this feeling. Is the feeling of tranquility consistent or does it fluctuate? 
• Reflection: Come up with a list of easy ways that you can increase the frequency & amount of calmness during your daily life. What are some of the easy ways you can avail yourself of more serenity? What are some of the obvious things in your daily life that you often overlook which would support a feeling of calmness if you really noticed? Are there activities in your life that detract from your sense of calmness that can be easily minimized?
  Practice: Spend more time than you normally would -doing activities that support a sense of calmness. Notice how you feel before, during & after the activities. Notice how your meditation practice is affected by your degree of calmness. Also notice how your meditation practice affects your peacefulness in daily life.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s Book, Factors For Awakening,  Please read the chapter on pages 27-34 

“Go straight into the heart of danger for there you will find safety.”

What might this mean for you, in your life? What does the word “danger” mean to you? Of course we want to avoid physical danger, as best as we are able to, but what do we habitually or unconsciously avoid that may be exactly what we need to look at directly, as a way to find the safety being referenced in this proverb?

Some questions that you might ask yourself: what am I avoiding? Is there a particular familiar emotion that I move away from immediately instead of pausing to experience and explore? What am I attached to? What do I think I cannot live without? What am I identified with or identify as? Can I look directly at these various identifies? Are there privileges I’ve been unconscious to that I may be able to let go of? Is the thought of renunciation threatening or can I look at what it might mean in my life as it is? Are there habits, comforts, addictions that I’d like to take a new look at instead of assuming I need them? Do your best to go about the exploration of these questions with great tenderness and care, and without self judgement and shame.

Please simply reflect this week on what “danger” in the context of this proverb means to you, in your life as it is actually being lived, not described to yourself or others in idealistic ways. Naming is powerful and begins the path of awakening.

This week’s homework is the same as last week, which you find by clicking on the “Week One” tab to the left.

In addition, what resources could help you explore and move closer to what you are being encouraged to look at?  Courage?  Compassion? Wisdom?

Please be prepared to come to class and talk about how you worked with the homework.

Please review and practice the homework for weeks one and two.

As well, please look at what you are recognizing and perceiving as dangerous (that which is avoided, identified with, feared, attached to) and see if you can turn what you perceive to be a problem into a question. Discovering a meditative question allows us to further open to and better understand our habitual reactions. A wise question can allow us to illuminate the nature of these ways of thinking and acting and thus reveal ways of finding ease and safety in the midst of what we fear.

Some example questions: (don’t ask “why” you are feeling as you are, it’s a dead end)
1. What would happen if what I fear were to occur?
2. Is there anything I could let go of right now?
3. What would happen if I could open my heart to this problem right now?

A personal example from my past:
Instead of the statement “I am afraid of the dark”, I asked the questions: who is afraid of the dark? What is is the dark? Is it within me or outside of me?

This week’s homework is the same as last week, which you find by clicking on the “Week Three” tab to the left.

Please look over the previous homework assignments.

Continue to ask your question or your questions.

Do not try to answer them verbally – or use the intellect to figure something out.

Drop the question into the silence and listen.

Ask without expectation – ask with curiosity and wonder, and with great love and compassion.

Continue with your meditative questioning throughout the week.

And…

Please experiment with exploring when samatha (calm) and samadhi (collectedness, steadiness) is called for and when direct seeing and sustaining kind attention on the difficult (the danger) is possible, fruitful, and creative.