When life feels uncertain, our instinct is often to hold on a little tighter. Yet sometimes the very things we do to feel secure leave us more vulnerable. This talk explores an alternative understanding of safety, inspired by the wisdom of an early Buddhist nun.
The redemption of the mass murderer Angulimala, is memorialized in the Pali Canon in Majjhima Nikaya 86. Angulimala’s brutality and his ultimate liberation has long been an inspiring story to Buddhist practitioners. There is a deeper meaning behind the legend of this serial killer whose story is found in both Buddhist and Hindu traditions. While the acts committed by Angulimala caused unspeakable suffering, a question which is often ignored is how did he contend with the karma resulting from the harm he caused? In our own lives, how do we contend with the harm we have caused, both in regards to ourselves and others? How do we respond to others who have harmed us? We will look at this legend of Angulimala from a variety of vantage points and the lessons it offers.
This evening we will explore some particular practices for engagement to compliment the practices of seclusion like mindfulness and monastic practice.
Among the vast treasury of teachings offered by the Historical Buddha, there was one practice he would return to again and again as the place to begin. This foundational practice illuminates the path ahead, grounding us in direct experience, and opening the door to the deeper practices of relationship, mental cultivation, the heart’s higher emotions, and wisdom itself.
We’ll explore this familiar practice this Thursday evening from a different perspective, as the first practice, guided by a few questions:
What is this foundational practice?
How do we practice it?
Why did the Buddha so often recommend it first?
How does it represent a model that shapes the entire path?
Through teaching and short guided practice, we’ll explore the mind which leans forward, pulls back, and tries to make a stand on controlled OKness; and then open up to a conceptual tongue-twister of a teaching from Ajahn Chah which invites us to experience the OKness revealed through resting outside of these conditioned patterns, without negating them. Be prepared for moments when the conceptual mind stops in its tracks… 🙂
What if meditation were less about getting somewhere and more about discovering what is here? This talk explores how curiosity, openness, and a willingness to enter the unknown can enliven our practice.
More and more ethical questions are arising in society due to the rapid “advancement” of AI technology. Spiritual leaders, philosophers, politicians and individuals are cautioning that a moral code has to be developed which addresses the rapid implementation of AI technology.
A few of the many, many issues of concern are:
Students using AI to write essays and term papers and claiming the results as their own.
Blatant lying by individuals, corporations and politicians, by creating harmful AI versions of others.
The acceleration of climate catastrophes due to a lack of concern for other life forms as well the earth herself.
Individuals seeking revenge on others by threatening to expose private online conversations and videos.
Navigating everyday ethical challenges is a challenge. Now we must face the
consequences of unethical behavior due to technological advances. Do our individual ethical choices even make a difference any longer?
Tonight we will discuss ethics and morality in today’s world. In other words: “What Would the Buddha Do?”
There are so many crisis happening simultaneously, at the personal as well as collective level. Learning to practice with the fires of greed, hatred, and delusion is essential to transform suffering into healing and liberation.
Choice plays a pivotal role in the architecture of Buddhist practice. For example, it surfaces in the five strategies for dealing with distracting thoughts, the four types of Right Effort, and the five ways of letting go or abandoning unskillful states of mind. Each set of options asks that we weight the circumstances and select a course of action.
And yet, curiously, the Pali Canon — that vast record of the Historical Buddha’s psychology, teachings and methods — contains no word or phrase equivalent to our conventional sense of “choice.”
This reflects the Historical Buddha’s tendency to redirect attention away from the surface of a question towards what he considered its root. If choice, as commonly understood, is not the true axis of decision-making, then what is? And what might this reveal, as a practical matter, about the nature of skillful decision making and how it can be embodied in practice and life?