Energy and Effort are essential, and interdependent, elements of good meditation and daily living practice. They can be valuable tools for keeping the mind alert, focused and curious if we understand the difference between the two, and develop the ability to monitor and regulate both. And they can become confusing and disrupting aspects of practice if we don’t.
This evening we look at a framework for skillfully working with Energy and Effort using common situations in meditation, daily living, and relationships – becoming drowsy during meditation, losing focus of attention, being unable to sustain relaxed awareness, getting lost in thought or narratives.
The evening will also explore a practice approach using Energy as the primary focus of attention and exploration. Experientially understanding thought, emotions, and actions as fundamental expressions of different types of energy can be a door way to immediate, direct experience and insight.
The subject matter of this evening will be appropriate for all stages of practice. You can attend in person or by ZOOM. Dennis will be presenting in person and encourages you to be there in person as well.
We often say that all things are the result of causes and conditions, and most teachings discuss how this leads to suffering when we try to hold on in the face of change. The foundational teaching of Dependent Origination is the best-known example. But causes and conditions can also lead to liberation. The lesser-known Discourse on Proximate Causes (Upanisa Sutta, Samyutta Nikaya 12.23) lays out a chain of causes that leads from suffering to the knowledge of liberation.
Understanding the steps in this chain of liberation can inform our practice and lead to happiness and peace. We will examine these steps and see how we might apply them to our practice.
This talk was not recorded however Rich Howard wanted to share the following two handouts.
This is a teaching and practice daylong that will include dharma talks alternating with sitting & walking meditation periods. Today’s theme will be the early Buddhist teachings on the aggregates and how they converge with the insights of modern neuroscience. There will be a particular focus on feeling (Vedanā), perception (Sañña), and intention (Saṅkhāra), and on ways of practicing with our experiences of these aggregates in meditation and in daily life.
Saṅkhāra is a word with many levels of meaning in early Buddhism. This talk will focus on its meaning as one of the five aggregates (skandhas), where it is often translated with such terms as volitions and intentions. People often strongly identify with their volitions and intentions. The Buddha taught about the dangers of clinging to and identifying with sankharas. The Foam Sutta describes sankhara with the analogy of a carpenter in need of heartwood who goes to a forest and cuts down a plantain tree. But when he cuts into the tree trunk, he finds it is only layers of sheaths. There is no heartwood there. The perspective of modern neuroscience leads to a similar understanding of volition and intentions.
Why do some people face serious challenges, then go on to persevere or thrive, while others collapse, give up or quit? Why does facing serious difficulties result in some becoming stronger and more resilient, while seeming to break others?
Revolve or Determination is considered a pivotal skill in Buddhism. It implements and facilitates Intention and Aspiration. That’s what make it a Parami, a special quality of mind essential to deepening and maturing our meditation practice, as well as living a full and satisfying life. It is an elemental tool in working with difficulty, challenge, confusion, and doubt.
Dennis encourages you to watch a two-minute video entitled “Movements as Your Teacher Not as Taskmaster” by Ido Portal in preparation for this Thursday evening. Substitute “practice methods” for the word “movement” as you listen to the session. Then reflect on what, if anything, this has to do with your own meditation practice and your life.
We often hear the phrase to “just let it go,” but sometimes that can be frustrating advice. In this talk, we will explore the insights we are encouraged to investigate which can lead to a profound letting go as a result of ongoing insight meditation practice. It can also be very helpful on a less profound level in day-to-day life to understand the nature of constant change. In addition, Walt will reminisce about the recent loss of legendary Bay Area radio personality and beloved insight meditation teacher Wes “Scoop” Nisker, whose kindness, humor and humanness were very inspiring.
How pleasant and unpleasant feelings (Vedanā) shape experience – Converging views from neuroscience and early Buddhism.
The five aggregates (skandhas) together encompass all aspects of experience. Vedanā is one of the aggregates and is often defined as the feeling tone of experience ranging along a continuum from pleasant, through neutral, to unpleasant. The Buddha attributed great importance to mindfulness and clear comprehension of Vedanā. It is the focus of the second establishment of mindfulness in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta. We will discuss the nature of Vedanā and its relationship with the other aggregates using language and perspectives from both early Buddhism and modern neuroscience.
A commitment to speaking the truth brings a sense of trust and safety to our relationships, and we reinforce this commitment when we take the fourth precept of refraining from harmful speech. Truthfulness (sacca in Pali) is also one of the Paramis, and it is said that this commitment to speak the truth was never broken by the Buddha on his way to awakening. As the same time, we are surrounded by a society which seems to thrive on untruthful, deceptive, or exaggerated communication. On this evening, we will look at various aspects of Truth in the Buddhist teachings, up to the profound Four Noble Truths, and explore how we can incorporate a commitment to truthfulness in our daily lives.