Who Am I? What Do I Want? What Do I Believe?:
Finding and Losing Your Self
The Buddhist concept of “not self” can be very confusing if we let it linger as a subject of philosophical speculation or distant conceptual notion. On the other hand, the Buddha taught the illusion of self (anatta in Pali) as one of the three universal characteristics of experience, along with impermanence and unsatisfactoriness; living an embodied insight into how this process works is one avenue to awakening.
Two of the basic processes we have taught often at SIM offer ways of seeing into how we construct and maintain the sense of self: the five aggregates of clinging and dependent origination. In this presentation, Rich will share some other approaches from classes he attended with Steve Armstrong and Kamala Masters at the Vipassana Metta Foundation and Jay Garfield at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. We will place particular emphasis on the ethical and liberating aspects of these teachings.
Greg Scharf uses a Jataka story (Javana Hamsa: The Swift Swan) as an introduction to a talk on insight into impermanence and its relationship to what the Buddha called “An Independent Abiding”.
Mindfulness is the operational centerpiece of good practice, sound problem solving and living well. It supports and enables all the different teachings, methods and psychology of the historical Buddha which are designed to help us live a rich, full, satisfying life.
One way of understanding mindfulness is that it has two interlocking dimensions: One is practical and functional. The other is oriented towards awakening or liberation. As a community practitioner, we can inadvertently slip into the habit of relating to mindfulness, and practice itself, as only functional and practical.
When this happens, mindfulness and practice can become self-restricting and self-limiting. Such an approach can accidently obscure, and potentially cut us off from, spontaneous discovery and the deep, intuitive, healing wisdom of our bodies and hearts. We can become disconnected from the beauty and power inherent in exploring the mystery, and the dilemma, of being human, of being in relationships and of being alive on this planet.
This is the territory we’ll explore on Thursday evening: functional mindfulness; awakening or liberating mindfulness; and the unifying and inspiring experience at the center of practice which is beyond words, language and concepts.
The subject matter of this evening is appropriate for all stages of practice. All that is necessary is showing up with an open, questioning mind.
The book that Dennis references: In Love with the World – By YONGEY MINGYUR RINPOCHE and HELEN TWORKOV
Zoom Chat
* I think this was in Lion’s Roar Thubten Chodron: American Tibetan Buddhist nun, author, teacher, …My concern with Buddhism in the West is that there’s some block to really looking deeply at what dukkha means. People want light and love and bliss. Many people come to Buddhism to achieve a better psychological state and feel better about themselves, and that’s fine—we can help them on that level. But that’s not the depth to which the Buddha’s teachings go. If we don’t spend time considering what dukkha is, then we won’t seek liberation and awakening. Instead, we’ll use the dharma only to make our samsaric life a little bit better. That’s one of my fears for Buddhism in the West, that we lose the liberating aspect of the dharma.
Zoom chat shared by JD Doyle
* www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/snp/snp.4.15.irel.html
* www.heartmindteaching.com
As the days wane and the nights get longer, Rich will bring reflections on the “greatest blessings” from the Maha-Mangala Sutta (Sutta Nipata 2.4 translated by Narada Thera). This beloved sutta reminds us that, even in the midst of loss and grief, our ordinary lives contain so many sources of happiness. In balancing our awareness of suffering with the uplifting conditions in life, we come closer to seeing things as they are. This awareness provides a balance to our daily life practice and a motivation for skillful action in the world.
Rich last offered a reflection on this sutta four years ago, as we moved into the Sacramento Dharma Center. Now that we are not able to be there in person, let’s bring these blessings to mind again.
Forgiveness… What if you are not forgiven?
A Discussion and a True Story
Psychologists generally define forgiveness as a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you, regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness or not. It’s a state of mind that our culture and most faith traditions hold as a positive and worthwhile aspiration. Buddhism sees forgiveness a little differently. We will discuss those differences and the practicality of the Buddhist definition of forgiveness.
Edwin Paragas was recently released from twenty years of incarceration beginning when he was sixteen years old. He will tell the story of his own search for forgiveness from his victim’s family and his life now as a returning citizen.
OK, The Election is Over – The Fantasy Of A Magic Answer To All Our Problems is Dead – What Do We Do Now?
It’s pretty clear now that the world we live in has changed. This is hard to deny even for those of us who are really good at denial. For many, it is a world filled with confusion, uncertainty, resistance, anxiety and fear for the future – the future of our families, our country, the world.
How to deal with this reality in a way that allows us to experience a sense of ease, purposefulness, empoweredness, togetherness and kindness may not at first be clear.
During this evening we’ll explore the meaning of “equanimity” as a working life premise, as an operational reality, as a powerful tool in the face of our current challenges, sorrows and joys.
The Jordan Peterson video is at https://youtu.be/6_6zwVNn88o
From talk Zoom chat
Being wrong: It is a fact of life that is often difficult to admit to others, as well as to ourselves. There are a myriad of lessons, teachings and inspiring examples of how to be successful in all facets of our life. We are so conditioned to be right, it is a jarring affront when we find ourselves on the “wrong side” of a situation or opinion. To compensate for this assault on the ego, we may even have developed rationalizing strategies in order to minimize or even negate being wrong. True acceptance of our mistakes and our own imperfections can lead to a healing of relationships, alleviation of much personal stress and may even open up to a much deeper understanding of “not self.”