Tag Archive for: Dennis Warren

01/20/2022 “Healing and Our Biographical Narratives” with Dennis Warren

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Buddhist practice has a unique approach to problem solving and healing. The teachings, methods and underlying psychology dismantle the confusing, and sometimes overwhelming, emotional energy of difficult reactive patterns and our attachment to a biographical narrative that identifies us as damaged. This approach focuses on how we relate to the narrative, not the biographical details of the narrative.

This evening will explore two practical questions:

  • What is the Buddhist approach to problem solving and healing?
  • What role does our individual biographical narratives play in this process?

The subject matter of this evening is appropriate for all stages of practice. 

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12/16/2021 “Establishing the Wonderful Quality of Beginner’s Mind” with Dennis Warren

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“Beginner’s Mind” is a wonderful quality of mind. It has the potential to significantly improve our practice of meditation and the quality of our mindfulness and experience in daily life. Despite the widespread (and often confusing) coverage it receives in Buddhist, business, athletic, therapeutic and pop culture publications, it is something that remains elusive for many of us.
This evening will explore the following practical questions:

  • What is Beginner’s Mind, really?
  • Why is it considered so valuable?
  • Why does it seem elusive?
  • How do we establish it in meditation practice? And in daily life?

The subject matter of this evening is appropriate for all stages of practice.

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11/18/2021 “Guidance on Establishing Mindfulness” with Dennis Warren

The Historical Buddha’s Guidance on Establishing Mindfulness In Meditation

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The Historical Buddha’s formula for being skillful in meditation starts with “establishing Mindfulness” as a foundational element. This guidance points to the fact that the kind of Mindfulness needed in meditation does not just happen or appear by itself. It is something that needs to be intentionally established, monitored and sustained every time we meditate in order for our meditation practices to be skillful.
During this evening we’ll take a hands-on-look at: What does it mean to “establish Mindfulness” in our meditation practices? What does one do to establish Mindfulness? How do we know if it has been established? If established, how is it sustained?
These are basic, practical, experiential questions that provide a framework for helping us evaluate the soundness and quality of our meditation practice.

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09/16/2021 “Reconsidering Sitting Meditation” with Dennis Warren

Reconsidering Sitting Meditation: An Experiment & Exploration

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Sitting Insight Meditation is one essential element of a purposeful and intentional life. It is, at its core, about laying the foundation for a rich, full, satisfying life. It points our mind, heart and body towards a conscious and awake relationship with ourselves, with others and the world around us.
Several preconditions must be in place in order for sitting meditation to play these defining and guiding roles. Specifically, we need to develop a combined conceptual and experience model of what we are doing in meditation, how we are doing it and why we are doing it. If this is not present, our sitting meditation will be unfocused and misdirected. More importantly, it will not direct, support and sustain us on the path to a more satisfying life or a practice with the potential of being release from the constant and punishing management and control of the self or ego.
This evening will involve a reconsideration of several fundamental elements of Sitting Insight Meditation. It will include an experiment during the 700 pm hour.

You will need to have a straight back chair available to use during the meditation.

– the kind that would normally be part of a kitchen or dining room set. We will use the sitting experiment during the first hour as part of our exploration of sitting fundamentals during the 800 pm hour.

The subject matter of this evening is appropriate for all stages of practice.

Slides (.pdf) RECONSIDERING CHAIR MEDITATIONDownload
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08/12/2021 “Is Movement Meditation?” with Dennis Warren

Is Movement “Meditation”? An Exploration

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You hear people say “running is my meditation.” Or maybe yoga, biking, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, kayaking, archery, dancing, golf, swimming or gardening. Or how about aerobic exercise and weight lifting?
Are people who talk this way talking about the same thing? Or different things? Can we be in movement, even vigorous movement, and simultaneously be in “meditation”?
During this evening we’ll explore whether movement, in its many different forms, is “meditation.” If the answer is “Yes,” what allows movement, or a particular activity, to become meditation? If the answer is “No,” why not? And a pivotal question: can movement be meditation when done by one person, but not when done by another person? What if the person is a world class Olympic athlete?
This will be a practical dive into a rich and wonderful field of exploration. There is a wealth of commonalities, and valuable practice and life lessons, that emerge from an investigation of the relationship between movement and meditation.

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07/15/2021 “Consciousness – A Concrete & Defining Spiritual Experience” with Dennis Warren

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Here is how we grow spiritually: We develop a Conceptual Model of the teachings of the Historical Buddha, their underlying psychology and supporting practice methods; we test that model through trial and error in living so it becomes an Experiential Model; then, we internalize it so it becomes an Intuitive Response.
A pivotal aspect of this growth process is fully integrating the understanding and experience of “Consciousness.” In Buddhist practice, Consciousness is not an idea, abstract theory or philosophical term. It is a concrete and defining experience.
Opening to this experience through specific practice methods is what allows us to access qualities of mind and heart like expansiveness, spaciousness, a deep experience of rest rather than struggle, and a pervasive sense of inter-connectedness.
During this evening, we’ll explore specific elements of the meditation process that lead to these experiences as well as ways to explore the experience of Consciousness in daily life.

Two books that Dennis mentioned are
* In Love with the world: A monk’s journey through the bardos of living and dying by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
* Interconnected: Embracing Life in Our Global Society by The Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje

Zoom Chat
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04/29/2021 “Insight – Meaning, Importance, Role” with Dennis Warren

“Insight” – It’s Meaning, Importance & Role in Practice

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“Insight” is considered the prime motivation and culmination of Buddhist practice because it leads to satisfaction, peace and happiness. It does this through liberating the mind and body from confusion, struggle and suffering. The importance of Insight is illustrated by this fact: if you remove Insight from practice, it is no longer Buddhist practice.
The talk and discussion this evening will focus on the meaning, importance and role of different types of Insight in practice and daily life.
We’ll look at the differences between cognitive, or thought-based, insight and insight that is based on our own, non-conceptual, direct-experience, particularly our experience in day-to-day events and relationships. We’ll explore those insights that are considered conventional, relative, or personal with those traditionally considered universal, non-personal and “liberating.”
The subject matter of this evening is directly relevant and applicable for all stages of practice.

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03/18/2021 “Loving-Kindness (Metta)” with Dennis Warren

Loving-Kindness (Metta) – Elaborations & Further Guidance from the Historical Buddha

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Our usual understanding of Loving-Kindness (Metta) comes from the Historical Buddha’s Karaniya Metta Sutta. In contrast, the most popular and widely used instructions on how to practice Loving-Kindness were not taught by the Historical Buddha. They were developed by others, and adopted as skillful forms of practice, long after his death.
It turns out the Historical Buddha provided elaboration and further guidance on the experience of Loving-Kindness, what it is and how to develop our capacity to experience it in a number of other talks. These are a value source of help in gaining a fuller, deeper, richer understanding of this pivotal quality of heart and the role it can play in our individual lives, in community and in the larger world. This is what we’ll explore Thursday evening.
You are encouraged to read this Karaniya Metta Sutta – The Metta Sutta several times, s l o w l y, as preparation for this evening. It’s well worth the effort. Topic headings have been added to support reading and understanding the sutta.
The subject matter of this evening is appropriate for all stages of practice. All that is necessary is showing up with an open, curious mind.

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02/18/2021 “Experiencing Emptiness of Self” with Dennis Warren

Experiencing Emptiness of Self and Its’ Practical, Every-Day Implications

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Understanding and experiencing the teaching on the Emptiness-of-Self (“No-Self” / “Anatta”) is considered is to be defining and transformative. But having the actual experience that makes this teaching immediate, direct and relevant to every-day life and relationships seems to elude us.
The focus of this Thursday night’s discussions will explore the Emptiness-of-Self through 4 questions:

  • Why is it considered so important from a practical perspective?
  • What is (and is not) the experience of Emptiness-of-Self?
  • What impact does the experience of Emptiness-Of-Self have on our understanding of ourselves, our relationships, our behavior and our place in the world?
  • What methods can help us understand and directly experience Emptiness-Of-Self in meditation and everyday life more often and more tangibly?

Community teacher, Rich Howard, gave an excellent traditional overview of the teaching on “no-self” or “anatta” on Thursday, February 4 under the topic of “Finding and Losing Yourself.” Dennis’ discussion this Thursday will be on the same teaching but from a different perspective and emphasis. Rich’s talk is posted to SIM’s Audio Dharma Library (click here).
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.

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01/21/2021 “Reconsidering Mindfulness” with Dennis Warren

To download this talk, right-click and select ‘save audio as’ or select the 3-dot menu to the right of the speaker icon.

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

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