This past Sunday Zac led our discussion on the topic of Right (or “Wise”) View.
He played excerpts from two talks:
Lama Surya Das 2012-01-17 32:07
Right View
Insight Meditation South Bay – Silicon Valley: Tuesday Talks—2012
http://dharmaseed.org/talks/audio_player/283/22760.html
Rob Burbea 2006-12-31 56:58
Views In Practice (…They make all the difference)
Gaia House: New Year’s Retreat
http://dharmaseed.org/talks/audio_player/210/12308.html
This Sunday, Rebecca led our gathering by reading the transcript of a talk given by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Trungpa Rinpoche describes a “Fourth Moment” beyond what we consider the three concepts of relative time: past, present, and future. He describes this moment as “now-ness”, a sense of complete awareness of the ever-changing nature of reality all around us, and one which can be understood though Viapassana practice.
The transcript is available from Lion’s Roar here:
https://www.lionsroar.com/beyond-present-past-and-future-is-the-fourth-moment/
The theme of today’s Sangha was the five aggregates – with emphasis on their relevance in the context of right view. To aid this discussion, Margaret used excerpts from two talks, listed below.
Joseph Goldstein:
http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/96/talk/27189/
And Ayya Santacitta:
http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/278/talk/25971/
Margaret also referenced an excerpt from John Burdett’s Bangkok Tattoo, which we’ve seen at Sangha before:
Bored with Pisit today, I switch to our public radio channel, where the renowned and deeply reverend Phra Titapika is lecturing on Dependent Origination. Not everyone’s cup of chocolate, I agree (this is not the most popular show in Thailand), but the doctrine is at the heart of Buddhism. You see, dear reader (speaking frankly, without any intention to offend), you are a ramshackle collection of coincidences held together by a desperate and irrational clinging, there is no center at all, everything depends on everything else, your body depends on the environment, your thoughts depend on whatever junk floats in from the media, your emotions are largely from the reptilian end of your DNA, your intellect is a chemical computer that can’t add up a zillionth as fast as a pocket calculator, and even your best side is a superficial piece of social programming that will fall apart just as soon as your spouse leaves with the kids and the money in the joint account, or the economy starts to fail and you get the sack, or you get conscripted into some idiot’s war, or they give you the news about your brain tumor. To name this amorphous morass of self-pity, vanity, and despair self is not only the height of hubris, it is also proof (if any were needed) that we are above all a delusional species. (We are in a trance from birth to death.) Prick the balloon, and what do you get? Emptiness. It’s not only us-this radical doctrine applies to the whole of the sentient world. In a bumper sticker: The fear of letting go prevents you from letting go of the fear of letting go. Here’s the good Phra in fine fettle today: “Take a snail, for example. Consider what brooding overweening self-centered passion got it into that state. Can you see the rage of a snail? The frustration of a cockroach? The ego of an ant? If you can, then you are close to enlightenment.”
Like I say, not everyone’s cup of miso. Come to think of it, I do believe I prefer Pisit, but the Phra does have a point: take two steps in the divine art of Buddhist meditation, and you will find yourself on a planet you no longer recognize. Those needs and fears you thought were the very bones of your being turn out to be no more than bugs in your software. (Even the certainty of death gets nuanced.) You’ll find no meaning there. So where?
Patrick guided our reflections this Sunday on the topic of Right (or Wise) Speech and Wrong (or Unwise) Speech, and insights into the inner and outer effects of each. The discussion was anchored with excerpts from a talk by Shalia Catherine.
From Dharmaseed:
Speech is given particular importance in the Buddhist path because wrong speech can be the cause of tremendous harm, and right speech can be profoundly beneficial. The practice of right speech is given emphasis because it’s a very vivid way that we can bring our practice off the cushion and into our daily life. When our life is conditioned on delusion and greed, our intention usually is to benefit ourselves. While when our life is conditioned on delusion and hatred, our intention is usually to harm others. Even when we choose to lie because it will cause less harm than the truth, we still should be aware of the karmic consequence of our action.
The talk is here:
This Sunday, Sam guided our reflections, continuing with the theme of Emptiness from last week, which lies at the root of so much Buddhist practice.
Excerpts from talks by Sally and Guy Armstrong, as well as a guided meditation led by Guy anchored the presentation.
The talks were from the recent retreat “Emptiness” at IMS. We are currently unable to provide links to the talks which Sam played specifically, but here’s a list of the publicly available talks from that retreat: http://dharmaseed.org/retreats/3150
Michael, Margaret, and Sam recently attended an IMS retreat on Emptiness led by Guy Armstrong, Sally Armstrong, Brian LeSage, and Suzie Harrington. This Sunday’s offering was anchored by excerpts from a talk by Suzie Harrington, a teacher new to many of us. The topic was “Atammayata”, or “Not made of that”, a little-discussed concept in Buddhist literature which is actually very core to the Buddha’s teachings.
Here is Suzie’s talk:
This Sunday, Mike B led the discussion on the topic of the third Factor of Enlightenment, Viriya, usually translated as “Energy”, “Diligence”, or “Effort”.
Here is a talk he played by Joseph Goldstein:
http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/96/talk/24770/
The Pali word Viriya means “courageous energy”
Some translations: strength, courage, vigor, vitality, perseverance, effort… Joseph suggested we ”put all of these meanings together”.
Basic translation: energy, the capacity to be engaged, to do things, to accomplish things.
Buddha said: “When we practice, wisdom grows. When we don’t practice, wisdom wanes.”
Joseph says: “Wisdom is not something that we get, and then we have….if wisdom is not cultivated through practice, it becomes a memory, and it’s not particularly alive within us.”
When wisdom is not alive for us, it is easy for old habit patterns to reemerge.
“Beginless habit energies are extremely difficult to remove suddenly. Hindrances are formidable, and habits are deeply ingrained.” – Chinul, founder of Korean tradition of Zen
“It is not difficult to be aware of mindful, it is difficult to maintain it continuously. For this you need right effort, which is simply perseverance.” – Joseph
“If asked / the nature of Chanoyu [tea ceremony] / say it’s the sound / of windblown pines / in a painting.”
– Sen Sotan, translated by Dennis Hirota, Wind in the Pines
This Sunday Payton replaced our usual Dharma talk with a mindful tea ceremony and spoke about tea as a meditation practice.
Language can be a barrier, because it represents ideas and concepts, so the listener/reader can either agree or disagree, believe in or not believe in the ideas expressed. … But when I make tea, I can express my heart free of doctrine or philosophy. And while you could say you don’t want the bowl of tea I offer you, it would absurd to say that you don’t agree with or don’t believe in it. You don’t agree or disagree with a bowl of tea; you drink it! And that somehow makes it more real.
– Wu De, Global Tea Hut, February 2017
Some suggestions for the practice include taking the time to focus on the experiences one is having when participating in a ceremony, not the questions.
One of the oldest methods of making tea into a meditation is listening to the kettle. … While your kettle is heating up, close your eyes and take some deep breaths. Try focusing on the area below your nostrils and above your upper lip. When your mind wanders, don’t feel frustrated or rebuke yourself; just return to the breath. Slowly, your mind will begin to quiet down. Then, just as you find yourself settling into a stillness, you’ll begin to hear the kettle like “the soughing of the wind through the pines.”
– Wu De, Global Tea Hut, February 2017
Why tea? Because it lends itself to ritual and is at the same time a mundane activity. It is also a single beverage that exists in the experience of millions of people on this planet. It is perhaps one of the few unifying factors that lies between all countries and cultures. What is making tea? Simple! Heat water, infuse leaves, drink. And yet, when one cares to do so, it is possible to perform those actions with mindfulness, being aware of each step, each motion, fully in the present.
The Japanese have a saying, “Ichigo ichie,” which means “one encounter, one chance.” It means that this meeting of people in the tearoom is unique. It will never happen in this way again. Even if we have tea with the same people every day of our lives, each encounter is a unique, bright and shining moment that will never occur again.
– Wu De, The Way of Tea, Chapter 3
In one sense, tea is no different from any other familiar activity, but it can be used to create something special. After all, sitting is done without mindfulness many times each day, but when we sit to meditate, we tend to do so with a bit of ritual; a bell may be rung, a cushion may be used, or our hands may be placed just so. None of these things are necessary, of course, but they are aids to mindfulness. Such variation helps us remember that we are not performing an everyday activity. When making tea, through the use of particular tools, motions, or setting, one can also cultivate such a variation. Indeed, others have developed these variations into rituals and schools for hundreds of years.
Treat every moment as your last; it is not preparation for something else.
– Shunryu Suzuki
Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.
– Thich Nhat Hanh
Finally, a legend about Rikyu, the father of Japanese Tea Ceremony,
A student of tea traveled many miles to meet Master Rikyu. … A few days later, after a particularly great tea session, the man asked the master, “Master, what is the inner essence of Cha Dao?” Rikyu smiled, “The highest truth of Cha Dao is this: gather water, lay the charcoal, heat the water and steep the tea.” The man was shocked… [and] decided to ask for clarification. “But, Master, that is too simple. It would seem anyone could do those things.” Rikyu scoffed; “The day you can do as I have said, I will travel all the way to your house, rest my head at your feet and become your disciple.”
… The idea is that you just gather water and just heat it, and then finally you just steep the tea. In other words, there are no other thoughts, no ideas and no ego…
– Wu De, Global Tea Hut, February 2017
This Sunday, Margaret led an excellent discussion on the first “mark of existence”, Impermanence. She played a talk by Joseph Goldstein which emphasized that while it’s easy to say the words and understand them intellectually, our practice is really to find a deep and visceral understanding of the saying, “everything changes”.
Here is the talk by Joeseph: http://www.dharmaseed.org/teacher/96/talk/40301/
This Sunday, Payton led a discussion on the simple, yet challenging prospect of doing just one thing at a time in our daily lives.
The topic was spurred by this talk by Gil Fronsdal
http://www.audiodharma.org/talks/audio_player/7613.html
“It it’s not simple, it’s not Vipassana” – Munindra-Ji
