Author: Payton Swick

Compassion is deeply rooted in feeling, but to be realized, it must also be grounded in skill.  Using an excerpt from a talk by Christina Feldman, Darryl guided our reflections this week on Karuna, the second Brahma Vihara, including a glance at Avalokiteshvara, the imaginative many-armed icon of complete compassion, whose multiple eyes guide various hands hold different tools, resourcefully ready to relieve each particular suffering  encountered.

You can listen to the talk here: https://www.dharmaseed.org/talks/player/3869.html

Darryl also mentioned a talk by Joseph Goldstein from his YouTube Insight Hour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXPHWjqfwjY&t=2573s

Equanimity (Upekkha) is often misunderstood as detachment. However, it can be seen as the ease that arises from “seeing the full picture” — the capacity to feel everything fully while remaining steady. Can we care deeply without needing to control or have things go our way? How do we hold our experiences with both tenderness and spaciousness? How might spiritual courage and compassionate action arise from this inclusive yet discerning heart?

This week, Sonia gathered us into a reflection and discussion on these questions. She played a talk by Devon Hase which you can listen to here: https://dharmaseed.org/talks/player/80570.html

You might say that the modern world is built on grasping and clinging. We are conditioned from childhood to seek pleasure and distraction, and to avoid pain and discomfort. If there is anything we want, be it music or media, information or directions, it is at our fingertips. Certainly this availability has improved many aspects of the world, but clinging to that availability may be hurting us more than we think.

This week, Payton discussed clinging and grasping in our modern world, facilitated by a talk from Gil Fronsdal, which you can listen to here:

https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/23913

After his encounters with sickness, old age and death, Siddhartha Gautama’s sought answers to life’s suffering from the best-known spiritual teachers of his time.  His quest led him to pursue rigorous disciplines in ancient India’s tradition of ascetic “sramanas“, yogis who believed in a direct experience of realization through practices like breath retention and mastery of deep states of meditation.

This week we discussed some of Siddhartha’s earlier practices, then experienced some of yoga’s practices of concentration (dharna) and absorption (dyhana), to get a taste of what the Buddha was learning prior to his enlightenment, and what yogic practices can continue to support our Vipassana meditation today. Lorilee led us in this highly experiential session.

Aimlessness as spiritual path?!  We might dismiss such a notion out of hand, until we learned that it was recommended highly by Thich Nhat Hanh, and that he was pointing to a style of practice that is  also signless.  And empty.  

Does such an eccentric approach interest us? or make us suspicious?  

Using excerpts from a talk by Kara Jewel Lingo, Max guided our reflections this week on this non-way of practice, and invited us into a style of meditation that draws its vitality from qualities, which we, in our purposeful practicing, might otherwise pass by, and miss tasting.

Much of our life seems to be consumed with making decisions, important or trivial: What to eat? what to wear? whether to stay in a job or leave it?  whether to stay in a relationship or prepare for an exit?  Coffee or tea?  How to practice, and how much?

We might say, and even believe, “I decide” this or that.  But if we look more closely, we may find that it is rarely so clear cut, and that the roots of our choices are often quite surprising. 

Dharma Teacher Martin Aylward offers penetrating insights into these processes, and Michael shared a talk and a guided meditation by Aylward this week to frame our discussion of the processes of deciding, choosing, inclining toward, changing our minds, or throwing up our hands in the moments when it seems we must settle on one path of action or another.

      Our starting place in the BuddhaDharma is almost always marked by Craving – for all sorts of goals, spiritual, psychological & material.   The promise of the Path is that there is a reliable way to move in the direction of Freedom and Awakening.  Sam guided our discussion this week of a key characteristic in our understanding that can make all the difference. 

      One of the bright promises of the BuddhaDharma is that we can shape our own mind states. And rather than just wishing for good results, there are paths and practices which we can follow to arrive at this capacity.     

      Ellen shared part of a talk by James Baraz on right/wise/appropriate effort, focused on the aspect of nurturing wholesome states and maintaining them once arisen. 

A link to this talk is forthcoming.

The Buddha frequently urged his followers to contemplate daily the five Remembrances that he practiced in preparation for his ultimate awakening.  The first three may be familiar–but the last two are so radical that they have the power to startle us into attention no matter how long we have been practicing.

Sonia guided our investigation this week of these remembrances as laid out in the Upajjhatthana Sutta.  What do they ask of us?  And how can they move us to meet each day as a doorway to life authentically lived? 

Sonia played a talk by Narayan Helen Liebenson called “Reflections of the five recollections”, which you can hear at this link: https://dharmaseed.org/talks/player/70562.html

What does it mean to take refuge?  

When on retreat, we often take refuge in the Three Jewels on the first day, and in some cases, first thing each morning that follows.

But what does it mean to take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha in our everyday lives?  

Eric offered his understanding of this and invited us to contemplate and share our own.