Our perceptions shape our lives. Fortunately, with a little practice, we can perceive how we shape our own perceptions, and realize we are making our situations better or worse by how we perceive them.
Then our whole understanding can be stood on its head, transformed: “Here in the dragon’s jaws—many exquisite jewels,” says the Blue Cliff Record of Zen commentaries. The all devouring dragon can transform our sense of life in a way the chipmunk can never quite manage.
Don S. guided our reflections this Sunday, drawing on excerpts from a talk by dharma teacher Brian LeSage.
After leaving his cushy palace home in search of deeper insight into life, the Buddha spent most of his life in the outdoors, walking the roads, living in forests, sitting at the edges of rivers. Most of the instructions on how to meditate begin with the direction to find the base of a tree at which to sit. And when his very right to awaken was challenged by Mara, the Buddha simply placed his hand on the earth, calling it to bear witness in his favor. The deep interconnection between the dharma and nature continues to the present, when Buddhist teachers such as Joanna Macy are among the most articulate and forceful advocates for the environment. This Sunday, Mike Blouin guided our reflections, drawing on Macy’s passion and acuteness of insight.
Perhaps the easiest fundamental of the Dharma for almost everyone to agree with is anicca – that everything changes. On the surface, at least, it seems like common sense. But if that is the case, why do we find it so difficult to let go of our preferences, attachments, and long-held ideas? Sam guided our reflections on this conundrum today, enhancing our discussion with a guided meditation by Tara Brach and an excerpt of a dharma talk by Eugene Cash.
This Sunday Margaret guided our reflections on the Buddha’s advice about how to deal with what he called the eight “worldly winds,” which are often paired as
gain and loss, pleasure and pain, praise and blame, fame and shame.
“Wind” is a wonderful characterization for these circumstances, because they are as much beyond our control as is the wind, even as they may affect us profoundly, even changing the course of our lives. We based our discussion on a talk given by Zohar Lavie at Gaia House.
Last week Ginny led us in reflection on why we practice. Lorilee built on that theme today, with a teaching on developing gracefulness in the face of suffering. “Dukka is part of the deal,” states Eugene Cash. Buddhism teaches to become “bigger containers” for this world’s challenges. Suffering itself can call forth a grace in the art of living. Andin the end, growing our own inner harmony can be our largest contribution to our community and our planet.
Highlighting the centrality of Karma, Thich nhat Hanh said, “My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.”
In leading our discussion, Ginny focused this Sunday on how our meditation practice supports us in our daily actions. Why sit? Why walk? How can we water the seeds of love and wholesome actions through a life of dedicated practice?
Beautiful Chorus – Be Like Water
“Under duress, we do not rise to our expectations, but fall to our level of training.”
Bruce Lee
The talk, Gil Fronsdal – Kalyana – The Beauty of Practice, is here:
“It began to seem that one would have to hold in the mind forever two ideas which seemed to be in opposition. The first idea was acceptance, totally without rancor, of life as it is, and men as they are: in light of this idea, it goes without saying that injustice is a commonplace. But this did not mean that one could be complacent, for the second idea was of equal power: that one must never, in one’s own life, accept these injustices as commonplace, but must fight them with all one’s strength. This fight begins, however, in the heart and it now had been laid to my charge to keep my own heart free of hatred and despair.”
James Baldwin from Notes of a Native Son
“The wave does not need to die to become water. She is already water. [this is the concentration of the Lotus Sutra] Live every moment of your life deeply, and while walking, eating, drinking, and looking at the morning star, you touch the ultimate dimension.”
Forgiveness is both possible and necessary. It is never too late to find forgiveness and to start again. Buddhist psychology offers specific teachings and practices for redemption and the development of forgiveness. Like the practice of compassion, forgiveness does not ignore the truth of our suffering. Forgiveness is not weak. It demands courage and integrity. Yet only forgiveness and love can bring about the peace we long for. This week Stephanie guided our reflections on the possibility and necessity of forgiveness by sharing a dharma talk by Phillip Moffitt and encouraging a discussion of his offerings on the topic.
At the heart of the Buddha’s understanding and practice are the Marks of Existence, the three characteristics that are true of all things: the normality of suffering, the pervasiveness of change, and the absence of an enduring individual self. As excerpts from several talks selected by Sam demonstrated this Sunday, we can return to these insights again and again, each time encountering fresh perspectives that arrest the mind and heal the heart.
The full talks are linked below.
Kamala Masters 2017-12-08 46:38
46:38 Part 2 – The Three Universal Marks of Existence
Last week’s three short talks by Matthew Brensilver presented new perspectives on topics such as delusion and clinging, and engendered a very fertile discussion. Equanimity is not about the future or the present, but about accepting what has already come to pass without distorting it with the delusion that disguises our strategies of evasion.
This week Jeff focused our discussion on two related short talks by Brensilver. The first focuses on our anticipations, and the second on the ways in which “performing the self” enhances our pain, rather than providing the reassurance that it seems to promise. Getting past this performance of the self we arrive at the wonder and openness of equanimity.
Equanimity comes at the end of several key lists in Buddhism and is considered a culminating practice by many. However, a strategy of waiting until you nearly reach the end of the path to develop equanimity may not yield the greatest fruit. Jeff led our continued exploration of cultivating equanimity featuring excerpts from three short talks by Matthew Brensilver from a five-talk series on equanimity given at the Insight Meditation Center.
Matthew reminds us that equanimity is not passivity. Instead, equanimity enlivens our commitment to non-harming and to eliminating suffering. And significantly, Matthew points out that the middle way described by the Buddha is not the “average” of two extremes, but is a radical departure from either extreme and their opposition, with the potential for true freedom.
You can listen to the whole series at the following links, but we listened specifically to the talks numbered 1, 3, and 5.
Some of the pearls of wisdom from Matthew’s talks.
Equanimity is a non-compulsion around our preferences. We still have preferences, but we do not have a compulsion to enact them in the world. We no longer have a feeling that the moment can be fixed.
Ajahn Sumedho – “Desire is not the cause of suffering. The cause of suffering is grasping of desire.”
On the subtlety of delusion: Delusion feels exactly like the truth until it doesn’t. How can we see what we can’t see? Delusion is very subtle – it “launders” our greed and hatred. It serves to justify and dignify the forces of greed and hatred. Launder greed and it looks like hope, and fun and excitement. Launder hatred and it looks like righteousness, clarity and discernment.
Pain met with equanimity is a cause for love. The capacity to bring difficulty into attention is profound and is the basis for not spilling our suffering on others. Our self-regulation fails when equanimity is absent.
Matthew presents the two extremes which the Buddha rejected:
Extreme 1: Everything means everything. There is no rest
Extreme 2: Nothing means anything. Love dissolves.
In the Buddha’s middle path equanimity purifies our compassion. Our compassion becomes less compulsive, less codependent, less grandiose and less self-righteous. Actions arising from equanimity are more potent than actions arising from clinging. We are less intimidated by the enormity of dukkha when are are confident that the heart can rest in peace, or equanimity.
