Author: Payton Swick

The world feels especially noisy right now, so let’s investigate sacred sound. Trina guided us this week in looking at how chanting and mantra are used in many spiritual practices, including Buddhism, and why it might be better than you think. Trina writes:

I was unable to find a tidy 30-minute talk about this, so I read excerpts from books, articles and websites. I also played numerous snippets of audio, and we ended with five minutes of chanting together.

Below are links to some of the resources I cited and excerpted.

From Tricycle website: “Meditating with your voice: Chanting”
https://tricycle.org/beginners/buddhism/meditating-with-your-voice-chanting/

A sampling of chants from various spiritual traditions:
Ancient Mystic Hebrew Chants
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsCElDgov2M

Traditional Sufi Chant
https://youtu.be/hVDKxYpnOrI

Gregorian Chant
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3T8V-IM4Xk

Hindu Kirtan
https://youtu.be/ld_h9KtyP3s

Kundalini Yoga Chant
https://youtu.be/YQrs9zlOW1U

Tibetan Buddhist Throat Singing
https://youtu.be/QfkI5QiHMfM

Theravadan Buddhist Monks Chanting in Pali
https://youtu.be/1xaSSpffYiI

Bhikkhu Dhammasami (2016). “The Practice of Chanting in Buddhism”
https://buddhismnetwork.com/2016/12/11/the-practice-of-chanting-in-buddhism/

Tricycle website: “What is a mantra?”
https://tricycle.org/beginners/buddhism/what-is-a-mantra/

“What chanting a mantra can do for you.” (Do you need to know meaning?) Sadhguru
https://youtu.be/vd9j8uo6OSY

Theravadan monk Ven. Nick Keomahavong introduces chanting and offers tips for how to do it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV5YuJhArY0&t=721s

Monks chanting “Om Mani Padme Hum” (our sangha chanted along for five minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0trNro_-dY8

In recent times, different branches of Buddhism have been reinvigorated by the ideas and practices of ancient and modern non-dualism. In the process, Advaita Vedanta has entered often-fruitful conversations with Buddhists. 

Michael guided our reflections this week as we explored several ways in which Buddhists augment their practice in light of non-dual perspectives.

In a world seething with chaos, rage, and suffering, what is our position in the world?  We have shared our feelings of grief, despair, frustration, helplessness, anger.  We have asked, what should we do?  What must we do?  How can we sit on our cushions in a world on fire?  The urge to fight back is powerful.  But this is not the way of the bodhisattva.  We are called to embody the peace that the world needs.  To open ourselves to receive the three gems, to attain liberation, to embody true compassion, to be of benefit to all beings, to realize our Buddha nature, we must soften into mindful, gentle awareness.  

This Sunday we meditated together, and sat with a talk by Jack Kornfield titled, “A Peaceful Heart in a Time of War and the Legacy of Thich Nat Hanh.”  Led by Steve, we then talked about what to do when Mara comes along.

You can listen to the full talk here: https://dharmaseed.org/talks/69770/

Ellen was struck a few months back by how many of us had lost parents and loved ones and were grieving. And then during last week’s gathering, one of the pervasive feelings in this political moment is grief. It is so important to make room for, to welcome and work with grief.

During this week’s Sangha gathering, Ellen shared two shorter talks, one by Gil Fronsdal on the elements of grief and one by Matthew Brensilver titled Grief and Love. The talks were followed by a guided self compassion meditation based on the work of Kristin Neff.

Links to the talks are forthcoming.

For many Americans, the current political climate generates degrees of fear, ranging from a background level of worried concern to a constant state of dread.  And once they get a purchase on the psyche, these states can be self-perpetuating, like a chronic disease.  

The Buddha often represented himself as a physician—for example, diagnosing the nearly universal symptom of suffering, as caused by the underlying malady of clinging, for which he prescribed letting go as the cure, to be administered by engaging the eight steps of the noble path.  He took the sickness to be quite real, and capable of being addressed by a skillful cure. 

Similarly he developed lists of antidotes for specific types of suffering, including fear.  Utilizing excerpts from a talk by James Baraz, Jackie guided our exploration of how we might most specifically and effectively seek to treat and cure the fear with which so many are struggling these days, and to return to health, with the capacity to act effectively, and  to fight the spread of the disease, by rooting out its cause.

You can listen to the talk here: https://dharmaseed.org/talks/player/88422.html

Sitting with our thoughts and emotions is one of the first skills taught to beginners along our path. We learn how to be with difficult feelings without acting on the impulses that have controlled us our whole lives. However, the Buddha never said we should not act, only that we should act skillfully. How can we determine if our impulse to do something in any moment is skillful or unskillful? In this week’s Sangha, Payton investigated the question of discerning the effectiveness and wisdom of our emotions.

He played excerpts from the following two talks by Tara Mulay:

https://dharmaseed.org/talks/87761/

https://dharmaseed.org/talks/82505/

What is the difference between practicing music and practicing meditation?  According to Dharma Teacher Brian Lesage, they can be more similar than we might at first imagine.       

We may become bored with repetition, but also repetition with the smallest variations can become sources of new insights and innovations.

Using Lesage’s talk as a starting point, Don guided our reflections this week on the weave of repetition and innovation that can characterize any often repeated activity, suggesting how to find a path toward renewal rather than the dead end of boredom.

You can listen to Brian’s talk here:

https://dharmaseed.org/talks/66215/

This week, our Sangha considered a talk by Jack Kornfield on the Mahaparinibbana Sutta which is a collection of stories about the Buddha’s last year. A theme throughout the talk is looking within for guidance. Sam presented this talk for us all to explore.

You can listen to the full talk here: https://dharmaseed.org/talks/73180/

Jack reads one quote attributed to the Buddha which is related below:

“I consider the positions of kings and rulers as that of dust motes. I observe treasure of gold and gems as so many bricks and pebbles. I look upon the finest silken robes as tattered rags. I see myriad worlds of the universe as small seeds of
fruit, and the greatest lake in India as a drop of oil on my foot. I perceive the teachings of the world to be the illusion of, magicians. I discern the highest conception of emancipation as golden brocade in a dream, and view the holy path of the illuminated one as flowers appearing in one’s eyes. I see meditation as a pillar of a mountain, Nirvana as a nightmare of daytime. I look upon the judgment of right and wrong as the serpentine dance of a dragon, and the rise and fall of beliefs as but traces left by the four seasons.”

Even steady and committed spiritual practice can be energized from a slight shift of perspective, and the vipassana practice that most of us follow is no different. Michael guided our reflections this Sunday as we explored a practice adjacent to our own Early Buddhist style that can bring a new dimension to our meditative and life work.

Perhaps the deepest puzzle of Buddhist practice is the apparent contradiction between the concept of no self—no inherent unchanging, independent “me,”  . . .

. . . and at the same time our experience of our own agency, being responsible for our choices, and accumulating good or bad kamma as a result.  

If there is no me, who is deciding to take this action; if there is no me who is the “owner and inheritor of my Kamma” ? 

Darryl guided our investigation of these questions, drawing on a talk by Ajahn Sucitto, who invites us to see that we usually investigate this paradox by starting from a false premise — and then invites us to step into the freedom that arises when such self-deception drops away.  

You can listen to the talk here: Ajahn Sucitto : Doing, not-doing – entering causality