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As we progress with our practice, we may discover that there are moments, or even long periods of peaceful concentration. And these moments may occur even outside of formal meditation; we may be focused on a work task, a family task, even a beautiful song or a cup of tea. When such states are present, however briefly, what shatters them? What gives rise to reactivity when we are otherwise so content? During this week’s Sangha, Payton explored this question and the interplay of focus and distraction. How can we find a middle way?

Payton began the gathering by reading an excerpt from a book by Sayadaw U Tejaniya called Dhamma Everywhere (you can read the whole book at https://ashintejaniya.org/books-dhamma-everywhere):

The Pendulum

I was sitting in meditation and listening to Sayadawgyi (the late Shwe Oo Min Sayadaw) giving a Dhamma discourse nearby. Suddenly, I saw this very calm mind change in intensity. The mind that had been quite calm before was now agitated. How did this happen? How did this anger come about suddenly when the mind was so peaceful just moments ago?

The mind was now interested in knowing, so it backed up a bit and began to ask questions. What is happening inside? This interest to know and right thinking (sammā-saṅkappa) changed the path of the mind from anger towards Dhamma.

Without this right thinking, the mind would have continued along the path of anger and aversion, still believing anger was an appropriate response for the situation.

Did I cut off the anger through other means? No. The mind was interested to know the truth and because of that, it just lightly and gently watched the anger running its own course. The anger was happening on its own.

What was happening in the mind? It was listening to sounds from two different sides. There was Sayadawgyi’s voice on one side and people talking on the other side. I was aware of the different objects and the mind going back and forth between the two. The mind wasn’t focused only on one thing; it knew a lot of things simultaneously and saw where the attention was going as well.

I then saw this aversion! On the one side, I wanted to hear Sayadawgyi but couldn’t hear him well. I also saw the mind talking about the situation and looking for trouble: “How can these people come and talk around here when they’ve come here for the Dhamma?” Feelings came up as much as this mind continued to talk.

The observing mind saw everything that was going on in the mind. Can you see how expansive the field of view was at this point? After it saw the mind going back and forth between these two sides a couple of times, it saw the dissatisfaction. It was because the mind couldn’t get what it wanted, which was to hear Sayadawgyi’s discourse. There was this realization at that moment. And in that moment, the mind did not favor one object or another but just remained in the middle. It saw the suffering and just died down. I could just take sound as sound.

What did I realize at that moment? The mind had taken one kind of sound, the sounds of Sayadawgyi’s discourse as good, favorable sounds, whereas the sounds of other people talking as bad, unwanted sounds!

I realized then that if there is greediness for something 30 degrees to one side of a pendulum, there will be just as much of a 30 degree swing toward dissatisfaction to the other side of the pendulum if it can’t get that something.

Sayadaw U Tejaniya – https://ashintejaniya.org/books-dhamma-everywhere

Payton played excerpts from two talks. The first was by Nathan Glyde and is available in full here (there’s a meditation included so the actual talk starts about halfway through):

https://dharmaseed.org/talks/63898/

The second talk was by Shaila Catherine and is available here:

https://dharmaseed.org/talks/36367/

A third talk that was not played, but is related, is by Ajahn Amaro and is available here:

https://dharmaseed.org/talks/8896/

The Buddha taught that Three Refuges support us in our practice:  the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.  In the sangha, the “Third Jewel”, we can reflect and find inspiration.  In sangha, our minds become harmonized, our bodies are invigorated, and our hearts are warmed.

This week, Stephanie brought to our group the investigation of what makes a sangha and why it’s so valuable. To support this, Phillip Moffitt’s dharma talk, “Sangha, The Third Jewel” offers an exploration of sangha as a reflection of our own individual development, as means of practice, and as support for others on the path.

There is a Tibetan saying “Only the snow lions among us can go into solitude in the wilderness and achieve enlightenment alone.” most of us depend on being part of a sangha. Taking refuge implies finding a reliable spiritual sanctuary, a place to safely rest your heart and mind.

Lama Surya Das, Awakening the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World

The Snow Lion resides in the East and represents unconditional cheerfulness, a mind free of doubt, clear and precise. It has a beauty and dignity resulting from a body and mind that are synchronized. The Snow Lion has a youthful, vibrant energy of goodness and a natural sense of delight.

http://tibetanbuddhistencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/Snow_Lion

You can listen to Phillip’s talk here:

Sangha: The Third Jewel

The world is messier than we would like, so we live in delusion, trying to make it the way we would like it to be. We tend to interact with our ideas about people and things, rather than with people and things as they really are. This leads to alienation and to suffering.

In Part 2 of his talk “Establishing and Trusting Awareness” Mark Nunberg provides six simple instructions or clues to help us develop our own Buddha-nature. This enables us to enjoy liberation and freedom while we dwell in the present moment. Jeff facilitated our meeting this week, building on our previous exploration of this topic.

You can listen to the talk here:

https://dharmaseed.org/talks/68830/

I found the six simple instructions or practice clues which Mark provides to be helpful. These clues include:

• Here and now
• Timeless
• Encourages investigation naturally (energizing)
• Leading to liberation and freedom (the release of the heart)
• To be done by oneself
• Realizable by the wise
• It is hard to be open to the present moment in a really fresh way
• There is an arrogant and deluded presumption that we already know the people, other beings and things around us
• We are having a relationship with our idea of someone or something
• We develop distance rather than intimacy
• Our thoughts are more orderly than reality, so we dwell in thought
• This leads to alienation

Some key insights from the talk and our discussion:

• Our thoughts about people and things are more orderly than the wild reality, and so we cling to them and mis relating to the world as it is.
• “The mind does not belong to you but you are responsible for it.”
• Practice isn’t about fixing the mind, it’s about seeing the way things are.
• Desire is an intrinsic part of life of any kind, but suffering happens when we take that desire as interwoven with an idea of “me” or “mine”, devoting ourself to it. Instead, we can see it as just desire (or aversion if we are pushing something away) and we get to decide if our reaction is skillful or not.
• Don’t try to hard to be a good human being, partner, friend, parent, etc., because that creates tension; instead, work on becoming present to the chaos (and beauty) of reality just as it is.

Intentions and motivations. Why do we do what we do? The Buddha highlighted this impulse that connects body and mind calling it “intention” [Pali “cetena”] — the urge that gives rise to all we do. Every action of body, speech, and even every thought, is preceded by this impulse.  Attending to this factor and investigating it shines a light on our actions which become habits, as habits become character, and character is the architecture of our very lives. Ron guided our reflections this week, utilizing excerpts from a talk by Andrea Fella, which you can listen to here:

https://dharmaseed.org/talks/player/24325.html

It is a commonplace among Buddhists that the suffering which the dharma may help us avoid is self-generated psychological suffering, the kind of ruminative thinking that can get us in so much trouble. But the Buddha himself was well aware of physical pain; he listed sickness, old age, and death as major causes of suffering, and himself suffered from severe back pain for much of his life. This Sunday, Mike B, with a very empathetic talk by Bhikkhu Bodhi, guided our reflections on questions of physical pain – and how to meet it. Sooner or later this is likely to become a central focus for each of us, and so not a bad topic on which to have some clarity.

You can listen to the talk itself here: https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/2168

Last week we discussed the ways in which our illusory sense of self is reinforced by papanca, the mind’s tendency to proliferate thought unceasingly.  To anchor this week’s reflections, Eveline has chosen a talk by Mark Nunberg on ‘Establishing and Trusting Awareness.’ 

       Awareness can reveal the ever-shifting conditions from which all experience unfolds, opening the possibility of living mindfully.  Without it, we are stuck in the same old ruts.  But even quite imperfect awareness can reflect to us the truth of our mind’s deceptions and give us the insight by which we are able to take a new path — to change our lives.

The talk we listened to was this one: https://dharmaseed.org/talks/68809
However, the following talk was highly recommended as well: https://dharmaseed.org/talks/68830

The meditation that went with the first talk is here: https://dharmaseed.org/talks/68808

Buddhist teachings point to “papanca” [pah PAHN chah], the naturally-occurring tendency of the mind to generate endless thoughts about one’s self.

Joseph Goldstein offers a particularly penetrating in-depth analysis of papanca’s sources. The first is “craving”, the sense of “mine” (my thoughts, my feelings and so on). The second is “conceit,” the felt sense of “I am …” (I am angry, I am patient, etc). The third is “wrong view”, the deeply held belief in an abiding self. These three sources of papanca constantly reinforce our illusory sense of self. 

How to be free of such deeply rooted tendencies? Margaret guided our reflections this week, as we were led by Joseph’s deep focus on the impermanence and non-personal nature of our experience.

Margaret read some potent quotes during the meeting, some of which are reproduced below.

I’m tired of going around, pretending to be me.

– Philip Larkin

All experience is preceded by mind,
Led by mind,
Made by mind.
Speak or act with a corrupted mind,
And suffering follows
As the wagon wheel follows the hoof of the ox.

All experience is preceded by mind,
Led by mind,
Made by mind.
Speak or act with a peaceful mind,
And happiness follows
Like a never-departing shadow.

The Dhammapada as translated by Gil Fronsdal

There was also some very insightful discussion in our group, including,

I’m pretty much just a story that I made up; I’m just a work of fiction, and not a particularly good one at that.

Don S.

The talk Margaret played is part of https://dharmaseed.org/talks/68027/

The preceding talk, https://dharmaseed.org/talks/68004/, is well-worth listening to for those interested in the topic of how the habits of mind reinforce our sense of self.

On this first Sunday in the new year, we reflected on our aspirations. Remember when you first encountered the dharma? What was it that drew you in? What seemed valuable, useful, practical? What was your goal, your aspiration? Has that changed? Has it evolved? Were you looking for something new, something better, something more exciting or satisfying? Did you find it? Did you find something else, something unexpected? Have you come closer with practice? What is your aspiration right now in this moment?

Steve guided our reflections on these questions, and shared a video of Buddhist nun Sister Le Nghiem sharing her deep and discerning personal experience of aspiration in the Dharma.

You can watch the full video here:

We are in the midst of the holidays, with all their joys and frustrations. Coming freshly to this recurring rhythm can allow us to see more deeply into what resonates most profoundly and what drives us most crazy about this time – and perhaps we can find ways to negotiate the holidays more skillfully, for our own benefit and the good of those we care for. This week, Don S. framed our reflections on Negotiating the Holidays, drawing on a talk by Dharma Teacher Brian LeSage given this Fall.

You can listen to Brian’s talk here: https://dharmaseed.org/talks/player/68183.html

Lorilee, who brings to the table a career in medicine as well as years of practice on the cushion and on the mat, asks us to reflect on ways in which we have turned to Buddhist principles to alleviate suffering — in particular, chronic or severe physical or mental pain.  How successful were these at the time? And, looking back, what benefits did they bring or fail to bring over time?

When we suffer, we might ask ourselves: who is suffering? Where is the “I” that is suffering?

This week, Lorilee played excerpts from Sylvia Boorstein and Kittisaro to prompt our group discussion.

Kittisaro’s talk is available here: https://www.dharmaseed.org/talks/player/6452.html

Sylvia’s talk is available here https://dharmaseed.org/talks/3306/