Category: Uncategorized

This past Sunday, Rebecca guided our reflections keyed to the final chapter in Joseph Goldstein’s book on the Satipatthana Sutta (the book is here): “The Realization of Nibbana,”

Today Payton played a talk by Gil Fronsdal entitled “Response to Election” which focused largely on the role of mindful practice in times of great fear and anger. Gil spoke on the importance of love during these times. He listed what he called the four kinds of love emphasized in Buddhist teachings (which are in fact the Brahma-viharas ): loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity.

The group discussion then centered around how we must remaing aware of all the events going on around us, no matter how small, in the wake of the Election results, and take action to keep our deepest values alive even when there may be risk to ourselves. That action, however, should be rooted in kindness rather than fear.

Gil’s talk is available here: http://www.audiodharma.org/talks/audio_player/7270.html

Another talk he gave just after the election is available here, in which Gil describes the image of a lighthouse to light the way while remaining stable even in great storms: http://www.audiodharma.org/talks/audio_player/7252.html

This Sunday Sam played a talk by Christina Feldman entitled “Wisdom of Disappointment”. In this talk, Christina maintains that not only does everyone experience disappointment but that also that the path to liberation begins with disappointment.

The talk is available on Dharmaseed here:

http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/44/talk/168/

This past Sunday, Mike guided our reflections on the topic “many Kinds of Happiness”, featuring clips from Andrea Fella and Annie Nugent.  It is important to remember that the Buddha established his path as a way of achieving Happiness, and bringing suffering to an end.

Mike included portions of three talks, two from Andrea Fella (http://audiodharma.org/talks/audio_player/7081.html and http://audiodharma.org/talks/audio_player/7127.html)  and one by Annie Nugent (http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/25/talk/36431/)

On Sunday, Adam guided a discussion on Sickness as practice. Here are his notes from the presentation.

Using illness constructively in our practice can be a challenge. I didn’t realize how easy it was to simply try and “get rid of” my own sickness until only a few days ago. I had been struggling (and I do mean “struggling”) with a cold and it occurred to me (for the first time while actually being sick) that being in a state of illness need not entail the suffering that seemed to come along with it. For our Sangha Sunday, I’d like to present some dharma talks for contemplation and discussion as a way to enrich our lives as we move headlong into cold- and flu-season.

Sally Clough Armstrong talk (http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/153/talk/25145/)

2:20-4:01       buddha afraid of old age sickness and death 
25:41 -33:23    on sickness 

Skye Dawson talk (http://dharmaseed.org/talks/audio_player/199/19411.html)

1:36-3:51   what the Buddha wanted for us....skillfulness
16:17-29:25 aging and loss of health 

Talking points:

*using the vedanas (feeling tones) to observe sickness and pain as sensation that comes and goes
* observing the body’s automatic responses and our conditioning to illness (sniffling, throat-clearing, coughing)
* sickness as practice for death

This past Sunday, Zac led the dharma reflection on the practice of noting (also called mental noting or labeling) as it’s taught in the Mahasi Sayadaw tradition.

Here are some resources from the discussion:

The Insight Revolution By Erik Braun | Lion’s Roar | November 12, 2013 http://www.lionsroar.com/the-insight-revolution/

Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha by Daniel Ingram, p. 39 – 40
https://burlingtonbuddhist.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/73e54-1347785055665.pdf

Definition of Momentary Concentration:
the meditator does not deliberately attempt to exclude the multiplicity of phenomena from his field of attention. Instead, he simply directs mindfulness to the changing states of mind and body, noting any phenomenon that presents itself; the task is to maintain a continuous awareness of whatever enters the range of perception, clinging to nothing. As he goes on with his noting, concentration becomes stronger moment after moment until it becomes established one-pointedly on the constantly changing stream of events. Despite the change in the object, the mental unification remains steady, and in time acquires a force capable of suppressing the hindrances to a degree equal to that of access concentration. This fluid, mobile concentration is developed by the practice of the four foundations of mindfulness, taken up along the path of insight; when sufficiently strong it issues in the breakthrough to the last stage of the path, the arising of wisdom. (http://www.vipassana.com/resources/8fp7.php)

Morning Reflection – The Technique of Labeling | Brian Lesage 2016-10-17
Insight Meditation Society – Retreat Center: Three-Month Part 1
http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/484/talk/37645/

This Sunday Joey led a discussion on the process of recognizing and accepting what’s going on in our minds and hearts. A central theme was the practice of RAIN, described by Tara Brach here. There are different interpretations for the acronym, but the one we commonly see is this:

• R – Recognize what is happening
• A – Allow life to be just as it is
• I – Investigate inner experience with kindness
• N – Non-Identification.

The sangha’s discussion was based around a talk by Tara Brach, available here:

Seeking What’s True – Within Ourselves, Beyond Our Self, With Each Other – (Part 1 of 3)

This Sunday Payton led a sitting and discussion around the topic of clinging as outlined by Gil Fronsdal in this talk:

http://www.audiodharma.org/talks/audio_player/6973.html

In the talk Gil quoted the usual translation of the Platform Sutra in which the Buddha is recorded as having said. “Wisdom and Meditation are the same”. However, Gil notes, the character used for “wisdom” is actually “kindness”, so it says “kindness and meditation are the same”. This is likely a clerical error at some point in the long history of Buddhism, but which was the original? Perhaps we should draw our own conclusions.

Gil listed the four forms of clinging:

• Clinging to sensual pleasure
• Clinging to views and opinions
• Clinging to the idea of self
• Clinging to religious practices

He then goes on to say that the secret of Buddhism is really that, “it actually feels better to let go of clinging than to get what you want”.

The talk ends with an admonition to look for clinging, or for one of the Five Hinderances, whenever we notice a lack of kindness toward ourselves or others.

This Sunday Joey played a talk by Guy Armstrong entitled “Patterns of Becoming: The end of Karma”.

From the talk description: “The fifth and last in a series of talks discusses the troublesome patterns of mind and volitional action that we identify as self, and how we can step out of them with the tools of dharma practice. The Buddha said that one who is fully awake has found an end to karma, and end to compulsive formations.”

The talk is here:

http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/79/talk/15559/