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This Sunday Michael guided a meditation on the first Foundation of Mindfulness, Mindfulness of the Body. The practice he shared was from the teachings of Bhikkhu Anālayo, a scholar and meditation teacher from Germany. Anālayo compared the Satipatthana Sutta in three of the original traditions of Buddhism and found which parts are common among them. Perhaps surprisingly, the breath meditation with which Western Theravada is so familiar is not present in all three. What is present, however, is the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.

Adam guided our reflections this past Sunday on the Hindrance of Sloth and Torpor. Laziness is only one facet of this complex Hindrance to our lives, meditative and otherwise.  A dharmic analysis of the causes and conditions of Sloth and Torpor can help us meet this hindrance with more skill and greater effectiveness.

I chose this Hindrance because I have had little practice observing this mindfully. Or so I had thought. Also — I tend toward action, and I thought it might be good for me to see how this Hindrance shows up.

Ajahn Brahmavamso states in the Five Hindrances:

“Sloth and torpor is overcome by rousing energy. Energy is always available but few know how to turn on the switch, as it were. Setting a goal, a reasonable goal, is a wise and effective way to generate energy, as is deliberately developing interest in the task at hand. A young child has a natural interest, and consequent energy, because its world is so new. Thus, if one can learn to look at one’s life, or one’s meditation, with a ‘beginner’s mind’ one can see ever new angles and fresh possibilities which keep one distant from sloth and torpor, alive and energetic. Similarly, one can develop delight in whatever one is doing by training one’s perception to see the beautiful in the ordinary, thereby generating the interest which avoids the half-death that is sloth and torpor. […] Sloth and torpor is a common problem which can creep up and smother one slowly. A skilful meditator keeps a sharp look-out for the first signs of sloth and torpor and is thus able to spot its approach and take evasive action before it’s too late. Like coming to a fork in a road, one can take that mental path leading away from sloth and torpor.”

Other remedies for S & T in addition to mindfulness:

This past Sunday, Mike guided our reflections on the oft-confusing topic of Renunciation in our lay culture.

Mike utilized a talk by Leela Sarti, who is a visiting teacher at Gaia House in England, linked below:
http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/364/talk/31696/

This morning Rebecca read to us from Joseph Goldstein’s book, Mindfulness, focusing on Mindfulness of Dhammas, particularly the concept of “Right” or “Wise” Speech.

The discussion brought up the importance of examining one’s intention when considering the wisdom of saying something critical of another. How tightly do we cling to the idea that we are right, or that the other person is wrong?

One suggestion given by the Buddha was to ask one’s self five questions before speaking:

1. Is what I’m about to say helpful?

2. Is it kind?

3. Is it true?

4. Is it conductive to harmony?

5. Is it spoken at the right time?

 “Monks, a statement endowed with five factors is well-spoken, not ill-spoken. It is blameless & unfaulted by knowledgeable people. Which five?

“It is spoken at the right time. It is spoken in truth. It is spoken affectionately. It is spoken beneficially. It is spoken with a mind of good-will.

“A statement endowed with these five factors is well-spoken, not ill-spoken. It is blameless & unfaulted by knowledgeable people.”

(Source)

This past Sunday Zac guided our reflection on the topic of interdependence. Matthieu Ricard says, “The concept of interdependence lies at the heart of the Buddhist vision of the nature of reality, and has immense implications in Buddhism regarding how we should live our lives.”

Below are some resources which Zac used to focus the discussion.

• Thich Nhat Hanh’s new translation of the heart sutra (here or here)
• The Fullness of Emptiness by Thich Nhat Hanh
•  “THE UNIVERSE IN A GRAIN OF SAND” A CHAPTER EXCERPTED FROM THE QUANTUM AND THE LOTUS The Interdependence and Nonseparability of Phenomena
• Awakening to Dependent Origination

This Sunday Payton led a discussion on the Six Sense Bases (the usual five plus the mind), which Gil Fronsdal calls the “Six Entanglements” based on a different interpretation of the word usually translated as “fetter” into English. The discussion was centered around a talk by Gil linked here:

http://www.audiodharma.org/talks/audio_player/6452.html

The talk invited us to explore the way in which we perceieve objects that contact our senses. When we see a book, we are usually clear that our seeing (the experience of our eye sense) is separate from the thing seen (the book). That separation is less clear when we talk about our thinking (the experience of our mind sense) being separate from our thoughts. Either way, it’s usually not the sensing itself that causes problems, either with the book or the thought, but our “entanglement” with the sense object.

For our initial meditation this past Sunday, we listened to a guided practice by Guy Armstrong in Choiceless Awareness. Joey then offered excerpts from a dharma talk by Ruth King on Sharing and Generosity.

One important question asked by both Joey and Ruth: what keeps us from generosity? When and why do we hold back?

The guided meditation is available here: http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/79/talk/32492/

The talk on Generosity is here: http://www.audiodharma.org/teacher/271/talk/6122/venue/IRC/20151021-Ruth_King-IRC-principles_of_cordiality_sharing_and_generosity.mp3

This past Sunday, Zac led the discussion on the topic of the four Brahmaviharas or “Noble Abodes” of the mind. These four practices are prescribed by the Buddha and can sometimes be described as four types of Love: Loving-Kindness (Metta), Compassion (Karuna), Sympathetic Joy (Mudita), and Equanimity (Upekkha).

Zac emphasized that the traditional mantras used to practice these mind states are not the only way to find them. Here is the talk he played:

Gil Fronsdal: The Brahmaviharas: Introduction: http://www.audiodharma.org/talks/audio_player/5096.html

And here are some texts that go deeper into these teachings:

The Four Sublime States: Contemplations on Love, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy and Equanimity by Nyanaponika Thera http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nyanaponika/wheel006.html

Karaniya Metta Sutta: The Buddha’s Words on Loving-Kindness translated from the Pali by The Amaravati Sangha http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/snp/snp.1.08.amar.html

This past Sunday, Adam guided our reflections on using the dharma in social settings. Adam writes, “While most of us have not lived a monastic life, we all have the opportunity to practice in other social settings that are perhaps not as highly structured. I am interested in how we create opportunities to expand our Buddhist practice in more informal social settings, and how when we do so we naturally have the experience of anatta.”

Here is a talk that Adam played from Joseph Goldstein: http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/96/talk/282/

This Sunday Sam guided the discussion on Mystery, centering our discussion on aspects of the path that defy easy categorization.

Sam began with some quotes, reproduced below, and followed with a recorded talk.

“Nothing is more fruitful – all mathematicians know it – than those obscure analogies, those disturbing reflections of one theory in another; those furtive caresses, those inexplicable discords; nothing also gives more pleasure to the researcher. The day comes when the illusion dissolves; the yoked theories reveal their common source before disappearing. As the Gita teaches, one achieves knowledge and indifference at the same time.” – Andre Weil

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom the emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapped in awe, is as good as dead —his eyes are closed. The insight into the mystery of life, coupled though it be with fear, has also given rise to religion. To know what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms—this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness.” – Albert Einstein

“We need the tonic of wildness…At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.” –Thoreau

“I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of uncertainty about different things, but I am not absolutely sure of anything and there are many things I don’t know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we’re here. I don’t have to know an answer. I don’t feel frightened not knowing things, by being lost in a mysterious universe without any purpose, which is the way it really is as far as I can tell.”
— Richard Feynman

Here is a link to the talk that we listened to, given by Brian Lesage: http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/484/talk/31722/