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Jackie brought our focus to the fourth Brahma Vihara, Equanimity, centering on a talk titled “Equanimity – Meeting in the Middle, by Joseph Goldstein, from April 2012, at the Forest Refuge.

http://dharmaseed.org/talks/audio_player/96/15863.html

As with all the Brahma Viharas, the meditative practice which fosters equanimity often makes use of the heartfelt iteration of traditional phrases.  Here are phrases for the cultivation of equanimity, should you wish to explore them.

To explore further dimensions of concentration, Michael used a part of a talk by Joseph Goldstein as well as extracts from Henapola Gunaratana’s book on the jhanas, “Beyond Mindfulness in Plain English.”  Joseph’s talk is one of a series of 46 that he gave over the years, methodically going through the Satipatthana Sutta, the basic text on mindfulness (all of which can be found at <dharmaseed.org>.  We listened to minutes 14:26 – 44:37.

Concentration II – from Factors of Awakening, Joseph Goldstein

http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/96/talk/3552/

Joey brought ou focus to concentration this week with and excerpt from a talk by Guy Armstrong, who has a number of talks on concentration available at <dharmaseed.org>.

Awakening concentration – Guy Armstrong

http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/79/talk/2434/

Nancy focused our practice with a guided meditation on “Big Mind”.  Joseph Goldstein once described this as a meditation with a Tibetan Buddhist style, a Zen name, developed and most often taught by Vipassana teachers.    There are many versions by many teachers available to stream or download at <dharmaseed.org>

Here is the link to one by Joseph.  Click the title or paste in the link below

Big mind

http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/96/talk/4213/

Michael hosted a discussion on opportunities and frameworks for enhancing our daily practice of the Eightfold Path, centering on an excerpt from a dharma talk titled “Crossing the Flood” by Andrea Fella.  We listened from minute  1:16 through minute 20:14.  The entire talk can be found at

http://dharmaseed.org/talks/?search=crossing+the+flood&sort=-rec_date

Margaret framed our reflections on Mindfulness with some telling quotations, and then played a recorded dharma talk.

Here are the framing quotations:

“Mindfulness is that quality of attention which notices without choosing, without preference; it is choiceless awareness that, like the sun, shines on all things equally.” –p.23, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom: the Path of  Insight and Meditation; Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield, Shambhala, 2001.)

“In essence it is being in the here and now.  But there is more to it than that. . . Right mindfulness leads to insight, leads to letting go, leads to disidentification. . . Mindfulness has to be combined with clear comprehension to achieve “right mindfulness”.–Sally Clough Armstrong quoted from a talk titled “What is Mindfulness”?  given at the Insight Meditation Retreat, Spirit Rock Meditation Center 2012-02-02

We then listened to most of talk by Christina Feldman – here is the link (we listened from about the 26 minute mark):

http://www.dharmaseed.org/teacher/44/talk/10813/

Christina Feldman reads the poem “Mindful” by Mary Oliver, near the beginning of the talk – but if you want another link to it:

http://mindfulheart.blogspot.com/2009/03/mindful-by-mary-oliver.html

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Currently we are posting titles and links for Sundays, working backward from the present.  Thanks for your patience.

Metta.

Michael focused the discussion on observing when we were on or off the Eightfold Path, anchored in portions of a talk by Gil Fronsdal on Right Speech (from 0:46 to 9:52)

http://www.audiodharma.org/talks/audio_player/977.html

and an excerpt from Jon Kabat Zinn’s Coming to Our Senses, page 248:

Each moment of now is what we could call a branch point. We do not know what will happen next.  The present moment is pregnant with possibility and potential.  We are mindful now, no matter what we are doing or saying or working on or experiencing, the next moment is influenced by our presence of mind, and that is different from how it would have been had we not been paying attention, had we been caught up in some whirlpool or other within the mind or body or outer landscape.  So, if we wish to take care of the future, that, when we get there, will also be now, the only way we can do that is to take care of this future of all past moments and efforts, namely the present.  The only way we can do that is to recognize each moment as a branch point and realize that it makes all the difference in how the world, your world, and your one wild and precious life, will unfold.  We take care of the future best by taking care of the present now.

Anne led the sangha in reflections on Wise Intention, using as an anchor portions of a dharma talk by James Baraz

http://www.dharmaseed.org/teacher/86/talk/562/