Rebecca tuided our reflections, using material from Donald Rothberg, “Self and Not Self, The Core Teachings of the Buddha”
You can access a dharma talk on this topic by Rothberg at
http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/55/talk/16969/
And he also offers a 20+minute guided meditation on the Self and Non-Self at
http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/55/talk/16968/
Sam guided our reflections today, using a recent retreat talk (July 20) by Christina Feldman, on Effort and Effortlessness, which you can listen to or review at
Margaret guided our reflections this week, using parts of a July 16 talk by Christina Feldman on “Joy.” That talk can be found at
Michael turned the group’s attention to the question of questioning itself – the questions we are constantly asking ourselves, for better or worse – initiating the discussion with the first 15 minutes of Gil Fronsdal’s talk on “The Inquiring Mind.” Our own discusion took it from there, but if you’d like to hear what Gil’s sangha had to say about the questions they carried, there’s another half hour on this recording of Gil’s talk from July 9, 2012.
In addition to leading us in half an hour of yoga on the deck before sitting, Nancy focused our attention on the question of equanimity and faith, using a talk of that title by Sharon Salzberg from January 13, 2010.
On July 8, Joey focused our attention on the quality of confidence in our practice, utilizing a dharma talk by Tara Brach titled “The Lion’s Roar” from May 2012.
Today, Anne focuses our attention on the relation between the sense of having time, and the arising of the attitude of kindness. Gil Fronsdal’s talk is titled “The Paramis: Patience” and can be found at
This Sunday, Michael played portions of a talk by John Peacock, on Papanca, the tendency of the mind to proliferate apparently random thoughts, and the practice of Metta meditation, and ways in which that might serve to tame the very basis of Papanca.
The complete talk is titled Papanca Part Three: The Brahma Viharas, was delivered on Muly 8 2011, and can be found at
http://dharmaseed.org/talks/?search=papanca&sort=-rec_date
The Metta Sutta, which John quoted and entered into our discussion can be found at
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/snp/snp.1.08.than.html
Sam brought a talk by John Peacock on anatta, often translated non-self, which cast a backward glance toward the five aggregates, exploring how none of them constitute a self, and how clinging to identification with any of them leads to distress. Peackock’s talk, given on July 6, 2011, is the second of three relating to Papanca, random mental proliferations, and is titled “Papanca Part Two: The Tyranny of the Self,” and can be found on dharmaseed.com.
http://www.dharmaseed.org/teacher/91/talk/13519/
The third of his talks will be our subject for next Sunday.
Our day-long retreat was structured around experiencing the five aggregates, and included yoga and sensory awareness, as well as two reflections/meditations on the aggregates
Pascal Auclair Morning Instructions – Five Aggregates 2012 – 01/04
http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/198/
and Myoshin Kelley Guided Meditation on the Five Aggregates 2007 – 10/12
http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/130/?page=7
Information about the practice of Sensory Awareness can be found at
