As a monk, I bring a strong commitment, along with the renunciate flavor, to the classic Buddhist teachings. I play with ideas, with humor and a current way of expressing the teachings, but I don't dilute them.
Sitting in a field of fifty to eighty people really starts my mind sparking. Since I don't prepare my talks ahead of time, I find myself listening to what I'm saying along with everyone else. This leaves a lot of room for the Dhamma to come up. Just having eighty people listening to me is enough to engage me, stimulate me, and create a nice flow of energy. The actual process of teaching evokes ideas that even I did not realize were being held somewhere in my mind.
Different teaching situations offer their own unique value. In retreat, you are able to build a cohesive and comprehensive body of the teachings. When people are not on retreat and come for one session, it opens a different window. They are more spontaneous and I'm given the chance to contact them in ways that are closer to their "daily-life mind." This brings up surprises and interesting opportunities for me to learn even more.
I'm continually struck by how important it is to establish a foundation of morality, commitment, and a sense of personal values for the Vipassana teachings to rest upon. Personal values have to be more than ideas. They have to actually work for us, to be genuinely felt in our lives. We can't bluff our way into insight. The investigative path is an intimate experience that empowers our individuality in a way that is not egocentric. Vipassana encourages transpersonal individuality rather than ego enhancement. It allow for a spacious authenticity to replace a defended personality.
We can use pūjā and chanting as a means for connecting with the heart in a meaningful way, to recollect values in a slowed down process of mind: What am I rising up to? Inclining towards? What’s important for me? The Buddhist convention is to recollect the Triple Gem – drop below personhood to something more fundamental and universal.
Rather than rely on a system, cultivate an attitude towards practice. Systems have uses, but can eventually curtail what we’re trying to drop into. Part of the theme of this retreat is about recognizing some of the stressful systems that get built into our minds around speed and progress – and awakening out of them. [24:06 Begin Guided Meditation] Establishing Ground and Space through Breathing: We can use the body as a channel to settle the mind. Use the out-breath to ground, use the in-breath to lift. These two together give you a form with a distinct foundation and uprightness to it.
Feeling stressed or overwhelmed? The Buddha’s Dhamma gives us a way to develop the inner strength and space to meet what arises in our lives. The weekend will offer ways to cultivate the ‘inner authority’ of the five indriya, and the capacity to bring forth good will. It will require commitment to a weekend schedule of sitting and standing in meditation, with extended periods of silence.
Feeling stressed or overwhelmed? The Buddha’s Dhamma gives us a way to develop the inner strength and space to meet what arises in our lives. The weekend will offer ways to cultivate the ‘inner authority’ of the five indriya, and the capacity to bring forth good will. It will require commitment to a weekend schedule of sitting and standing in meditation, with extended periods of silence.
Feeling stressed or overwhelmed? The Buddha’s Dhamma gives us a way to develop the inner strength and space to meet what arises in our lives. The weekend will offer ways to cultivate the ‘inner authority’ of the five indriya, and the capacity to bring forth good will. It will require commitment to a weekend schedule of sitting and standing in meditation, with extended periods of silence.
Feeling stressed or overwhelmed? The Buddha’s Dhamma gives us a way to develop the inner strength and space to meet what arises in our lives. The weekend will offer ways to cultivate the ‘inner authority’ of the five indriya, and the capacity to bring forth good will. It will require commitment to a weekend schedule of sitting and standing in meditation, with extended periods of silence.
The Buddha’s Dhamma gives us a way to develop the inner strength and space to meet what arises in our lives. The weekend will offer ways to cultivate the ‘inner authority’ of the five indriya, and the capacity to bring forth good will. It will require commitment to a weekend schedule of sitting and standing in meditation, with extended periods of silence.
