Dharma practice is medicine for the mind -- something particularly needed in a culture like ours that actively creates mental illness in training us to be busy producers and avid consumers. As individuals, we become healthier through our Dharma practice, which in turn helps bring sanity to our society at large.
Giving dharma talks offers me the opportunity to express gratitude for my Thai teachers -- Ajahn Fuang Jotiko and Ajahn Suwat Suvaco -- in appreciation of the many years they spent training me, which came with the understanding that the teachings continue past me. Giving dharma talks also pushes me to articulate what I haven''t yet verbalized to myself in English. This in turn enriches my own practice. When you help a wide variety of people deal with their issues, it helps you practice with yours.
When giving a talk, I try to remain true to three things: my training, my study of the early Buddhist texts, and the needs of my listeners. The challenge is to find the point where all three meet -- not as a compromise, but in their genuine integrity.
For this, I play with analogy. Meditation is a skill, and our meeting point as people, whatever our culture, lies in our experience in mastering skills: how to sew clothes, cook a meal, or build a shelter. So I've found that one of the most effective ways of explaining subtle points in meditation is to find analogies with more mundane skills. Through the language of analogy we find common ground from which our practice can grow to meet our individual needs, and yet remain true to its universal roots.
Rather than burdening our over-worked minds with yet another job ' meditation ' staying with the breath is a way to strip away our mental burdens and give the mind a solid, safe place to stand amidst our chaotic lives.
A lot of our preconceived notions come out of ignorance, so it’s important to clear away as many unnecessary expectations as possible when you meditate. Just stay with the breath as it comes in and out. That’s all you have to know.
The skills you learn in meditation don't fall off your lap when you get off the cushion. You learn to be steadier, more precise and sensitive, and you can take those skills to use in the rest of your life -- where they show their true worth.
The suffering that arises in the practice is a noble truth, something worthy of respect. You can’t just push it away. If you’re going to end suffering you have to give it space, understand it, and approach it systematically.
Instead of trying to find our happiness in a world of change, we take that changing world and turn it toward the changeless, look for that which is unchanging right here, right now.
The suffering that arises in the practice is a noble truth, something worthy of respect. You can’t just push it away. If you’re going to end suffering you have to give it space, understand it, and approach it systematically.
The suffering that arises in the practice is a noble truth, something worthy of respect. You can’t just push it away. If you’re going to end suffering you have to give it space, understand it, and approach it systematically.
Instead of trying to find our happiness in a world of change, we take that changing world and turn it toward the changeless, look for that which is unchanging right here, right now.
View anger in terms of its karmic consequences. This depersonalizes the anger, allowing you to step back from it and divide it into its component parts -- each of which is more manageable when taken on its own.
The fires of passion, aversion and delusion can be ignited by the slightest spark. That's why restraint in our thoughts, words and deeds is so important in the practice.
Whole worlds (other times, other places) blow through our bodies and minds in the present. If we can maintain our frame of reference consistently and not be carried off, we'll gain independence from the craving that gives force to these worlds in the here and now.
If we're honest with ourselves we begin to see how much we've been deluding ourselves, how much suffering we've been creating for ourselves by chasing after the very ephemeral taste of pleasure.
RESPECT FOR SUFFERING
The suffering that arises in the practice is a noble truth, something worthy of respect. You can’t just push it away. If you’re going to end suffering you have to give it space, understand it, and approach it systematically.
INTERCONNECTEDNESS
Interconnectedness is not always pretty. It means that our bad actions can have endless repercussions, and that our happiness is dependent on a very fragile web. But by becoming more skillful in our actions we can turn the principle of interconnectedness into a good thing: a path to a happiness that’s truly independent.
BEING STILL
The quieter you are, the more you see. Being quiet is a form of doing, and sometimes it’s the most skillful thing you can do: You learn perspective and sensitivity, and you position yourself in the best spot to recognize insight when it arises.
THE WORLD IS SWEPT AWAY
Instead of trying to find our happiness in a world of change, we take that changing world and turn it toward the changeless, look for that which is unchanging right here, right now.
THE THREE CHARACTERISTICS
The teaching on the Three Characteristics is meant to liberate the mind from unnecessary burdens. The normal mind shadows everything that happens, but as you bring the mind to every more subtle levels of stillness and ease, you can detect ever more subtle levels of inconstancy and stress, and so naturally let them go.
FIVE TALKS ON ONE CASSETTE OR CD
