The focus of this talk is how the Four Noble Truths are manifested while applying the lojong mind training aphorisms. Reviewing aphorisms discussed in previous meetings, Peter described how the cultivation of internally stable focus and emotional balance creates the optimal “platform of awareness” for the practice of vipassana. Vipassana, in turn, reveals the physical, emotionally urgent driver of the internal narrative-the “selfing story”-and thi is the first Noble Truth, direct awareness of internal distress and confusion. This practice then reveals the “dreamlike” characteristics of the “selfing” process, distinguishing the difference between the internal narrative and the more fundamental experience of physical sensation, the craving and clinging characteristic of the second Noble Truth. The decrease potency of emotional reactivity provides detachment and relief from the distress and confusion, characteristic of the third Noble Truth, and the fourth Noble Truth, the Eightfold Path, provides the ways and means to accomplish this. This ability to combine clear awareness and benevolent intention fulfills the core teaching of lojong, tonglen, the Tibetan practice of compassion. Here are the notes prepared for the talk: Balancing The Changing Mind
Next week’s discussion will explore the importance of Right Speech in relationships.