This talk advances a developing theme for this year: How to cultivate a dhamma practice that is relevant to the core of the Buddha’s teachings that is adaptive to our 21st century culture. As Buddhism has evolved through the ages, each time it enters a culture, the terms and concepts have been affected by the culture it enters. For example, the changes induced as Buddhist teachings entered China, influenced by Confucianism and Taoism, becoming Chan, then being further modified into Zen in the Korean and Japanese cultures. We have an obligation to the liberating values of Buddhist principles and practices in mastering what has been given to us, then adapting it to our times, without losing the precious core of the teachings.
Third Noble Truth
In this talk, the neurological underpinnings of the Second Noble Truth, tanha (craving) and upadana (clinging) were explored to emphasize the importance of being clearly and immediately aware of the felt sense of urgency and the “enchantment” of internal narrative experience. This clarity is crucial for setting the conditions for the realization of the Third Noble Truth, through the action of the Noble Eightfold Path. In this as well as future discussions, the relevance to current cultural and economic crises is established, with an encouragement to find a “Middle Way” between consumerism and ideological purity and material denial and skeptical withdrawal from society. How can we as a spiritual community support each other in finding this Middle Way?
