TOPIC FOR THE JANUARY 19, 2022 ZOOM
WE HAVE RESUMED MEETING IN OUR MEDITATION HALL AT 1818 CARRIGAN AVENUE, IN WINTER PARK!! PLEASE WEAR A MASK WHILE IN THE BUILDING, WHICH WILL HAVE OPEN WINDOWS AND ADEQUATE AIR CIRCULATION.
For those who haven’t been to the site, the house is the only one on the block with a sheet metal roof. Park on the street or in the driveway—please be considerate of the neighbor’s property. Prior to the pandemic, we have met there without complaint from the neighbors. Walk to the left of the garage and through the gate in the chain link fence; the cottage in the back yard is where we meet.
We will meditate in silence from 7 to 7:45, then, after a break, the Dharma talk will begin. I will make every effort to Zoom the meeting, but there may be some technical glitches during the process, and the meeting will be recorded and posted as usual.
There will be a small box near the front door for dana, the practice of donating to the teacher out of gratitude for the teaching. The contribution is not required, and the money will be used to maintain the building and pay for the Zoom subscription. There is a lending library of Dharma related books in the cottage that operates on a trust basis.
As I understand how Zoom works, you must preregister at the site Zoom.us, entering the URL : https://us04web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUuf-2srDMtnERzureO8f2K4iQeRCf-dQ and using the password 620329 in order to participate in the events; registering one time will provide access to all the upcoming meetings, as long as we continue streaming them. The meeting can be accessed by smartphone as well as any internet-connected computer system, following the instructions at the Zoom website. The meetings will be recorded and posted on the website as usual.
After the silent meditation, the presentation on January 19 will follow up on the meeting of January 12, review one of the four Brahma Viharas, translated as the Divine Abidings, with a specific focus on Equanimity. I will talk about the importance of skillfully managing empathy and how important it is to be mindful, investigative and disciplined regarding relations with self-experience and others. Focusing on cultivating Equanimity prepares the mind for managing the practice of the other three factors, Lovingkindness, Compassion and Sympathetic Joy. I hope you will participate in-person or through streaming the meeting, and I wish you well. Peter
Balancing Lovingkindness, Compassion and Sympathetic Joy With Equanimity
This is the second of a series of talks reviewing the Divine Abidings, with emphasis on understanding the characteristics of Equanimity as a balancing factor, to avoid what are called the Far Enemy and Near Enemy of the four factors. The talk also includes suggestions for cultivating the factors of Mindfulness, Investigation of Mind Conditioning Factors and Energy/Right Effort to support the functioning of Equanimity.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Balancing Lovingkindness Compassion and Sympathetic Joy
The topic for the next talk in the series will be a review of Lovingkindness, the primary focus in the cultivation of the Divine Abidings.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:57 — 53.1MB)