by Peter Carlson | Jun 8, 2018 | Listen to Dharma Talks
The talk explored the Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, with specific emphasis on being mindful of what triggers sense desire, how it operates in the brain and what can be done to overcome this hindrance to mental clarity and tranquility.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Overcoming Sense Desire
Next week’s talk will be given by Robert Lockridge from the Orlando Zen Center. Upon returning, Peter will continue exploring overcoming the hindrances, focusing on aversion and ill-will.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:03:18 — 115.9MB)
by Peter Carlson | May 31, 2018 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This is the first of a series of talks about panca nivarana, the five hindrances described in the Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness. In this talk, Peter described how an initial stimulus is transformed into a hindrance through craving and clinging. A “seed moment” of stimulation is dynamically organized into a selfing process that hinders the creativity and adaptive capabilities of the mind. He described how the panca indriya, the five faculties of Buddhist psychology, provide a an influence that counters the hindrances. This was followed by discussion of how these concepts are realized through the practice of mindfulness of breathing meditation.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: THE FIVE HINDRANCES
The topic for next week’s discussion is the hindrance of sensual desire.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:16 — 108.5MB)
by Peter Carlson | May 24, 2018 | Listen to Dharma Talks
The Third Foundation Of Mindfuilness is Cittanupassana, Mindfulness Of The Mind. During this talk, Peter explained how the traditional understandings of cittanupassana foster the process of Awakening. The mind is the receptive characteristic of human experience, and the “tone” of the mind can be affected by various conditions such as desire or aversion. The cultivation of mindfulness clarifies the reflective quality of awareness in ways that provide greater stress resilience and sets the conditions for the practice of vipassana, the function of which is to reveal directly the three characteristics of human reality: impermanence, the absence of an enduring and autonomous self and the distress and confusion that comes about due to craving and clinging. The participants in the meeting then discussed how they understand the nature and function of cittanupassana.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: THE NATURE OF THE MIND
Next week’s talk will begin the exploration of the Fourth Foundation Of Mindfulness, Dhammanupassana.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:02:01 — 113.6MB)
by Peter Carlson | May 17, 2018 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk is meant to follow up on the post of May 9 entitled Understanding Feelings, which explained the function of feelings, particularly affect, the potency of whatever draws one’s attention to a particular focus. A core teaching of Buddhism is paticca samuppada, traditionally translated as dependent origination. Peter described an alternative understanding of this process, contingent provisional emergence. This process helps understand the crucial role that mindfulness of feelings plays in the process of self organization as a key element in the formation of karma. This description was elaborate and in-depth, and was followed by considerable dialogue for clarifying the concept and suggesting various ways to make best use of it in furthering the process of Awakening.
Here are the extensive notes prepared for this talk: Contingent Provisional Emergence
Next week’s talk will explore the Third Foundation of Mindfulness, Cittanupassana, Mindfulness of the Mind.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:07:09 — 123.0MB)
by Peter Carlson | May 10, 2018 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk focuses on the Second of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, Vedanupassana, Mindfulness of Feelings. The Buddhist view of feelings isn’t just about emotions; more emphasis is placed on affect, the potency or impulsive urgency associated with any moment of experience. When unskillfully managed and conditioned by clinging, affect manifests as craving, that is, for pleasant experience to arise and continue or for unpleasant feeling to be avoided or gotten rid of. Peter described some of the important neural brain structures associated with affect and cognition, emphasizing that affect is the “driver” of cognition, as suggested by traditional Buddhist doctrine and current neuroscientific research. This makes mindfulness of feelings a crucial skill to develop, that is, to perceive feelings as just mental phenomena, not a self, not “my feelings”. Modern research demonstrates that mindfulness of breathing meditation develops areas of the brain that function to regulate the degree of reactivity to affect, thereby interrupting craving and clinging.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Understanding Feelings
Next week’s talk will focus on a review of paticca samuppada, dependent origination, a key concept of Buddhism describing how the selfing process operates and demonstrating the crucial role mindfulness of feelings plays in the process of Awakening. Peter will explain a different view of this concept that he calls contingent provisional emergence, which combines traditional Buddhist views with a contemporary complexity theory of personality organization.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:02:24 — 114.3MB)
