by Peter Carlson | Sep 22, 2017 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk is a continuation from the posting of September 6 entitled “The Five Aggregates And Emptiness”. This discussion elaborates on a guided meditation, posted separately, that facilitates how to use body sweep meditation to cultivate a primary, holistic awareness of body sensations to “starve” the selfing process of attention and opening to the awareness of sunnata (shoon-yah-tah) during meditation practice. The intention of this practice is to reveal the essential “emptiness” of the internal narrative that constitutes the primary misperception of an enduring and autonomous “self” and realize the fullness of whole body awareness. As this awareness is perfected, all subjectively derived boundaries are diminished between embodied experience and the all-encompassing nature of sensory reality, including sounds, odors, flavors as well as body sensations, leaving and all-inclusive, universal experience that is stable and serene. This awareness, when sufficiently cultivated, creates the circumstances the facilitate realizing nirvana, unconditioned reality.
Here are the notes prepared for this discussion: Emptiness And Fullness
The guided meditation entitled “Emptiness And Fullness Meditation” will be posted separately.
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by Peter Carlson | Sep 7, 2017 | Listen to Dharma Talks
The concept of emptiness (sunnata in Pali) is a core aspect of the Buddhist Awakening process. This is the first of two discussions of emptiness, with the focus on how the operation of the Five Aggregates, Form, Feeling, Perception, Mental Formations and Consciousness creates the false belief in a separate, enduring and autonomous self. Each of the aggregates is described, with the emphasis on how craving and clinging affect mental formations and consciousness, creating what the Buddha called “The tyranny of I, Me and Mine”. The ability to use mindful investigation with the underpinning of understanding the operation of the Five Aggregates to see through the illusory self was explained. Emptiness is the creativity that is available when a person deconstructs the process of craving and clinging.
This was followed by a lengthy and lively discussion of the evening’s topic.
Here are the notes prepared for this discussion: Emptiness And The Five Aggregates
Next week’s discussion will be organized around exploring how deepening one’s meditation practice provides a different way to recognize the reality of emptiness and benefits that can be realized from consistent daily meditation.
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by Peter Carlson | Aug 31, 2017 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk summarizes the process of perfecting those qualities of mind called Paramis. During the talk, Peter reviewed the sambojjhanga, the seven awakening factors to describe how their increasing effectiveness overcomes any deficits in the functioning of the Paramis.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: COORDINATING THE PARAMIS
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by Peter Carlson | Aug 24, 2017 | Listen to Dharma Talks
As is customary, this talk reviewed the weekend retreat at the Franciscan Center in Tampa. It is beneficial to “think out loud” about one’s retreat experience among folks who may have participated in a retreat or may contemplate going on retreat. The verbalizing process draws memories from the retreat experience to other parts of the brain’s function, integrating the insights and making them more accessible during daily life routines. During the talk, Peter reviewed extensively the benefits of combining and integrating mindfulness of breathing with intentional scanning through more and more subtle manifestations of sensations throughout the body. He reported how the intentionally increasing practice of sensory investigation stabilizes attention, deepens insights, and provides a more effective way to interrupt internal narratives.
There are guided meditations recorded by Peter on week-long retreats posted on the “audio” page of the OIMG website, labeled “Body Sweep” or “Body Scan”, for supporting this practice.
Next week’s talk will be an integrative review of the Paramis, those wholesome mental qualities that are perfected during the process of awakening.
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by Peter Carlson | Aug 17, 2017 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk explores the 10th Parami, upekkha, typically translated as equanimity, or neutrality. Peter describes an additional Buddhist term that applies to this Parami, tatramajjhattata, typically translated as “that quality of mind that is balanced in the middle“. The cultivation and perfection of equanimity is a crucial aspect for the process of awakening (it is one of the seven factors for awakening, and one of the four Divine Abidings, along with lovingkindness, compassion and sympathetic joy, as it represents the optimal balance of energy (not too much–agitation, or too little, sloth and torpor) and attention (not too attached, or too distracted), which must be dynamically managed with mindful investigation and the ability to redirect attention skillfully. This explanation of the balancing process that produces equanimity was followed by lively discussion among the participants about how the concepts can be realized through practice.
Here are the notes prepared for this discussion, including a graph representing the balancing elements: The Benefits Of Perfecting Equanimity
There will be further discussion of the Paramis focused on how they interact dynamically in ways the promote the process of awakening during a future talk.
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