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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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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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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This week’s talk continues the exploration of the Paramis, the perfecting of mental characteristics during the process of awakening, focusing on Metta, lovingkindness. This week’s presenter is Mike Maldonado, who has participated in a two week lovingkindness retreat and made a significant effort to research this topic. Mike began by describing the characteristics of metta, which emphasize the benefits of a quality of loving friendliness towards all beings. He reviewed the classical definitions of the practice of metta and facilitated a lively discussion of how one might cultivate lovingkindness on a daily basis.
Here are the notes Mike prepared for this talk: The Benefits Of Perfecting Lovingkindness
Next week’s talk will focus on the Parami of Equanimity
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As is our custom, one of the sangha members, Brian Tamm, talked about two recent retreat experiences: a 10 day retreat in the manner taught be S. N. Goenka, followed by a weekend retreat in the Korean Zen tradition. He described the daily practice schedules followed during the first retreat, emphasizing the technical teachings of what Goenka called “vedanupassana”, mindfulness of feelings, the second of the four foundations of mindfulness. The retreat provided several days of intensive focus of attention on the sensation of breathing at the rim of the nostrils or the upper lip to cultivate a stability of concentration, followed by several days of repeatedly, systematically moving investigative attention from one small area of focus to another over the entire surface of the body. The goal of the practice is to develop the ability to focus on subtle vibrations that occur naturally throughout the body, eventually with the ability to notice the vibrations wholly throughout the body. This practice cultivates one of the seven awakening factors, investigation of mental phenomena. The intention of the practice is to notice the impermanence of experience along with the changing nature of self-state organizations that occur within the context of bodily experience; this practice is called vipassana, or insight into the impermanent nature of reality, dissolving the illusion of a separate, enduring self. The Zen retreat was more formal and ritualized in practice, with emphasis placed on the shared experience of the participants, combined with in-depth contemplation of kong-ons (koans) to further insight into the impersonal nature of reality.
Next week’s discussion will involve a presentation on lovingkindness as a Parami, that is, a quality of intention that is perfected during the process of awakening. The talk will be presented by Mike Maldonado.
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