by Peter Carlson | Jul 16, 2015 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk introduces a new topic, the Tibetan Buddhist Lojong trainings. These trainings were developed around the year 1,000 C.E. to support integrating Buddhist principles and practices into daily life routines. The core of Buddhist teaching is compassion, that is, the path leading to liberation from distress. This core practice is integrated into Lojong through Tonglen, which is a Tibetan compassion meditation. The most famous contemporary representative of the benefits of Lojong is Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama.
The talk provides an overview of the training; over the next several weeks, different training points will be explored. Peter’s approach to this training is an attempt to make the archaic nature of the training aphorisms more understandable for contemporary American meditation students.
The notes prepared for this talk will be posted after this posting.
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by Peter Carlson | Jul 9, 2015 | Intro to Buddhism & Meditation
Here are the notes prepared by Peter for the just posted .mp3 recording of the dhamma dialogue: A BUDDHIST VIEW OF SHAME
by Peter Carlson | Jul 9, 2015 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk is a continuation of a series of explorations of the psychological value of healthy relationships, from the perspective of psychotherapy and Buddhist mindfulness and lovingkindness practices. When a parent’s interactions with a young child are lacking sufficient clarity, consistency and kindness, the child’s personality development is adversely affected, leading to what has been called a “shame based personality”–defensive, reactive and emotionally isolated. The principles and practices of the Noble Eightfold Path were reviewed as ways and means for resolving internalized shame, providing forgiveness for oneself and promoting compassion for others.
The notes prepared for this presentation and discussion will be posted immediately after this posting.
Next week will begin discussion of Peter’s revisitation of lojong, the Tibetan Buddhist “Seven Point Mind Training”, with the intention to present the medieval Buddhist teachings in ways that are understandable and useful for modern American Buddhist practices.
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by Peter Carlson | Jul 2, 2015 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this talk, Peter combined insights from contemporary research on the importance of relationship quality during early childhood for cultivating an integrated sense of personality, and how this relates to the Buddhist concept of no-self, that is, the absence of an autonomous ego. Cultivating secure relationship bonds is an essential part of spiritual practice; this is why the Buddha said “Sangha (spiritual relationship) is the whole of the holy life”.
Next week’s discussion will explore how unwholesome shame, guilt and misperceptions leading to isolation are both obstacles to spiritual growth and opportunities to realize awakening.
The notes prepared for this talk will be posted right after this posting.
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by Peter Carlson | Jun 25, 2015 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this talk, Peter described the characteristics of addiction, emphasizing the similarities between the functions of addictive behavior beyond substance abuse and the Buddhist realization of the power of craving and clinging to produce suffering. A graphic illustration was provided to describe the onset of stress and the effects of stress, compared to the onset of an addictive behavior and the distracting or emotional effects of the behavior. This linking represents craving and clinging, and the application of the Four Noble Truths were described as a way to reduce and eventually eliminate the need for addictive behavior. The key factor in this process is to focus on the feeling of stress, disregarding the narrative that comes with it, prior to the activation of the addictive behavior.
The next posting will include the notes prepared for this talk, including the draft showing the link between the experience of stress and the experience of mood altering behaviors.
Next week’s talk will focus on how Buddhist practices can enhance the quality of relationships across the range of casual, momentary encounters to life-long relationships.
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