by Peter Carlson | Mar 28, 2015 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this dhamma talk, Peter described paticca sammupada, typically translated as dependent origination. Peter expressed a different view of this concept, calling the process contingent provisional emergence. This contemporary view applies understandings derived from complexity theory, which is a non-linear perspective on the incredible complexity of the mind’s ability to respond to sensory input. He described the links of associated factors in this process, with an emphasis on how important vedanupassana, mindfulness of feelings, the second of the four foundations of mindfulness, is for reconfiguring how the mind responds to each moment of self-state organization. This awareness requires the full functioning of the wholesome mind conditioners, through the practice of vipassana.The practice of vedanupassana will be cultivated later during the retreat through the training in body sweep meditation.
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by Peter Carlson | Mar 28, 2015 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During the fourth night talk, Peter described the “mind conditioners” that the Anapanasati Sutta trains to calm with mindfulness of breathing. He described the 14 wholesome conditioners, with particular attention to the “beautiful pairs” of conditioners (describing the pairing of mind and mind conditioners), tranquility, lightness/agility, pliancy, wieldiness, proficiency and uprightness. These 14 conditioners combine with other “universal” and “occasional” mind conditioners in every moment of wholesome self-state organization.
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by Peter Carlson | Mar 28, 2015 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this talk, Peter described the Five Hindrances, the primary afflictions that distort our perceptions about reality. They are sense desire, aversion and ill-will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and skeptical doubt. Peter described how, in the Satipatthana Sutta, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness discourse, there are instructions to notice the presence, absence, causes and solutions for the hindrances. He mentioned the Seven Awakening Factors as antidotes for the hindrances. He emphasized that experience is a process, and energy flow that can be free and adaptive, while the hindrances operate as “energy dumps”.
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by Peter Carlson | Mar 28, 2015 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this talk, Peter read passages of the Anapanasati Sutta, the discourse on the practice of mindfulness of breathing. The passages referred to provide training for cultivating vitakka and vicara, aiming attention at the breath and sustaining that awareness. With practice, awareness of the sensation of breathing becomes more intimate and persistent, setting the circumstances that support the practice of vipassana, insight into the characteristics of impermanence, non-self and the consequences of craving and clinging.
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by Peter Carlson | Mar 28, 2015 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this talk, Peter spoke of the Buddhist tradition of the three refuges, Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, from a contemporary setting. Taking refuge means to allow the structure of the retreat to support the cultivation of mindfulness from waking up until sleeping. The Buddha represents the capacity we all have for awakening to the reality of impermanence, the absence of an enduring self and the inevitability that dissatisfaction emerges from craving and clinging. The Dhamma represents the instructions and practices that support awakening, and the Sangha represents the communal effort shared during the course of the retreat.
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