by Peter Carlson | Mar 29, 2014 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk begins several weeks of exploration of the Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, dhammanupassana. During the discussion, Peter pointed out that Mindfulness of the Body and of Feelings are projected onto the Third Foundation, that of consciousness, and that the culminating practice of this teaching is to notice the interactions between the foundations, Mindfulness of Mental Phenomena. He also suggested that the word “dhamma” conveys something static, a thing; however, a dhamma is transient, lasting a fraction of a second, and therefore is best considered as a dynamic process that commingles the four foundations. During the next several weeks, the dhamma called the five hindrances, the dhamma called the five aggregates, the dhamma called the six sense bases (which he terms “the six sense functions”, the dhamma of the seven awakening factors, and the dhamma called the full realization of the Four Noble Truths (which he called the Four Ennobling Truths) will be explored.
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by Peter Carlson | Mar 22, 2014 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This dialogue explores the Third Foundation of Mindfulness, cittanupassana, translated as mindfulness of the mind. After reading the content of the third foundation from Analayo’s book on satipatthana, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, Peter related this to what our era calls “mood”, that is, a pervasive emotional state. The neurological and hormonal aspects of mood were described. This was followed by a group discussion emphasizing the impersonal nature of moods.
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by Peter Carlson | Mar 14, 2014 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This is the second of two talks about the importance of the practice of mindfulness of feelings. During this talk, Peter reviewed paticca samuppada, usually translated as dependent origination. A new rendering of the term was explained, that is, contingent provisional emergence, with clarification of the non-linear, mutually influential functions that affect how the mind overlays a provisional interpretation of raw sense data input, thereby creating a “selfing moment”. In this creative process, attention becomes fixated on a particular feeling and perception, creating the craving and clinging dynamic that is the driving force of our distresses about life. Mindfulness of feelings as feelings allows the skilled meditator to avoid “personalizing” the emerging self-organization, providing relief from craving and clinging.
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by Peter Carlson | Mar 7, 2014 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this dialogue, Peter began to discuss the second Foundation of Mindfulness, vedanupassana (mindfulness of feelings). He talked of how feelings are not emotions as we might describe them in the West, but rather what in psychological terms is affect, the pull towards pleasant experience or away from unpleasant experience. Feelings are the bridge between physical sensations and the mental creations of meaning and self-organization we experience. He read a translation of the second foundation, and then led a brief guided meditation that illustrates concretely what to notice as a feeling, a perception and the mental formations that create what the Buddha called “the tyranny of I, me and mine”. This was followed by dialogues that further clarified the experiences of the guided meditation.
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by Peter Carlson | Mar 1, 2014 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this dialogue, Peter read the part of the Satipatthana Sutta called “the charnal ground contemplation”. He then commented on how our culture is shielded from the experience of death and what happens to the body as it disintegrates, which was a common occurrence during the time of the Buddha. The intention of that contemplation was to motivate diligent practice, as in those days, life was typically short and a lot less certain than during this era. How can we be motivated to be diligent in our practice since our culture is much more comfortable and secure than at that time? This question was discussed around the group for the rest of the evening, with each person who shared talking of what makes her or him motivated to practice.
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