by Peter Carlson | Feb 18, 2021 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This guided meditation does not represent Zen shikantaza, translated as “just sitting”; instead using persistent mindfulness of breathing practice to stabilize focused attention on the cycle of inhalation/exhalation, with emphasis on exhalation, to facilitate expanding awareness gradually and systematically to areas of the body. Beginning with the head, you carefully investigate whatever sensation might be discovered, then moving attention to the shoulders, etc., down to the feet, with the goal of integrating the concentration developed through mindfulness of breathing to eventually include the entire body.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:57 — 82.3MB)
by Peter Carlson | Feb 11, 2021 | Listen to Dharma Talks
It is customary for our Sangha to provide opportunities for those who have completed a residential retreat to have the opportunity to share their experience, as this integrates what they learned for themselves and offers inspiration for those not on retreat to further their practice with a residential retreat. Andy Quinn is the founding teacher of the Lakeland Insight Meditation Group and has been on dozens of retreats. He completed a two-week self-retreat recently and shared his experience with those participating in the meeting. During the talk, Andy spoke favorably of the value of Analayo’s book “Mindfulness of Breathing” as a resource during the retreat to guide his practice.
Next week’s talk will resume a review of the history of Buddhism, focusing on how the various Buddhist traditions entered into American culture over the last century. The intention of this review is to create a cultural context regarding the creative mixing of various Oriental traditions within contemporary American Buddhism, which will be reviewed during the next few talks.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:10:25 — 128.9MB)
by Peter Carlson | Feb 11, 2021 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This recording focuses on letting go as part of effective meditation practice; various suggestions are offered periodically to foster relinquishing attachment to mental objects that arise as the result of craving and clinging. One suggestion for practice is to recall the drag that is experienced when immersing the hand into a stream of water–you are encouraged to become clearly aware of the stress of clinging to a thought as being like the drag of the stream and to simply release that holding in the same way you remove your hand from resisting the stream. There are reminders that there is no “drag” when attending to the breath sensations, and to notice the difference between the stress of craving and clinging compared to the ease of just observing the breath.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:58 — 82.3MB)
by Peter Carlson | Feb 4, 2021 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk continues a review of the development of the different Buddhist traditions as the cultures they operated within were affected by the intrusion of European mercantile powers, especially the British Empire during the 19th and 20th centuries. The primary area of focus is on how Theravada Buddhism was forced to adapt to the intrusion of Christian missionaries into Sri Lanka, Burma (modern day Myanmar) and Siam (modern day Thailand). Key leadership personalities such as Ledi Sayadaw of Burma are reviewed, as they had a significant impact on several 20th century Western Teachers who were influential in Peter’s practice of mindfulness meditation.
The recording of this Zoom talk was significantly impaired by disruptions in the streaming signal, an unusual occurrence during the series of talks recorded since March of last year. Hopefully this will not recur.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Buddhism and Colonialism
The topic for the next talk will be on how Buddhism has spread throughout what we loosely call “The Western World” in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 41:04 — 75.2MB)
by Peter Carlson | Jan 28, 2021 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk further develops understanding of how the primary Buddhist schools of the present–Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana, Chan, Seon and Zen– originated over the millennia since the time of the Buddha. This dynamic process was a manifestation of sociological and religious tensions between the schools and the also emerging Hindu religious traditions, along with the integration of indigenous tribal beliefs that historically preceded the introduction of the concepts and practices by various important teachers who traveled from India to Southeast and Far-Eastern Asia.
The intention of the talk is to foster an understanding of how Buddhism inevitably affects and is affected by the cultures into which it is introduced, to prompt contemplation of how this dynamic process applies currently and in the future of Buddhism in the U.S.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Development of Buddhist Schools
The focus of next week’s talk will be on the dynamic interactions between the various Buddhist schools and the onset of European colonization.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:07:35 — 123.8MB)
