by Peter Carlson | Jul 30, 2020 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This is the first of a series of talks that explore the 52 cetasikas (cheh-tah-see-kahs), categories of factors that condition the self-formation process. The talk reviews the several sub-categories of these factors: Universal, Particular, Unwholesome and Wholesome. Peter states an intention to review the cetasikas more thoroughly over the course of the next several meetings, with an emphasis on how the concepts of mind conditioners can be more clearly observed and, in the case of the Wholesome mind conditioning factors, be applied practically and skillfully, rather than becoming intellectual points of interest. In this regard, it may be helpful to consider these factors as ways to understand the operation of karma. This talk was followed by discussion between Peter and one of the participants regarding how these issues apply to life experience.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: OVERVIEW OF CETASIKAS
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:57 — 84.1MB)
by Peter Carlson | Jul 30, 2020 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This training applies some basic approaches to stabilizing attention and cultivating tranquility as a foundation for investigating how the mind fabricates a sense of self. The intention of the training is to support the Dharma talk posted on July 30, 2020 that is an overview of the cetasikas, those mental factors involved in the fabricating process.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:58 — 82.3MB)
by Peter Carlson | Jul 23, 2020 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This discussion reviews the characteristics of upekkha (ooh-peh-kah), the seventh Awakening Factor, translated as equanimity regarding one’s state of consciousness. Upekkha is also considered as one of the Four Divine Abidings (lovingkindness, compassion and sympathetic joy being the other three), one of the ten Perfections and the primary characteristic of the Fourth Jhana, experienced at extraordinarily developed levels of concentration. Equanimity is not indifference but rather the ability to be aware of and non-reactive to emotional urgency and impulsive reactivity. This quality is synonymous with tatramajjhatata, (tah-trah-muh-jah-tuh-tah), a term that describes a state of mind that is “in the middle”, that is, not too excited or too dull, nor too identified with a thought or too skeptical. Upekkha is relevant in daily life as the ability to stay present and do the right thing even under trying circumstances, while tatramajjhatata is more associated with the refined levels of awareness that involve the seven Awakening Factors. Peter reviews the other six Awakening Factors: Mindfulness, Investigation, Energy/Right Effort, Joy, Tranquility and Concentration, explaining how Equanimity interacts with each of them to create the optimal conditions for Awakening. Several suggestions were made regarding lifestyle choices and finding opportunities to develop equanimity that are sufficiently challenging but not overwhelming. This was followed by discussion of how upekkha is experienced by those participating in the Zoom meeting.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: THE EQUANIMITY AWAKENING FACTOR (AutoRecovered)
Next week’s discussion will begin a series of reviews of the 52 cetasikas (cheh-tah-see-kahs), conditioning factors of the mind, also termed sankharas (sahn-kah-rahs).
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 58:30 — 107.1MB)
by Peter Carlson | Jul 23, 2020 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This guided meditation focuses on cultivating upekkha (ooh-peh-kah), equanimity regarding one’s subjective experience. This quality of consciousness is frequently identified in Buddhist teachings: one of the Seven Awakening Factors, one of the Four Diving Abidings, one of the Ten Perfections, and the primary characteristic of the Fourth Jhana. During the meditation attention is established on mindfulness of breathing, with associations stated between prolonged breath awareness, concentration, tranquility and equanimity. The meditation student is invited to investigate mindfully the quality of consciousness to determine whether the mind is too excited or too sedated, too identified with what is in awareness, or if attention is too dispersed and distracted. Right Effort is brought to mind to find an equanimous balance between extremes of energy and identification, cultivating a “middle way”, suitable for the process of Awakening.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:58 — 82.3MB)
by Peter Carlson | Jul 23, 2020 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This guided meditation focuses on identifying the subjective characteristics of anatta (ah-nah-tah), the absence of an enduring, autonomous self. Anatta is the third of the Three Characteristics: Anicca, Dukkha and Anatta. During the meditation attention is first stabilized with mindfulness of breathing meditation and this quiets the mind such that one can contemplate the interdependence of the human body with the environment on increasingly more subtle levels and then contemplate further on the “accumulation of a self” through language and other socially stimulating encounters over the course of a lifetime. Deep contemplation of these issues can illuminate the absence of an autonomous self that doesn’t require interactions with the physical or social environments. Another focus of contemplation is to deepen awareness of whole-body sensations along with the breath, including environmental sounds, in an undifferentiated way, relinquishing the “observer” belief. The more fully one releases the mind from “observing” these phenomena to “being” the phenomena, the less interest there is in a subject-object dualistic perception, thereby experiencing reality in a more fundamental, non-self way.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:58 — 82.3MB)