by Peter Carlson | Aug 22, 2024 | Listen to Dharma Talks
Sympathetic Joy is listed as the third of the Four Divine Abidings, and Equanimity is the fourth. During this talk, Peter reviews the characteristics of Sympathetic Joy as a celebration of another’s success and happiness in an unselfish way. It represents the spiritual development of empathy, which is hard-wired into the bodies of humans, but can be distorted when not effectively monitored by Mindfulness and Investigation of Mental Phenomena, and regulated by Right Effort. The result of this skillful application of attention and action is Equanimity, which provides balance, avoiding what are called the “near enemy” or “far enemy” of Sympathetic Joy.
This talk is intended to be supplemented by a recorded guided meditation posted in the archives of this site titled “Contemplating Sympathetic Joy With Equanimity”, which was presented by Peter just prior to this talk.
Here are the notes prepared for the Dharma talk: Cultivating Sympathetic Joy With Equanimity
The next talk, scheduled for August 28, 2024, will provide an opportunity for participants to ask questions about Buddhist concepts and practices, with discussion provided by Peter, who has been studying and practicing Buddhism for over 40 years.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:34 — 52.7MB)
by Peter Carlson | Aug 22, 2024 | Listen to Dharma Talks
Sympathetic Joy is one of the Four Divine Abidings, and this guided meditation provides instructions on how to integrate Mindfulness, Investigation of Mental Phenomena, and Right Effort to cultivate Equanimity, another of the Divine Abidings, which functions to bring balance and clarity to the experience of appreciating another beings happiness and success in unselfish ways. This recording is intended to provide experiential support for the Dharma talk delivered the same night entitled “Cultivating Sympathetic Joy With Equanimity”. Both recordings are posted within the archives of this website.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:02 — 41.2MB)
by Peter Carlson | Aug 15, 2024 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk reviews the characteristics of compassion from a Buddhist perspective, including the “near enemy” and “far enemy” of this manifestation of lovingkindness which is focused on relieving the mind from distress and confusion. Compassion is described as the combined effects of cultivating the “hardwired” experience of empathy, supported by mindfulness, investigation of mental phenomena, and Right Effort, and associated with equanimity, which provides a balanced manifestation of this wholesome state of mind. Preceding this talk of August 14, 2024, Peter provides a guided meditation titled “Guided Compassion With Equanimity Contemplation”, the recording of which is posted within the Guided Meditations page of the website.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Integrating Compassion with Equanimity
The topic for the next meeting will provide a review regarding the integration of Sympathetic Joy with equanimity. Sympathetic Joy describes the empathetic enjoyment of the happiness and success of another, balanced by equanimity.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:04:28 — 59.0MB)
by Peter Carlson | Aug 15, 2024 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This guided meditation provides support for identifying the characteristics of compassion as well as the “near enemy” and “far enemy” of this wholesome state of mind. The training also suggests how to use mindfulness, investigation of mental phenomena, and Right Effort to cultivate the balancing effect of equanimity, which functions to purify the benevolent intentions associated with compassion.
This meditation was recorded just prior to the Dharma talk presented on August 14, 2024, with the intention to provide opportunities to train the mind to be more able to apply what is reviewed during the talk.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:56 — 41.1MB)
by Peter Carlson | Aug 8, 2024 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this talk, Peter reviews the characteristics of lovingkindness, one of the Four Divine Abidings within Buddhist doctrine. When lovingkindness is not clearly understood, one’s experience becomes contaminated by what are called either the “near enemy” or “far enemy”, both of which are manifestations of ignorance. The fourth of the Divine Abidings is equanimity, which is produced through the cultivation of mindfulness, investigation of mental phenomena and Right Effort, is explained during the talk. The review also includes a suggestion that the capacity for empathy, a fundamental characteristic of lovingkindness, is ‘hardwired” into our nervous systems, and that Benevolent Intention represents an evolutionary trend away from greed or hatred, emotionally potent instincts we all share, towards altruism and societal peace.
Previous to this talk, Peter provided a guided meditation titled “Integrating Lovingkindness With Equanimity”, which is intended to provide practical contemplative training that uses mindfulness, investigation of mental phenomena and Right Effort to protect the flow of lovingkindness from becoming contaminated by the near enemy or far enemy states of mind. This has been posted and can be found in the archives of the website in the category of Guided Meditations
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Balancing Lovingkindness With Equanimity
The topics for the next two weeks focus first on the integration of equanimity with compassion, then next the integration of equanimity with sympathetic joy, the remaining elements of the Four Divine Abidings.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:00:16 — 55.2MB)
