by Peter Carlson | Oct 11, 2018 | Listen to Dharma Talks
A significant area of stress in contemporary civic life is political conflict. This is not an easy topic to deal with, and has no “solution” as political matters are complex and are continuously evolving. The intention of this discussion is to foster ways of transforming the conflicts of political differences into “grist for the mill” of spiritual development.
During this talk, Peter used the conceptual and practical structure of the Four Noble Truths outlined in the two previous week’s postings to discuss ways to manage interpersonal conflict regarding politics. Participants were encouraged to investigate the physical, emotional and mental symptoms of stress as dukkha. They were then invited to be mindful of how attached he or she might be to a particular view and how easy it is to become caught in a need to “convert” the other person to their view without compassion or deeper understanding. The appropriate applications of the Noble Eightfold Path were included in discussing strategies for overcoming rigid self-righteousness in dialogue.
During the accompanying group discussions, Peter pointed out examples of heightened agitation among the participants when talking about “the others” regarding political views of climate change denial, etc., and invited mindful investigation of craving and clinging in the room.
Here are the notes prepared for this discussion: Mindfulness and Political Conflict
Next week’s discussion will use the Four Noble Truths structure to explore how to manage ecological and global warming distress and confusion, not from a political perspective, but as a form of “Right Livelihood” practice.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:06:40 — 122.1MB)
by Peter Carlson | Oct 4, 2018 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This is the second of a series of talks that explore how to apply the principles and practices of the Four Noble Truths to the extraordinary cultural stresses we experience these days. The specific focus of this talk is a review of the Noble Eightfold Path.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: The Eightfold Path In The World Of Today
Next week’s talk will explore the how to contextualize the Four Noble Truths relative to the current political controversies with the intention to develop Wisdom, that is, Right Understanding and Right Intention, to manage the internal and interpersonal conflicts that confront contemporary civil society.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:26 — 99.7MB)
by Peter Carlson | Sep 27, 2018 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk begins several weeks of discussion regarding how the understanding and application of the Four Noble Truths can be of great benefit as we cope with these stressful times. Peter begins by suggesting significant differences between the relative simplicity of pre-industrial culture and the increasingly complex challenges of contemporary life. At the core of Buddhism is the path towards experiencing the Unconditioned, Nirvana; however, in this day and age, we benefit from first cultivating what we in the West call good mental health as a foundation from which total liberation can be approached.
This was followed by a review of the first three of the Four Noble Truths; next week’s discussion will review the fourth Noble Truth, the Noble Eightfold Path. The topics of the next several weeks’ discussions will be how the Four Noble Truths can be applied to contemporary cultural distresses related to multicultural tensions, consumerism, political conflict, the #meetoo phenomenon, along with various other relevant topics.
The recording is somewhat longer due to the engaged dialogue that developed after the explanatory remarks.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: MINDFUL ADAPTATION TO STRESSFUL TIMES
As mentioned above, next week’s topic will review the Noble Eightfold Path, which provides the concepts and practices that support the realization of the first three Noble Truths.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:07:52 — 124.3MB)
by Peter Carlson | Sep 20, 2018 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This post represents the summation of the Satipatthana Sutta, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, in reviewing the stanzas relating to the fulfillment of the Four Noble Truths. Each of the Truths is reviewed through three stages: conceptual understanding, experiential knowledge and integration into one’s life. Through the maturing development of the Four Foundations competencies, the personality view moves from conflicted self-state organizations through a more balanced and effectively integrated self-state organizing process. This sets the conditions for self-state liberation, represented by the “Noble Tenfold Path”, which revisits Right Understanding as Right Knowledge (Direct experience confirming the three characteristics: anicca, dukkha and anatta) and Right Intention as Liberating Insight. This attainment fosters the experience of Nirvana, the Unconditioned.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: THE TRUTHS OF AWAKENING
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:01:12 — 112.1MB)
by Peter Carlson | Sep 13, 2018 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk reviews the Equanimity Awakening Factor and includes a summary regarding how the Seven Awakening Factors integrate and cooperate to further the process of liberating the mind from the distress and confusion that is the result of craving and clinging. The review was followed by general discussion regarding the benefits of cultivating samadhi/passadhi (concentration/tranquility) as a foundational goal of daily mindfulness meditation practice.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: THE MIDDLE WAY WITH EQUANIMITY
Next week’s talk will summarize the entirety of the Satipatthana Sutta with review of the final stanzas of the discourse, with emphasis on the realization of the Four Noble Truths.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:20 — 105.0MB)
