by Peter Carlson | Jul 21, 2022 | Listen to Dharma Talks
In the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse, Mindfulness of the Body is the first of the four foundations. This talk reviews important elements of this teaching, including mindfulness of breathing meditation, mindfulness while involved in everyday activities and mindfulness of breathing integrated with whole body awareness. The fundamental value of cultivating mindfulness of the body is that embodied sensory experience is much easier to be persistently and actively aware of than the other three foundations, and this is emphasized during the talk. There were several references to the guided contemplation focusing on mindfulness of the body that preceded the talk, but the frequent disturbance caused by a significant thunderstorm during the meditation severely disrupted the recording, so it was not posted.
Here are the notes prepared for this course: Reviewing Mindfulness of the Body
The topic for the next talk is the second foundation of mindfulness, mindfulness of feelings.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:04:39 — 59.2MB)
by Peter Carlson | Jul 14, 2022 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk provides an overview of what most Buddhist practitioners consider to be the most comprehensive teaching, the Satipatthana Sutta, typically translated as the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse. During the talk, the history of this discourse is reviewed, along with various key conceptual elements that are embedded within the context of the sutta. It is intended to provide an introduction to a series of talks that reviews each of the four foundations in more depth, including contemporary psychological and neuroscientific discoveries that validate the characteristics of the teaching.
There is a recording posted in the archives of this site entitled “Guided Satipatthana Contemplation” that is intended to complement this review.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Overview of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse
The topic for next week’s review will begin to address the First Foundation, Mindfulness of the Body, with particular emphasis on mindfulness of breathing.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:02:04 — 56.8MB)
by Peter Carlson | Jul 14, 2022 | Listen to Dharma Talks
The Satipatthana Sutta, often translated as the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse, is a key teaching in the various forms of Buddhism around the world. This guided meditation is intended to provide a contemplative review of the four categories: mindfulness of the body, of feelings, of the mind and of mind conditioning factors. It is intended to supplement the Dharma talk that occurred just after this recording, entitled “What Is Satipatthana?” and found in the archives.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:55 — 41.1MB)
by Peter Carlson | Jul 7, 2022 | Listen to Dharma Talks
Sati, the Pali word we translate as mindfulness, functions as a composite–present moment awareness combined with investigation and Right Effort. This interactive process is reviewed during this talk. Additionally, there is an interesting quote included in the talk that was downloaded from Wikipedia describing the contemporary term metacognition in ways that are strikingly similar in form and function to sati, without making any reference to Buddhist psychology. This talk is intended to be a prelude to a relatively thorough series of talks reviewing the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse, which many consider to be the most important teaching in Buddhism.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk, including the extensive quote from Wikipedia: The Four Foundations of Right Mindfulness
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:12 — 40.5MB)
by Peter Carlson | Jun 30, 2022 | Listen to Dharma Talks
It is customary for our Sangha to provide the opportunity for those members who recently completed a residential retreat to talk about their experience. It fosters the integration of the meditative experience through “thinking out loud” and responding to questions and comments from those participating in the meeting. Lezlie recently participated in a one-week residential retreat co-led by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach, two well-respected teachers who are also psychologists. She describes the structure of the retreat and her significant insights regarding the Dharma during the retreat. Several participants spoke of their gratitude for her thorough and insightful comments during the review.
Next week’s topic will begin an extensive and thorough review of the Satipatthana Sutta, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse, which is characterized as Right Mindfulness within the Noble Eightfold Path. The topic for this meeting will focus on an expansive review of the elements of sati, translated as mindfulness, including contemporary neuropsychological research on what happens in the brain when one practices mindfulness meditation.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:07:42 — 62.0MB)
by Peter Carlson | Jun 24, 2022 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk is part of a series reviewing the Four Noble Truths. Right Effort is an important element of the Noble Eightfold Path and can be understood as a process of channeling the energy of attention away from unwholesome self-states towards wholesome self-states. The cooperation among the first three of the Seven Awakening Factors–Mindfulness, Investigation of Mental Phenomena and Energy, as Right Effort–is essential for fulfilling one’s potential for Awakening, and this talk discusses their interactions. Various characteristics of Right Effort are also included in the review. There is a guided meditation posted in the Audio archives of this website entitled “Guided Channeling Right Effort Meditation”, which is intended to provide supplementary support for the contents of this talk.
Here are the notes prepared for the talk: Reviewing Right Effort
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:19 — 48.8MB)
