by Peter Carlson | Nov 19, 2015 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This discussion began with a quote from the Upaddha Sutta: “…Admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life…” because the emphasis for this week focuses on the lojong commitments regarding interpersonal responsibility. Three commitments were described: “Don’t indulge in malicious speech or sarcasm”, “Revenge is not sweet, but toxic”, and “Don’t throw your pain at others”. These commitments were modified by Peter to be more applicable to contemporary relationships from a Buddhist perspective on Right Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood.
After the explanation, participants offered their observations regarding how these principles bring benefit to relationships. Here are the notes prepared for this talk: RESPONSIBILITY IN RELATIONSHIPS
Next week’s regular meeting will occur on Thanksgiving Eve, so following the routine for at number of years, the discussion will be organized around the benefits of gratitude for daily living.
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by Peter Carlson | Nov 12, 2015 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk focuses on the lojong commitment “Don’t Rely On Consistency”, which emphasizes how social norms put pressure on individuals to conform, even when such conformity violates the Buddhist principle of benevolent intention. One example would be the pressure to conform with materialistic drives regarding the upcoming holiday season–the perfect party, the perfect gift, etc. Another example is the conformity of ethnic prejudice, that is, the culturally conditioned feeling of aversion around someone who looks Muslim.
The discussion also focused on the struggle of individuals to conform to their own conditioned expectations of themselves, and the frustration experienced when one doesn’t meet a standard of performance.
During the discussions, Peter repeatedly referred back to aphorisms discussed in prior meetings, such as being a “child of illusion” and the importance of daily meditation practice to build the capacity to be mindful and nonreactive to cultural pressures that conflict with benevolent intention.
Here are the notes for this discussion: Working With Unpredictability
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by Peter Carlson | Nov 5, 2015 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this evening’s discussion, modern neuroscientific research was reviewed which suggests that activated neural pathways become more richly connected when “fed” by increased blood flow. When unwholesome self-organizations are repeatedly enacted, the result is toxic. A distinction was emphasized regarding external and internal “ego food”, that is, how modern entertainment and distractions provide external stimulation, while internal processes are either enhanced or depleted in their power by the amount of attention given to them in the mind. Peter read the excerpt from the Four Foundations of Mindfulness discourse that describes being aware of the transitory nature of self-organizations (fourth foundation, regarding the arising and passing of the five aggregates of clinging). These principles support the awareness qualities found in the lojong mind training commitments.
This review was followed by a lively discussion regarding the prevalence of external “junk food media” and how being mindful of how the internal processing of the stimulation can be used to practice tonglen, that is, the ability to transform internal processes with compassion.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: BENEVOLENT EGO FOOD
Next week’s discussion will focus on the lojong aphorism “Don’t rely on consistency.”
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by Peter Carlson | Oct 29, 2015 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk addresses the problems of perfectionism, which often manifest as internal narratives that are shame-based. Various lojong mind training aphorisms were reviewed to clarify how the applications of the aphorisms can support transforming feelings of shame and humiliation into humility. Humility can be understood as recognizing the enormous complexity of external and internal conditions that are part of life, and how this recognition can reveal the interdependence/selflessness that is a core realization of Buddhist practice. The internal transformation from humiliation to humility is accomplished with the practice of tonglen, which reforms self-organization through compassion.
Here are the notes prepared for this presentation: LETTING GO OF PERFECTIONISM
Next week’s topic will be the aphorism “Give Up Toxic Ego Food”.
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by Peter Carlson | Oct 22, 2015 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this discussion, Peter related the lojong aphorism, “Work on the stronger disturbing emotions first,” relating it to the second Foundation of Mindfulness, Mindfulness of feelings as feelings, not a self. The integrated operation of the lojong aphorisms was reviewed, emphasizing the importance of regular mindfulness meditation practice to cultivate the emotional self-regulation required to benefit from mindful investigation of feelings, separate from the narrative “selfing story”, which reinforces “buying into” a sense of self that is distressed and confused.
This approach to alleviating suffering is similar to a modern psychotherapeutic intervention, “Exposure Therapy”, which combines progressive relaxation with direct investigation of the distressed emotional tone that a person suffers from. This exposure, over time, reduces reactivity to the distress, provided the person does not align with a narrative associated with the distress.
After the discussion, there was a lively dialogue among the participants regarding concrete experiences that the practice of desensitization can be applied to.
Here are the notes prepared for the discussion: THE BENEFITS OF INVESTIGATING EMOTIONALLY POTENT ISSUES
Next week’s topic will explore the importance of non-judgmental reflection on the application of a lojong aphorism.
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by Peter Carlson | Oct 15, 2015 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This week’s discussion broached two aphorisms: Don’t speak about others’ defects, and Don’t become preoccupied with the opinions, behaviors and motivations of others. These aphoristic commitments focus on activating Wholesome Speech, Action and Livelihood from the Eightfold Path. Peter emphasized the practical steps for cultivating the mental clarity and constraint necessary to check one’s speech, avoiding anything that may create a sense of separation and diminishment of others, most exemplified by gossip. He also commented on the common human mistake of “mind reading”, that is, the inclination to jump to conclusions about what someone’s intentions are. This was followed by discussions among those present of examples of gossiping and mind reading, along with what benefits regular daily meditation and memorizing the aphorisms can bring to interrupting hurtful and thoughtless behaviors.
Here are the notes developed for the talk: AVOID FOCUSING ON THE DEFECTS OF OTHERS
Next week’s talk will focus on the benefits of intentionally investigating the emotionally charged self-states with mindfulness and equanimity.
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