by Peter Carlson | Apr 3, 2020 | Listen to Dharma Talks
We are living through what is likely the most trying time of our lives with the Covid-19 pandemic. This is not the only trial we are confronted with, as the upheaval caused by global warming is becoming even more evident. Both of these conditions require a degree of equanimity and creative adaptation to successfully live through. During this talk Peter described how meditation practices such as mindfulness of breathing, lovingkindness and the just posted Four Elements Contemplation can provide support for effective coping, using the Four Noble Truths as the conceptual structure for discussing the significant changes we must make in redefining what constitutes a good life, differing in several ways from the consumerism that is the characteristic conditioning in this culture. During the talk Peter described the importance of a book entitled “Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich” by Duane Elgin in shaping his understanding and growth towards a good life. It can be found on Amazon as a revised edition. It is also useful to go to a site like http://simplicitycollective.com/start-here/what-is-voluntary-simplicity-2 to get more information.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk:Â MINDFUL COPING AND CULTIVATING AN ADAPTIVE LIFESTYLE
Â
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:10:23 — 128.9MB)
by Peter Carlson | Mar 28, 2015 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this talk, Peter described the Five Hindrances, the primary afflictions that distort our perceptions about reality. They are sense desire, aversion and ill-will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and skeptical doubt. Peter described how, in the Satipatthana Sutta, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness discourse, there are instructions to notice the presence, absence, causes and solutions for the hindrances. He mentioned the Seven Awakening Factors as antidotes for the hindrances. He emphasized that experience is a process, and energy flow that can be free and adaptive, while the hindrances operate as “energy dumps”.
by Peter Carlson | Dec 10, 2015 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this talk, the lojong mind training commitment “Don’t aim to win” was related to the Theravaden concept of “comparing mind”, that is, the tendency in this culture to emphasize competition and material acquisition, with the achievement of “Awakening” as the prize. Peter explored the Zen concept of the “Gateless Gate” as pointing to the experience of awakening as a process, not a thing that can be owned. The ongoing practice of mindfulness meditation is just that, practice, and not a test. During the ensuing discussion, several comments by the participants talked of how important it is to just practice being mindfully present, during formal meditation practice or otherwise. Setting up awakening as a measurable, substantial thing is a fundamental misperception of the process.
Here are the notes accompanying this talk:Â Â Overcoming Comparing Mind
Next week’s topic will combine three lojong training commitments: “Don’t revert to magic”, “Don’t reduce a god to a demon” and “Don’t seek pain as a component of happiness”.
by Peter Carlson | Nov 6, 2011 | Intro to Buddhism & Meditation, Listen to Dharma Talks
This recording provides training in the practice of “body sweep” meditation, which Peter received training for during a retreat with S. N. Goenka’s assistant trainers. They call this practice vedanupassana, mindfulness of feelings, which is the second of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. This training, an hour of practice, provided prompts for aiming attention at a particular spot on the body and sustaining that attention to develop the Awakening Factors of Investigation of Phenomena, Energy, and, of course, Mindfulness. It requires a lot of preparation through developing concentration to the level of upacara samadhi, access concentration. It can be quite frustrating for a beginning meditator, as the power of investigation is initially quite weak; it’s important to recall that this is meant to cultivate investigation, and not a test of willpower.
by Peter Carlson | Sep 18, 2014 | Listen to Dharma Talks
In this talk, the awakening factor of energy/effort is described. Peter talked of how the universe is essentially energy, and that the sense of separation that humans struggle with is a profound, fundamental error of thinking. He described that energy is distributed throughout the body in the form of glucose, as fuel for the cells. In the brain, the activities of the mind can be observed through modern technologies such as the fMRI machine. This research shows that energy “pools” in areas of heightened neural activity. The mental dysfunctions called hindrances grow stronger when “fed” glucose. The same feeding occurs as the hindrances are diminished. In this way, mental formations can be compared to muscles, which grow stronger when exercised. Peter suggested that the struggles occurring during meditation practice are mistakenly attributed to mindfulness of breathing; in reality, mindful investigation of mental phenomena reveals that the struggle comes from how the hindrances are “energy dumps”, and that the experience of mindfulness of breathing without the hindrances is a much more “efficient” use of energy.
Here is a copy of the notes prepared for this week’s talk:Â ENERGY AWAKENING FACTOR
Next week’s talk will focus on the next awakening factor, Joy.
