by Peter Carlson | Apr 19, 2018 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This is the second in an extensive series of talks investigating the Satipatthana Sutta, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse. Tonight’s focus is on the First Foundation, Mindfulness of the Body, specifically Mindfulness of Breathing meditation. Peter went through the stanzas focused on that core practice to illuminate the meaning and application of each part. The importance of the four applications of “diligence, clear awareness, mindfulness and setting aside covetousness and grief for the world” to realize the benefits of the practice was emphasized.
This was followed by discussion to clarify the terms and practice.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Understanding Mindfulness of Breathing
Next week’s talk will focus on the next two topics of the First Foundation regarding posture and of clear comprehension.
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by Peter Carlson | Nov 30, 2023 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk provides a brief overview of traditional American holidays from Halloween through New Year’s Eve, from their origins centuries ago up to how current consumerism and social conflict has created a stressful and potentially damaging series of events during the Fall and early Winter periods. The overview is followed by a review of a Buddhist “decision tree” process called “The Four Clear Comprehensions” that provides a way to integrate mindfulness and Right Effort to realize appropriate goals for gift giving that don’t disrupt the principles of Right Speech/Action/Livelihood. The review is followed by a dialogue between Peter and a few of the participants to illustrate how this decision-making process works.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk, which includes a description of The Four Clear Comprehensions: Giving Presence Over The Holidays
The talk for next week will provide a review of the basics of mindfulness practices.
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by Peter Carlson | Mar 28, 2013 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this dialogue, Judy reviewed kayanupassana, mindfulness of the body, from the Satipatthana Sutta, which is usually translated as the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. She explained that the “body” referred to is the aggregation of all the parts of the body, including the senses and breath awareness–in Pali, kaya can apply to a group of people, a bunch of bananas, etc. She placed emphasis on the aspect of kayanupassana called satisampajjhana, which can be translated as mindfulness/clear comprehension of how the body moves during the experience of moving, that is, while standing, walking, eating, reaching, etc. Additionally, the value of awareness of a worthy goal, suitable means for achieving the goal, the field of awareness that’s applied to maintain the suitable means–all in the context of non-greed, non-aversion and wisdom.
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by Peter Carlson | May 10, 2012 | Listen to Dharma Talks
Continuing the exploration of what the Dhamma means in the 21st century, the basic precepts of Buddhism were discussed. Peter explained that the precepts are organized around the cultivation of wisdom, which is the combination of clear awareness and benevolent intention. The potential value of using the word commitment rather than precept was explained as commitment implies an action phase. A new list of commitments was provided (which will be posted on the web site), carefully constructed to convey the basic aspects of wisdom, hopefully in a way more useful in our era.
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by Peter Carlson | Jan 12, 2012 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This is the first of two dialogues about the Wisdom aggregate of the Noble Eightfold Path, continuing to explore the relevance of traditional Buddhist psychology to modern scientific and psychological insights. Tonight’s discussion emphasized Right Understanding as “clear awareness” of the three characteristics: impermanence, dissatisfaction, and non-self, as well as the realization of the reality of karma, that is, for every effect there’s a cause. Next week’s discussion will emphasize Right Intention as “benevolent intention”, focusing on how urgency is felt and managed to manifest Wisdom.
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