by Peter Carlson | May 23, 2024 | Listen to Dharma Talks
The Third Foundation of Mindfulness focuses attention on investigating the characteristics of a person’s consciousness–alert or dull, filled with desire or free from desire, among other categories. During this talk, Peter reviews the various categories, supplemented by current neurological research that supports the views developed by Buddhist practitioners and scholars over a thousand years ago. How mindfulness of breathing practice supports investigation of the mind is also reviewed.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Reviewing Mindfulness Of The Mind
The next talk will begin a review of the Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, focusing on identifying and setting aside the Five Hindrances.
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by Peter Carlson | Jun 28, 2018 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk is a continuation of several focused on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse, in particular, the part of the Fourth Foundation describing how to identify and overcome the Five Hindrances. In this case, the hindrance is thina/middha, sloth and torpor. This quality of mind is overly sedated, drowsy and lacking in sufficient energy to investigate emerging self-state organizations. The antidote for sloth and torpor involves a more energetic application of the intention to bring focused attention to the breath sensations and maintain this focus persistently. When this strategy is insufficient, other useful remedies found in the traditional teachings were described. Peter emphasized that, when one participates in a retreat lasting at least a week, there comes a period of time when awareness “wakes up”, becoming more alert, manageable and sensitized to mental processes. This insight reveals how often our everyday consciousness is impaired by “subtle dullness”, such as when daydreaming. This was accompanied by discussion regarding how this hindrance affects various people attending the talk.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: OVERCOMING SLOTH AND TORPOR
The topic of next week’s talk will be overcoming restlessness and worry.
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by Peter Carlson | Jul 3, 2014 | Listen to Dharma Talks
Continuing the ongoing exploration of the Four Noble Truths, Peter described the concept of the Five Aggregates affected by clinging, which is referred to in the Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness teaching. Using a graphic illustration, he showed how the factors of perception and feeling create a “bridge” between incoming sense data and the further processing that occurs before conscious awareness (the graphic and accompanying notes are posted on the site as well). Without the benefit of mindfulness, concentration and tranquility, perception is biased and distorted by the conditioning factors, with the result that what is transitory and non-self is misperceived as enduring and a self. The practice of vipassana can reveal the misperception and reorient the energy of the mind toward clear awareness and benevolent intention. This is the process of awakening.
during the next dialogue, Peter will describe how a conceptual and experiential understanding of perception and feeling is contained within the doctrine of paticca samuppada, dependent origination. Peter will develop a different translation of this term, as “contingent provisional emergence”
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by Peter Carlson | Jan 31, 2019 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk focuses on how persistent investigation of the breath frees up “mental energy” from the hindrances, thereby releasing subjective awareness of piti (joy) and sukha (happiness). After describing the classical Buddhist definitions of these qualities of awareness, Peter discussed the characteristic of piti as an enthusiastic engagement of investigative awareness regarding what is emerging into consciousness and of sukha as a feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment. These qualities are supportive of vipassana, the investigation of the three characteristics of Buddhism; impermanence, the absence of an enduring and autonomous self and the distress and confusion that results from craving and clinging to a false view of self.
This was followed by discussion of how the experience of joy and happiness manifests among the participants in the meeting.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Mindfulness of Breathing and Joie de Vivre.doc
The topic for next week begins a series of discussions of how mindfulness of breathing cultivates more clear awareness of the practice of vipassana through analyzing the categories of the mind conditioners called cetasikas. The discussions elaborate on these stanzas from the Anapanasati Sutta (translation by Gil Fronsdal):
He trains himself, ‘I will breath in experiencing mental formation.’
He trains himself, ‘I will breath out experiencing mental formation.’
He trains himself, ‘I will breath in calming the mental formation.’
He trains himself, ‘I will breath out calming the mental formation.’
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by Peter Carlson | Mar 12, 2017 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During This talk, Peter described the advances for insight fostered by the 7 awakening factors: mindfulness, investigation of mental phenomena, energy/effort, joy/enthusiastic interest, tranquility, concentration/unification of mental functions and equanimity/balance of attention and energy. A graphic was provided to demonstrate how the awakening factors can be reflected in the traditional “5 Powers” concept, reworded, as the contradiction to the graphic discussed during the “Out Of Balance Mind” talk. This was followed by a discussion period.
Here are the notes prepared for this discussion: BOJJHANGA-7 AWAKENING FACTORS
Another guided meditation recording from earlier in the day with body sweep practice entitled “Head Trip Meditation” is also posted here.
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