by Peter Carlson | Oct 15, 2020 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This training meditation is intended to suggest ways to cultivate awareness of what are called the “Six Beautiful Pairs” of cetasikas, categories of mind that promote self-states that are free from dukkha, distress and confusion. These qualities are manifested through thorough and persistent investigation of the cycles of breathing in and breathing out mindfully. The pairs represent beneficial pairings of sankhara, mind conditioning factors and the mind that reflects them in awareness. The pairs are: tranquility, lightness, pliancy, wieldiness, proficiency and uprightness. There is an accompanying posted recording entitled “The Six Beautiful Pairs of Cetasikas–October 14, 2020” that reviews and clarifies these cetasikas, which can be found in the archive.
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by Peter Carlson | Sep 15, 2022 | Listen to Dharma Talks
There are 25 wholesome mind conditioners described in Buddhist psychology; this talk reviews the first 7 of these functions. They are present in each moment of consciousness, operating to free the mind from distress and confusion. The value in reviewing them comes from first being able to identify them conceptually, then to recognize their operation in consciousness. Ultimately, this awareness “deconstructs” the belief that there is an enduring, autonomous self–instead, there is direct realization that the self is fabricated through the interactions of various functions.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: WHOLESOME MIND CONDITIONERS, PART ONE
The focus of next week’s talk will be on the “Six Beautiful Pairs” of wholesome mind conditioners, which represent the beneficial effect of the conditioners reviewed during this talk.
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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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