by Peter Carlson | Oct 17, 2013 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this dialogue, Peter reviewed how certain of the cetasikas (mind conditioning factors) can be associated with the word “commitment”. The purpose of these comparisons is to set the stage for revisiting the Buddhist precepts in order to understand the core virtues they represent and develop a contemporary usage. The cetasikas reviewed are cetana (volition), vitakka (applied attention), vicara (investigative attention), adhimokkha (determination), viriya (energy), piti (enthusiasm), and chanda (zeal).
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by Peter Carlson | Oct 10, 2013 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This dialogue initiates several discussions of the practice of Right Effort on the Eightfold Path. During this talk, Peter described the classical rendering of the Four Noble Efforts, placed into the context of 21st century neuroscience. He quoted the statements of Dr. Dan Siegal, who describes the importance of integrating different neural pathways-emotional, cognitive and behavioral-in the process of transforming “energy into information”. Peter then described the characteristics of the five hindrances of classical Buddhist teachings in the context of neural “dys-integration” as a way to understand the nature of suffering. Next week’s planned dialogue focuses on revisiting the Buddhist precepts with contemporary terms such as “commitment”.
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by Peter Carlson | Jul 5, 2012 | Listen to Dharma Talks
Since this meeting occurred on July 4, Peter talked about the Buddhist approach to “…life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. We explored the concept of the Middle Path, between agitation and sedation, too much faith/rigidity and too much skepticism/disorganization. Peter emphasized that the application of mindfulness cultivates equanimity, a dynamic process of balancing energy and cognition, guided by benevolent intention.
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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.
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by Peter Carlson | Oct 13, 2011 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This dialogue describes piti (joy) and sukkha (happiness) as the result of increasing concentration, due to the setting aside of the hindrances. Once the energy of consciousness isn’t “dumped” into the hindrances, the mind naturally becomes buoyant, resilient and interested in investigating what has arisen in awareness. Rapture, a potent manifestation of joy, develops in stages as the mind moves into the extraordinary levels called jhana, which will be discussed the next few meetings.
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