This guided meditation provides suggestions for practicing the contemplations put forward in the Second Foundation of Mindfulness. It is meant to accompany the Dharma talk of the same evening entitled ” Mindfulness Of Feelings Review”.
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During this talk, Allie Vaknin provides a review of the second of the four foundations of mindfulness, vedanupassana, traditionally translated as mindfulness of feelings. Her comments include references to how feelings can be understood not only as emotions, but also as craving pleasant experiences orexperiencing unpleasant feelings with aversion. The goal of practice is to directly know a feeling as just a feeling, not a person, without impulsive reactivity.
Here is the Emotion Wheel illustration she refers to in the talk: Feeling Wheel
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This talk is the first in a series that focuses on representing contemporary cultural distress as dukkha, the fundamental dissatisfaction we all experience. Peter reviewed the three forms of dukkha described by the Buddha: dukkha due to physical discomfort, dukkha due to mental fabrication and dukkha due to the impermanent fluctuations of life circumstances. During the next several weeks various causes and conditions conducive to dukkha such as consumerism and the rapidly escalating nature of modern media will be described relative to the practice of mindfulness of breathing meditation. Peter, through his training and experience as a mental health professional, made a distinction between the mental health benefits of regular meditation practice and the truly liberating goal of the practice which is the transformative experience of nirvana, the unconditioned. Mental health is a foundation through which liberation can be realized.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Awakening Through Distress and Confusion
Next week’s talk will focus on current levels of stress experience in this culture, using contemporary statistical data.
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This talk reviews one of the most important of the Seven Awakening Factors, Viriya (veer-yah). It is also found in several of the many categories of Buddhist psychology: as Right Effort, as one of the Five Powers (overcoming the Hindrances) and of the Five Faculties (empowering the other Awakening Factors). Peter used the term Energy/Effort in describing this quality, suggesting it manifests as the effort to channel the energy flowing through the mind. It combines with the Awakening Factors of Mindfulness and Investigation of Mental Phenomena to direct the energy of attention; this coordination produces the other Awakening Factors of Joy, Tranquility, Concentration and Equanimity (topics to be covered in future talks). He also described different levels of effort, using his terminology: Initiating Effort, Sustaining Effort and Fulfilling Effort, relating these three to mindfulness of breathing practice. He also included adhitthana, strong determination, as another level of applied effort. This was followed by discussion among those attending regarding the application of Energy/Effort.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: ENERGY AWAKENING FACTOR
Next week’s talk will focus on the Awakening Factor of Piti, usually translated as Joy
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:33 — 109.1MB)
This talk is part of a series exploring the Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, specifically the nature of the hindrance Restlessness and Worry. During the talk, the essential characteristics of the hindrance, that is, instability of focus caused by restlessness (related to craving for pleasantness and to avoid unpleasantness) and the repetitive nature of worrying (related to clinging to a repetitive thought of regret or anticipated disaster). Peter described how mindfulness of breathing meditation reduces the general level of restlessness in the mind, manifested as samadhi/passadhi (stability of focus/inner tranquility), which enables the ability to see worrisome thoughts as just phenomena of one’s personal history and not certainly a valid line of thought to pursue. This was followed by discussion by those present, who talked about their personal experiences regarding overcoming restlessness and worry.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: OVERCOMING RESTLESSNESS AND WORRY
Next week’s discussion will investigate the hindrance of Skeptical Doubt.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 58:39 — 107.4MB)