by Peter Carlson | Apr 30, 2015 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This guided meditation is intended to provide practical support for integrating mindfulness of breathing practice with mindfulness of the body and mindfulness of feelings. The first two tetrads of the Anapanasati Sutta are directily related to cultivating mindfulness of the body and of feelings. Part of the practice of mindfulness of the body is the contemplation of the “four elements”: earth, air, fire and water (subjective sensations of hardness, movement, temperature and cohesion). Contemplating these clear sensational qualities provides a non-commentarial focus that fosters “calming the breath body” and “calming the mental formations”, important developments related to fulfilling the four foundations of mindfulness.
This recording is accompanied by another .mp3 posting of the talk following the meditation, which supports processing how mindfulness of breathing was experienced during the meditation.
Next Wednesday’s meeting will also involve a guided meditation which is intended to provide support for integrating the third and fourth tetrads of the Anapanasati Sutta with the cultivation of the third and fourth foundations of mindfulness.
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by Peter Carlson | Nov 14, 2013 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk focuses on the practice of Right Mindfulness in the Noble Eightfold Path discourse. Peter emphasizes how finding a neutral feeling like breath awareness provides a stabilizing point of reference that can interrupt the escalation from an initial stimulus moment to a rapidly escalating “enchantment” of mental conditioning that creates and sustains a false impression that a transient mental experience is a “self”. During the dialogue, Peter repeatedly emphasized the value of the intensive training that meditation retreats provides, allowing mindfulness to be more strongly established and therefore more capable of interrupting the onset of what he calls the “selfing story”. Next week’s dialogue will be a “coaching” review of the practice of mindfulness of breathing, to help participants have more conceptual clarity about accessing breath awareness in daily life routines.
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by Peter Carlson | May 2, 2019 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk continues a long series of discussions of the Anapanasati Sutta, the Mindfulness of Breathing Discourse. The focus here is sati bojjhangha, the rmindfulness awakening factor, considered to be a primary element of the Seven Awakening Factors, monitoring and coordinating their function towards Awakening. Peter described the various ways sati is described: the four foundations of mindfulness, right mindfulness, the power of mindfulness to overcome the hindrances and to foster the development of wholesome self-state organizing processes. This was followed by a question and answer period to clarify the functions of mindfulness.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: THE MINDFULNESS AWAKENING FACTOR
Next week’s topic is Dhamma Vicaya Bojjhanga, the Investigation of Mental Phenomena Awakening Factor.
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by Peter Carlson | Mar 9, 2023 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk focuses on reviewing the 16 stanzas of the Anapanasati Sutta, one of the core teachings of Buddhism. The stanzas are typically organized into four tetrads, which mirror the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, another key Buddhist discourse. The talk of March 1, 2023 reviewed how the practice of anapanasati, mindfulness of breathing meditation, restructures important neural pathways in the brain, supporting the process of Awakening, and this presentation is intended to complement that talk. There are several references within this talk from an important book on the subject: “Mindfulness of Breathing–a practice guide and translations” by Bhikkhu Analayo, a contemporary authority on this topic.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Anapanasati 16 Steps Review
Here is a translation of the Anapanasati Sutta by Thanissaro Bhikkhu, another respected scholar/monk: Anapanasati-Thanissaru Bhikkhu
The talk planned for next week will provide an opportunity for another of our teachers, Lezlie Laws, to review a residential retreat she attended that integrated intensive hatha yoga practice with mindfulness of breathing meditation.
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by Peter Carlson | Sep 17, 2020 | Listen to Dharma Talks
The two reviews during this talk, focused on sati and saddha (mindfulness and confidence), represent the first two of the “Universal Wholesome Cetasikas”, within the full listing of 52 cetasikas found in the Buddhist commentaries. During the talk the fundamental benefits that are the consequence of cultivating anapanasati, mindfulness of breathing meditation, are reviewed. Peter described the relationship between sati and the remaining six of the Seven Awakening Factors, as the monitor of the coordinated actions of these factors in shaping the experience of “selfing”, the goal of which is to find liberation from dukkha, that is, relief from distress and confusion. As mindfulness becomes more workable in one’s life, confidence regarding the benefits of regular and diligent mindfulness meditation increases, providing what is contemporaneously termed “self efficacy”, confidence in one’s ability to manage the stresses we are confronted with in current life experience. There is an accompanying guided meditation recording, “Guided Mindfulness With Confidence Meditation” that is posted and found in the guided meditation archive. The review is followed by a brief question and comment opportunity.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Mindfulness and Confidence
Next week’s talk will review the next two of the Universal Wholesome Cetasikas, Hiri (clear conscience) and Ottappa (respect for consequences). These two mind conditioners support cultivating the virtue aggregate of the Noble Eightfold Path: Right Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood.
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