Why I Meditate

Since Peter plans to attend a retreat led by Steve Armstrong, and values the retreat experience, he described the life circumstances that prompted beginning to practice mindfulness meditation in 1982.  He then described the various meditation practices in other faith traditions around the world, citing Daniel Goleman’s book, “The Meditative Mind”.  Peter’s subjective experience regarding regular meditation practice and the benefits that build from repeated retreat experience were reviewed.

This was followed by the accounts of others attending the meeting regarding the benefits they experience as a result of meditation practice.

Here are the autobiographical notes prepared for the talk:  WHY I MEDITATE

Since Peter is on retreat next week, the talk will be given by Daniel Goleman, a member of the teacher’s mentoring group.  Daniel has been meditating for many years, and is also actively practicing hatha yoga.  His topic will be the integration of mindfulness and yoga, and he will be assisted by Mitch Sullen.

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How To Not Take Moods Personally

This dialogue explores the Third Foundation of Mindfulness, cittanupassana, translated as mindfulness of the mind.  After reading the content of the third foundation from Analayo’s book on satipatthana, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, Peter related this to what our era calls “mood”, that is, a pervasive emotional state.  The neurological and hormonal aspects of mood were described.  This was followed by a group discussion emphasizing the impersonal nature of moods.

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Gates of Awakening

Kitty discusses the Gates of Awakening from Jack Kornfield’s book, “After the Ecstasy, The Laundry”. This is the second talk of a two part series. Unfortunately, the first recording is not available due to a recording malfunction.

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Satipatthana-Mindfulness of Breathing

—In this dialogue, Judy presented two translations of the beginning of the Satipatthana Sutta, usually translated as The Four Foundation of Mindfulness, and then explained how important it is to practice mindfulness of breathing meditation in order to understand the first section, mindfulness of the body.  During the talk, she invited the sangha to briefly practice the progressive practices of mindfulness of breathing as described in the Sutta.  At the end of the evening, she stated her intention to continue the exploration of this primary teaching, relying to a great extent on the book Satipatthana-the Direct Path To Realization by Analayo, a German Buddhist monk.

[s3mm type=”audio” files=”wp-content/uploads/2013/01/11130642/Satipatthana-Mindfulness of Breathing.mp3″ /]

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Living With Uncertainty

During this talk, Kitty explored how Buddhist practices help us relate to the inevitable uncertainty of life, sharing some of her experiences working with Hospice.  She used material from Pema Chodron’s book “Comfortable With Uncertainty” as reference.  She also included brief meditations on “open mind” and “bodhicitta mind”.

[s3mm type=”audio” files=”wp-content/uploads/2013/01/11130644/Living With Uncertainty.mp3″ titles=”Living With Uncertainty” /]

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