by Peter Carlson | Dec 8, 2014 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this second evening of the weekend retreat at the Franciscan Center, Peter summarized the previous talks and instructions during the retreat, fostering increasing skill in the practice of anapanasati, mindfulness of breathing. He read an excerpt from the Anapanasati Sutta, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu, downloaded from the site “Access To Insight”, that illustrated what he had described previously. A progressive degree of the more subtle details of the sensation of breathing was used to explain how the process of awakening develops: first, complete identification with internal narrative as definitive of lived experience (that is, ignorance, from the Buddhist perspective), through a “half-and-half” awareness of narrative and breath awareness, to full breath awareness with no intrusive narrative. This is the cultivation of Samadhi, concentration. The practice of vipassana was described as a revisiting of the narratives, with enough “dispassion” (viraga in Pali) to see the narratives as mental fabrications, impermanent and non-self. These insights constitute the process of awakening.
This practice was related to the cultivation of the Seven Awakening Factors: Mindfulness, Investigation of Mental Phenomena, Energy/Right Effort, Joy, Tranquility, Concentration and Equanimity.
Hopefully, the next posting will include the recording of the Wednesday night dhamma dialogue, a review of the retreat experience by those present who participated in the weekend retreat.
by Peter Carlson | Dec 8, 2014 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This recording was made during the first night of the weekend retreat at the Franciscan Center, a delightful retreat facility on the Hillsborough River in Tampa, Florida, from December 5th to the 7th. This recording is extraordinarily long, almost 95 minutes. The first part is Peter’s introduction to the practice of anapanasati, mindfulness of breathing. Included in the talk is a description of the “three refuges”: “I take refuge in the Buddha…I take refuge in the Dhamma…I take refuge in the Sangha.” Peter described the Buddha as the reality of awakening, not with an emphasis on nirvana, but on the release each person can experience from the burdens of craving and clinging. The Dhamma was described as the principles and practices described in the Buddhist tradition that foster awakening, from the perspective of what is called “Secular Buddhism”, that is, the Westernized approach that is relatively free from traditional rites and rituals, and draws on scientific research that validates the important insights of mindfulness meditation practices. The Sangha was presented as the community of “truth seekers” who gather for the practices leading to awakening.
The last 45 minutes of the recording involves a guided mindfulness of breathing meditation session that provides useful periodic comments to foster “noticing distractions, disregarding them and returning to the practice of aiming and sustaining attention to the in- and out-breath”.
This posting is accompanied by a recording from December 6, during which Peter described the different levels of intimate breath awareness that can be acquired with diligent attention to the in- and out-breath.