Last week I started a series, we did loving kindness practice. I gave you homework, those of you who were here last week, to do META loving kindness practice all week, and what a week it has been in Los Angeles. I hope that, um, you did do loving kindness, whether you're here or you're visiting a, joining us from somewhere else in the state or country appropriately. The topic in the series for tonight is compassion.
Read MoreI'm going to start tonight a series of heart practice teachings and practices. We'll start with Loving kindness tonight.
So the Buddha said, “This is what I did and it led me to a place of compassion and of loving kindness and of equanimity, appreciation, it ended suffering. And when suffering was ended, what remained was a feeling of loving kindness for all living beings, feeling of compassion for all living beings, a feeling of equanimity and appreciation.”
But in the teaching in the Eightfold Path, he doesn't say anything about loving kindness and compassion. He says, “Here's what you do, and the outcome will be loving kindness and compassion.” Mindfulness will lead to compassion. As you are mindful and we turn towards our pain, you will develop compassion for pain.
Read MoreSome reflections on renunciation tonight. What is it? Of course the whole conversation in the Buddhist context is, how do we end suffering? How do we find a way to live our real lives that doesn't make it more difficult than it needs to be? So that we don't create extra suffering on top of the already often uncomfortable reality of having a body, a nervous system and a mind. The context is important that, in Buddhism, when we talk about ending suffering, we're not talking about ending pain.
Read MoreI don't have a lecture prepared. I don't have a Dharma talk topic for tonight but I'm open to discussing and sharing my thoughts, perspectives and understandings with you, for any, any topic, any questions you might have about meditation, about Buddhism, about teachings that you're aware of or that you'd like to hear some thoughts on…
Read MoreI'm going to talk about the eightfold path, the core directions of how to wake up. I'm gonna talk about a bunch of stuff tonight. I thought I'd talk about ethics, meditation and the wisdom that comes from that. It's called Sila Samadhi Panya. For the topic I think I'm going to go a little bit hard on ethics tonight and the precepts and the importance of Ethical behavior…
Read MoreI've gone back and forth on what I want to talk about tonight. I was thinking of talking about desire and the second noble truth: craving is the cause of suffering.
Read MoreGood to see everyone. I'm glad to be back. I missed the last two Mondays because I was out of town. I was in India with about 28 people from the Sangha, I thought I would reflect a little bit on this. We were on a Buddhist pilgrimage, I’ll talk a little bit about that tonight…
Read MoreHow To Respond
I thought I'd talk tonight about confusion, about ignorance, about suffering. About Buddhism and Buddha's teachings on how to respond to the confusion in the world, the suffering and the reality of the human condition. How confusion is actually more ordinary than wisdom. Wisdom is rare…
Was the election outcome pleasant, unpleasant or neutral?
Read MoreA huge part of, of what Buddhism asks us to do is to see clearly the nature of the human mind. We turn towards it, we observe, we investigate, we look at the impersonal and often unpleasant nature of having a self centered human mind.
What’s your biggest fear? What are some of the big fears you’re experiencing?
Read MoreTonight and maybe next week we’ll bring up politics. It feels like, it’s true for most people or a lot of people, the political impending election is a topic of conversation. It’s on our minds. It brings up, for a lot of people, a lot of fear, a lot of judgment, a lot of craving for a certain outcome. Craving for another outcome to be in favor of whatever side you're on.
How is the election effecting you? Is this one of the ways you experience suffering? Or are you unengaged?
Read MoreTreating The Human Condition
I'm going to talk about this perspective that the Buddha is referred to as the great physician. That Buddhism is medicine to heal and treat the human condition. The First Noble Truth, the suffering of the human condition, and that it can be treated.
How sick are you? How is this practice helping to cure you?
Read MoreTonight, I'm going to talk about the Buddhists emphasis on inquiry and questioning. I don't know exactly where the talk will go, but I want to bring up the importance of questioning, questioning your own mind, questioning your own views and opinions. Questioning society's views and opinions, questioning religion, questioning teachers. I feel like Buddhism maybe one of the few religions that really encourages a kind of healthy skepticism, even about its own teachings.
Was there something you used to believe that now you’ve changed your mind about? Was there something you didn’t question but should have?
Read MoreMy topic for tonight, what I've been thinking about today, and what I want to talk about in the meditation, we're going to do loving kindness. The Buddhist word is metta, loving kindness meditation. It's going to be about how we treat ourselves, how we feel about ourselves.
Where are you today on self kindness? How friendly are you to people? How are you to people that are confused? How are you to people that annoy you?
Read MoreI don't have a topic for you tonight, but I'd like to encourage you to just, introduce yourself to some people that you don't know yet and take a couple minutes to meet some new folks.
Read MoreThe topic tonight is enlightenment, awakening and liberation. The big picture, the big promise of Buddhism. The third noble truth, the end of suffering is possible in this life. You can become a Arahant, a fully awakened being in this life, if you want to. If you're willing to do the work is the teaching of the Buddha.
How enlightened do you want to be? How free do you want to be?
Read MoreI'm going to talk a lot tonight about suffering because that's what we do in Buddhism. We talk about suffering and the causes of suffering and how to end suffering… or try to end suffering.
What is your favorite thing to suffer about? What do you cling to?
Read MoreInstead of giving a lecture tonight, I'm going to reflect on some of the changes that I've noticed over these last 36 years of practice and reflect a little bit on that. How my process has unfolded in a very personal way.
What changes have you seen with your practice? What kind of progress have you seen? How has it helped you?
Read MoreSo I was going to do the six realms of existence tonight. Buddhist cosmology. I'm going to take it from both a cosmological as well as a psychological perspective. Before telling you what the six realms are, for the small groups, what I'd like you to talk about with each other is your own views, your own opinions, your own perspectives. Do you believe, do you think, are you open to the possibility that there are other realms? Other than this human realm.
Do you believe that there are other realms other than this human realm? Do you believe in ghosts? Do you believe in fairies? Do you believe in dragons? Do you believe in hell? Are you open to this?
Read MoreI'm going to talk tonight about a combination of some of the Buddhist teachings about our innate personality tendencies. I'm also going to talk about some of the ways that maybe we are perceived and tend to behave in the world.
How do you think you’re perceived by others? Do you have a personality? Are you an introvert or an extrovert? How do you think you are perceived?
#AgainstTheStream #Buddhist #Meditation
Read MoreI often find it a little bit of a dilemma to be a householder Buddhist. To be following these teachings of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, who was a renunciate, who was a celibate monk. This topic of pleasure and indulgence I find it a little bit of a dilemma that a lot of my teachers who are monks, are choosing this path of celibacy, renunciation and simplicity. They're not indulging in the kind of sense pleasures that I choose to indulge in. It can sometimes set up a little bit of a feeling like a second class Buddhist, like they're the real Buddhists, the kind that are really giving up the worldly pleasures…
Read More
