Browsing Category "Talks"
1 Jul
2016
Posted in: Talks
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Head to Heart to Body to Ground

5651713-Buddha_with_hand_touching_ground-1I’ve been listening to a lot of talks by Ajahn Sucitto and I’ve noticed that recently he’s been describing meditation in a way that really “grabs” me.

He calls it: Head to Heart to Body to Ground. It’s a way of summing up the practice of releasing afflictive mental states (anger, sadness, guilt, anxiety, etc) by transferring these concepts (from the head as thoughts: That person is such an idiot!) into emotional resonances (in the heart as feelings: I’m really angryinto somatic experiences (in the body as sensations: My jaw is tightand then on through to the ground of awareness and acceptance (a sense that: I can let this flow through me into something bigger, more spacious, which can hold it while it plays itself out.)

It’s a great talk. Listen to it here.

30 Jun
2016
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W.A.I.T.

72ce8b5c6362c4bd01b1a96ca460ad67I’ve finished my jury duty! It wasn’t too bad. I spent of lot of time listening to dharma talks on my iPhone.

Here’s a little gem I picked up from a recent talk by Joseph Goldstein on Right Speech: Because so much of our speech is really pretty useless…. we’re not saying anything important, or helpful, or even anything particularly interesting… maybe whenever we find ourself going on and on about something, we could think of the acronym W.A.I.T. Which stands for: Why Am I Talking?

26 May
2016
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How Do You Need to Live?

How-much-will-fitI’m leaving on Saturday for a few weeks in Italy, which may (or may not) be the reason I sat down this morning to listen (actually re-listen) to one of Akincano‘s talks, titled: Traveling Into One’s Life.

It’s a talk that he gave at the end of a recent retreat….a “going away talk,” which is a standard part of most retreats, where the teacher suggests ways to take the meditation practice into “daily life.”

Akincano’s take is a bit different. He says:
“If your everyday life hasn’t brought you to awakening so far, then it might not be the best idea to try to integrate your awakening practice into your everyday life. It might be better to do it the other way around….to see how much of your everyday life you can fit into your awakening practice.” 

He asks:
How do you need to live to do justice to what you have found out about yourself? About the workings of your mind. About the principles and dynamics that underpin your experience? How do you need to live in your life to do justice to that?

And:
“If you want to take responsibility…if you want to live at the edge of what you know, of what you have understood….what does that entail when you go home?”
 

And then:
You don’t get insights that don’t demand something of you.”

There’s more.

It’s sobering, I will admit. But I think what he’s saying is quite important, and not usually said so directly.

Let yourself take this journey. Click here to listen. (22 minutes)

23 May
2016
Posted in: Retreats, Talks
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Show, Don’t Tell

how-to-tell-youI’m back from the weekend retreat led by Anushka Fernandopulle and I’ve been thinking all morning about how to tell you about it….and all I can think of is: there’s nothing I can say that will give you a sense of how sweet it was, how much deeper and more meaningful it was than I had expected it to be (it was “just” a “little” weekend, non-residential retreat after all, and I’m a “very experienced” meditator — right? — so really, how “good” could it be.)

Well, it was great.

But how do I explain to you what I mean by “great”…how do I convey what it’s like to sit and get quiet — even for a weekend — and listen to someone who speaks from very deep personal experience (and who uses very clear, practical, everyday language) about how to learn to live in the world in a radically beautiful, simple, and profoundly peaceful “new” way (which the Buddha outlined 2600 years ago).

Hmmm.

Maybe I should just let Anushka do the talking. Click here to watch a video of her speaking at Seattle Insight Center. The title of her talk is “13 Ways of Looking at Dharma Practice.” It won’t be quite like sitting with her for the weekend.

But maybe it will give you a taste.

Enjoy!

11 May
2016
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If You’ve Just Got 5 Minutes

the-path-opensMaybe by now you are all tired of me pointing to this or that talk, always saying how terrific it is, how clear or inspiring or whatever… posting a link and more or less assuming that you’ve all got plenty of time to listen to hour-long dharma talks.

Which, of course, is not the case.

So I’m going to try something different this time.

If you DO happen to have an extra hour…I highly recommend listening to this talk by Ajahn Sucitto. (It’s the introductory talk he gave at a weeklong retreat on the theme of: The Deeper You Go, the Lighter it Gets.)

If you DON’T have an hour….see if you can find just 5 minutes to listen to what seems to me to be the real heart of this practice. (Start at about 5 minutes into the talk and go to about the 10-minute mark.)

And if you don’t even have 5 minutes….just listen to 1 minute (between the 5- and 6-minute mark.)

For me, that’s the bit that says it all.

9 May
2016
Posted in: Practice, Talks
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Beginning and Ending

begin-and-endHere’s a very interesting practice I’ve decided to try…which I heard Norm Fischer suggest on a talk I listened to on Dharma Seed. The practice is a variation on one of the trainings he outlines in his book, Training in Compassion: Zen Teaching on the Practice of Lojongand it’s a way to work with the slogan: “Begin at the Beginning; End at the End.”

Here’s the practice:

Train yourself, so that at the beginning of the day, as soon as your feet first strike the floor as you get out of bed, stop for a moment, take one breath….and remind yourself of your deepest intention…whatever it may appear to be, in that moment. Say to yourself, “What do I want to do with this day of my life.” 

And then go forth.

At the end of the day, just as you’re getting into bed, while your feet are still on the floor, stop for a moment, and say one word to yourself: “Grateful.” Just see what comes into your mind.

And then be open to it.

***

You can listen to Norm’s full talk here, or go to the last 3 minutes to hear him talk about these instructions.

 

5 May
2016
Posted in: Retreats, Talks
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Kansas City Here We Come!

Goin' to KCSeveral of us are planning to hit the road on Friday, May 20, to attend a very cool weekend retreat in the Kansas City area led by Anushka Fernandoppule. The cost is $60 (plus a donation to the teacher.) There are no more rooms left at the  center, but some of us will be camping on site ($3 per night). We leave St. Louis at noon on Friday (5/20) and plan to be back on Sunday evening (5/22 at about 7:30pm).

Want to join us? Email me here. (For more info and to register, click here.)

Want a head start? Listen to this very cool talk given by Anushka at Spirit Rock last month, titled: Evolving Together: Meditation and Modern Science. (Click here.)

24 Feb
2016
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These Three

These 3Last night, as part of getting ready to sit the March month-long retreat at Spirit Rock, I listened (again) to another great talk by Guy Armstrong, given at the start of the February month-long retreat that’s going on at Spirit Rock right now.

There was so much that I found helpful, inspiring and encouraging in this talk that it’s hard for me to choose what to post, but here goes:

Guy said that he has come to the conclusion that everything we do in practice — and everything that any of the teachers are ever trying to help us develop — is aimed at one of these three things:

(1) Brightening the Mind
(2) Finding Inner Peace
(3) Understanding the Nature of Things

He went on to say that Brightening the Mind is what leads to “normal human happiness.” We do this by practicing generosity (dana), ethical conduct (sila), and lovingkindness (metta).

He said that Finding Inner Peace (samatha) and Understanding the Nature of Things (vipassana) are what lead to Liberation (nibbana).

He said a lot more about all these things. And he said it in such a delightful way! It’s a terrific talk. Click here to listen.

17 Feb
2016
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Even the Birds Came to Listen

jungle-talkLast night I listened (again) to a terrific talk by Ajahn Sucitto given at a recent retreat held (I think) in Thailand….you can hear tropical birds in the background!….in which there was so much wisdom and inspiration and helpful instruction to be taken in — and to be enjoyed — that I’m sure I’ll listen to it again.

Just one of the things he talked about that I found so intriguing was that there is a difference between the physical body (which ages and sag and basically falls apart) and the sensory body (which does NOT age, sag or fall apart — but which actually gets BETTER!). The physical body is what we see when we look in the mirror; the sensory body is what we feel when we sit in meditation. He talked about finding what is comfortable/pleasurable/beautiful in the sensory body and then spreading that comfort and ease into those parts that feel tight or constricted by remembering the wholesome intentions we’ve set to be open and accepting.

Attention follows intention,” he said. Which is just one of the little jewels I’ve taken to heart from the talk.

I could go on and on…but Ajahn Sucitto does it WAY better. Listen to it here. (And thanks, Carolyn, for turning me on to that talk!)

11 Feb
2016
Posted in: Poems, Talks
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In the Garden

in-the-gardenI’ll be sitting the March month-long retreat at Spirit Rock and have been “getting into the groove” by listening to talks from the February month-long retreat going on right now. The talk I listened to last night was particularly lovely. It was given by Guy Armstrong and the title is The Power of Lovingkindness. In it, he quotes this poem by Shams of Tabriz:

I, You, He, She, We….
In the garden of mystic lovers,
These are not true distinctions.