Homework!
I’ve been doing the “Required Advanced Reading” for Phillip Moffitt’s next retreat, titled: Meditating on the Nine Bodies: A Practical Map for Insight Practitioners (which I’ll be attending at the end of this month.)
The requirement is to read the first six chapters of Phillip’s new book, Awakening through the Nine Bodies: Explorations in Consciousness for Mindfulness Meditation and Yoga Practitioners.
It’s pretty unusual for there to be a homework assignment(!) required to attend a retreat, but I think this is going to be a pretty unusual retreat.
(I already read the book when it first came out last fall. Let me just say: It’s not a quick read. But if you’re interested, it’s worth it!)
The “Nine Bodies” refers to nine levels of consciousness that (according to these teachings) can be accessed/experienced through meditation. These levels are called: Physical Body, Vital Body, Emotional Body, Etheric Body, Astral Body, Intuitional Body, Spiritual Body, Divine Body, Cosmic Body.
The book includes meditation instructions for accessing each of these Bodies. Here’s an excerpt from the first one:
“Begin with simply practicing mindfulness of the wind element manifesting as breath in the Physical Body. Be mindful of any physical sensations that tell you that you are breathing; breath is occurring. You may feel the wind element as pressure, tingling, or vibration, or as an in-and-out or rising-and-falling movement.
“When you are able to consciously feel these body sensations directly without commenting on them or trying to control them through your thoughts, you are directly accessing the Physical Body. Confirm whether this is true for you. You will see that indeed consciousness knows it knows physical sensations. Instructing you to do this confirmation may seem unimportant, but the ‘knowing you know’ aspect of consciousness builds strength and confidence of mind, which helps the mind develop its more subtle capacities for attention…
“One way to describe the felt sense of being in the Physical Body is as ’embodied consciousness.’ Another is feeling ‘grounded in the body.’…. From this embodied consciousness you can develop a felt sense for the nervous system based on the principle of being grounded.
“You will discover that your attention can be grounded in any conscious experience, not just the body, if you cultivate the intention to rest attention on that experience.
“Just as the nervous system has a parasympathetic relaxation response when it realizes it is safely resting on Earth, which in turn calms and clears the mind, this calming relaxation response is generated when accessing each of the Bodies….
“From the practical perspective, it is very helpful to be able to access the Physical Body in daily life when the mind is racing and emotions are strong. I recommend that you repeatedly return to establishing mindfulness of the body ‘within the body’ throughout your day. It provides a beneficial break for an overly active mind or a mind that is habitually tuning out.”
***
Interested? You can find recordings of these and other instructions for accessing the Physical, Vital, Emotional, Etheric, and Intuitive Bodies by clicking here. Some are led by Phillip Moffitt, other by his co-teacher, Dana DePalma. Enjoy!
To Remind You
The Word
by Tony Hoagland
Down near the bottom
of the crossed-out list
of things you have to do today,
between “green thread”
and “broccoli” you find
that you have penciled “sunlight.”
Resting on the page, the word
is beautiful, it touches you
as if you had a friend
and sunlight were a present
he had sent you from some place distant
as this morning–to cheer you up,
and to remind you that,
among your duties, pleasure
is a thing,
that also needs accomplishing.
Do you remember?
that time and light are kinds
of love, and love
is no less practical
than a coffee grinder
or a safe spare tire?
Tomorrow you may be utterly
without a clue
but today you get a telegram,
from the heart in exile
proclaiming that the kingdom
still exists,
the king and queen alive,
still speaking to their children,
–to any one among them
who can find the time,
to sit out in the sun and listen.
What Could Stop You?
I’ve been listening to some of Phillip Moffitt’s talks on Awareness lately and came across this particularly helpful little bit of dharma wisdom:
“One of the big understandings and training that comes out of meditation is that we learn to start where we are, and we learn to start over.
“We connect mindfulness with clear intention, because mindfulness without a clear intention succumbs to the ego.
“So we are mindful and we have a clear intention. Then — when we add patience and persistence — we are a force to be dealt with.
Why? Because we are always willing to start where we are. And we are always willing to start over!
“For example, we’re in a situation and we get thrown off. We become aware: Oh, I’m off center. OK. Come back to center.
“We don’t go into: Oh, I always get off center. You know, ever since I was a child and I didn’t get that support I needed… Or: I’m never able to stay centered…or any of this judging and comparing. No: Just start over. But we can’t start over from somewhere other than where we are. We’re lost — so we start from there. And then we move back to center.
“So often we try to start from where we are not. It’s easy to see this in meditation. We sit down and we have an idea of what mediation is, or how this meditation is supposed to be, and we’ll try to start from where we think we should be. But the truth is that we’re sleepy, or we’re tired, or we’re something else that’s other than where we think we should be. And the effect of that is actually to lessen our effectiveness as meditators. We’re better off recognizing the sleepiness: Oh, sleepiness is like this.
“An awareness of the sleepiness and a skillful relationship to it will make it less likely that we will succumb to it, not more likely — as long as we have intention. As long as we know that in this moment: I intend to be awake and meditate. (If that’s the truth. Sometimes that’s not the truth for us. We actually don’t mind it. We’re thinking that we’re just going to doze through this one.) I’m not saying that’s wrong. Just know we’re doing it! Just know that we’re making that choice…
“Starting where we are requires patience. Starting over requires persistence. With those two, plus mindfulness with intention — What do you think happens? What’s someone going to be able to do to stop you, if you’re willing to start over from wherever you are?
“Oh, I’ve just been defeated! OK. Starting from ‘defeat,’ here’s where I’m going….
“It’s very powerful.
“So powerful that I always remind people that we must take responsibility for what we learn in the dharma. As we gain more impact, more personal empowerment, it’s very important that sila — the commitment to ethical behavior — comes with it.”
***
This excerpt is from a daylong course taught by Phillip, called Awareness of Awareness. It begins at about 8 minutes into this talk and has been edited for readability.
There Is A Thread
The Way It Is
by William Stafford
There’s a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread.
What We Talk About When We Talk About….
Mirabai and Ram Dass have just written a new book: Walking Each Other Home: Conversations on Death and Love (which is coming out soon), so of course we talked about this while I was visiting with her.
And (as I posted last week), Bhikkhu Analayo has just come out with a new book: Rebirth in Early Buddhism & Current Research, so we talked about that too.
Also, a friend of Mirabai’s had recently died (Bobo Legende, who had also written a book just before she died: Not What I Had Expected).
So as you can see, there was kind of a theme going on. Which was quite wide-ranging. And not in any way at all sad.
For example, we also talked about this little gem: The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Make Your Loved Ones’ Lives Easier and Your Own Life More Pleasant (by Margareta Magnusson).
Here’s an excerpt:
“Death cleaning…it is a term that means you remove unnecessary things and make your home nice and orderly when you think the time is coming closer for you to leave the planet…
“I have death cleaned so many times for others, I’ll be damned if someone else has to death clean after me…..
“I am now somewhere between eighty and one hundred years old. I take it as a responsibility of my old age to tell you about my experiences, because I believe this philosophy of death cleaning is important for all of us to know….
“Do not ever imagine that anyone will wish–or be able–to schedule time off to take care of what you didn’t bother to take care of yourself. No matter how much they love you, don’t leave this burden to them.”
***
Sadhu. Sadhu. Sadhu.
I Live For A While In Its Sight
I Go Among Trees
by Wendell Berry
I go among trees and sit still.
All my stirring becomes quiet
around me like circles on water.
My tasks lie in their places
where I left them, asleep like cattle.
Then what is afraid of me comes
and lives a while in my sight.
What it fears in me leaves me,
and the fear of me leaves it.
It sings, and I hear its song.
Then what I am afraid of comes.
I live for a while in its sight.
What I fear in it leaves it,
and the fear of it leaves me.
It sings, and I hear its song.
After days of labor,
mute in my consternations,
I hear my song at last,
and I sing it. As we sing,
the day turns, the trees move.
If You’re Interested….
Bhikkhu Analayo has just come out with a fascinating new book: Rebirth in Early Buddhism and Current Research, which I HIGHLY recommend if you’re at all interested in the topic…which I totally am, ever since I heard Joseph Goldstein play a recording made in the 1970s of ancient Pali chants recited spontaneously by a little 2-year-old boy (now grown up), who Joseph knows personally (as do many of the other dharma teachers I’ve sat with).
I was kind of neutral on the subject until I heard that sweet little voice!
(Links to the recordings can be found here under the boy’s name: Dhammaruwan.)
Dhammaruwan (now Bhikkhu Samadhikusala) and those tapes feature prominently in Bhikkhu Analayo’s new book:
“…it occurred to me to take a closer looks at recordings of Pali chants recited spontaneously and from memory by a small Sri Lankan child, whom I knew from the time I lived in Sri Lanka myself in the 1990s, by which time he had already become an adult. This brought to light support for his recollection of having learned these chants in the long-distant past, making it clear that they deserved a study more detailed than is possible within he confines of an article.
“In order to contextualize my findings, I also started to read up on various areas of research related to rebirth. This in turn made me realize that I had entered a minefield of at times firmly entrenched opinions regarding rebirth, leading me to investigate historical antecedents for the current debates on this topic. These four trajectories inform the four chapters of the book.”
Check it out!
Awareness. Emptiness. Radiance.
Applications are now being accepted for Spirit Rock’s next Advanced Practitioner Program (APP2) and — surprise, surprise — I’ve applied!
The APP is a year-long study-and-practice program for experienced students (those who have completed either the Dedicated Practitioner Program or the Community Dharma Leader program). The structure is a lot like DPP and CDL, with monthly homework, small-group meetings, one-on-one mentoring, and three related retreats:
- Nature of Awareness, April 15 – 23, 2019 (8 nights), at Spirit Rock with Phillip Moffit, Guy Armstrong, Susie Harrington, JoAnna (Harper) Hardy, Brian Lesage with Dawn Scott assisting.
- Emptiness and Liberation, November 12 – 20, 2019 (8 nights), at Spirit Rock with Gil Fronsdal, Susie Harrington, JoAnna Hardy, Brian Lesage with Dawn Scott assisting.
- Radiant Mind, Peaceful Heart, April 2 – 10, 2020 (8 nights), at Spirit Rock with Venerable Bhikkhu Analayo, Guy Armstrong, Susie Harrington, JoAnna Hardy, Brian Lesage with Dawn Scott assisting.
“The Buddha said that he teaches just suffering and the end of suffering. These retreats will focus on the ending of suffering — Nibbana — and the practices and insights that lead to this ending.” (click here to read more)
Sounds pretty enlightening to me!!!
What do you think, DPP and CDL buddies? Applications are being accepted from now till August 1, 2018.
Check it out.
More than Enough
Enough
by David Whyte
Enough. These few words are enough.
If not these words, this breath.
If not this breath, this sitting here.
This opening to life
we have refused
again and again
until now.
Until now.
***
(Mirabai’s meditation room)
With Mirabai
I’m back. Sort of. My body is sitting here at my desk, in my house, and my fingers are here too, typing away at the keyboard. I can feel my feet on the floor and my seat on the chair. And my breath, too — I can feel it’s right here. But my heart….oh my happy heart…. it just keeps running off. So no proper post for today. Just this. A little peek at where I’ve been (maybe always).