Vivid, Yes — Tangible, No
Our Dharma Book KM Group is getting into some really interesting stuff now. Like Intention and Consciousness and the Nature of the Mind! Here’s a passage from the book we’re reading (Mindfulness, by Joseph Goldstein), where he quotes Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche:
“Normally we operate under the deluded assumption that everything has some sort of true, substantial reality. But when we look more carefully, we find that the phenomenal world is like a rainbow–vivid and colorful, but without any tangible existence.
“When a rainbow appears, we see many beautiful colors–yet a rainbow is not something we can clothe ourselves with, or wear as an ornament; it simply appears through the conjunction of various conditions. Thoughts arise in the mind in just the same way. They have no tangible reality or intrinsic existence at all. There is therefore no logical reason why thoughts should have so much power over us, not any reason why we should be enslaved by them…
“Once we recognize that thoughts are empty, the mind will no longer have the power to deceive us. But as long as we take our deluded thoughts to be real, they will continue to torment us mercilessly, as they have been doing throughout countless past lives.”
Or?
This is the poem that speaks to me today:
A Cottony Fate, by Jane Hirschfield
Long ago, someone
told me: avoid or.
It troubles the mind
as a held-out piece of meat disturbs a dog.
Now I too am sixty.
There was no other life.
2015
Precious Human Birth
Oh Baby! My very first grand nephew was born early this morning:
Ethan Michael
Aug 29, 2015, 3:38 am
7 lbs 12 oz
21 1/2 inches
Mother and Baby…and Great Auntie Jan…are all doing fine!
Stumbled onto Gold!
Last night I was “digging” around on Dharmaseed for a series of talks to get into, when I noticed this little nugget of news:
Audio Restoration of Achaan Sucitto’s Anapanasati Series: Alun Hoggett has kindly worked to improve the audio quality of Sucitto’s Anapanasati series. Alun writes:
“I stumbled upon these talks when I was looking for a detailed exploration of the Anapanasati Sutta. Ajahn Sucitto drew me in with his cheerful matter-of-fact, often lighthearted delivery and the light he shed on each of the 16 instructions in the sutta. I was particularly drawn to his words on how we can practice directing our attention, and then feeding this attention skillfully so we can maintain a steady awareness. He encourages tuning in to both the quality of attention and the way we sense the object to which that attention is directed.
“When I first listened to these talks the volume of the recording went from soft and muffled to loud and distorted. But I was so taken by what I was hearing that I decided to put the talks into my audio editing suite to see if I could make them clearer. I evened out the levels, filtered some of the background noise and balanced the frequencies to make the voice stand out. Although it is impossible to remove distortion, the final versions are much easier to follow and, from my perspective, will continue to bring insight after listening to them numerous times.”
***
So I clicked on the series of talks. I’ve only listened to the first one, but I can already tell — I’ve stumbled onto GOLD. The audio quality isn’t perfect, but it’s not bad. There are 8 talks in all, each between 40 and 60 minutes. They were given at Cittiviveka monastery (in England) during an 8-day retreat in October of 1998.
Click here for the series. Try listening to one talk each day, and then sitting for a bit, if possible. (I listen to the talks at night and then sit the next morning). It’s kind of like being on retreat!
Priceless.
Great Good Friends
I just want to say how delighted I am to have such great friends. One of whom called me today (as I was on my way to pick up cat food) and without a hint of self-consciousness or any need to explain ourselves to each other, we quite naturally fell into a very rich and very satisfying conversation about things that really matter in both of our lives. (Don’t worry, I pulled over to the side of the road before answering the phone.)
I’ve found that this happens a lot in my life. I had a very supportive conversation at lunch just yesterday with a friend from back when we were both in graduate school (30 years ago!). And a sweet “atta girl” check-in on Skype just last week. Not to mention all the other exchanges I’ve had over the months and years with so many other friends (and family members) who encourage, listen to, and keep connection with me.
I’m so fortunate.
Thank you all, my great good friends.
I love every one of you.
2015
5 K(arma) Walk
Meditators do more that just sit!
On Sunday, Oct 4, the Buddhist Council of Greater St. Louis will host a 5K (Karma) Walk to Feed the Hungry, an annual fundraiser to benefit Buddhist Global Relief, founded by Bhikkhu Bodhi.
When: Sunday, October 4, beginning at 1:00 pm
Where: Tower Grove Park, Sons of Rest Pavilion (SE corner of the park)
Suggested donation: $25 to participate (includes a T-shirt)
More info and to register: Click here.
The Silence Will Be There
For today’s post: another poem, which for me points — however indirectly — to what it’s like (sometimes) to sit in meditation.
Hamper
by Jane Hirshfield
As sunlight or darkness fits itself
around lamp, table, or mountain,
silence stitches itself
around hopes, thoughts, and words.
Some hear it
the sound of their own speech
coming back from where they are dead.
Some find it summer-cool pillow,
winter wool coat.
Some tack their names
on its door and step inside.
And if in that room there is happiness
so without measure
you cannot keep your eyes open to see it,
and if, in that room, sorrow bends
like late nettles in sleet,
the silence will be there also to greet them,
setting each in its wicker hamper
on a plain blanket, two sleepy puppies.
Citizens of Dharma Town
When I started this Dharma Town website, I planned to have t-shirts made up with “Citizen of Dharma Town” and the town graphics and then to offer them for sale to friends, sangha members, blog followers, etc. I made one for myself and for a couple of people who asked for them, but I never got around to promoting the idea — until now!
Here’s what they look like. They’re printed full color on pre-shrunk, 100% organic cotton, 4.5 oz Anvil brand t-shirts. Available in lots of sized, but the only ones I will have on hand are M, L, XL. Cost is $25. Plus postage, if I need to send it out of town.
If you’d like one, send me an email here.
Not Indifferent, But Absolutely Patient
At last week’s Sunday Sangha, we had a lively discussion about Equanimity…what it is (non-reactivity) and what it isn’t (indifference)…so I thought for next Sunday, I’d continue in that vein by reading this passage from Meditation: A Way of Awakening, by Ajahn Sucitto.
“Equanimity is the widest and most still register of the heart. While based on empathy, the response of equanimity to what it meets is to hold whatever feeling, perception or activity that arises in a wide and non-reactive space. Equanimity is a rare quality because our normal response to ourselves and others is to pick at the flaws and to polish and relish the good.
“This is natural enough, but where equanimity pays off is in meeting situations and conditions that we seem unable to change: the destructive or pointless habits of others, or the irritating phobias and reactions that arise in our own minds. Without equanimity, we either get frustrated to the point of anger or despair, give up and lose faith or we gloss it all over with denial.
“Equanimity retains empathy–it’s not indifferent but it is absolutely patient. When meeting the good, we notice the sense of the skillful and the brightness that it causes — but we don’t get giddy and driven by perfectionism to always expect the best from ourselves and others. With the bad, we notice how that is, without getting lost in wounding and blaming. In both cases, we lessen the potential for suffering and stress…
“The aim here is not to whitewash behavior that could do with an overhaul, but to release the activity of taking it to be a self. (Bad people do some good things, and good people get it wrong sometimes…this is the realization of not-self.)
“When this reflexive activity [of self’-making] is released or weakened, a truthful assessment and awareness of the possibilities of change can take place. We keep faith with ourselves and others. We can take responsibility for the causes and conditions that our mind encourages in the present, but not be weighed down by the error of the past.”
How the Mind Creates Reality
Our KM Book Group is now reading the chapter on “Formations and Consciousness,” in Joseph Goldstein’s Mindfulness book.
He writes: The great challenge here is both to understand consciousness as a magical display and at the same time to live a life of wisdom and compassion, engaged with the world. An intriguing description of how these two levels inform one another, of how the mind creates the reality we experience, was written by Victor S. Johnston in his book, Why We Feel: The Science of Human Emotions:
“Consider a world without consciousness. The darkness is a bubbling cauldron of energy and vibrating matter, locked in the dance of thermal agitation. Through shared electrons, or the strange attraction of unlike charges, quivering molecules, not free to roam, absorb and emit their characteristic quanta packages of energy with the surrounding fog. Free gas molecules, almost oblivious to gravity but buffeted in all directions by their neighbors, form swirling turbulent flows or march in zones of compression and expansion…
“A massive solar flux and cosmic radiation from events long past crisscross space with their radiant energy and silently mix with the thermal glow of living creatures…
“[W]ithin the warmth of their sticky protein bodies, the dim glow of consciousness is emerging to impose its own brand of organization on this turbulent mix of energy/matter. The active filter of consciousness illuminates the darkness, discards all irrelevant radiation, and in a grand transmutation converts and amplifies the relevant. Dead molecules erupt into flavors of bitterness or sweetness, electromagnetic frequencies burst with color, hapless air pressure waves become the laughter of children, and the impact of a passing molecule fills a conscious mind with the aroma of roses on a warm summer afternoon.”