On Sunday evening, we began once more looking at the Mahasatipatthana Sutta, in the Digha Nikaya. The Digha Nikaya are the longer discourses of the Buddha found in the Pali Buddhist Canon and the Mahasatipatthana Sutta, or The Greater Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness, is considered by many to be the most important sutra in the entire Pali Canon.
The sutra begins with the Buddha stating there is "this one way to the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and distress, for the disappearance of pain and sadness, for the gaining of the right path, for the realization of Nibbana (Nirvana): - the four foundations of mindfulness."
Buddha goes on to describe the four practices. A practitioner "abides contemplating body as body, ardent, clearly aware and mindful, having put aside hankering and fretting for the world" and likewise contemplating feelings as feelings, mind as mind and mind-objects as mind-objects.
What does it mean to contemplate "body as body" or "feelings as feelings"? It is simple, bare, clear awareness of the body just as it is without analyzing, associating or judging and the clear, mindful awareness of the arising and passing away of feelings just as they are.
Buddha goes on to describes each of the mindfulness practices. The practitioner "sits down cross-legged, holding his body erect, having established mindfulness before him. Mindfully, he breathes in, mindfully he breathes out. Breathing in a long breath, he knows that he breathes in a long breath. Breathing out a long breath, he knows that he breathes out a long breath." Likewise for a short breath. She breathes in "conscious of the whole body" and "breathes out calming the whole bodily process". She "abides contemplating arising phenomena in the body" ... "vanishing phenomena in the body" ... "not clinging to anything in the world."
When I first read this sutra, I had already been a meditator for 30 years but, it was the first time I heard the instruction in the Buddha's own words. There was an immediate connection with the Buddha, like a kind of telepathy that transcends time and space and transmits the teaching very directly. All the years of practice were suddenly grounded not only in the tradition of my teachers, Master Sheng-yen and Ven. Chanmyay Sayadaw, but the tradition that the Buddha himself originated. I suddenly had such a reverence for the Buddha as the original teacher of the Dharma, his singular importance in world history, and of the teaching itself. How wonderful it is that the Sangha, the community of monks, nuns, and lay Buddhists have preserved this teaching so well for this generation! It naturally makes one want to do the same for future generations.
There is an unfortunate trend in recent times of students of the Buddhist way that reach a certain level of experience and proclaim themselves to be teachers, not of Buddhadharma, but of their own special brand of enlightened insights. Instead of giving all credit to their teachers, the tradition, the Dharma, they place emphasis on their own experience, insights and abilities and rarely, if ever, mention the Buddha. The teaching is often very close to the Buddha's teaching. They teach about mindfulness, about insight, about meditation, about being in the present but without taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, the "Triple Gem" that ensures the perpetuation of the teaching. Some proclaim themselves enlightened beings, avatars, or self-appointed gurus. They develop a kind of cult following that rarely lives beyond their own life here on earth. By contrast, no truly Buddhist teacher I have known has ever proclaimed him or herself to be enlightened. All that I have known give all credit to their teacher and the Triple Gem. In this way, they protect against the delusion of self, even of Universal Self, and ensure the longevity of the Buddha's teaching. If any Buddhist teacher ever proclaims to you that he or she is enlightened, you can be sure that he or she is most certainly not enlightened and not a true Buddhist. Buddhists have no need of such designations or identification. Teachers that use the Buddha's teaching as a springboard for their own personal brand may be able to lead their students to a certain level of insight, but whether it is liberation in the Buddhist sense is highly doubtful and they are doing a great disservice toward preserving the integrity of the Buddhadharma for future generations. Be very heedful of such teachers.
Through the Buddha's discourses, we have available the Buddha himself as our teacher and we need no other, yet we are blessed and show reverence and veneration for his Sangha of monks and nuns that are especially dedicated to living and preserving his teaching.
Over the next few weeks, we'll be reading through the Mahasatipatthana Sutta and learning the path to liberation as the Buddha himself taught it.
After our walking and sitting meditation periods, we discussed how as children we were at times naturally able to be very mindful and simply aware with bare awareness to everything around us. Our assignment this week is to remember such times when we had clear, settled awareness of our environment, perhaps feeling the sunshine on our face, the wind flow around us, the warmth of the sidewalk beneath our bare feet or the coolness of grass between our toes, the sound of a bee buzzing, the perfect shape of a cloud in the sky. As children we could naturally see with clear, direct perception. Our assignment is to consider how it is we lost this ability and how we can regain it. We'll share with each other our insights about this next Sunday evening. Hope to see you then!
With Metta,
Barry
http://www.chancenter-sacramento.org
http://www.meetup.com/bodhisattvapath
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
100th Chan Meditation Meetup and the Four Noble Truths
Sunday evening was the 100th Chan group meditation session since I started this meetup in 2006! It was a cold, wet night, but even so four people drove all the way from Stockton to attend and were so appreciative. I feel that as long as there is even one person interested in practicing Chan or Buddhist meditation, I'm willing to help them as best I can and can introduce them to others more capable if they can use more than I can offer. This is the advantage of being part of a larger international Sangha, founded by my Shifu, Ven. Master Sheng Yen. His Dharma Heirs in the U.S. continue his tradition of giving the direct experience of Chan.
The focus of this group is to teach Buddhism from the inside out. In this group, we begin by experiencing the fruits of the teaching and use the teaching to understand and reenforce what we are experiencing. This is really the only way to learn what the Buddha taught. Our Shifu was highly skilled in teaching in this way, by giving the direct experience of the truth of the teaching.
With the New Year we began to discuss the Four Noble Truths, the first discourse of the Buddha after his enlightenment. The Four Noble Truths are that:
1. In life there is dukkha.
2. There is the possibility of the cessation of dukkha.
3. For this to occur, we need to understand the cause of dukkha.
4. Having understood the cause, we need to follow the path that leads to the cessation of dukkha.
So, what is dukkha? Dukkha is commonly translated from the Pali and Sanskrit as "suffering". But, dukkha has a broader meaning than that in Buddhism. Dukkha ranges from mild dissatisfaction to intense misery in life covering the entire spectrum of human existence, even including happiness. Even when we are happy, there is dukkha, an underlying apprehension that happiness won't last. And experience bears this out, that happiness is impermanent, fleeting.
In the spirit of learning Buddhism from the inside out, our assignment last week was to be aware of this dukkha arising in our life. Chan meets life head on. Chan is not for people that want to gloss over the unpleasant or escape from what is actually there, but to face whatever comes our way with clarity and determination. From what I heard tonight, this was certainly an undertaking worthy of the way of Chan. Just this awareness that there is dissatisfaction arising helps us look to the cause, the Third Noble Truth. And with the understanding of the cause, we gain insight into the Second Truth, that there is a possibility of the ending of dukkha. We gain insight into the Fourth Noble Truth, the way out of suffering in life.
A participant tonight commented that dukkha was arising due to conflicting desires and aversions. On the one hand, he wanted to eat alone at work but on the other wanted to hang with coworkers. There was a mixture of feelings that created this overall feeling of dissatisfaction. He also related arriving home to a messy kitchen and feeling vexed that he had to clean up after his daughter and how after becoming aware of this vexation, he was able to turn washing the dishes into an opportunity to be fully present. His wife commented how it is the things that are out of our control that cause us to become upset and on realizing this "dukkha" arising, she saw that it was a waste for her to be upset over things she could do nothing about.
The Buddha highlighted the cause of suffering as aversion and craving. During our sitting and moving meditation sessions, we set up the conditions to experience what it is like to be without aversion and craving for longer and longer periods of time. At first, this experience is just like a gap in the continuum of experience. As we learn to settle into meditation and become more focused on our method, we settle further and further into bright, clear, pure awareness. What was a silent gap becomes illumined and in this serenity, we see thoughts arising just as vapor arises from a lake or from a horse's back after a long run on a cool day. The thoughts no longer grip the mind. The mind no longer attaches to them only to be carried away by them. These thoughts are just vaporous phantoms, just a release of some stress incurred long ago. The mind is no longer bound by them but merely reflects their arising and passing away. This gives insight into the possibility of the cessation of suffering and the path leading to liberation from suffering. As we learn to let go of even the notion of self, what remains is a deep, abiding sense of contentment, equanimity.
Of course, this does us no good if we can only experience it on the cushion.
We alternate between sitting meditation and forms of moving meditation so that we can learn to stretch that equanimity into the phenomenal world and retain deep contentment even in a dentist's chair!
We look deep into motion. With bright, clear, settled awareness we track every increment of movement to penetrate to the core of motion. And there, though we are moving as slowly as possible in our walking and moving meditation, we find unceasing change, interrelated causes and conditions happening at an incredible speed. As we look deeper, we peer into the silence that permeates this unending change, that renders change itself into a play of silence. We peer into a universe where change and silence are fused into a oneness that is inseparable from the bright, clear, serene awareness that experiences this silence-infused change. Once we peer into motion at this level, whenever we get up out of a chair at work and begin to walk it will be there. When we brush our teeth it will be there. When we chew our food we are nourished not only by the food but by the act of chewing itself. We become fully present to life, dukkha subsides as it is displaced with an unshakeable sense of contentment and well being. We are free of the aversions and craving that drove us to live life without being present, without having the time and space to really choose. We were slaves of our impulses that drove us through our day while giving us the illusion of being in control. When we have this experience of being fully present, we suddenly realize that we were never in control, we were mere puppets of our tyrannical egos that caused us nothing but problems in life. When pure awareness with no sense of self acts, everything that needs to get done gets done with efficiency and clarity, yet without the oppression of the petty self driving the process while numbing the mind into submission.
This self that has pinched itself off from the rest of the universe creating the illusory duality of "me vs.everything else", this illusory self is the only thing blocking liberation from this pervasive dukkha in life. As people gain deeper experience in meditation, they begin to intuit and later to clearly see that abandoning this petty notion of a separate self is the only way to see things as they truly are. This seeing is liberation.
The assignment for this week is to look at what is causing the dukkha that is arising. Also, each day, pick something new for mindfulness practice. Be fully aware, fully present as you add this activity to your repertoire.
Next week we will focus on the Fourth Noble Truth, path that leads to the cessation of dukkha. Hope you can make it to our 101st Chan session!
Happy Chinese New Year!
With Metta,
Barry
http://www.chancenter-sacramento.org
http://www.meetup.com/bodhisattvapath
The focus of this group is to teach Buddhism from the inside out. In this group, we begin by experiencing the fruits of the teaching and use the teaching to understand and reenforce what we are experiencing. This is really the only way to learn what the Buddha taught. Our Shifu was highly skilled in teaching in this way, by giving the direct experience of the truth of the teaching.
With the New Year we began to discuss the Four Noble Truths, the first discourse of the Buddha after his enlightenment. The Four Noble Truths are that:
1. In life there is dukkha.
2. There is the possibility of the cessation of dukkha.
3. For this to occur, we need to understand the cause of dukkha.
4. Having understood the cause, we need to follow the path that leads to the cessation of dukkha.
So, what is dukkha? Dukkha is commonly translated from the Pali and Sanskrit as "suffering". But, dukkha has a broader meaning than that in Buddhism. Dukkha ranges from mild dissatisfaction to intense misery in life covering the entire spectrum of human existence, even including happiness. Even when we are happy, there is dukkha, an underlying apprehension that happiness won't last. And experience bears this out, that happiness is impermanent, fleeting.
In the spirit of learning Buddhism from the inside out, our assignment last week was to be aware of this dukkha arising in our life. Chan meets life head on. Chan is not for people that want to gloss over the unpleasant or escape from what is actually there, but to face whatever comes our way with clarity and determination. From what I heard tonight, this was certainly an undertaking worthy of the way of Chan. Just this awareness that there is dissatisfaction arising helps us look to the cause, the Third Noble Truth. And with the understanding of the cause, we gain insight into the Second Truth, that there is a possibility of the ending of dukkha. We gain insight into the Fourth Noble Truth, the way out of suffering in life.
A participant tonight commented that dukkha was arising due to conflicting desires and aversions. On the one hand, he wanted to eat alone at work but on the other wanted to hang with coworkers. There was a mixture of feelings that created this overall feeling of dissatisfaction. He also related arriving home to a messy kitchen and feeling vexed that he had to clean up after his daughter and how after becoming aware of this vexation, he was able to turn washing the dishes into an opportunity to be fully present. His wife commented how it is the things that are out of our control that cause us to become upset and on realizing this "dukkha" arising, she saw that it was a waste for her to be upset over things she could do nothing about.
The Buddha highlighted the cause of suffering as aversion and craving. During our sitting and moving meditation sessions, we set up the conditions to experience what it is like to be without aversion and craving for longer and longer periods of time. At first, this experience is just like a gap in the continuum of experience. As we learn to settle into meditation and become more focused on our method, we settle further and further into bright, clear, pure awareness. What was a silent gap becomes illumined and in this serenity, we see thoughts arising just as vapor arises from a lake or from a horse's back after a long run on a cool day. The thoughts no longer grip the mind. The mind no longer attaches to them only to be carried away by them. These thoughts are just vaporous phantoms, just a release of some stress incurred long ago. The mind is no longer bound by them but merely reflects their arising and passing away. This gives insight into the possibility of the cessation of suffering and the path leading to liberation from suffering. As we learn to let go of even the notion of self, what remains is a deep, abiding sense of contentment, equanimity.
Of course, this does us no good if we can only experience it on the cushion.
We alternate between sitting meditation and forms of moving meditation so that we can learn to stretch that equanimity into the phenomenal world and retain deep contentment even in a dentist's chair!
We look deep into motion. With bright, clear, settled awareness we track every increment of movement to penetrate to the core of motion. And there, though we are moving as slowly as possible in our walking and moving meditation, we find unceasing change, interrelated causes and conditions happening at an incredible speed. As we look deeper, we peer into the silence that permeates this unending change, that renders change itself into a play of silence. We peer into a universe where change and silence are fused into a oneness that is inseparable from the bright, clear, serene awareness that experiences this silence-infused change. Once we peer into motion at this level, whenever we get up out of a chair at work and begin to walk it will be there. When we brush our teeth it will be there. When we chew our food we are nourished not only by the food but by the act of chewing itself. We become fully present to life, dukkha subsides as it is displaced with an unshakeable sense of contentment and well being. We are free of the aversions and craving that drove us to live life without being present, without having the time and space to really choose. We were slaves of our impulses that drove us through our day while giving us the illusion of being in control. When we have this experience of being fully present, we suddenly realize that we were never in control, we were mere puppets of our tyrannical egos that caused us nothing but problems in life. When pure awareness with no sense of self acts, everything that needs to get done gets done with efficiency and clarity, yet without the oppression of the petty self driving the process while numbing the mind into submission.
This self that has pinched itself off from the rest of the universe creating the illusory duality of "me vs.everything else", this illusory self is the only thing blocking liberation from this pervasive dukkha in life. As people gain deeper experience in meditation, they begin to intuit and later to clearly see that abandoning this petty notion of a separate self is the only way to see things as they truly are. This seeing is liberation.
The assignment for this week is to look at what is causing the dukkha that is arising. Also, each day, pick something new for mindfulness practice. Be fully aware, fully present as you add this activity to your repertoire.
Next week we will focus on the Fourth Noble Truth, path that leads to the cessation of dukkha. Hope you can make it to our 101st Chan session!
Happy Chinese New Year!
With Metta,
Barry
http://www.chancenter-sacramento.org
http://www.meetup.com/bodhisattvapath
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Tonight was our 99th group meditation event
Dear Friends,
Tonight was our 99th group meditation practice session. What a blessing it is to have friends to practice with! Buddha said to have such friends is the highest blessing and it's so true. We mutually inspire each other to not only continue the practice but to deepen it, to make it really bear fruit. What better friends can one have than this? This is what is meant by "sangha", the community or fellowship of Buddhist practitioners that produces the whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
The focus of these first sessions in the new year is establishing a practice or reinvigorating our already established daily practice. Toward this end we are exploring the samatha practice of full awareness of breathing and how this form of meditation provides a foundation for the practice of Vipassana meditation and the Chan or Zen practice of Silent Illumination.
Last week, we used a the technique of being mindful of the beginning, middle and end of each inhalation and each exhalation. As the breathing begins to refine, we also become aware of the gap between the inhalation and exhalation, which can trigger much deeper levels of experience. In the Theravada tradition, these levels are referred to as Jhanas. As a practitioner settles into the first Jhana, there can be an experience of light. Shifting the focus of meditation to this light of pure awareness can lead to a rapturous experience as the mind becomes absorbed in the pure awareness. After a time, the rapturous quality fades and one is left with a pervasive feeling of joy, happiness and contentment. Again, after a time this experience fades and one is left with the a deep sense of serenity or equanimity.
This week as we practiced following the breath, we used another technique that can improve the ability to stay with the method. On each inhalation, we recognize that this breath is life giving and we swell with gratitude for this gift of life. On each exhalation, as if breathing a sigh of relief, we let go of all our tension, worries, burdens, pains, and troubles. We let go of everything. This alteration of breathing in life and breathing out letting go of everything has a very soothing effect on the mind and can help one settle very quickly into quieter, more contented levels of meditation.
Chan Master Sheng-yen taught this practice of following the breath to almost all of his beginner students because it is so foundational. It helps people greatly improve the ability to focus attention, which is instrumental in the unfolding of insight that leads to awakening. In the book Hoofprint of the Ox, and often in his lectures and retreats, Master Sheng-yen described the levels of following the breath meditation in terms of the refinement of breathing and the corresponding experience of fewer and fewer thoughts until the mind is completely unified with the breath and there is no further inclination for the mind to attach to any thoughts or sensations that arise. Thoughts become fewer and far between and those that do arise have no power over the mind. Master Sheng-yen called this level of meditation "Unified Mind" and said that it is the foundation from which one can begin the practice of Silent Illumination.
As the group becomes more settled, we may shift the focus of meditation from following the breath to an overall, bright, clear awareness of the entire body "just sitting", our transition and entry into the profound practice of Silent Illumination.
Tonight we also focused on "transitions". As we ended the first session of sitting meditation, we used that same bright, sharp, clear awareness to be aware of folding the towels we cover our legs with in a neat square to place on top of the cushion and stand up for walking meditation. We practiced the Theravada slow walking meditation practice that makes use of "noting" or "labeling" the movements of the feet, as I was taught by Ven. Master Chanmyay Sayadaw. This form of meditation can be practiced in a place of limited space and is very beneficial as an entry into the practice of Vipassana (Insight) meditation or Silent Illumination. Traditionally, the phases of taking a single step are labeled "lifting, raising, pushing, dropping, touching, pressing". But, to simplify when we are first starting, we label "lifting, pushing, dropping" as in lifting the heel and the foot, pushing it forward through space, and dropping or lowering it down. This is done very slowly until the mind becomes unified with the movement. To help this, we focus on the movement itself and let bright, clear, open awareness rest on the finest increments of movement until these minute increments become suffused with silence. At that point, the mind becomes completely at ease and content with staying with the movement and we no longer need to "label". The mind and movement are one -- unified mind in walking meditation.
We also focused on the transition from walking meditation back to sitting by taking a few seconds to collect ourselves, to be fully present before beginning to walk back to our cushions. Taking this few seconds before we take up a new task can make tremendous difference in the quality of life. Yet how often do we take this few seconds? We constantly dart from one activity to another as one impulse after another fires. We typically have no awareness of the impulses and move through our day as mere puppets of these unnoticed impulses. The first step is to become aware of transitions -- we were sitting and now we are going to stand, for example. Having become aware of such transitions, the next step is to take a couple seconds to rest right where we are and be present, then acknowledge what we are going to do. Then, we do it. In just taking this couple seconds, we have gone from being slaves to our own impulses to being fully present and therefore in a position to really choose what we do, perhaps for the first time in our lives. This is the beginning of cultivating mindfulness practice and mindfulness practice is one of the things that separates human existence from the lower realms. For example, Buddha called the animal realm one of the "woeful" realms precisely because animals are driven by their impulses and do not have the ability to practice mindfulness. In learning to cultivate mindfulness, we become fully human and begin to be on the path to experiencing our full potential as sentient beings. According to Buddhist cosmology, even heavenly beings are destined to return to human existence because it is only here that we can practice. To have a human life is a rare and precious gift and in practicing mindfulness we become fully human and most able to make use of this gift.
As we sat the second time, when we realized the mind was moving with a thought, we gently bring the mind back to the method, but this time with the specific intention of coming back to the method with our brightest, clearest, most settled awareness. Sometimes, just having the intention to come back to the method in this way actually makes it a reality and we very quickly become one with the method.
As homework for this week, for those that have not yet established a regular practice, we agreed to sit for 5 minutes each morning following the breath before beginning to engage the mind in thoughts and plans for the day. For example, being mindful of each movement, we get up, shower, dress, brush our teeth, and then sit for 5 minutes before thinking of anything else.
In the next few sessions, we will be focused on the 4 Noble Truths, Buddha's first sermon. The first noble truth is the truth of "dukkha", which is commonly translated as "suffering". But, the word has a much broader meaning than suffering in Pali. It means the full range of dissatisfaction from discontent to suffering. So, the second homework assignment is to try to note each time we become aware of dissatisfaction and what causes it. We are going to do this for an entire week and then report back to the group what we found.
The last homework assignment is to be aware of transitions. When we are sitting and are going to stand, take a couple seconds to acknowledge the transition, be present in the moment, and then consciously transition from sitting to standing. Get up, but be aware you are getting up. If you are going to sit, take a breath, be aware you are going to sit, then sit.
These are the three homework assignments. For those of you that couldn't make it to the last couple meetings, please try these homework assignments out and join us next week! Hope you enjoy them!
Enjoy your week and see you next Sunday.
With Metta,
Barry
http://ChanCenter-Sacramento.org
Tonight was our 99th group meditation practice session. What a blessing it is to have friends to practice with! Buddha said to have such friends is the highest blessing and it's so true. We mutually inspire each other to not only continue the practice but to deepen it, to make it really bear fruit. What better friends can one have than this? This is what is meant by "sangha", the community or fellowship of Buddhist practitioners that produces the whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
The focus of these first sessions in the new year is establishing a practice or reinvigorating our already established daily practice. Toward this end we are exploring the samatha practice of full awareness of breathing and how this form of meditation provides a foundation for the practice of Vipassana meditation and the Chan or Zen practice of Silent Illumination.
Last week, we used a the technique of being mindful of the beginning, middle and end of each inhalation and each exhalation. As the breathing begins to refine, we also become aware of the gap between the inhalation and exhalation, which can trigger much deeper levels of experience. In the Theravada tradition, these levels are referred to as Jhanas. As a practitioner settles into the first Jhana, there can be an experience of light. Shifting the focus of meditation to this light of pure awareness can lead to a rapturous experience as the mind becomes absorbed in the pure awareness. After a time, the rapturous quality fades and one is left with a pervasive feeling of joy, happiness and contentment. Again, after a time this experience fades and one is left with the a deep sense of serenity or equanimity.
This week as we practiced following the breath, we used another technique that can improve the ability to stay with the method. On each inhalation, we recognize that this breath is life giving and we swell with gratitude for this gift of life. On each exhalation, as if breathing a sigh of relief, we let go of all our tension, worries, burdens, pains, and troubles. We let go of everything. This alteration of breathing in life and breathing out letting go of everything has a very soothing effect on the mind and can help one settle very quickly into quieter, more contented levels of meditation.
Chan Master Sheng-yen taught this practice of following the breath to almost all of his beginner students because it is so foundational. It helps people greatly improve the ability to focus attention, which is instrumental in the unfolding of insight that leads to awakening. In the book Hoofprint of the Ox, and often in his lectures and retreats, Master Sheng-yen described the levels of following the breath meditation in terms of the refinement of breathing and the corresponding experience of fewer and fewer thoughts until the mind is completely unified with the breath and there is no further inclination for the mind to attach to any thoughts or sensations that arise. Thoughts become fewer and far between and those that do arise have no power over the mind. Master Sheng-yen called this level of meditation "Unified Mind" and said that it is the foundation from which one can begin the practice of Silent Illumination.
As the group becomes more settled, we may shift the focus of meditation from following the breath to an overall, bright, clear awareness of the entire body "just sitting", our transition and entry into the profound practice of Silent Illumination.
Tonight we also focused on "transitions". As we ended the first session of sitting meditation, we used that same bright, sharp, clear awareness to be aware of folding the towels we cover our legs with in a neat square to place on top of the cushion and stand up for walking meditation. We practiced the Theravada slow walking meditation practice that makes use of "noting" or "labeling" the movements of the feet, as I was taught by Ven. Master Chanmyay Sayadaw. This form of meditation can be practiced in a place of limited space and is very beneficial as an entry into the practice of Vipassana (Insight) meditation or Silent Illumination. Traditionally, the phases of taking a single step are labeled "lifting, raising, pushing, dropping, touching, pressing". But, to simplify when we are first starting, we label "lifting, pushing, dropping" as in lifting the heel and the foot, pushing it forward through space, and dropping or lowering it down. This is done very slowly until the mind becomes unified with the movement. To help this, we focus on the movement itself and let bright, clear, open awareness rest on the finest increments of movement until these minute increments become suffused with silence. At that point, the mind becomes completely at ease and content with staying with the movement and we no longer need to "label". The mind and movement are one -- unified mind in walking meditation.
We also focused on the transition from walking meditation back to sitting by taking a few seconds to collect ourselves, to be fully present before beginning to walk back to our cushions. Taking this few seconds before we take up a new task can make tremendous difference in the quality of life. Yet how often do we take this few seconds? We constantly dart from one activity to another as one impulse after another fires. We typically have no awareness of the impulses and move through our day as mere puppets of these unnoticed impulses. The first step is to become aware of transitions -- we were sitting and now we are going to stand, for example. Having become aware of such transitions, the next step is to take a couple seconds to rest right where we are and be present, then acknowledge what we are going to do. Then, we do it. In just taking this couple seconds, we have gone from being slaves to our own impulses to being fully present and therefore in a position to really choose what we do, perhaps for the first time in our lives. This is the beginning of cultivating mindfulness practice and mindfulness practice is one of the things that separates human existence from the lower realms. For example, Buddha called the animal realm one of the "woeful" realms precisely because animals are driven by their impulses and do not have the ability to practice mindfulness. In learning to cultivate mindfulness, we become fully human and begin to be on the path to experiencing our full potential as sentient beings. According to Buddhist cosmology, even heavenly beings are destined to return to human existence because it is only here that we can practice. To have a human life is a rare and precious gift and in practicing mindfulness we become fully human and most able to make use of this gift.
As we sat the second time, when we realized the mind was moving with a thought, we gently bring the mind back to the method, but this time with the specific intention of coming back to the method with our brightest, clearest, most settled awareness. Sometimes, just having the intention to come back to the method in this way actually makes it a reality and we very quickly become one with the method.
As homework for this week, for those that have not yet established a regular practice, we agreed to sit for 5 minutes each morning following the breath before beginning to engage the mind in thoughts and plans for the day. For example, being mindful of each movement, we get up, shower, dress, brush our teeth, and then sit for 5 minutes before thinking of anything else.
In the next few sessions, we will be focused on the 4 Noble Truths, Buddha's first sermon. The first noble truth is the truth of "dukkha", which is commonly translated as "suffering". But, the word has a much broader meaning than suffering in Pali. It means the full range of dissatisfaction from discontent to suffering. So, the second homework assignment is to try to note each time we become aware of dissatisfaction and what causes it. We are going to do this for an entire week and then report back to the group what we found.
The last homework assignment is to be aware of transitions. When we are sitting and are going to stand, take a couple seconds to acknowledge the transition, be present in the moment, and then consciously transition from sitting to standing. Get up, but be aware you are getting up. If you are going to sit, take a breath, be aware you are going to sit, then sit.
These are the three homework assignments. For those of you that couldn't make it to the last couple meetings, please try these homework assignments out and join us next week! Hope you enjoy them!
Enjoy your week and see you next Sunday.
With Metta,
Barry
http://ChanCenter-Sacramento.org
Sunday, January 8, 2012
A Welcome to New Chan Center Members
This evening, we had a Chan (Chinese Zen) practice session with several new members participating. So great to see such interest in making meditation a part of your life. I began practicing TM when I was 19 and Chan when I was 28 while living in Taiwan. Since that time, meditation has become so much a part of my life that life itself has become the meditation. The practice has added tremendous richness to even the most mundane activities and has helped me in so many ways through all that life brings. It has helped me see the true value of human existence, which is so precious. We have the ability to experience the unanswered questions that are so fundamental to our very existence but that have eluded us for so long. When we learn how to be fully present, we find that all we have ever been seeking has always been there if we could have just been awake to it in the present moment. This adds inexpressible depth to life. So naturally, it gives me very great joy when I see others take up the practice!
Please remember that it is not about quantity but quality. Spending 5 minutes on the cushion with bright, clear, open awareness attentive to the method is by far better than spending 30 minutes on the cushion spacing out. When you sit, make a vow to sit for a modest length of time at first but to sit with full awareness. The beginning meditation method we use is called "full awareness of breathing". So, use your full awareness to be aware of every increment of your breath. If you are focusing on the breath coming into and out of the nostrils, let go of all other thoughts until there is just this sensation of air flowing in and out of the nostrils. If thoughts arise, don't gravitate toward them and don't push them away. Just be aware of the fleeting nature of thoughts and gently go back to the full awareness of breathing. The more you rest your most bright, clear awareness on the breath, the more relaxed you will become. The metabolic rate will drop as your entire system begins functioning more efficiently. The breath will naturally refine and with the refinement of the breath, your awareness will become supple, fluid, open, clear, settled and bright.
With this bright awareness, you may begin to feel a very pleasant sensation through the entire body and the mind will experience a deep sense of well-being. As meditation continues, this rapturous feeling will give way to an expansive happiness and experience of deep contentment. This in turn will give way to a pervasive equanimity that has left behind everything but the deepest tranquility. During this progression, thoughts may arise, but they are no longer of any consequence. The power of thoughts to entice the mind to attach to them or avert them has lost its grip on the mind. The mind becomes like a calm lake from which warm vapor arises. The lake takes no notice of the rising vapor and is unaffected by it. In that same way, the mind remains at peace even when thoughts arise. It is completely unobstructed by the sound of the airplane overhead or the tingling sensation in the foot or a sudden memory of a dear friend. The mind simply reflects whatever arises.
At this point, we are in an ideal state to begin the practice of Silent Illumination. We shift the awareness from the breath to the sensation of the entire body just sitting. We aren't scanning the body or trying to feel anything in particular, but just maintain the simple, clear awareness of the body just sitting. We rest this same open, bright, clear awareness on the entire body. But, this pure awareness cannot be contained for long within the boundaries of the body. The more one lets go and just rests bright, open awareness on the body, the less distinct the boundaries of the body become. Soon, there is only awareness of the entire room just sitting, then the building, then the yard and environs. As one continues this practice, awareness cannot be contained and one may have the experience of the earth "just sitting", or the solar system, the galaxies, or the entire universe "just sitting". There is no way to force this. Forcing will move the mind into a more agitated state. The method is to retain bright, sharp, clear awareness of the body but to continually let go of all else. The rest happens automatically.
The effect of practicing in this way on one's daily activity is incredibly enriching and can lead to the most profound insights into the mental and physical world. These insights help liberate of from suffering and evaporate any sense of dissatisfaction in life. Each moment becomes wonderfully rich. Each movement experienced as fluid succession of change permeated by the deepest and most wonderful silence. We suddenly feel as though we are truly alive for the first time and by comparison, like we have awakened from a dream that stretches back through beginningless time.
With this experience comes an overwhelming compassion for others that are caught in patterns of thinking and action that keep them bound and remove the possibility of seeing with sufficient clarity to awaken from the dream. Though we may not be fully awakened ourselves, the taste of this lucid state builds our faith in the Dharma as the solution to life's suffering and we cannot help but share the Path with others as they become receptive to it.
This is a good life. You will never regret the time that you spend practicing Chan. It will enrich all aspects of life. Even starting out with just 5 to 15 minutes a day to establish the habit of cultivation is enough. Soon, you will think nothing of sitting for 30 minutes, an hour or even longer and the effect of this increased practice on your life will be priceless.
However, we need to always remember that Chan isn't practiced on the cushion, it is practiced in daily activity. What we do on the cushion is just preparation for Chan practice.
Best wishes for your practice in 2012 and beyond! Keep coming to group sessions as they provide invaluable support for your daily practice. You can RSVP for the next practice at:
http://www.meetup.com/bodhisattvapath/events/46864322/
With Metta,
Barry
With this bright awareness, you may begin to feel a very pleasant sensation through the entire body and the mind will experience a deep sense of well-being. As meditation continues, this rapturous feeling will give way to an expansive happiness and experience of deep contentment. This in turn will give way to a pervasive equanimity that has left behind everything but the deepest tranquility. During this progression, thoughts may arise, but they are no longer of any consequence. The power of thoughts to entice the mind to attach to them or avert them has lost its grip on the mind. The mind becomes like a calm lake from which warm vapor arises. The lake takes no notice of the rising vapor and is unaffected by it. In that same way, the mind remains at peace even when thoughts arise. It is completely unobstructed by the sound of the airplane overhead or the tingling sensation in the foot or a sudden memory of a dear friend. The mind simply reflects whatever arises.
At this point, we are in an ideal state to begin the practice of Silent Illumination. We shift the awareness from the breath to the sensation of the entire body just sitting. We aren't scanning the body or trying to feel anything in particular, but just maintain the simple, clear awareness of the body just sitting. We rest this same open, bright, clear awareness on the entire body. But, this pure awareness cannot be contained for long within the boundaries of the body. The more one lets go and just rests bright, open awareness on the body, the less distinct the boundaries of the body become. Soon, there is only awareness of the entire room just sitting, then the building, then the yard and environs. As one continues this practice, awareness cannot be contained and one may have the experience of the earth "just sitting", or the solar system, the galaxies, or the entire universe "just sitting". There is no way to force this. Forcing will move the mind into a more agitated state. The method is to retain bright, sharp, clear awareness of the body but to continually let go of all else. The rest happens automatically.
The effect of practicing in this way on one's daily activity is incredibly enriching and can lead to the most profound insights into the mental and physical world. These insights help liberate of from suffering and evaporate any sense of dissatisfaction in life. Each moment becomes wonderfully rich. Each movement experienced as fluid succession of change permeated by the deepest and most wonderful silence. We suddenly feel as though we are truly alive for the first time and by comparison, like we have awakened from a dream that stretches back through beginningless time.
With this experience comes an overwhelming compassion for others that are caught in patterns of thinking and action that keep them bound and remove the possibility of seeing with sufficient clarity to awaken from the dream. Though we may not be fully awakened ourselves, the taste of this lucid state builds our faith in the Dharma as the solution to life's suffering and we cannot help but share the Path with others as they become receptive to it.
This is a good life. You will never regret the time that you spend practicing Chan. It will enrich all aspects of life. Even starting out with just 5 to 15 minutes a day to establish the habit of cultivation is enough. Soon, you will think nothing of sitting for 30 minutes, an hour or even longer and the effect of this increased practice on your life will be priceless.
However, we need to always remember that Chan isn't practiced on the cushion, it is practiced in daily activity. What we do on the cushion is just preparation for Chan practice.
Best wishes for your practice in 2012 and beyond! Keep coming to group sessions as they provide invaluable support for your daily practice. You can RSVP for the next practice at:
http://www.meetup.com/bodhisattvapath/events/46864322/
With Metta,
Barry
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