Buddhist Psychology with Jack Kornfield

Posted on November 13, 2016 by Marck

jk
I was lucky enough to have attended a 1 day workshop in NYC yesterday led by Jack Kornfield, “bestselling American author and teacher in the the Vipassana movement in American Theravada Buddhism”. The main themes of the day were around Buddhist Psychology and there were some interesting moments for sure, including many people struggling with feelings following a particularly painful election season.

I took a few notes and highlights that, for me, resonated. I have put my own words to them with a brief explanation. I hope they may be of some interest or help to others, as well.

  1. “There’s no time like the present.” – It is a basic human necessity to face and deal with that which is right in front of us at this moment as soon as possible.
  2. “Pay attention to what you are listening to.” – It is important to listen not just to what your thoughts and mind are telling you inside but listen outside as well and broaden your scope.
  3. “Mindfulness alone is not enough.” – Mindfulness has to be paired with loving awareness otherwise we are just mindful without acceptance. For example, we can be mindful of everything that is “wrong” and without loving awareness, just want to fix things. If you ask yourself: “how can I be present with the way things are?” the answer is that for mindfulness to work, it must be married to compassion.
  4. “Train with compassion.” – Mindfulness training takes compassion for oneself. Just be with your feelings without judgement for it to work. Simply name your feelings and meet them with respect. This will eventually lead to transformation.
  5.  “The choice is yours to make.” – Once you name your feelings, particularly those that are difficult like grief, desire, etc – learn to be in their presence and then you can make a choice whether to stay there. As yourself: “is this a healthy choice or not?”
  6.  “Know when to care and when not to.” – Equanimity is about inner balance and resiliency. At the same time when we must learn to care for ourselves and others, we must also know when not to care, as well.
  7. “Your happiness can only be up to you.” – Your happiness (and suffering) depend on your thoughts and actions and not the wishes of others for you. It is up to you to break dependencies on others – and the same goes for those in your life who may be looking to you or others to break their patterns of suffering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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November Discussions Schedule

Posted on November 6, 2016 by Buddhist Sangha

November 7:   (intro to meditation available)  Learning about Ajah Sumedho – the senior Western representative of the Thai Forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism
November 14: Annual meeting/potluck dinner ( no meditation this day )
http://bit.ly/bsbc-annual-members-mtg_2016
November 20 – Road Cleanup with sangha friends – click for details 
November 21:  Zen teacher Andre Taesan Halaw will join us to share the dharma from his tradition
November 28: Open discussion

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Training the Mind – Thoughts on the Lama Gursam Retreat

Posted on November 6, 2016 by Marck

lama%20gursam

I was fortunate enough to attend part of the Meditation Retreat with Lama Gursam this weekend (November 5, 2016).

The Audio of the dharma talk is now available below

Lama Gursam November 5th     
Lama Gursam November 4th     

As part of the morning retreat, Lama Gursam gave a Dharma talked based on some of his teachings, some of the most salient points of which I tried to capture below:

1. Meditation is about bringing the mind back inside” rather than the “outside”. This is where the analogy of the mind as a clear blue sky and thoughts as clouds comes into play. One point he made that really resonated with me was the idea that if there is simply one or two clouds in the sky, once they disappear, it is easier to get to a clear sky. However, if there are many clouds, it will take longer. As such, we must be patient in our practice. In other words, some days – your meditation may lead to a clearer mind faster than others where it may take longer.

2. On the issue of our happiness really only being influenced by our own thoughts – even Lama Gursam admitted that this may be a difficult concept to absorb. Still, it is important to recognize they are thoughts and once they are there, they are there. It’s what we do with them. (My interpretation – not his.)

3. Reading about meditation and learning about Buddhism are very important. However, intellectual pursuits without practice will not do anything to help the mind. Practice is vital.

4. Regarding contemplation, our mind is made up of “clouds” that are both light and dark or, in reality, thoughts that are both good and bad. Both of these, however, can lead to grasping, clinging and attachment without better understanding these thoughts and asking why they arise and what’s behind them, particularly difficult ones. This is insight.

5. True love and compassion are actually the same thing as peace and calm. Often, love gets confused based on emotional terms that can confound this understanding.

6. Expectations often lead to negative feelings. However, expectation is important in practice. Simply by stating your expectation to continue your meditation practice the next day, you will do it. Without stating the intention, it is much more difficult to do so.

7. Ignorance is the cause of much suffering. The antidote to ignorance is wisdom. (I happen to be reading “My Spiritual Journey” by the Dalai Lama and just after the retreat, he spoke just about this in a chapter entitled “Actualizing our Potential” for anyone that may be interested).

Personally speaking, I am grateful for the opportunity to have heard Lama Gursam. He put into words so much of what I have read and continue to hear regarding Buddhism and meditation. I hope that my personal practice continues to grow in a way that provides peace as I hope it does for you, as well.

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Buddhist Death Contemplation – 10/31/2016 Discussion

Posted on November 4, 2016 by David Clark

The Buddha said, “Of all footsteps, that of the elephant is supreme; of all mindfulness meditations, that on death is supreme.”; yet American Buddhism tends to devote little time to Death Contemplation.  With Halloween falling on a Monday night, the Sangha reflected on Western Society and related it to a rich tradition of Buddhist Death Contemplation, including excerpts from The Satipatthana Sutta, The Maranasati Sutta, and The Nine Contemplations of Atisha.

This discussion was also richly inspired by (and was heavily borrowed from) dharma talks and guided meditation from Ayya Khemma, Ayya Medhanandi Bhikkuni, Nikki Mirghafori, and Rodney Smith. All of these teachers and talks can be found on dharmaseed.org.

Special thanks to Nikki Mirghafori for her encouragement and advice on approaching the profound topic of death.

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Annual Meeting of the Members: Buddhist Sangha of Bucks County

Posted on November 1, 2016 by Joe Beck

Dear BSBC Members,

I am writing to remind you of our annual membership meeting, which will be held Monday November 14th in the social room of the Yardley Meeting House. This meeting is a formal requirement of our bylaws, and is the time we elect our governing board for the following year. It is also a special time for socializing and reflecting on the year past and considering the year ahead.

As in past years, we will begin with a pot luck dinner, beginning at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will begin about 7:15. While we will have a short meditation period following dinner, there will be no regular meditation this evening. I hope you can attend, and feel free to bring family members with you who you think might enjoy getting to know us better. While children are welcome, some of the meeting may a bit boring for them! (Please bring a simple ingredients label for food that you bring to share, so that people with dietary restrictions can enjoy your offering.)

Many of you are relatively new members of the Sangha, and I want to encourage you to carefully consider whether you have the interest and ability to serve as a member of our board or on a board committee. As an all volunteer organization we need committed assistance from our members and friends to be able to serve our growing community with the support for learning, practice, and service that is the heart of our Buddhist path.

If you want to be considered for board membership, please reply to this email. If you are interested in serving on a committee, please reach out to the current committee chair people at any Monday night meeting: Program Committee – Janet Weathers, or Enda Telep; Communications Committee: Eugene Pevzner, Joe Beck or Susan Harrison; Outreach & Service Committee: David Clark or Rika Barrett. Vice-President of our board, Dave Mermelstein, would also be happy to talk with you about all service opportunities.

On behalf of the BSBC Board, I want to express my appreciation for your willingness to assist us in our mission through whatever means feel right and appropriate for you. I hope to see most of you on the 14th, if not before, and encourage you to take advantage of Lama Gursam’s fall visit with us on November 4th and 5th.

Gratefully,

Phil Brown
President, BSBC

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New BOOKS at BSBC Library

Posted on October 27, 2016 by Buddhist Sangha

booksWE ARE CONTINUING TO ADD BOOKS TO OUR LIBRARY WITH THE BSBC LIBRARY PROJECT:

The sangha’s board members are recommending books they’ve found helpful in their practice, and have come up with a range of diverse choices, from books helpful to beginners on the path to deeper teachings by both classic and contemporary teachers and authors. We will feature books chosen by BSBC board members almost every week throughout the autumn.

Our second round of books are three choices by Dave Clark. He is recommending

  • The Everything Buddhism Book: Learn the Ancient Traditions and Apply Them to Modern Life, by Jacky Sach,
  • Loving-Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness, by Sharon Salzberg
  • Dancing With Life: Buddhist Insights For Finding Meaning in Joy in the Face of Suffering, by Phillip Moffitt.

About The Everything Buddhism Book, Dave writes: “This book series is actually very accessible, and unlike the “Dummies” counterpart, the title doesn’t belittle the reader. It’s very comprehensive and gives a very good overview of complicated Buddhist concepts, the life of the Buddha, and an introduction to all of the traditions and lineages. It’s not an intimidating tome, and yet extremely resourceful and informative. I’d recommend this to anyone who was brand new to Buddhism.”

About Loving-Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness, he writes: “I’m certain that it will come to no surprise that this book is on my list. This has to be one of the most influential books of my entire life. It has changed the way I see the world, and the way I see myself. This book saved my life. Through it I have cultivated great compassion for all sentient beings, and most importantly improved my own sense of self-compassion.”

And about  Dancing With Life: Buddhist Insights For Finding Meaning in Joy in the Face of Suffering, he writes: “This book surprised me immensely. It was part a book designated by our reading group, and I’m grateful for the introduction. I plan to read this once every year. It delves into the Four Noble Truths through the Twelve Insights, and it eloquently explains parts of my practice that I felt but previously could not explain. It has everything. There are detailed explanations of what it means to penetrate suffering through it’s cessation. It explains the Noble Eight Fold Path, and The Four Foundations of Mindfulness. It’s a brilliant book and it can be read again, and again, and again.”

Dancing With Life was also one of Janet’s choices. About it, she writes: “Dancing With Life is an excellent introduction to the Four Noble Truths. The author points out that they are often referenced and quickly passed over, as if they can be readily understood. He goes back to the original teachings to lift up the twelve insights that are part of the teaching, three for each of the Fourth Truths. The book presents clear information and more importantly, it explains the ways in which we need to come to terms with what the truth reveals through meditation and contemplation. Without deeper understanding, ability to repeat the words will not open the teachings and provide the freedom the Four Noble Truths have to offer.”

THESE BOOKS ARE NOW IN CIRCULATION IN OUR LIBRARY. We’ll feature more books next week, and look forward to including more than 20 others before we’re done. So please remember to visit the sangha’s library shelves—it’s wonderful when we can talk to each other about the books we’ve read!

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Metta in the Age of Vitriol

Posted on October 23, 2016 by Marck

Image result for Metta Loving Kindness

Thankfully, we are in an age of many things – both good and bad, not just “vitriol”. However, besides a good word to throw into a title to get some attention, it is also is what I wanted to blog about.

Having come out of the recent Sangha in which David Clark was able to, nicely and in fairly short order, walk the group through a definition, discussion and practice of Metta, or loving kindness, it seemed all too timely to discuss this practice in the context of the 24 hour vortex of news and discourse that has become our 2016 election cycle.

As referenced during our session on Monday (October 17, 2016), the practice of Metta extends from those we care about to ourselves to those we may have only a passing knowledge of to those we have difficulty with and ultimately to all sentient beings.

I’m good up to the part where we get to people we have difficulty with. I have read a lot about this topic, largely also from Sharon Salzberg, who was the author highlighted during this discussion.

To recap, when it comes to practicing Metta with more difficult people in our lives (friends, family members, co-workers, etc.), it is recommended to first start with those with which we may have more tolerable frustrations as opposed to those with whom we may be involved in much more difficult situations or grievances. (As an example, Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton might first try to send loving kindness first to one of their campaign workers with whom they didn’t get a memo in time and wait a bit to try it on each other – hypothetically speaking, of course.)

This is a real struggle for me and here is why: one of the prevailing ideas around meditation is that we don’t try to hide away the feelings we have, be they pleasurable or difficult. To acknowledge more difficult feelings, such as anger, without attaching, particularly when in the midst of a very upsetting situation, is a huge step, I think. The idea of then ultimately getting to a place where I can also send loving kindness to that same person becomes a stretch.

Thinking about this and wanting to identify with my more “Buddha” nature can cause conflict. After all, shouldn’t one understand that we are responsible for our own interpretation of so called “difficult” people or encounters rather than identify with the feelings that so easily emanate from them?

Well, yes, in theory. And so it was that in listening to the discussion, I really started to question why this seems to be such a difficult proposition. For me, the act of simply responding versus reacting and not wishing harm is a step toward wishing loving kindness for one’s “enemy” if not an act in itself. It is human nature, often deemed as ‘fight or flight’ to either “be killed or kill that which kills you (or is perceived to). Any step away from this more immediate reaction, at least for me, is a testament to a growing practice of both meditation and mindfulness.

Perhaps when it comes to vitriol, difficult people or situations and dealing with hard emotions, this is the work we can do. It simply may not be realistic to practice loving kindness with some people the same way we do with others….and that is ok. As long as directionally we are working toward it, that may be all we can expect and that may be enough at the moment.

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Discussions Theme for Oct and Nov 2016

Posted on October 22, 2016 by Buddhist Sangha

tachersOctober 2016 we will be Learning about Contemporary Buddhist Teachers in the United States. In addition to learning about their background, we will discuss one or two of their main teachings.
 
October 10: Suzuki Roshi (1904 – 1971) – a Soto Zen monk who helped popularize Zen Buddhism in the United States, founder of the San Francisco Zen Center
 
October 17:  Sharon Salzberg – an active Buddhist teacher and writer who co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts in 1974
 
October 24:  Jack Kornfield, an active Buddhist teacher and clinical psychologist who co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts and Spirit Rock Center in California
 
October 31: Buddhist Death Contemplation

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November 2016 Lama Gursam Dharma Talk and day long Retreat

Posted on October 22, 2016 by Buddhist Sangha

The Audio of the dharma talk is now available

Lama Gursam November 5th     
Lama Gursam November 4th     

Continue reading →

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Practicing Meditation with Anam Thubten – a retreat

Posted on October 19, 2016 by Buddhist Sangha

Labor day weekend in 2016 I had the pleasure to attend a retreat with Anam Thubten organized by the Princeton Buddhist Meditation Group.

This was not a typical meditation retreat, and after settling in on the first evening Anam Thubten encouraged us to all get to know each other before we embarked on 4 days of deepening our practice in the orientation.  This retreat had about 50 people and it felt good to meet most of them and chat before practicing together.

The retreat consisted of 6am wake up and periods of meditation and dharma talks by both Anam Thubten and Ani Trime, an American-born Buddhist nun and a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism for nearly 35 years.  We were well fed and there were plenty of snacks and beverages between sittings for everyone who wanted to recharge. The day ended with a closing service and a 10pm curfew.

The first sitting meditation of the day consisted of beautiful chanting of the three refuges and a guided meditation. We were instructed on the importance of posture which was followed by a concentration meditation on the breath and a suggestion to drop the concentration on the breath after settling and just to be in awareness. The meditations lasted 45 minutes followed by a talk and another 45 minute session.

Anam spoke from the heart and with full awareness during the dharma talk portion of the day. Something about him just exuded a serene calm-abiding nature. I found his teachings meaningful and they cut through to the heart of what the Buddha taught. Here are some of my takeaways from this experience:

  • Be grateful for this life. Today is a gift of life and an opportunity to be awake
  • Ask yourself “What if I die tomorrow?” – how do I want to spend today, what would I do and who would I reach out to? Meditate of that question.
  • Say to yourself – Today I am grateful for my life, my parents, their parents, all my ancestors , and all the people who showed them love and kindness in their life.  I am grateful for myself and my practice.
  • I am grateful for my children, for their love, for their mother giving her kindness and taking very good care of them.
no-self-no-problem

The retreat was a very good experience for me – practicing dilgently I slowly saw my mind become calm and I became more receptive to experiencing the way things really are instead of fighting with reality.

Having both meditation cushions and chair was also helpful so that I could switch between them and make my body more comfortable.

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