Insight and Mindfulness

Insight, Mindfulness, and God

2009-06-04T09:21:00.002-05:00

…the blazing fire, by means of that flame which burns ardently with a gentle breath, offers to the human a white flower, which hangs in that flame as dew hangs on the grass. It’s scent comes to the human’s nostrils, but he does not taste it with his mouth or touch it with his hands. And thus he turns away and falls into the thickest darkness, out of which he cannot pull himself. And that darkness grows and expands more and more in the atmosphere.

Hildegard of Bingen Book Two: The Redeemer and Redemption, Vision One, The Redeemer (from her Scivias as translated by Mother Columba Hart, OSB, and Jane Bishop. Creation and Christ: The Wisdom of Hildegard of Bingen. New York: Paulist Press, 1996: pp 49-50)

In this passage, I particularly love the phrase ‘that flame which burns ardently with a gentle breath.’ That combined with a delicate white flower offered hanging on the flame bring together some apparently impossible images. I see it as an invitation to come into direct contact with the source, with wisdom, with God, if the word God does not limit your openness to further unfolding of God’s self to you.

I understand here an invitation to tasting and living the experience of God, to not getting lost in discussion, philosophizing about God, assuming that with our minds alone we can know God, but instead to fully live the experience. We can easily get lost and out of touch with what is real through the creations of our minds, getting further and further removed from what is true. Reason has its place, but it is a human tendency to get lost in the concepts, removing our selves from our own immediate experience, our open invitation to meet this flower and gentle breath of the flame in any and every waking moment.

Buddhist practices support this understanding and practice of the Christian message. For the Buddhist practice does not speculate about God. It just says, live your life with integrity. Explore and trust your direct experience. Combined with a Christian perspective, if you live your life with integrity, tasting and experientially exploring the fullness of all your ways of knowing, you will meet God face-to-face. You will live God.

love is a river

2009-04-05T15:42:00.002-05:00

a road might end at a single house
but it's not love's road

love is a river
drink from it

from a friend, Mary B, quoting Rumi

insight refrain

2009-03-09T14:19:00.003-05:00

INSIGHT REFRAIN OF THE SATIPATTHANA SUTTA

This passage is offered repeatedly in the Satiptthana Sutta with slight variation to apply to each segment of the sutta.

"In this way, in regard to the body s/he abides contemplating the body internally, or s/he abides contemplating the body externally, or s/he abides contemplating the body both internally and externally.

S/He abides contemplating the nature of arising in the body, or s/he abides contemplating the nature of passing away in the body, or s/he abides contemplating the nature of both arising and passing away in the body.

Mindfulness that 'there is a body' is established in him/her to the extent necessary for bare knowledge and continuous mindfulness.

And s/he abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world. "That is how in regard to the body s/he abides contemplating the body."

Listen to the passage at http://www.citta101.org/audio/insightrefrain.mp3

A contemplative practice to use with this passage http://www.nutpub.com/insightrefrain.html

four noble truths

2009-02-05T07:40:00.002-06:00

Now this, monks, is the noble truth of suffering: Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, death is suffering; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair are suffering; association with the unbeloved is suffering, separation from the loved is suffering, not getting what is wanted is suffering. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are suffering.

And this, monks, is the noble truth of the origination of suffering: the craving that makes for further becoming — accompanied by passion and delight, relishing now here and now there — that is, craving for sensual pleasure, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming.

And this, monks, is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering: the remainderless fading and cessation, renunciation, relinquishment, release, and letting go of that very craving.

And this, monks, is the noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of suffering: precisely this Noble Eightfold Path — right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.

emptiness

2008-11-20T18:50:00.003-06:00

The Buddha spoke of emptiness as an open space where the idea of being an isolated and permanent self is no longer able to ensnare one. This emptiness is “the abode of a great person,” where one can encounter and respond to the world in a selfless but caring perspective.

A bleak nihilistic void in which meaning and value have been lost is the exact opposite of what the Buddha meant by “emptiness.” For him, an understanding of emptiness transformed a compulsive cycle of fears and cravings into a path of wisdom and care that enhanced inner freedom and empathetic responsiveness. Rather than an absence of meaning and value, emptiness is an absence of what limits and confines one’s capacity to realize what a human life can potentially become.

Stephen Batchelor
Living with the Devil: A Meditation on Good and Evil p. 7

downward mobility

2008-10-06T09:42:00.005-05:00

Twenty years ago we were discussing downward mobility as an option for taking responsibilty for our cultural over consumption. We were also aware that if we did not make the choice, sooner or later simpler lifestyles would be imposed on us.

Today the freedom of simplicity may not be a free choice anymore, but a necessity. However, there is no reason it cannot be a happy choice. In fact, the big surprise may be how happy we are when we can say yes to downward mobility!

From my summer reading: Susan Bonne, Living Small in the Big Woods. The Ely Summer Times: 2008, pp.13-14.

In Not so Big House, Sarah Susanka notes that "we long for a sense of shelter and comfort...but tend to use words like 'spacious' and 'expansive' to describe what we think we want." What most of us actually want is a place that feels 'spacious' and 'expansive;' or to put it another way, to feel less cramped by our over-busy lives and too many obligations, possessions, chores, lists.

Paradoxically, living small makes that possible. Less square footage equals less stuff. What isn't owned doesn't have to be maintained, cleaned, or stored, which frees up time and other resources for more fulfilling pursuits, from gardening to travel to playing with the kids.

Less space means a lower (or no) mortagage, lower taxes, and lower utility bills. A smaller footprint also has less impact on the environment, destroys less wildlife, and requires less energy to heat and cool.

wisdom of non-attachment

2008-08-11T10:01:00.008-05:00

For what purpose, friends, is the spiritual life lived under the ascetic Gotama [the Buddha]?
It is, friends, for the fading away of lust [clinging] that the holy life is lived...
Excerpt from SN 45:41-1

I added clinging to the passage above because when we read lust we usually think of lust of a sexual nature. But lust or clinging (attachment or grasping) refers here to a more general wanting, any effort to escape the flow of our experience of the present moment.

The result of effort away from what is true in the moment, whether we do it through grasping, avoiding, or ignoring, is a cause of suffering. Lust is the root of hostilities and violence. Choosing openness to the moment is the most important thing we can do to end suffering in our lives and open to happiness.

Dealing immediatly with these automatic responses is not the same as actions we might want to take. Skillful actions can only arise out of awareness and acceptance of our experience as it is. This is what is true in the moment. It is then skillful to take action when circumstances require it. This is Wisdom.

inexaustable love

2008-07-13T17:02:00.004-05:00

How many people live a boring and sterile life in this world,
loveless, looking for love to fill them but never finding it.

Or suffering the bitterness of disappointed love.
Or the anquish of impossible, lost, or forbidden love,
and not finding fulfillment.

Or the sadness of love returned that does not satisfy.

These people could be overwhelmed with love
and their limitless capacity for love, tenderness, and self-surrender
could be filled, if they would only turn inwards
to the inexaustable love that lives and breathes within them.

Ernesto Cardenal

insubstantiality

2008-06-28T12:59:00.003-05:00

The body's like a ball of foam,
And feeling is like a bubble;
Perception is like a mirage,
Formations like pithless trees,
And consciousness is like a trick;
-So says the kinsman of the sun.

However one reflects on them,
And carefully investigates:
They are empty and deserted
To one who sees them properly.
...
No essence is discovered here.

S 22:95

Read a comment on this passage in the newsletter - www.citta101.org/newsletter.htm

interpersonal practice

2008-06-18T12:16:00.002-05:00

The mind emerges from the activity of the brain, whose structure and function are directy shaped by interpersonal practice.

Daniel Siegel, The Developing Mind, p.1

This critical value of interpersonal practice is the reason we make interaction part of our meditation practice.

mindful vs mindless

2008-06-01T21:43:00.013-05:00

A May 27 article in the New York Times describes the enthusiastic application of mindfulness meditation in therapeutic settings and concludes that the real issue in research with meditation, mindfulness [and therefore the validity of research results], “is whether the science will keep pace and help people distinguish the mindful variety [of meditation practice] from the mindless.”

“Mindfulness meditation is easy to describe.” However, grasping its depth, its profundity, and integrating the practice into all life experience (not to mention into therapies), is a gradual process that requires careful attention, committed and long time practice.

Note: This article will be of interest to mental health professionals. Free registration is required to view the entire article at this New York Times address.

another reason to practice

2008-03-13T23:35:00.014-05:00

"stepping to right of our left hemisphere"

the awesome experience of a stroke through perceptions and language of neuroanatomist, Jill Bolte Taylor

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/229

saying yes to life

2008-03-07T08:28:00.006-06:00

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of humankind as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.

Helen Keller

a new earth with e tolle

2008-03-02T18:01:00.005-06:00

Oprah's webclass with Eckhart Tolle on his book A New Earth begins Monday evening. It is a teaching consistent with Vipassana (Insight and Mindfulness) and with Being Prayer-Transforming Consciousness.

I understand that you need to sign up tonight if you wish to participate. Sessions are available live on Monday nights at 8 pm but also later as downloads.

This is a link to the course or go to Oprah's website to find it yourself

love is a constant

2008-02-11T00:23:00.002-06:00

We are mirrors of God, created to reflect [God]. Even when the water is not calm, it reflects the sky.

Ernesto Cardenal
Love: A Glimpse of Eternity

This is a new translation of a book that was my early spiritual practice. For two years it was my only practice - a lifeline. It is poetic prose and sings of the fullness of the universe and love as the most fundamental truth.

last night

2008-01-19T19:53:00.000-06:00

At night my lost memory of you returned
and I was like the empty field where springtime,
without being noticed, is bringing flowers;

I was like the desert over which
the breeze moves gently, with great care;

I was like the dying patient
who, for no reason, smiles.

Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Last Night
translation by Agha Shahid Ali

nothing's lost

2008-01-10T20:31:00.001-06:00

nothing's lost. Or else: all is translation
And every bit of us is lost in it
(Or found

James Merrill
Lost in Translation lines 208-10
as quoted by Agha Shahid Ali in The Rebel's Silhouette

why experience pain?

2008-01-07T20:37:00.000-06:00

I declare, monks [dhammafarers], that actions (kamma) willed, performed and accumulated, will not become extinct as long as their results have not been experienced, be it in this life, in the next life or in future lives. And as long as these results of actions willed, performed and accumulated, have not been experienced, there will be no end to suffering.
-words of Gautama Buddha

Parallel saying in contemporary Christian tradition:
I heard a priest once say the fires of hell and the pain of purgatory weren't literal fire, but the burning pain of regret around unhealed or unresolved harmful actions.

bloom vividly

2007-12-31T22:50:00.001-06:00

If you want ot survive a dry place, if you want to go shamelessly green in the middle of nowhere, you must emulate alfalfa. If you want to bloom vividly, you must learn to put down a taproot that plunges to phenomenal depths in search of sustenance.

Debra Marquart in The Horizontal World: Growing Up In the Middle of Nowhere: A Memoir

enchantment

2007-12-29T20:23:00.000-06:00

There were lots of reasons, I guessed, to raise a white flag and surrender interest in the material world. Aside from the well-trod pleasures of the quotidian--holidays at the beach, dance parties--you could still feel a greater need for something else entirely. You could feel a hunger and emptiness. You could be tormented by unanswered questions. Modern life leaves many people feeling insignificant and a bit lost. If you were living a spiritual life--and believed you were helping to end suffering--that could make you feel quite potent. And while secular life has a tendency to lose its shimmer--how many dance parties, or holidays at the beach?--spiritual life is infused with supernatural events. From a spiritual perspective, the world can always seem new and wondrous, the way it felt to us as children.

Martha Sherrill in The Buddha from Brooklyn: A Tale of Spiritual Seduction

going home

2007-12-26T10:13:00.000-06:00

Perhaps its true that, as Thomas Wolfe wrote: "You can't go home again." Mostly because, as in Wolfe's case, after you write about the place you're from, people are waiting at the city gates with pitchforks and burning torches the next time you try to visit.

But another reason you can't go home again is that the shape you made upon leaving does not match your shape upon return...

Debra Marquart in The Horizontal World: Growing Up In the Middle of Nowhere: A Memoir

stagnation

2007-12-23T19:59:00.000-06:00

Clutter accumulates when energy stagnates, and likewise, energy stagnates when clutter accumulates.

Karen Kingston in Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui (p 11)

Karen attributes stuck energy to two causes in addition to clutter: physical grime and predecessor energy.

Western science clearly recognizes clutter and dirt as contributors to dysfunction. In healing facilities (hospitals, recovery centers, and mental health institutions) the first treatment is providing a clean and uncluttered environment. It is a small step to accepting that dirt and disorder could cause our vitality to be depleted.

Predecessor energy may be more difficult cause for the western mind to consider, but we can at least suspend our disbelief and consider the possibility.

active solitude - merton

2007-12-20T11:58:00.000-06:00

Comments from Howard Griffin on Thomas Merton's view of solitude:

Actually, solitude for him was a realization, even kind of a creation as well as a liberation of active forces within him. As a mere condition solitude could be passive, inert, and basically unreal: a kind of coma. To avoid this condition he had to work actively at solitude.

Thus, the need for discipline, for techniques of integration that keep body and soul together, harmonizing their powers to bring them into one deep resonance oriented to the root of being.

sutta - enough

2007-12-19T01:03:00.000-06:00

For a long time, monks [practitioners, anyone],
you have experienced suffering, anguish, and disaster,
and swelled the cemetery.

It is enough to become disenchanted with all formations
enough to become dispassionate toward them,
enough to be liberated by them.

SN 15.1; II 178

Read a similar sutta on line - SN 15.3: Assu Sutta
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn15/sn15.003.than.html

Link to online dharma resources in on the website at www.citta101.org/practicepages.htm

the mist

2007-12-18T17:30:00.001-06:00

As the mist leaves no scar
On the dark green hill
So my body leaves no scar
On you, nor ever will

When wind and hawk encounter
What remains to keep?
So you and I encounter
Then turn then fall asleep

As many nights endure
Without a moon or star
So will we endure
When one is gone and far

Anjani
Blue Alert