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Buddha’s Quote on loving yourself :”You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.
- Story of the train in Japan: resource: “How can I Help. Ram Dass
- An antidote to all three is mindfulness, investigation and effort: With Mindfulness and investigation what is happening in the mind and the body right now. Effort encouraging the wholesome states of mind and discouraging the unhealthy states of mind
- Fear and aversion can also lead us to insights into our suffering. How the mind creates meaning out of experience. The illusion that if others or myself eradicate mistakes then I will be happy. Ex: me with friends who have wealth.
- Last time : Samsara: Our western “culture of the individual;” leads to perfectionism; because we are never perfect, we feel shame when we make a mistake or think we fall short. This culture does not do a good job with validating pain. Thinking we are different can lead to a narrative of self that is essential self judgment. We are taking the situation personally. This is called delusion or ignorance This can lead to a sense of separation, fear, aversion. In our isolation we create “the other. And greed we numb ourselves with false refuges, such as food, because of perceived loneliness.
- Unless we have a strategy for releasing this toxic energy, it stores itself in the mind. When we have a similar experience, these thoughts and emotions repeat themselves. This stored emotional memory for future reference is called karma. This internal loop is called samsara.
- You are learning to take three refuges: Buddha, Dharma, Sangha
- Dharma; the knowledge and practice of teachings
- Sangha. Community of like minded practitioners
- Buddha: means a historical figure who gave up his wealth and position in life to find the path to freedom; also means a person who had transcending suffering and lives in compassion. Some people say and believe of our Buddha Nature, that at our core is infinite love and comp cassion
- Four Noble Truths: the backbone to all of the teachings independent of Buddhist tradition: the path to freedomThere is suffering; The cause of suffering is craving and clinging: resistance to what is; There is freedom from suffering; The path out of suffering is Noble Eightfold means highest, most courageous
- Morality, concentration and wisdom
- Wisdom Wise View and Wise Intention
- View: interdependence, karma, four truths, three characteristics
- Intention: non harm, lovingkindness and compassion, living in non attachment
- Suffering: greed hatred delusion; antidote to greed is generosity, to hatred is lovingkings, to delusion is renunciation
- Virtue: wise speech, action and livelihood
- Wise speech: avoid gossip, lies, not beneficial, harsh; action avoid sex and substance harm; avoid killing and stealing; livelihood: a lifestyle that avoids haram and is for the greater good
- Wise concentration: effort, mindfulness and concentration
- Story from “Super Joy” Paul Pearsall : p8 (Pearsall, P. Super Joy. Bantam. New York. 1990)
- The Neutral Person; the person that we are indifferent towards. Why are they called this?
- These are the people throughout the day that we pay little or less attention to; Our perception is that they are less interesting, so we lose our mindfulness. We are indifferent towards these people.
- This is perception without mindfulness and investigation. Perception is based on history of emotions, views, beliefs etc
- We are waking up to how are our preferences keep us blind
- Mindfulness is enlivening mindfulness with investigation is intimacy and understanding
- Waking up to the neutral person’s aliveness; all of us share the longing to be seen and loved
- This opening to all is a selfless act of generosity, takes courage.
- Assignments: 1) Be kind 2) Meditating use lovingkindness towards self, benefactor, friend or neutral person 4) Read p45-51 “Boundless Heart” by Christina Feldman