Foundation of Meditation, Mindfulness, Class IV, September 1, 2026. Check in, Review
- Mindfulness is the great liberator. Without mindfulness, investigation and effort, we unconsciously experience patterns of mind that are cyclic. This is called samsara. (next week)
- This is a path of non harm: non greed, non hatred, non delusion. Sometimes it is not readily apparent that greed, hatred or delusion is in the mind. (next week) Letting go of these poisons allows for loving kindness, compassion, and selflessness. Jack Kornfield tells the story of the crack. (Perhaps next weekComes from “A Path with Heart,” by Kornfield
- Review on feelings
- Example of Taking my wife to the Radiologist: On the interstate, how feeling tone and mental formations are dependent on causes and conditions
- Story of Maha Ghosananda and what he did when all of his family was murdered by the Khmer Rouge. This is from AI: In 1965, Maha Ghosananda traveled to a remote forest hermitage in southern Thailand to study meditation under Ajahn Dhammadaro. Within a few years, a full-scale ground war broke out in Cambodia, eventually leading to the rise of Pol Pot’s regime, which ultimately executed, starved, or overworked nearly 2 million Cambodians—including Ghosananda’s entire family. Ajahn Dhammadaro was not instructing Ghosananda to be heartless. Instead, he was pushing him to maintain strict mental discipline and unshakeable inner peace. He knew that if Ghosananda allowed himself to be consumed by anger, vengeance, or paralyzing grief, he would be spiritually destroyed and unable to help others.Despite weeping for his country daily, Ghosananda adhered to this training to anchor his mind. This intense focus allowed him to emerge from the tragedy with profound clarity. He went on to lead the historic Dhammayietra peace walks across active warzones, earning him the title “The Gandhi of Cambodia” for his ability to respond to immense horror with radical compassion.
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Andy with Dharma Teacher Donald Rothberg at Southern Dharma Retreat Center
II.New Teachings
- The Dharma…..is experienced in the present moment, available to all and applicable to all, and happens in our hearts, and you have to experience life as it is. About the Buddha teaching the Dharma in a caste system and in a system where gurus were territorial about their sects
- Example of Taking my wife to the Radiologist
- Review on mindfulness of feelings
- Introduce causes and conditions :Causes The primary seed or main driving force that brings about the production of something (comparable to a bean seed planted to grow a bean plant). Conditions The supporting external factors—such as soil, water, light, and air—that help shape, nurture, and manifest the final result
- Introduce Mindfulness of Mind
- Introduce noting (handout)
- About taking my wife Susan for radiation treatment:
- Some Conditions: (have the group process this.) 7AM, I4, driving, some causes may be her treatment, my view on traffic, my view on my role
- Scenario changes: I pull into another’s lane…,and she does her genuflecting
- We get there and my wife goes into that chamber : pleasant unpleasant or neutral: conditions see above, causes, fear, anger
- This is the law of dependent origination, interdependence, or interconnection… seeing all of this internal, see it internally, happens in the moment, the way out is to see things as they are.
- Ajahn Chah quote on the still forest pool: Try to be mindful. And let things take their natural course. Then your mind will become still in any surroundings – like a clear forest pool. All kinds of wonderful, rare animals will come to drink at the pool – and you will clearly see the nature of all things. You will see many strange and wonderful things come and go, but you will be still. This is the happiness of the Buddha
III. Teaching some basics of walking meditation: Thich Nhat Hanh Handout
IV. Assignments
- Practice, all positions: sitting, walking, standing and reclines; contrast these postions
- Reading from “Breath by Breath,” by Larry Rosenberg p91-111