Contemplative Living

Empathy Series: Buddhist Mind-Training (Lojong)

2010-11-09T07:09:00.000-08:00

Master Shantideva

Empathy Series Class 2: Buddhist Mind-Training (Lojong)

Whatever joy there is in the world, comes from cherishing others. 
Whatever suffering there is in the world, comes from only cherishing yourself. 
What need is there to say more: the childish work for their own benefit while the Buddhas work for the benefit of others. Just look at the difference between them! – Shantideva

Meaning of the word Lojong:

Lo = Mind/Heart Jong = Training/Developing

Training the mind in wisdom, training the heart for compassion.
Implicit meaning is using life's challenges and difficulties for one's spiritual development.

Two Main Problems:

Svartha = self-preoccupation
Svabhava = self-existence

Two Main Remedies:

Karuna = Compassion
Prajna = Wisdom

History of Mind-Training:

The mind-training practice was developed over a 300-year period between 900 and 1200 CE, as part of the Mahayana school of Buddhism. Atisha (982–1054 CE), a Bengali meditation master, brought these and other practices such as the stages of the path (lam rim) to Tibet. Atisha's most renown text is the Lamp on the Path to Enlightenment (Bodhipathapradipam). The lojong practice is based upon Atisha's studies with the Sumatran teacher, Dharmaraksita, author of the lojong text called the Wheel of Sharp Weapons.

There are three lineages of the mind-training teachings: The Sevenfold Cause and Effect instruction; the Fourfold Equalize and Exchange of Self and Other (dakshen nyamje), which is the second point of the Seven-point Mind-Training system; and, the Elevenfold Mind-Training synthesis, which is an integration of the previous two systems. Numerous text and commentaries on these three systems comprise the mind-training literature. In 2006, a total of 43 texts on mind-training were edited by Thupten Jinpa and published by Wisdom Publications entitled Mind Training: The Great Collection.

The lineage of the mind-training traditions are directly linked to the Buddha. The Sevenfold Cause and Effect instruction was taught by Buddha to Maitrya, to Asanga, to Lama Serlingpa, to Lama Atisha, to Je Tsongkapa. The Fourfold Equalize and Exchange of Self with Other method, found within the Seven-point Mind-Training, was taught by Buddha to Maitreya, to Shantideva, to Lama Serlingpa, to Lama Atisha, to Je Tsongkapa. The Seven Point Mind-Training in its present form was composed by Geshe Chekhawa (1101–1175 CE). Chekhawa studied with Sharawa, who was a student of the great master Langri Tangpa Dorge Sangye (1054–1123). The Seven-point instruction and the Fourfold method were combined into an Elevenfold Mind-Training synthesis by Je Tsongkapa (1357-1419).

Context:
The rise of Mahayana Buddhism, occurs 500 years after the Buddha in a time when spiritual practices were becoming popular with the laity outside the monastic circles. At this time a new wave of teachings and literature on the wisdom of emptiness (shunyata) appear, which highlight the relativity and interdependence of things. The turn of the millennium in Buddhist India and East Asia is then characterized by an ethos of love and compassion designed to transform the very fabric of urban society. The emphasis on renunciation in early Buddhism is replaced in the Mahayana by compassion firmly grounded in wisdom. Spirituality is brought back from the ashrams on the outskirts of society, back into the marketplace and the hearts and mind of urban dwellers.

Extending the Nervous System:
Our three-part series follows the trajectory of the historical development of Buddhism in India known as the three vehicles (yanas). Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana are three systems of Buddhism each exploring new horizons while subsuming the teachings of the former. They can be characterized by their emphasis on: Hinayana = Dispassion/Renunciation and self-healing, Mahayana = Compassion and social healing, and Vajrayana = pure Passion and embodied healing.

If we use the lens of contemporary psychotherapy and attachment theory we might say that the first phase was about becoming a parent to ourselves, the second phase about becoming a parent to others, and the final phase about becoming a supremely blissful parent to all beings. First the nervous system is regulated and calmed, then the calm nervous system is extended to others who are deregulated, and finally the deepest potential of nervous system is harnessed to expedite the process of regulating others.

Sevenfold Cause and Effect instruction:

1. Recognizing all beings as kin.
2. Remembering their kindness.
3. Vowing to repay their kindness.
4. Developing love for all beings.
5. Developing compassion for all beings.
6. Generating the wish to save all beings.
7. Perusing full enlightenment in order to fulfill one’s wish.

Equalize and Exchange Self and Other
(Point 2 of the Seven-point Mind Training)

I. Equalizing Self and Other
II. Contemplating the Limits of Sefl-preoccupation
III. Contemplating the Benefits of Empathy
IV. Exchanging Self and Other
V. Giving and Taking Meditation (tonglen)

The Seven-Point Mind-Training (with the 59 slogans)
Source: Wikipedia Lojong Entry

ONE: The preliminaries, which are the basis for dharma practice
1. First, train in the preliminaries.

TWO: The main practice, which is training in bodhicitta.
Absolute Bodhicitta
2. Regard all dharmas as dreams.
3. Examine the nature of unborn awareness.
4. Self-liberate even the antidote.
5. Rest in the nature of alaya, the essence.
6. In postmeditation, be a child of illusion.
Relative Bodhicitta
7. Sending and taking should be practiced alternately. These two should ride the breath.
8. Three objects, three poisons, three roots of virtue.
9. In all activities, train with slogans.
10. Begin the sequence of sending and taking with yourself.

THREE: Transformation of Bad Circumstances into the Way of Enlightenment
11. When the world is filled with evil, transform all mishaps into the path of bodhi.
12. Drive all blames into one.
13. Be grateful to everyone.
14. Seeing confusion as the four kayas is unsurpassable shunyata protection.
15. Four practices are the best of methods.
16. Whatever you meet unexpectedly, join with meditation.

FOUR: Showing the Utilization of Practice in One's Whole Life
17. Practice the five strengths, the condensed heart instructions.
18. The mahayana instruction for ejection of consciousness at death is the five strengths: how you conduct yourself is important.

FIVE: Evaluation of Mind Training
19. All dharma agrees at one point.
20. Of the two witnesses, hold the principal one.
21. Always maintain only a joyful mind.
22. If you can practice even when distracted, you are well trained.

SIX: Disciplines of Mind Training
23. Always abide by the three basic principles.
24. Change your attitude, but remain natural.
25. Don't talk about injured limbs.
26. Don't ponder others.
27. Work with the greatest defilements first.
28. Abandon any hope of fruition.
29. Abandon poisonous food.
30. Don't be so predictable.
31. Don't malign others.
32. Don't wait in ambush.
33. Don't bring things to a painful point.
34. Don't transfer the ox's load to the cow.
35. Don't try to be the fastest.
36. Don't act with a twist.
37. Don't make gods into demons.
38. Don't seek others' pain as the limbs of your own happiness.

SEVEN: Guidelines of Mind Training
39. All activities should be done with one intention.
40. Correct all wrongs with one intention.
41. Two activities: one at the beginning, one at the end.
42. Whichever of the two occurs, be patient.
43. Observe these two, even at the risk of your life.
44. Train in the three difficulties.
45. Take on the three principal causes.
46. Pay heed that the three never wane.
47. Keep the three inseparable.
48. Train without bias in all areas. It is crucial always to do this pervasively and wholeheartedly.
49. Always meditate on whatever provokes resentment.
50. Don't be swayed by external circumstances.
51. This time, practice the main points.
52. Don't misinterpret.
53. Don't vacillate.
54. Train wholeheartedly.
55. Liberate yourself by examining and analyzing.
56. Don't wallow in self-pity.
57. Don't be jealous.
58. Don't be frivolous.
59. Don't expect applause.

Quotes on Bodhicitta The Spirit of Enlightnement / Awakened Heart:

Although it is the stick that hurts me, I am angry at the one who wields it, striking me. But they in turn are driven by their hatred (and misperception); Therefore it is with their hatred that I take offense. - Shantideva
(v. 41, Chapter 6) on "Patience", from the Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life

First of all I should make an effort 
To meditate upon the equality between self and others: 
I should protect all beings as I do myself 
Because we are all equal in wanting pleasure and not wanting pain.  
Although there are many different parts and aspects such as the hands; 
As a body that is to be protected they are one, 
Likewise all the different sentient beings in their pleasure and their pain 
Have a wish to be happy that is the same as mine.  
The suffering that I experience 
Does not cause any harm to others. 
But that suffering is mine because of my conceiving of myself as "I"; 
Thereby it becomes unbearable.  
Likewise the misery of others 
Does not befall me. 
Nevertheless, by conceiving of others as "I" their suffering becomes mine; 
Therefore it too should be hard to bear.  
Hence I should dispel the misery of others 
Because it is suffering, just like my own, 
And I should benefit others 
Because they are sentient beings, just like myself.  
When both myself and others 
Are similar in that we wish to be happy, 
What is so special about me? 
Why do I strive for my happiness alone?
- Shantideva

"May I become food and drink in the aeons of famine for those poverty-stricken suffers.
May I be a doctor, medicine and nurse for all sick beings in the world until everyone is cured.
May I become never-ending wish-fulfilling treasures materialising in front of each of them as all the enjoyments they need.
May I be a guide for those who do not have a guide, a leader for those who journey, a boat for those who want to cross over, and all sorts of ships, bridges, beautiful parks for those who desire them, and light for those who need light.
And may I become beds for those who need a rest, and a servant to all who need servants.
May I also become the basic conditions for all sentient beings, such as earth or even the sky, which is indestructible.
May I always be the living conditions for all sentient beings until all sentient beings are enlightened."
-Shantideva
From A Guide to a Bodhisattva's Way of Life, Shantideva, tr by Stephen Batchelor, Chapter VIII, verses 90-95,, Snow Lion Publications.

Empathy Series: Attunement, Attachment, Meditation and Psychotherapy

2010-11-02T07:09:00.000-07:00

Primary Reference: Daniel Seigel. (2007). The Mindful Brain.

Key words: Attunement, Attachment, Meditation, Psychotherapy and Empathy

Two Problems
1. Affect Disregulation / Nueral Unintegration
2. Traumatic Narrative

Assumptions about Attachment
• Attachment is the relationship of the child to the caregiver over time – first three years are crucial
• Attachment style of the care giver conditions the style of the child
• Research has shown attachment shapes the developing mind/brain
• Attachment impacts self-regulatory circuits

Attachment Styles: Relationship Type

Relationship Type => Parenting Behavior

Secure => Responsive, Consistent
Avoidant => Rejecting, Distant
Ambivalent => Rejecting, Distant
Disorganized => Frightening, Confusing, Fearful

Characteristics of Secure Attachment: The Trusting Child
Securely attached children exhibit distress when separated from caregivers and are happy when their caregiver returns. Remember, these children feel secure and able to depend on their adult caregivers. When the adult leaves, the child may be upset but he or she feels assured that the parent or caregiver will return.
When frightened, securely attached children will seek comfort from caregivers. These children know their parent or caregiver will provide comfort and reassurance, so they are comfortable seeking them out in times of need.

Characteristics of Ambivalent Attachment: The Anxious Child
Ambivalently attached children usually become very distressed when a parent leaves. This attachment style is considered relatively uncommon, affecting an estimated 7-15% of U.S. children. Research suggests that ambivalent attachment is a result of poor maternal availability. These children cannot depend on their mother (or caregiver) to be there when the child is in need.

Characteristics of Avoidant Attachment: The Aloof Child
Children with an avoidant attachment tend to avoid parents or caregivers. When offered a choice, these children will show no preference between a caregiver and a complete stranger. Research has suggested that this attachment style might be a result of abusive or neglectful caregivers. Children who are punished for relying on a caregiver will learn to avoid seeking help in the future.

Characteristics of Disorganized Attachment: The Confused Child
The disorganized types seek attachment but experienced anxiety as a consequence of attachment. They also experience anxiety at the disappearance of the mother and are difficult to soothe upon reunion. Disorganized children are particularly ambivalent upon reunion with their attachment figure, both approaching and avoiding contact. Bowlby described these children as "arching away angrily while simultaneously seeking proximity" when re-introduced to their mothers.
Attachment Styles: Parents Narrative

Adult Narratives

Adult Narrative => Child Attachment

Secure => Secure
Dismissing => Avoidant
Entangled, Preoccupied => Anxious
Unresolved Trauma or Grief => Disorganized

Characteristic of Secure Narrative: The Balanced Adult
flexible, coherent, self-reflective, balanced perspective (positive with the negative)

Characteristic of Dismissing Narrative: The Adult in Denial
Incoherent-vague, inflexible-ridgid, minimize emotional significance, insist on lack of recall, based on denial

Characteristic of Entangled Narrative: The Preoccupied Adult
preoccupation with past, intrudes on present, intense idealization or fixation

Characteristic of Unresolved Narrative: The Traumatized Adult
disorganization, disorientation around issues of grief or trauma, unintegrated, spontaneously intrusive, disorienting

The Brain is a Social Organ

• The function of the brain is to engage with other people, other brains, in the shaping of its development over time and in shaping its activity in the present.

• Mirror Neurons and the capacity to develop empathy and insight = MINDSIGHT

• Our brains are extremely social. Areas involved in self-regulation overlap with those involved in interpersonal communication and plasticity

• How one brain interacts with another has important effects on how the brain functions: Social interactions are one of the most powerful forms of experience that help shape how the brain gives rise to the mind

• Mindsight enables us to meet life’s challenges with more flexibility and joy in our internal and interpersonal worlds

• We are ultimately connected to each other as part of a larger whole

Two Solutions:

1. Attunement via mindfulness (intrapsychically) and empathy (interpersonally via psychotherapy)
2. Coherent Narrative via psychotherapy

Secure Attachment and Empathy Fosters:

• Flexible self-regulation
• Prosocial behavior
• Empathy
• Positive sense of emotional well-being and self-esteem
• Coherent life-story
• Neural Integration

Brain Regions and Functions Integrated During Mindfulness and Psychotherapy:

I. Brainstem: Reptilian brain. Core functions. Heart. Respiration. Metabolism. Sleep-wake cycles. Fight-flight Response.

II. Limbic region: Mammalian brain. Social function. Connection with others. Memory processing into autobiographical context., Appraisal/meaning of sensations and emotions. Hormone regulation via the hypothalamus. Endocrine – autonomic and parasympathetic NS. Motivational drives and survival instincts.

III. Cortex: Neo- Mammalian brain. Cognitive function. Perception, planning, and attention. Resonance circuitr and mirror neurons. Imagination and empathy.

A. Left brain: language, linearity, logic, literal thinking. The narrarator.

B. Right brain: non-verbal, holistic, visiospacial, autobiographical memory, spontaneous emotion, stress modulation, empathic response, attention.

How Psychotherapy Cultivates Attunement, Self-regulation, and Neural integration:

Sharing coherence/integration
In the process of psychotherapy with a range of individuals with intact mirror neuron systems, shared states with the therapist may be an essential component of the therapeutic process. As two individuals share the closely resonant reverberating interactions that their mirror neuron systems makes possible, what before may have been unbearable states of affective and bodily activation within the patient may now become tolerable within conscious awareness. Being empathic with patients may be more than just something that helps them “feel better” – it may create a new state of neural activation with a coherence in the moment improves the capacity for self-regulation. What is at first a form of interpersonal integration in the sharing of affective and cognitive states now evolves into a form of internal integration in the patient. With the entry of previously warded-off states of being in conscious awareness, the patient can now learn to develop enhanced self-regulatory capacities that before were beyond their skill set. It may be that as interpersonal attunement initiates a new form of awareness that makes intrapersonal attunement possible, new self-regulatory capacities become available. - Seigel

Positive Attachment: Attunement and Narrative
Studies of attachment reveal that the parent’s openness to a child’s signals and the coherence of the parent’s own narrative are important predictors of a child’s development of security of attachment (13). Such factors seem to promote a form of resiliency in the child which self-regulation unfold as the child matures. Psychotherapy may naturally harness these developmental origins of well-being in creating a resonant state in which the therapist is sensitive to the patient’s signals and also has made sense of his or her own life. Being open to the many layers of our experience, often involving the non-verbal world of sensation and affect in addition to our verbal understanding is an important stance for the therapist to create toward the internal and interpersonal worlds. Within this framework, the state of brain activation in the therapist serves as a vital source of resonance that can profoundly alter the ways in which the patient’s brain is activated in the moment-to-moment experiences within therapy. Such interactive experiences allow the patient to “feel felt” and understood by the therapist, and they also may establish new neural net firing patterns that can lead to neural plastic changes. Ultimately lasting effects of psychotherapy must harness such experiences that promote the growth of new synaptic connections so that more adaptive capacities for self-regulation and well-being can be established. -Seigel

Adult Narrative made Coherent and Integrated During Psychotherapy:

A narrative is a story we tell ourselves that helps contextualizes our experience.
A narrative is just a construct, and needs to be flexible and adaptive.
In the case of traumatic experience, explicit memories are fragmented and need to be made into implicit memories, integrated into a holistic, coherent and conscious narrative.
Explicit memories are non conscious, non verbal, fragmented, emotional, somatic.
Implicit memories are conscious, verbal, holistic, cognitively contextualized.
We need to make positive meaning of our experiences.
This process of making meaning of traumatic experience is one of the hallmarks of good therapy.

Narrative: Making Sense of a Story

The hallmark of secure attachment being the ability to reflect on one's internal emotional experience, and make sense of it, and at the same time reflect on the mind of another. One can immediately see how these capacities are imbued in the infant through sensitive attunement of the caregiver. When a caregiver reads the verbal and non-verbal cues of the child and reflects them back, the child sees him or herself through the eyes of the attachment figure. It is through this attunement and contingent communication process that the seeds of the developing self are planted and realized. Insecurely attached individuals lack this reflective function either because their emotional responses are so repressed as in the case of the dismissing attachment status or exacerbated as in the case of the preoccupied attachment status that they are unable to either identify their own internal experience or reflect on that of the other. When either one of these extremes are the method of regulating the attachment behavioral system, the capacity for reflection (on oneself and others) is compromised. - Fonagy

Jeremy Holmes, likewise an analyst in England, has written the book The Search for the Secure Base: Attachment Theory and Psychotherapy (2001). Holmes talks at great length about the narratives of insecurely attached individuals. He refers to story-making, and story-breaking. In the case of dismissing attachment, where the story is so restricted as to reduce the possibility of dysphoric affect, the clinician is helping the patient create a story that is coherent, full of memory and manageable affect. In the case of preoccupied attachment, where anxiety over-runs the client's story in that it becomes convoluted and saturated with anger and disappointment, the therapist's role is to help break the negative cycle of the narrative, manage the affect more effectively and create a story that is balanced and coherent. - Dan Sonkin
See Sonkin's Article Attachment Theory and Psychotherapy

Nine Middle Prefrontal Functions
By Dan Seigel

Body Regulation:
Body Regulation is achieved by the Autonomic (automatic) Nervous System. This system generally works without conscious control and regulates functions like heart rate, breathing, digestion, vascular tone, inflammation and immune response etc.

Attuned Communication:
Attuned Communication is defined as the coordination of input from another mind with the activity of one’s own, a resonance process involving these middle prefrontal areas. This is distinct from other resonant functions such as those achieved by the mirror neurons in the motor cortex that automatically interpret the motor actions of another as one’s own.

Emotional Balance:
Emotional Balance in this context is defined as being able to balance between rigidity and chaos. In other words, being able to keep from being overwhelmed or becoming inflexible in one’s emotional response.

Response Flexibility:
Response Flexibility is the capacity to pause before action. Such a process requires the assessment of ongoing stimuli, the delay of reaction, selection from a variety of possible options, and the initiation of action.

Empathy (Mindsight):
Empathy is defined as conscious awareness and sensitivity to the mind of someone else. It is the putting of oneself in someone else’s shoes.

Insight, or self-knowing awareness:
Insight links the past, present and future. The middle prefrontal cortex has input and output fibers to many areas. Insight means integrating cortical representation of autobiographical memory stores and limbic firing that gives emotional texture to the emerging themes of our present awareness, life story, and image of the future.

Fear modulation:
Fear can be modulated from the middle PFC via neurons that enervate the amygdala, a limbic structure that registers threat and opportunity. These neurons can release calming neurotransmitters (GABA) and can be consciously reprogrammed.

Intuition:
Intuition in this context means registering the input from neurons from the heart and gut. In other words, respecting one’s gut feeling.

Morality:
Morality in this context means the ability to think of the larger social good and enact those behaviors, even when alone.

Nine Forms of Neural Integration
Adapted from Dan's Seigel's Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation (2010)

1. Integration of consciousness - Awareness of the body, mental/emotional, relational, and outside world. Openness to things as they are.

2. Bilateral integration - Left and right hemispheres working in synchrony. Left hemisphere is logical and linear, very literal. Right side is more creative, metaphoric, and symbolic.

3. Vertical integration - Body up, including lamina-1, from the brainstem through the midbrain (hippocampus) and into the cerebral cortex. [ME: Also look at the role of the vagus nerve in vertical integration.]

Gut, heart, and lungs all have neural networks that seek to communicate with the brain. Too many people are disconnected from the awareness from our bodies.

4. Memory integration - Implicit and explicit memory integration. When traumas become implicit memory, a schema, we are stuck in the past. To integrate memory, we make implicit memories explicit.

5. Narrative integration - Biographical memory, needs to be included. Run into the trauma, not from it. When a dog tries to bite you, stick your fist down it's throat - it'll gag and release. We get wounded, but not as bad as if we pull away and the dog's teeth tear the flesh from our hands.

6. State integration - we are multiple selves sharing a body. Three parts: We need to learn to honor our states (intrastate), interstate, honor that we have different needs at the same time and we need to pay attention to that, and interpersonal states, maintaining my own states while in relation with others.

Other states - such as gross, subtle, causal, nondual?

7. Interpersonal integration - Honoring and supporting the differences in each other promotes neural integration in the brain. Mind is energy and information flow. Talking about thoughts and feelings gets you nowhere. It's about nurturing energy.

Communication of feelings, not about feelings, can be integrative for the brain - promotes integrative fibers in the brain. Parent-child interactions that create healthy attachment work in this way.

8. Temporal integration - Making maps of time. Connected to narrative - we seek certainty, but change is the only constant. We also become aware of our eventual death.

Differentiation and linkage, chaos and integration. We need to differentiate before we can link, and we need to recognize the chaos before we can integrate.

9. Transpirational integration - The identity of a bodily self expands beyond the boundary of the skin - we sense our interconnection time, place, and people. Integration of integration. We Space consciousness.

Buddha Shakyamuni Mantra

2010-10-23T18:25:00.001-07:00

Buddha Shakyamuni Mantra

TAYATA OM MUNI MUNI MAHA MUNIYE SOHA

The following translation of the mantra is provided by Thubten Yeshe is a direct quote taken from here:

The mantra of Shakyamuni Buddha could be said to be the essence of the Buddha, the essence of his enlightenment. It is in no way separate from the Buddha himself.

Mantras are said to carry this enlightenment essence in the very sound of the syllables themselves. It's an energetic thing. So, translations can sometimes get in the way of the experience of the energy of the mantra if we focus on the so-called meaning of the words at the expense of simply experiencing the sound that is being generated.

Mantra has been described as "a creative sound considered expressive of the deepest essence of things and understandings" thus the recitation of the mantra "can evoke in a formulaic or even magical way" a transcendent state of mind and energy. Also, "mantra is the pure sound of enlightened speech."

It is Sanskrit, not Tibetan. In fact, mantras are almost untranslatable. But, what we can do is interpret the syllables. This is Lama Zopa Rinpoche's interpretation of the Buddha's mantra:

TA YA THA - it is like this

OM - The All-Knowledge of the three bodies of a buddha and of the infinite Buddha's Holy Body, Speech and Mind. The knowledge of the two paths to enlightenment (Method and Wisdom), and of the two truths (Absolute and relative) that contain all existence within them.

MUNI - Control over the suffering of the three lower realms and over the wrong conception of the self-existent I.

MUNI - Control over the suffering of all samsara and over self-cherishing thoughts.

MAHA MUNIYE - Great control over the suffering of subtle illusions and over the dualistic mind.

SVAHA - May my mind receive, absorb and keep the blessings of the mantra, and may they take root.

I'll finish with a quote from Lama Thubten Yeshe:

"Reciting a mantra...does not mean the mere vocal repetition of speech syllables. Many meditators know from experience that the act of reciting mantras transcends external sounds and words. It is more like listening to a subtle inner sound that has always inhabited our nervous system."

- Thubten Yeshe, quote taken from here:

3 Qualities of the Student and 10 Qualities of the Guru

2010-10-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

Source: Fifty Verses of Guru Devotion by Ashvagosha:

3 Qualities of the Good Student with the Analogies of the Cup:

1) The upside-down cup. Incapable of taking in the teachings.

The student should be open-minded and receptive to teachings.

2) The contaminated cup. Wrong motivations and views corrupt and distort the teachings.

The student should be discriminating and critical of their own and other's wrong views. They should have a sincere motivation when receiving teachings, rather than being motivated by gain or fame.

3) The leaky cup. Incapable to retaining the teachings.

The student should be enthusiastic and determined to listen, reflect, meditatate upon and retain the wisdom being taught to them.

10 Qualities of the Guru according to the Fifty Verses on Guru Devotion by Ashvagosha

1) Stable means that he should have very subdued actions of body; he should abstain from non-virtuous actions of body, keep his bodily actions proper and moral; immutable.

2) Cultivated refers to his speech; he should abstain from non-virtuous actions of speech, keep proper morality of speech, not hurt others by means of speech, sharp words, etc.

3) Mentally, he should abstain from the three non-virtuous actions of mind as well as from pretentiousness; his mental attitude should be very pure. He should possess intelligence and discretion; if he doesn’t, he can’t lead us on the path to liberation.

4) He should possess the three types of forbearance, or patience:
· forbearance of harm received from others;
· the ability to endure hardship; and
· the ability to hear profound teachings without being terrified.

5) He should be true and unbiased, or impartial; not biased towards near relatives or repulsed by enemies; he should be even-minded towards all sentient beings.

6) He shouldn’t be pretentious or conceal his shortcomings. Pretentious means pretending to have supernatural knowledge that he doesn’t have and concealing his shortcomings means always trying to hide his faults from others, especially with the intention of getting offerings.

7) He should have the power to drive out interferences by means of mantras and tantric practice.

8) He should be able to practice medicine, which actually means to help and benefit others by means of his teachings; to really pacify them.

9) He should possess great compassion, the wish that all sentient beings’ suffering be alleviated.

10) He should have profound knowledge of the scriptures, especially the Tripitaka.

10 Qualities of a Guru according to the Guru Puja (Mentor Worship) by the First Panchen Lama Lobsang Chokyi Galtsen

Sourse: Lama Zopa's Online Entry on Guru Devotion

1. Discipline as a result of his mastery of the training in the higher discipline of moral self-control;
2. Mental quiescence from his training in higher concentration;
3. Pacification of all delusions and obstacles from his training in higher wisdom;
4. More knowledge than his disciple in the subject to be taught;
5. Enthusiastic perseverance and joy in teaching;
6. A treasury of scriptural knowledge;
7. Insight into and understanding of emptiness;
8. Skill in presenting the teachings;
9. Great compassion; and
10. No reluctance to teach and work for his disciples regardless of their level of intelligence.

Buddhism & Yoga Series

2010-09-12T12:07:00.000-07:00

The Three Trainings or Educations (trishiksha) are Ethics, Meditation and Wisdom.
Together they form a triad of practices that constitute the Buddha's Fourth Noble Truth, the path to happiness and freedom.
The Yoga traditions offer a similar triad of paths to freedom including Karma Yoga (the path of action), Jnana Yoga (the path of Knowledge) and Bhakti Yoga (the path of devotion).

This series will be devoted to exploring the three educations and yogic paths from a practical, rather than academic, perspective. The goal is to offer some conceptual maps and practical skills to help us offer-come habits that bind us.

Overview of this Series:

Class 1: Suffering and Karma

Class 2: Ethics and Action

Class 3: Wisdom and Knowledge

Class 4: Meditation and Devotion

Class 5: Freedom and Happiness

The following past post will help orient participants for this series:

The Four Noble Truths

Karma

We will be using the Yoga Sutras of Master Patanjali as a primary source for several of our lectures.

Translations by Chip Hartranft and Geshe Michael Roach are available for free online in PDF format:

Yoga Sutra (C.H. version)

Yoga Sutra (G.M.R. version)

Yoga Sura Verses for Class 1:

Chapter 2 verse 1-16

Pathways to Self-healing: Class 3

2010-03-17T12:45:00.001-07:00

Key Themes (Some available in a prior post):

- Karma
- Third Noble Truth: Freedom
- The Second Principal Path: Compassion
- The "Gap"
- How an understanding of karma effects the generation of compassion

Karma

The Third Noble Truth

The Second Principal Path

The "Gap": How to Use Recognition to Override Defaut Reactions
Freedom from suffering begins with a conscious choice to override automatic or unconscious conditioning and its effects.
What is necessary is a moment of recognition known as the "gap" and an alternative, more enlightened, response.

The unconscious cycle of stress and suffering is constituted by:
Misperception (Avidya) => Afflictive Emotions (Klesha) => Reactive/Automatic Behavior (Karma) => Adaptation to a compulsive lifestyle

The conscious "gap" of freedom and opportunity can occur anywhere in the chain or cycle, but is most easily recognized (smirti) between afflictive emotion and behavior. We are typically too unconscious of our misperception, but we can recognize our afflictive emotions: greed, hatred, attachment, aversion, pride, jealousy etc. We can train to correct our behavioral response to these emotions, using mindfulness and positive emotional antidotes (love, care, joy and peace). Training involves anticipating and pre visualizing what your "button" are and know your conditioned response sets. If it offten easier to identify these in contemplative therapy or with your meditation instructor. Small gaps and minor correctives lead to new tendencies and finally to cessation (nirodha) of addictive responses. We are not talking about the big liberation here (nirvana), rather we are talking about small, practical everyday liberations that add up. If you dont plant any new negative seeds, you will not create the future causes of suffering. For more on how karma works read the earlier post.

How an understanding of karma effects the generation of compassion
So then how does an understanding of karma give rise to the second principle path: compassion? What is the relationship between wisdom, that sees how things are working, and the loving response to other living beings? There are several ways to answer this, here are two:

1. Seeing how we suffer from misperception, gives rise to the understanding of how all other beings are suffering and acting out due to the same causes. If we achieve true transcendent renunciation, defined in the text on the three principal paths (lam sum na tso) as recognizing that there is not a single experience of true happiness to be found in compulsive or unconscious living, and seeking night and day for true liberation, then compassion is the recognition that other living beings too are caught up in the dissatisfying rounds of compulsive living (samsara) without a moments rest, relief or happiness. What's worse, is that most living beings dont even recognize their complicit involvement in their captivity, and remain asleep to their true potential for freedom. This leads to the heart-felt realization, that we should strive for our own awakening and freedom, in order to be maximally effective in helping others wake up and achieve their innate potential as well. That is the essence of the second path, compassion and its correlate, the awakened spirit (bodhicitta).

How does compassion work in practice, once you understand karma? If you take responsibility for the seeds (bjas) and tendencies (samskaras) from your past that color your current misperception (avidya), then you are forced to work with difficult situations and irritating people in a different way. The world is coming from you, not at you. Perception is reality. The sense of feeling hurt by others is coming from your side, conditioned by your past memories (bijas), tendencies (samskaras) and actions (karma). So when you feel hurt by others, you must recognize the experience as the result of a prior action (karma) of hurting another living being. Recognize cause and effect. If you feel hurt, its because you have hurt another. Does this mean you should be a door mat and allow others to hurt you? - of course not! But you do need to recognize where things are really coming from. Recognize that the real enemy is within. The irritating person hurting you, is not the enemy, the real enemy is your and thier avidya, misperception, about how things work and who you really are. When you feel hurt, blame your misperception, recognize the karma that has given rise to the unpleasant experience and resolve to manage it in a different way. Resolve not to go with you knee jerk reaction. Resolve to reverse your tendencies (samskaras) and actions (karma) with ethics (sila); resolve to counteract your afflcitive emotions (kelshas) with meditation (samadhi) on positive states (brahma viharas); and resolve to see through your misperception (avidya) by studying reality (prajna).

2. The other implication of karma and compassion is how we choose to respond and behave to and with others in the world.
So how should we respond to other's negativity? If you respond to the irritating person with blame, anger, aggression etc, then according to karma, what are you creating? A future moment of suffering for yourself - right? So from the enlightened perspective, what is the best way to respond? Respond with ethics, love and compassion. Recognize the origin of the problem and the most helpful solution. Deposit a new seed into your mind stream that will produce a different future result. Understand that the irritating person who is hurting you, is both your past negativity coming full circle in your internal perception, as well as another living being under the control of their avidya in the external situation. What do you really need and what do they really need? Chances are the answer is the same: care and a feeling of safety. Don't allow them to perpetuate suffering by hurting you or themselves. Set limits and boundaries, communicate your own needs skillfully, motivated out of care and concern for both parties involved. The two antidotes for dealing with difficult people are: recognition/wisdom, of where suffering is really coming from, and love/care about how to effectively respond for your own well-being and the welfare of others. More about how to maximally transform adversity into the spiritual path, please refer to the lojong (min training) teachings of Mahayana buddhism.

Karma

2010-03-17T12:29:00.000-07:00

Karma

Preamble:
Types of Buddhist teachings: Ordinary, hidden/subtle, and extremely hidden/subtle.
Karma is an extremely hidden teaching.
Ultimately, only enlightened beings can understand karma directly and fully.
Ordinary minds can not perceive karma directly, and therefore must rely on inferential reasoning and confidence in our teachers and texts.
Buddha said of all his teachings Karma was the most difficult to understand.

There are different types of causality that govern biology, the environment etc. The Buddhist teaching on karma concern the causality of mind and one's experience of either suffering or happiness, bondage or freedom.

Definitions:
Karma: The law of cause and effect
The science of causality, how things work.
Karma means action, but refers to the intentions that drive actions; and the consequences or results of actions.

Intentional actions create our experience.
Its not what happens to us, but how we experience or perceive what is happening to us that is our karma.
Its not the brick that falls on your head, but how you perceive and evaluate that experience that is your karma ripening.
At a very deep level, we can say that you don't have karma, rather you are karma. "You" are the sum total of your past action, and you change "you" in the future, by what you do now.

World Views:
World Views are meta-philosophies that answer the questions why do things happen and how are things working?

All world views explain the nature of reality, and have implications to how we live and relate to others (ie. ethics).

3 Main World Views:
Theism: God is in control of the forces of nature and the direction of our lives.
Implication: If we surrender and have faith in God, we will receive our blessings in heaven.
Problem: If there is only one God (monotheism), and He is all powerful (omnipotent) and all compassionate, then how do we explain evil and suffering? Either there are many gods, in which case how do we choose, or He is not all powerful, in which case why surrender to him, or He is not all compassionate, in which case why love him. Theologians have argued this problem for centuries. Ultimately they say that this problem is beyond our understanding and that suffering is a test of our faith. But again, if god was all powerful and all compassionate, why test us with misery?

Materialism: No specific forces are in control of nature and our experience. Things are randomly occurring and are not predictable.
Implications: Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die and there is no reason to be moral because nothing matters.
Problem: Unethical and amoral lifestyle, in which we harm ourselves, others and the earth. Why would you even go to school or have a bank account if you didn't believe in those efforts having a consequence?

Causality: We are directly responsible for the forces that shape our lives and expereince.
Implication: We create our own happiness and our own suffering.
Problem: Are we mature enough to accept the responsibility for our lives, or do we secretly have the childhood fantasy of wishing others (God, parents, governments) will take care of us? the other main problem of karma is the gap that occurs between cause and effect. Because we do not perceive the mechanisms of karma directly, and a cause and it's effect my be separated by a time gap, it is very hard for us to understand, and accept, that this is the way things are working.

Types of Causality:

Environmental Causality: There is no environmental causality as such, because the environment is not conscious or sentient. While there is a science of cause and effect in the natural world, there is no conscious intention driving it. This is the difference between "natural laws" such as gravity and "psychological laws" of karma.

Biological Causality: There is a whole domain of science that observes biological cause and effect. Because the mind and body are separate, albeit interrelated, there are distinct causal forces driving our physical bodies. However, in the tantric view (secret teachings) of Buddhism, it is asserted that mind and psychology determine the processes of the body.

Psychological Causality: will be discussed below.

Dharmic Causality: There is a unique type of causality ascribed the the enlightened activity (Tib. trinlay) of a Buddha. Because there is no erroneous sense of self for an enlightened being, then there are no imprints and no place for the imprints to reside.

Outlines of Psychological Karma:

General Characteristics of Karma:
1. The certainty of karma
2. The magnification of karma
3. One will never experience the result of a karma one did not create the cause for
4. Karma causes created are never lost*

I. The certainty of karma
All experience arises from a cause. Nothing is random. Happiness arises from the 10 virtues and suffering arises from the 10 non-virtues. The law of cause and effect is definite and certain. An apple seed can only produce and apple tree.

10 Non-virtues:
3 non virtues of Body: killing, stealing, sexual inappropriateness
4 non-virtues of Speech: lying, slander (divisive talk), harsh words, gossip
3 non-virtues of Mind: Covetousness (greed), harmful intent (hatred), and wrong view (misperception, closed mindedness).

10 Virtues:
3 virtues of Body: Protecting the well-being of others, generosity, respecting the feelings of others.
4 virtues of Speech: Speaking truthfully, speaking to harmonize others, speaking sweetly, speaking meaningfully
3 virtues of Mind: Rejoicing vicariously with others, having love and compassion for others, perceiving reality clearly/precisely (ie. interdependence/emptiness).

II. The magnification of karma
Great effects may arise from small actions. Internal causation seems to involve a magnification, whereby immense results can have very seemingly insignificant origins. The result of tremendous suffering can arise from even a tiny non-virtue like a harsh word, likewise immense joy and happiness may arise from even one kind word. A tiny seed produces a huge apple tree.

III. One will never experience the result of a karma one did not create the cause for
Because cause and effect are inextricably connected, you will never experience the result of an action you did not produce the cause for. Suffering will not arise without a cause, but neither will happiness. If you want to be happy, but are continuously harming others, don't expect to get what you want. On the other hand, if you know you are treating others respectfully and are conscious of your ethical conduct, then rest assured you will reap the fruit in kind.

IV. Karmic causes created are never lost
Karma does not perish over time even if it does not ripen due to absence of conditions. A cause is never lost, it will most certainly give rise to an effect at some point in time. We don't know when a karmic seed will ripen, because there is a tricky "gap" or lapse in time between a cause and its result. We should just assume that we have a massive store of negative imprints on our minds and that it is only a matter of time before we experience their ripening. This assumption helps us to not get too complacent when "good" things are happening, nor too paralyzed when "bad" things are happening, because our experience is constantly changing based on the ripening of past actions. The point is to consciously create your own positive outcome and purify your past negativities. Karma can not be removed by the power of another being, such as God's grace or the power of the Buddha . It can only be mitigated by our own efforts using the method of the "Four Opponent Powers or Purification" (see below).

Different Types of Karma:

Virtuous karma: which leads to rebirth (or positive experience) in the three upper realms

Non-virtuous karma: which leads to rebirth (or negative experience) in the three lower realms

Non-fluctuating karma: actions done with different levels of concentration, resulting in experience of the Form or Formless realms (higher states of consciousness).

Throwing karma: when all four conditions of karma are present (see below) there is sufficient force to direct consciousness into one of the Six Realms of Existence at the time of death.

Completing Karma: karma not containing all four conditions (see below), that influence the circumstances (either experience, predisposition, or environment) in the next rebirth.

Four Conditions of Karma: A Complete Karma
Intention
Object
Action
Completion

I will steal a wallet; there is a wallet to steal; I attempt to steal it; I obtain the wallet.
I want to help others: there is a person who needs help; I do some kind gesture; A person feels helped.

Four Results of Karma (Throwing and Completeing Karmas):

I. Throwing karma

Throwing Karma: Intentional actions at the time of death that propel (throw) consciousness into one of the Six Realms of Existence:
Animal => Paranoia and anxiety
Hungry ghost => Addiction
Hell => Trauma, dissociative states, schizophrenic and delusional states
Human => Depression and dissatisfaction
Demi-god => Envy and competiveness
Gods => Narcissism

II.-IV Types of Completing karmas

Karma similar to the Action (Predisposition and Tendency)
If you kill in the past then you inherit the mental tendency to kill
If you love others in the past, you inherit the tendency to be kind, gentle and loving

Karma similar to the Cause (Experience)
If you abuse others in the past then you experience abuse
If you love others in the past then you experience being loved of others

Karma similar to the Environment
If you kill in the past, then you experience a threatening environment like a war zone or place of intolerance.
If you loved in the past, then you experience a loving, safe, beautiful environment

Heaviness of Karma:
All four conditions of the karma are present as opposed to only some of them.
Example: Picking up someone's wallet in the street. In this case, one does not have the intention to steal (condition of intention) nor is there a actual person (object) in sight, but this action still carries some level of karmic imprint of stealing because you are taking something that has not been given and their is a person somewhere out there that is experiencing the loss. Your mind knows what its like to loose a wallet.

Karma is strengthened by:

1) Nature of the virtue or non-virtue: killing is heavier than stealing; saving life is heavier than giving food.
2) Intention: The degree of resolve or strength of the emotional investment/intensity in the action.
3) Object: The objects have weight; parents and teachers are the heaviest objects towards which to direct action because they give life and liberation. An action towards a human being is a heavier karma than an action towards an animal because a person is closer to liberation.
4) Action: how conscious one performs an actions; the amount of preparation, premeditation. Is it spontaneous and based on passion in the moment or is it well thought out? Is one conscious of the principal of karma while doing the action?
5) Energy: The more energy the heavier the karma is both directions. Doing something nice for a loved one doesn’t require as much energy as doing something nice for a difficult person.
6) Frequency: How often the action is conducted, shapes the imprint and makes it more robust.
7) Non virtues actions conducted without an opponent, versus non-virtues counteracted by the Four Opponent Powers. (see below)

The Four Opponent Powers:

This is the Buddhist purification practice used to cleanse specific karmic imprints that have been caused but have not yet arisen.
Each of the Four Powers (Refuge, Regret, Repair, Resolve) counteract one of the Four Conditions of Karma:

The Power of Reliable Refuge => which counters the Object
Refuge or reliance on Buddha, dharma, sangha, essentially your own selfless nature and potential for change rather than on your ordinary sense of being inadequate in some fixed way.

The Power of Sincere Regret => which counters the Intention
Have genuine Remeasures and Regret for each negative action.

The Power of the Repair => which counters the Action
Perform the antidote or repair by mentally and then actually doing something (generous, moral, caring, kind.)
If you hurt someone, imagine being kind to them, then actually find that person or another person and act accordingly.

The Power of Resolution => which counters the Completion
Make a sincere vow or promise not to commit the action again. Hold yourself accountable for a specific time period, even if it is just a day in which you do not repeat the action. Do not break your commitments.

Pathways to Self-healing: Class 2

2010-03-09T19:17:00.000-08:00

Key Themes/Available in a prior post:

7-fold Mentor Bonding Meditation

The Second Noble Truth: The Cause of Suffering

The Selfless Self

Pathways to Self-healing: Class 1

2010-03-01T20:33:00.000-08:00

Key Themes:

Suffering: The First Noble Truth
Renunciation: The First Principal Path
Three Fold Refuge
Seeking a Mentor

Class Reading:
The Three Principal Paths by Geshe Michael Roach:
Find here

First Noble Truth: Pervasive Dissatisfaction and Suffering
See earlier post

The Need for Transcendent Renunciation
See earlier post for the "Three Principal Paths"
Renunciation:
Is not about giving up our “stuff”, being broke, lonely, board and ugly.
You don’t have to give up things “out there”.

Renunciation is a shift in attitude. Reorganize your priorities. What’s important in life? Develop a motivation for spiritual progress, which will then underlie your worldly activities like work, relationships and even entertainment.

Renunciation means getting clear on the purpose of your life.

How is renunciation traditionally defined?
When you realize there is not a single moment of true happiness to be found in compulsive living (samsara) and when you seek night and day for liberation.

The Three fold Refuge
A realistic reliance or reliable refuge is where one goes for safe direction during times of difficulty. There are three reliances:

1. Teachers. The Buddha or one’s mentor. The source of knowledge acquisition in the Buddhist tradition comes through a long lineage of masters that trace their origin directly back to Shakyamuni Buddha. Role modeling is essential, as knowledge is passed directly from mentor to student. But the ultimate teacher, is Reality itself, one's innate potential for freedom and happiness. One's own Buddha or potential Awakening. When one bows to a statue of the Buddha, one acknowledges the potential for awakening that exists in all living beings. The first refuge is in the one who realized freedom, and therefor our own freedom.
2. The Teachings and Methods. In order to develop along the contemplative path one not only needs a teacher, but also the precise science, methodologies and arts that lead to awakening.
3. The Community. Traditionally the community is constituted by those who have experienced awakening, ie. the realization of selflessness/emptiness. It can also mean anyone who values and upholds the teachings and methods that lead one to Reality. Because contemplative learning is largely counter intuitive and counter cultural, strength and support is often found in numbers.
4. The Tibetan approach is to combine the three refuges into one, by seeings one's own personal mentor (guru) as the embodiment of the Buddha's awakening, methods and living support.

Seeking a Mentor, Guide or Teacher
Learning anything requires a Master to teach you, like music, math, and architecture.
You can’t figure it out on your own, at the very least it will be slow progress.
We all need help along our spiritual journey, so seeking the guidance of one who has "already seen the other side" is essential at the outset.

Qualities of the Mentor:
Test these by direct perception and by inference.

1. Well controlled. Good Ethics. Control over their behavior.
2. At peace. Good Meditation. Control over their mind. Focus and calm.
3. High peace. Insight into the nature of reality. Wisdom.
4. Spiritual qualities that exceed. Knows more than you.
5. Great efforts. Works hard and happily for their students.
6. Rich in scripture. Many spiritual traditions.
7. Deep realization of suchness. Direct or transformative experience.
8. Master instructor. Skilled in communication. Upaya.
9. Image of love. Not teaching for money or fame. Motivated by compassion.
10. Beyond discouragement. Never gives up or gets frustrated.

Find someone who meets as many of the list as possible.
You fill in the rest by changing your own mind.

These are the Minimum Qualities list:
1. Has more virtues than faults.
2. Cares more about the future life than this life.
3. Cares more about others than themselves.

Q: How do you start to find a teacher?
A: You have to consciously want one and then created the causes through generosity.

Qualities of the Student:
The qualities of seeing a good teacher come from being a good student.

1. Free from preconceptions. Have an open mind. A beginner's mind.
1A. Free from thinking your religion is the best. Fundamentalist attitude.
2. Ethical or spiritual intelligence. Knowing the difference between good and bad. Discernment. What to give up and what to take up.
3. High spiritual aspirations. To maximize you life.

The Three Problems of the Pot:
Things to avoid.

1. The downward facing pot. Cannot be filled. No open mind. Filled with concepts.
2. The dirty pot. Contaminated by bad motivation, like fame or gain.
3. The leaky pot. In one ear out the other. Can’t retain information.

Three Characteristics of a True Dharma Teaching:

1. Taught be the Buddha or enlightened being, who has reached perfection.
2. Stood the test of time. Longevity.
3. They deliver what that claim. They have helped living beings progress.

The Selfless Self

2009-10-26T19:06:00.001-07:00

The Second Noble Truths points to the primary cause of suffering, misperception, and suggests that because we don't know ourselves clearly we relate to the world with attachment and aversion.

The primary thing we are misperceiving is the self. It is the one thing we are absolutely sure of, that we have a self and that we exist intrinsically or from our own side.

The self essence or instrisic-ness is expressed through three subjective qualities: Permanence; Singularity; Separateness.

Ask yourself these questions:

Are you the same person you were yesterday? And the day before? Did "you" get out of your bed yesterday morning? When you look at a picture of yourself when you were a child, do you feel that that is you? This is the perception of permanence, that we have an intrinsic self that persists over time despite all apparent changes.

Now ask yourself how many selves do you have? How many of "you" are there? This is the perception of singularity, that we are only one person, unified, autonomous and whole.

Now ask yourself if you are a separate entity? Do you exist outside and apart from other living things and people? Are others outside and apart from yourself, while you are inside yourself? This is the perception of separateness, that we exist independent from others and the world around us.

Now stabilize your mind, calm your nervous system and apply deep analysis and penetrative investigation to the self that you hold as intrinsically real, permeant, singular and separate.

There is no part of you that is unchanging. Your body, sensations, perceptions, mental constructs 9thoughts, emotions memories etc.) and consciousness are not static but change. All of the components that make up the so called self are in constant flux, arising, persisting for a short time and transitioning into something else. Modern science has shown us that the molecular building blocks that make us up are in a constant state of change and that no cell in the body exists after a set period of time. Our mind and thoughts change in the same way. Therefore, there is no self that is permanent.

Now how about the fact that you feel there is just one of you? Is there really? Are you the same person to your mother as you are to your father? The same person to your boss as you are to your colleague? The same person yesterday when you won the lottery as you were 10 years ago when you were broke. Even in the same day are you the same person when you are happy as when your are sad? Even in the same moment are you the same person once you received or extended kindness to another person? There are many selves, many face, many people who show up each day looking like you but acting, thinking and feeling different. Which one is the real you? No single one of these selves is the "real" you they are all only the relative appearance of you.

Now examine your sense of independence and separateness. That you feel self contained apart from the world. Again, here, beneath the immediate appearance, lies a deeper reality. A reality that is difficult to perceive with the ordinary eye, but opens to the calm eye of meditative analysis. On a molecular level you are in constant interdependence and exchange with the environment. The air, heat, light and energy you take in comes from outside yourself and has been shared by other living organisms. Biologically, you are the product of your parents and gene pool, connecting you with others in a familial lineage and to a species. Psychologically, there is nothing in your mind that hasn't originated or been shared with another mind. In the grand scheme of thing you are not that different or that separate. You are actually more related and interdependent than you can ever imagine!

Now that you have dissolved the misperception of self, contemplate how much damage, suffering, dissatisfaction, stress and alienation it has caused you, operating under the instinctual programming of your permanence, singularity and independence?

What would life be like if you intuitively experienced your impermanence, multiplicity and interdependence?

This is the selfless self that the Buddha encourages us to experience by deconditioning our misperception, attachment and aversion through trainings in lifestyle, contemplation and insight.

We are free, completely free, not bound by any self imposed limitation, free to learn grow, change, relate and enjoy all things around and within us.

Four Noble Truths (2.0)

2009-10-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

The Four Noble Truths provide the fundamental framework for Buddha's psychology of freedom and happiness. A traditional medical model describing the symptom, etiology, prognosis and treatment for suffering, the Four Noble Truths are presented in two causally linked dyads: 1) suffering and its causes; 2) freedom and it causes.

Suffering is to be understood
The Cause is to be abandoned
Freedom is to be realized
The Path is be cultivated
-The Buddha

Short Outline:

I. Truth of Suffering
A. Ordinary Suffering
B. The Suffering of Change
C. The Suffering of Conditioning/Habit

II. Truth of the Origin
A. Attachment
B. Aversion
C. Misperception

III. Truth of Cessation
A. Complete freedom is our nuature
B. Suffering is created by mind, thus the mind can learn, self-correct and experience its true nature

IV. Truth of the Path
A. Three Higher Trainings
B. Three Types of Learning
C. Three Reliances of Learning

Explanation:

I. First Noble Truth: Suffering
The unconscious or unawakened life leads to unavoidable suffering and dissatisfaction. The nature of suffering is threefold:

A . Ordinary Suffering: Birth, illness, old-age and death, separation from loved ones, having to be with difficult ones, and the loss of objects of desire are unavoidable and painful because we experience them unconsciously or mindlessly.

B. Suffering of Change: All things are impermanent, temporary and fleeting. Even people and experiences that provide some measure of happiness eventually become the source of suffering because we do not relate to them accurately.

C. Suffering of Conditioning: Our experience of suffering and stress is conditioned by our patterns of biological and psychological reactivity based on our misperception of the self and world. As current stress research suggests, our mind/body process has evolutionarily (genetically and biologically) been conditioned by fight-flight reactivity. In other words, stress (our response to perceived threat) is somehow “embedded” or programed into our nuero-biology in order to ensure survival. Our psychology or personality is similalry conditioned by our past, particularly by traumatic experiences, which occurred during childhood when we were particularly vulnerable, dependent, and impressionable. These traumatic events and memories create and reinforce schemas or core beliefs about our selves, others and world and condition patterns of interpersonal relating that contribute to our continued experience of suffering, dissatisfaction and alienation. If we do not consciously override our biology and reprogram our psychological scripts we will continue to experience stress and trauma.

II. Second Noble Truth: Cause of Suffering
Buddhist psychology is based upon a rational and empirical science of causality and avoids two extremes of theism (the belief that a God figure or external presence determines our life and events) and materialisms (the belief that things are random and without causal determinants). Buddhism asserts that one’s current experience of suffering or happiness is the direct result of one’s previous actions (karma) conditioned by disturbing emotions (klesha) or inaccurate perceptual filters.

There are Three Causes of suffering (two secondary and one primary):

A. Desire/attachment: The untrained, unconscious mind compulsively pursues pleasure in objects, experiences and people outside of the self, unaware of their impermanent nature. Desire is due to a perceptual exaggeration of the positive qualities of an object, while attachment is the inability to let them go.

B. Aversion/Avoidance/Anger: The untrained, unconscious mind compulsively avoids, rejects or resists unpleasant objects, experience and people, unaware of the causal process of their arising. A desire thwarted, lost or unattained leads to disappointment and anger. Anger is due to a perceptual exaggeration of the negative qualities of an object.

C. Delusion/misperception: The primary root cause of the other two secondary causes is our habitual state of unawareness, which erroneously misperceives reality. When we are unaware of the salient characteristics of reality (ie. emptiness/interdependence, impermanence, and suffering) we cannot accurately respond to our situation. At the heart of our desirous attachment and aggressive avoidance is the incorrect belief that a self, within us and things, exists as an intrinsically real, separate, independent, fixed and permanent entity. This is our fundamental misperception. Because of the minds instinctive tendency to reify (making something real that it not) the self, we become self-centered, preoccupied with gratifying the self, and hostile about protecting the self.

C.2. Three Characteristics of Self and Phenomenon:

1) Emptiness or No Self: There is no intrinsically real, unrelated, enduring, separate, autonomous self within us or things. This does not mean that no self exists at all, as is asserted in nihilism. Our self and objects do exist in an interrelated, interdependent, constantly changing matrix based on causes and conditions. According to Buddhism nothing exists absolutely; everything exists relatively or interdependently. Things that are fixed or absolute by definition cannot be related to, as they theoretically lay outside the causal matrix of interdependence. The flip side of emptiness is that because all things lack intrinsic reality or a fixed self, they can change. We could not learn, grow and change if we were really as fixed as we unconsciously believe ourselves to be. When you hear “all things are empty” this does not mean they don’t exist, it simply means they are empty of inherently existing from their own side. Ultimately, the “self” is a mere consensus designation of language, falsely reified and superimposed over a causal arising of interdependent phenomenon or parts, themselves lacking any inherent, intrinsic reality. Another way of thinking about selflessness or emptiness is as unlimited potential. The self we are attached to or identified with is our limits, concrete unchanging and reified, when in fact our nature is pure and unlimited potential. The minute you reify, hold, fix or make permanent, the self or world, you create suffering, because you are going against its true nature.

2) Impermanence: Because things are empty and lack inherent autonomy/existence they are impermanent and non lasting. The molecules and sub-particles that comprise things and the sub-processes that constitute the life systems are empty of any lasting core, thus come into being, persist for some time and eventually decay. Change, the flow of life and the passing of time is contingent upon emptiness.

3) Suffering: Because things lack inherent existence (emptiness) they are subject to change and do not endure (impermanence). As a result of this constant change process (birth, death and rebirth) some measure of suffering is unavoidable. It is the price of being part of an open interdependent system. Some amount of pain is built into the fabric of existence because it is not static, rather an open system. The question is how much extra suffering do we create by misperceiving, attaching and avoiding this natural process. As they say, “pain is inevitable, suffering is optional”. Other sources consider the third characteristic to be Freedom. Phenomenon are impermanent because they lack an essential essence, and because they lack any essential essence their nature is "free" to learn, grow and change. The most fundemntal characteristic of mind is its potential for enlightenment or complete freedom.

III. The Third Noble Truth: Freedom
It is possible for a human being to be completely free of the causes of suffering. The word Buddha means “Awakened”, and represents the full flowering or peak potential of a human being. The word freedom means “free from something” as in “sugar free” and “caffeine free”. There are two things an awakened person is free from: afflictive emotions (kleshas) such as greed, hatred, delusion, pride, envy, jealousy etc; and compulsive habits/actions (karma). Nirvana means to cease, to end. What ends for the awakened mind are the emotional afflictions and the compulsive habit actions that emerge from the afflictions.
Habits here are threefold and include any action of body (behavior), speech (words) and mind (thoughts) that are done with unawareness or inattention. Karmic results and consequences are determined by one’s intentions and actions. Good karma is the result of actions of body speech and mind done with a positive mental state, realistic perception and altruistic intention, while bad karma results from actions committed under a negative mental state, unrealistic misperception of self and reality and self-centered intention. Since current intentions are so vital in producing future outcome and experience, in Buddhist psychology a premium is place on decreasing afflictive emotions that obscure pure perception of reality in order to create wholesome actions.

Since the causes of suffering lie within the mind through afflictive emotions, unconscious habits and misperceptions, than freedom also lies with in the mind, through sublime emotions, conscious and altruistic habits each based on accurate perception of self and reality.

The Third Noble Truth asserts a generous and optimistic view of the mind and its potential. In order to say that all minds can eventually become free, it is understood that an innate inborn potential for freedom is already present, albeit obscured by misperception, habit and afflictions. The path of Buddhist psychology becomes the process of removing the misperception, bringing the cessation of actions and afflictions, and consciously developing virtues (paramitas) such as generosity, morality, patience, effort, concentration and wisdom that will lead the mind to full awakening. The fully developed or awakened mind is characterized as infinitely “clear and knowing”.

IV. The Fourth Noble Truth: The Path to Freedom
The Path to freedom entails Three Higher Educations, Three Types of Learning, and Three Reliable Sources of Learning.

Three Higher Trainings:
1. Ethics or Virtue:
Right Actions, Speech, and Livelihood
2. Mental Discipline:
Right Effort, Mindfulness and Concentration
3. Wisdom:
Right View of reality and Intention

Three Types of Learning:
1. Wisdom born of “hearing” includes listening to, reading about and studying the Dharma using one’s intellect.
2. Wisdom born of “reflection” takes the concepts one has studied and applies critical reasoning, reflection, discussion and debate in order to come to a more correct and intuitive understanding.
3. Wisdom born of “meditation” takes ones intuitive understanding and applies it in an analytic meditation in order to come to an experiential insight. An analytic meditation does not necessarily occur on the meditation cushion, but can be any moment in everyday life when you apply learning and self-correction to your experience.

Here meditative learning is just one aspect of the contemplative path. Ideally we should not overemphasize meditation practice to the exclusion of studying correctly and reflecting accurately about contemplative principals. Time for studying and discussing is as important as time on the cushion.

Three Reliances of Learning (aka Triple Refuge):
A realistic reliance or reliable refuge is where one goes for safe direction during times of difficulty. There are three reliances:

1. Teachers. The Buddha or one’s mentor. The source of knowledge acquisition in the Buddhist tradition comes through a long lineage of masters that trace their origin directly back to Shakyamuni Buddha. Role modeling is essential, as knowledge is passed directly from mentor to student. But the ultimate teacher, is Reality itself, one's innate potential for freedom and happiness. When one bows to a statue of the Buddha, one acknowledges the potential for awakening that exists in all living beings.
2. The Teachings and Methods. In order to develop along the contemplative path one not only needs a teacher, but also the precise science, methodologies and arts that lead to awakening.
3. The Community. Traditionally the community is constituted by those who have experienced awakening, ie. the realization of selflessness/emptiness. It can also mean anyone who values and upholds the teachings and methods that lead one to Reality. Because contemplative learning is largely counter intuitive and counter cultural, strength and support is often found in numbers.

Guidelines for Starting a Meditation Practice (repost)

2009-10-09T14:14:00.000-07:00

Contents:
I. Space: Where to Meditate
II. Posture: How to Sit in Meditation
III. 5-Point Instruction for Mindfulness Meditation (as taught in class)
IV. 5 Stages of Meditation (Traditional Formulation)
V. When and How Much to Meditate

I. Space: Where to Practice Meditation
The following are guidelines for those who would like to begin to meditate on their own at home, in addition to the guidance of teachers and the support of a community.

1. Choose a quite space in your home or in a safe environment.
2. Create some privacy, close the door or ask others for some alone time.
3. Turn off any cell phones and other electronic devices such as radios or TV’s.
4. Clean and tidy the space, as this will help put the mind at ease.
5. Make the space pleasing to the senses, meaningful or sacred by arranging flowers, lighting candles or incense, setting up pictures or statues of inspiring people or places and making offerings and gestures of gratitude. This helps to demarcate the meditation space from ordinary space.

II. Posture: How to Sit in Meditation (from the 7 point Vairochana Posture)

In the beginning comfort is more important than form. The form includes:

1. If seated on the floor, place your legs in full or half lotus position or just crossed them in front of you. The right hand is placed in the left hand, palms facing upwards, with the tips of the thumbs gently touching. If seated in a chair, place your feet flat on the ground and hands folded in your lap.
2. Eyes are half open gazing softly at the space a foot or so in front of you. This will help prevent you from falling asleep. If restless, trying closing the eyes completely to help the mind begin to relax.
3. Keep your spine erect like a stack of coins, upright but not ridged. This will help keep you stay alert. Position your meditation cushion beneath your rear to raise the spine and tilt forward the pelvis. If in a chair come forward slightly with your back away from the back of the chair and your rear at the front half of the seat.
4. Shoulders are even and relaxed. Be mindful of hunching and slouching.
5. Dip your chin down slightly.
6. Keep a relaxed space between lips and teeth, and do not clench the jaw.
7. Rest you tongue softly on the roof of your pallet.

III. 5-Point Instruction for Mindfulness Meditation

1. Begin with reflecting on your spiritual aspiration for your life in general and clarifying your intention to meditate in particular. The more specific your intention the clearer the direction for your mind.
2. Select the object upon which you will focus your awareness (ie. the breath, sensations, emotions, sounds, consciousness, a specific theme, a visual object etc.)
3. Breath diaphragmatically in order to trigger the relaxation response. After a short period you can allow the breath to settle into a natural rhythm.
4. Once you realize you have been distracted from the mediation object, return your awareness back to the focus with an attitude or disciplined determination and non-judgmental care, patience and friendliness.
5. Seal your meditation with a dedication, recommitting your energies toward your initial aspiration. Here again, be specific as to what you will dedicate your energy towards during your between meditation period in everyday life.

IV. 5 Stages of Meditation (Traditional Tibetan Buddhist Approach)

1. Preparation: The mind is prepared by a number of activities including reflection on refuge, aspiration, four-immeasurables, visualizing the field of merit, seven-limb prayer, mandala offering, and other prayers.
2. Contemplation: Reflecting on a particular theme from the Stages of the Path Literature (Lam Rim) such as the “preciousness of human life” that motivates your practice. Select an object of meditation based on the contemplative theme or stage in the progression.
3. Meditation: Can include any combination of techniques: Analytic contemplation, single-pointed concentration, and visualization.
4. Dedication: Dedicate the positive force or energy (aka merits) generated by the practice to one’s own or to another’s spiritual awakening, before the potency is destroyed by afflictive emotions.
5. Between Sessions: Reflect on and try to assimilate the meaning of the particular meditative theme or topic as it relates to your daily activities and life.

V. When and How Much to Meditate

1. In general it is advised to meditate first thing in the morning when the mind is fresh and well rested. Practically speaking however, consider when your own energy level is optimal and when you have the time in your schedule.
2. In the beginning, commit to slightly less meditation time than you think you should do. Once you’ve decided on length of time, follow through without exception. Quality, consistence and follow through are more important that duration. Ideally you should end meditation while you are still enjoying it so that you desire to return to practice the next day. This is called ‘developing a taste for the practice’. If meditation becomes a drag to early, chances are you will abandon the practice altogether. Try starting with 5-10 minute intervals working up towards 25-30 minute periods. Most research suggests that 30 minutes of daily practice over 8 weeks results in various health benefits.
3. Consistency is important. Better to do a little meditation every day than to do a long stretch once or twice a week.
4. Remember that meditation alone does not constitute the entire contemplative path. Balance your meditation practice with readings, attending lectures, participating in discussions and debate with others, and spending time reflecting on the significance of spiritual themes in your own life. For more on this see the Fourth of the Four Noble Truth in an earlier post.

The Three Principal Paths

2009-05-25T10:47:00.000-07:00

The Three Principal Paths (Lam-Tso Mam-Sum) is a very concise presentation of the entire Gradual Path (Lam Rim) teachings composed by Lama Tsongkapa (1357-1419). Tsongkhapa is considered one the greatest philosopher-contemplative-scholars Tibet has ever produced. The Three Paths of Renunciation, Spirit of Enlightenment, and Correct View of Reality—are the essential knowledges one cultivates to achieve full awakening.

The 12-week Gradual Path Towards Contemplative Living course taught at Tibet House is based on the Three Principal Paths; one month of four classes having been assigned to each of the three principals. The entire path from misery to complete freedom and happiness can be traced over the course of these 12- weeks.

Weeks 1-4 covered Renunciation, the abandoning of compulsive living that results in our experience of suffering. The Four Noble Truths showed how we suffer due to attachment and anger based on misperception of reality, and how happiness and freedom are possible if we adopt a contemplative life based on ethics, mental training and wisdom. The key skill taught during the first month was mindfulness meditation, used to calm the mind from its compulsive reactive patterns, in order to create the opportunity for choice in how to respond to experience with discrimination and care.

Weeks 5-8 covered the Spirit of Enlightenment (Bodhicitta), the wish to attain freedom for the benefit of all sentient beings. The Four Fold Exchange of Self and Other showed how we are fundamentally no different from all other beings, the downfall of our self-preoccupation and the joy of altruism. Through this framework we see how the cultivation of wisdom, particularly of interdependence, naturally gives rise to compassion for others. The key skills taught during the second month were loving kindness meditation (metta) and giving and taking meditation (tong-len), used to reverse self-centeredness into care for others. Here we used compassion as the ultimate medicine to destroy the misperception of separateness at the root of our own suffering, thereby allowing us to taste the happiness born of our interconnectivity.

Weeks 9-12 covered the Correct View of Reality, discussed negatively as the emptiness or lack of inherent existence in phenomenon and positively as the interdependence or co-arising of the appearance of things. The Seven-limb Prayer showed the possibility of growing past self-imposed limitations by exposing our minds and hearts to the optimal care of our mentor. The fact that we can learn, grow and change is possible because of emptiness, the lack of any fixed, inherently real notion of self or things. The key skills taught during the last month were the Jewel Tree and Mentor-boding visualizations. Here we exposed the mind to emptiness by dissolving ordinary appearance and reconstructing optimal guides and environments based on active imagination. Once in a safe healing environment and in the presence of our mentor guides we are able to project and introject our innate goodness, confidence and optimal healing capacity. For more on the psychodynamics of mentor-bonding see an earlier post.

The Three Principal Aspects of the Path
Fourteen verses written by Lama Tsong Khapa
http://www.lamrim.com/lamayeshe/threepaths.html

Respectfully I prostrate to the Exalted Mentor.

1. As far as I am able, I shall explain the essence of all high teachings of the Awakened, the path that all warriors of love commend, the entry point for the fortunate seeking freedom.
2. Listen with a pure mind, fortunate ones who have no craving for the mundane pleasures of life, and who to make leisure and fortune meaningful, strive to turn their minds to the contemplative path, which pleases the Awakened.
3. There is no way to end, without pure renunciation, this striving for pleasant results in the ocean of life. It is because of their mindless yearning for life as well that beings are bound, so seek renunciation first.
4. Leisure and fortune are hard to find; life is not long; think of this constantly, that will cease compulsivity for this life. Think over and over how cause and effect never fail, and how endless suffering is for those living habitually; that will cease compulsivity for the future.
5. When you have meditated thus, and feel not even a moment's desire for the good things of mundane life, and when you begin to think both night and day of achieving complete freedom, you have found Renunciation.
6. Renunciation, though, can never bring the total bliss of matchless Awakening, unless it is motivated by the highest aspiration; and so, the wise seek the the high wish for the Spirit of Enlightenment.
7. They are swept along on four fierce river currents; chained up tight in past deeds, hard to undo; stuffed in a steel cage of grasping "self"; smothered in the pitch-black of misperception.
8. In a endless rounds of habitual and mindless living, they are born, and in their births, are tortured by three sufferings without a break; think how all your countless mother beings feel; think of what is happening to them; try to develop this highest wish to achieve enlightenment for their sake.
9. You may master renunciation and the wish, but unless you have the Wisdom perceiving reality, you cannot cut the root of compulsive living. Make efforts in ways, then, to perceive interdependence.
10. A person has entered the path that pleases the Awakened when, for all objects, in the mundane existence or beyond, he sees that cause and effect can never fail, and when, for him, they lose all solid appearance.
11. You have yet to realize the connection between the mere appearance and emptiness of things.
12. At some point they no longer alternate but come together; just seeing this connection never fails to bring realization that destroys how you mindlessly attach to objects,  and then your analysis with view is complete.
13. In addition, mere appearance prevents the non-existence extreme, while emptiness prevents attachment to inherent existence; and if you see how emptiness manifests in cause and effect, you will never be persuaded by extreme views.
14. When you have ascertained the essential points of each of the three principal paths explained, then go into deep contemplation, noble friend, make mighty efforts, and quickly attain freedom.

Psychodynamics of mentor-archtype-bonding (guru-yidam-yoga)

2009-05-25T10:05:00.000-07:00

Mentor Tsongkhappa

The following are three psychodynamic principals that describe some of the proceess involved in the mentor-bonding visualization. Typically these are unconscious processes or defenses that occur automatically outside of awareness in order to preserve the integrity of the ego. As all defenses they become overused or outgrown, and end up causing more suffering rather than relief. During the mentor-bonding these process are consciously implemented in order to cultivate the minds potential to learn, grow and change past rigidly defined limits or self-perceptions.

Idealization:
When an individual is unable to integrate difficult feelings, specific defenses are mobilized to regulate these unbearable feelings. The defense that helps in this process is called splitting. Splitting is the tendency to view events or people as either all bad or all good. When viewing people as ‘all good’, you are using the defense mechanism idealization: a mental mechanism in which the person attributes exaggeratedly positive qualities to the self or others. The counterpart of idealization is devaluation: attributing exaggerated negative qualities to the self or others. When this happens unconsciously we can end up being disappointed with those we idealize or inappropriately alienated from those we devalue. In the mentor-bonding, we select a mystical or healing archtype to form a relationship with. We consciously exaggerate their positive attributes, filter out any negative qualities and expose our mind to our optimal or ideal qualities that we seek develop in ourselves. Here we are consciously feeding our mind all the nutrients without any toxins.

Transference:
Transference is a phenomenon in psychology characterized by unconscious redirection of feelings of one person to another.
For example when a patient unknowingly transfers their unresolved anger towards their parent on to the therapist. In psychology these feelings can be positive or negative, but either way they occur outside of awareness.
In the mentor-bonding we consciously direct positive feelings towards the ideal mentor, accessing our inate resevoir of loving connection, hope and optimism, and feelings of being safe and cared for.

Projection:
Psychological projection is a defence mechanism in which one attributes ("projects") to others, one's own unacceptable or unwanted thoughts or/and emotions. Projection reduces anxiety by allowing the expression of the unwanted subconscious impulses/desires without letting the ego recognize them. In the mentor-bonding we consciously project any positive, desired for aspects, onto the ideal mentor. Any love and care you've ever experience by someone, you direct them toward the mentor and feel completely connected and cared for by them.

Internalized introject
To introject is to unconsciously incorporate characteristics of a person into one's own psyche. In the mentor-bonding we consciously take-in or "reabsorb" any of the "nutrients" we have projected onto the mentor and the bonding relationship. The love and wisdom we initially ascrib to the idealized other, we take in and allow to become part of our own character. In fact it was always part of our psyche, but here we are consciously accepting and cultivating it.

7-Fold Mentor Bonding Process

2009-05-10T08:05:00.000-07:00

Preparation Stage

Find a comfortable posture.

Reflect on the reliability of your mentor and teachers; the teachings and methods; and, the support of those committed to the contemplative life.

Reflect on your spiritual aspiration: the humble aspiration to attain some measure of peace and happiness; the medium aspiration to achieve complete freedom from suffering; or, the highest aspiration to attain complete freedom in order to benefit others.

Begin breathing meditation to calm and center the mind. Purge your mind of afflictive emotions and tendencies. Let go of filters such as desire and clinging, anger and defensiveness, and alienation or shame-based isolation. Experiencing the taming of your behavior, opening of your heart and connecting to the vast potential of your mind.

Dissolving and Re-envisioning your Self-World

Reflect on the meaning of selflessness. Imagine that your ordinary self-sense as fixed, permanent and unitary, dissolves into its primal elements of earth, air, water, fire and space and merge into the natural flow with the rest of the universe. This helps to release attachment, ownership and identification of “I”, “me” and “mine” with the body and mind. Out of this dynamic, changing, interdependent, give-and-take flow, imagine that you arise in your “breath-body”, a person shaped bubble made of pure breath and awareness. This is a “virtual” or “meditative body”, similar to the one you have in a dream state because it’s made of subtle mind, rather than material. Your body takes on a light quality like a bubble floating in a sea of primal luminous energy. In your meditative body, you rise up above the stress realm of fear and alienation, feeling open, connected and free.

Now reflect on the meaning of Emptiness. Imagine that your ordinary view of the universe as fixed, permanent and unitary, dissolves into its natural flow of primal energy and luminance. Because the nature of the universe is empty of intrinsic reality, it is free, dynamic, changing and interdependent, allowing you to creatively reconstruct a healing environment of your choosing. Visualize a space in which you feel safe, supported and inspired to conduct your meditative practice and mentor dialog. There are no limits to the scene you can create, make the space as beautiful as your imagination permits.

Invoking your Mentor, the Ideal Healer

From the place of feeling light, clear and safe, call upon your mentor or ideal healer to join you. The mentor can arrive in full form spontaneously or in stages. If in stages, in the space before you, imagine arising out of the vast energy flow of the universe comes a luminous disk or cushion, like a moon reflected in a dark sea. Feel the presence of your mentor, like a friend sitting close with you in the dark. Out of the luminous disk arises the seed symbol, imbued with the affirmation, prayer or positive message, which captures the essence of your ideal such as: “you are safe to grow and change”, or “you are lovable enough or worthy enough”, “anything is possible” or “everything about you and the world is perfect as it is”.

Then imagine the seed symbol emits an aura that transforms into the actual form body of your mentor. Begin with the face and then pan out to include the body, filling in the details to heighten his or her presence. Breath into the image until it is fully constructed, appears to you as real, and feels like your mentor is right there with you. Recognize it takes time and practice to stabilize these images and to enhance their vividness.

Then invite the spirit of somebody real to inhabit the form of your ideal mentor. Think of an actual person that you admire, who represents some of the ideal qualities of your mentor. Identify someone who is “on their way” to growing towards that positive direction, who can act as a bridge to help you relate better to the ideal. Allow the energies and spirit of your real person and those of the ideal mentor to intermingle and become one.

7- Fold Mentor-Bonding Process

Now begin the inner therapy and dialog. Facing your mentor and feeling he or she are present for you…

1.Admiring
Admire the positive qualities of your ideal mentor that you seek to cultivate in your own life, such as love, peace, wisdom, calm, equanimity and courage etc. Think, “how nice it would be if I had those qualities”.

2. Offering
In the spirit of generosity and admiration, imagine making offerings to your mentor by giving him/her flowers, precious items, your self and/or the world. Think, “what I would give to be like that”. Imagine your mentor accepts these gifts with gratitude. Feel close to your mentor and entitled to ask for support.

3. Confessing
Feeling close with the mentor, allow yourself to disclose any real or imagined limits, blocks, or insecurities. Unburden yourself of guilt/shame, unworthiness, and fear. Think, “Mentor, I don’t feel that I’m worthy of happiness or that it’s possible for me to change”. Sharing these secrets helps bring you closer to the mentor and exposes perceived limitations so that they can be removed. Experience a deep sense of acceptance by the mentor. Imagine that the mentor has a vision of you beyond any limitations, at the end of your spiritual journey, fully realized and at your best! Have a feeling that the two of you are more like equals.

4. Rejoicing
After you’ve tasted vicariously the mentors acceptance and vision of you in your optimal state, allow yourself to celebrate! This marks a turning point in the dialog, when you have your first glimpse of actually achieving your highest potential for health and happiness. It is a wonderful vision, and the basis for motivating and guiding the rest of your life. Think, “how wonderful it is to know that it is possible for me to be like my mentor”. Commemorate and acknowledge the power of teamwork between you and your mentor. Recognize that in essense the mentor and you are made of the same stuff, that he or she is just a little ahead of the game than you. Imagine the heavens open with wonderful lights, sounds, rainbows etc. reflecting the celebratory nature of the moment.

5. Requesting Guidance
Now acknowledge that this is just the beginning, just a taste of possibility, and that your development along the path will take time, energy and guidance. Ask your mentor for the help you need to fully realize your optimal self, which helps to overcome shame for asking for help. Delighted to be asked, imagine the mentor sends from his or her heart all the blessings and intuitive realizations you need to actualize your potential. Envision rainbow waves of positive energy coming to your heart and filling you with optimism, energy and hope. Allow this energy to resonate in your heart, melting fears and insecurities, and then send this positive healing energy out into the ends of the universe and have it come back in rainbow waves of confirmation.

***** if we are meditating as a group, we pause at this juncture to receive and share actually teachings and guidance. Try to retain your vision of yourself in your meditative body and envision the actual teacher as your ideal mentor. The instructions during class represent the actual guidance you have requested along the path*****

6. Requesting Presence
Revive your vision of being in dialog with the mentor. Reflect on the teachings and guidance you have been given, so that they become metabolized. Now recognizing that the mentor is already enlightened, has completed the path, and could easily abide in their own happiness, ask for their continued presence in your life, that they stay with you. Request that the mentor never abandons you and is always available to you for support and guidance. Thrilled to be asked, and respecting your request, imagine the mentor begins to dissolve into pure light. From their crown to the tips of their toes, they dissolve inwards towards their heart, until all that remains in a luminous drop, like a tear for joy, that coalesces their entire being. Now imagine that that tear drop, floats above your head, passes into your crown, past your throat and slips into your heart. It dissolves there and mixes with your own inner chemistry, like a drop of water merging with the ocean. Imaging that the essence of your mentor dissolve inseparably with the essence of your own inner guide and healing intuition. Allow that merger to resonate with optimism and healing potential that inspires and uplifts you. The healing energy exudes out in a ripple effect from your heart out to the ends of the universe. It then ripples back like a tsunami of love, touching all the hearts and minds of beings in the universe, kindling their own sense of hope, and finally comes back to your heart where it dissolves again.

7. Dedicating
Now that you have tasted the power of hope and optimism provided to you by the mentor, and have recognized your own innate potential for health and happiness, commit yourself to achieving that potential and sharing it with all other beings. Commit your life and energy to actualizing your inner mentor and providing guidance to all those living beings in need.

Therapeutic Antidotes of the 7-Limbs:

Each limb provides and antidote that works to correct a negative quality in the mind.

Admiration => Pride

Offerings => Attachment

Confession => Shame

Rejoicing => Envy

Requesting Guidance => Hopelessness

Requesting Presence => Fear

Dedication => Self-centeredness

The Actual 7-limb Prayer:

Respectfully I prostrate with my body, speech and mind
I present clouds of offerings, actual and imagined
I confess all negativity accumulated since beginningless time
I rejoice in the merits of ordinary and enlightened beings
Please mentor, remain as my guide
And provide the teachings of reality until suffering ends
May I dedicate myself to awakening for the benefit of all living beings

Emptiness the Womb of Compassion

2009-04-29T09:21:00.000-07:00

Working definition: The lack of inherent or intrinsic reality of phenomenon.

Caution: Not to be confused with nothingness or the lack of reality all together.

Reminder: Things do exist, however they do not exist inherently or intrinsically.

How then do things exist? Things exist in relation to causes and conditions (dependent co-arising) and as merely imputed labels and concepts of language designation.

Analogies: A reflection in a mirror, a mirage in the desert, a dream. All of these appear to us as truly real, when in fact they lack inherent existence.

The concept of inherent existence includes the notion that “things” have an essence or core that is substantial, independent, permanent, fixed and maintains itself from its own side beyond the perceiver.

Thought experiment: Take the chair you are sitting on and ask yourself if it exists? Most likely your initial reaction will be, of course this chair exists! The chair is stable and I am sitting in it! The chair is not a reflection, a mirage or a dream, its right here underneath me, I can touch it and perceive it! – Ok. You have now established the chair exists with certainty and conviction.

Now lets analyze and contemplate. If I were to remove the back of the chair, and hold it up to you asking, is this the chair? You would respond, no that is the back not the chair. And if I were to remove the seat from the chair leaving only the frame and ask, is this the chair? You would respond, no that is not the chair. And if I were to remove the screws from the frame and hold them in my hand, leaving the frame to collapse in pieces, and ask you are these screws the chair? You would respond, no that is not the chair. Finally, if I asked you if the pile of frame parts scattered on the floor were the chair, you would respond, no that is not a chair. So if the back, seat, screws and frame are all not the chair individually, than where did the chair, that you were so certain existed, go?

Lets rebuild the chair, uniting the frame with the screws and replacing the back and seat. Now the chair appears again, and your certainty returns. Ask yourself what’s missing in this picture? The missing element is the mind that perceives and labels the chair. There is a frame, screws, seat, and back over there and concept or designation “chair” coming from our perception over here. The chair over there is empty. It does not exist intrinsically or essentially from its own side. The chair exists as a co-arising of parts (frame, screws, seat and back) and as a mere label, concept or designation of language originating in our mind.

The thought experiment highlights how our mind’s constantly misperceives reality. To slow down the process, what occurs is: perception of an object => conceptual labeling => imputation of realness/reification of the object. This last part of the sequence, mistaking our concepts to be the object, is the heart of the problem.

The concept of Selflessness refutes the misperception that an intrinsically abiding, unchanging, fixed, permanent, essence or soul exists within a person. Upon examination of the five Life Systems (skandhas) of material form, sensations, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness, no such Self, I, or Me can be found. The self of selflessness is an open system of interdependence and change.
Selflessness is to the self, what Emptiness is to phenomenon.

Emptiness is a medicine. According to the Second Noble Truth, the root cause of suffering is misperception aka delusion (avidya). Because we mistake the appearance of phenomenon to be more real and substantial than it is, and because we mistake our imputed concepts for reality, this leads to desire, aversion, confusion and eventually to suffering. The mind has a habit of mistaking the self and phenomenon to be more real than they actually are. The projection of a greater ontological status on to an object is known as reification. Emptiness is a medicine for the subtle mental habit of reification. Emptiness is a tool of language and analysis, when intelligently applied, decreases the mental tendency to concretize things. Emptiness is a reminder that we should not confuse our imputed labels and concepts with the objects of our perceptions. While we must use labels and concepts to navigate the world, the automatic or unconscious assumptions we make about those labels and concepts, creates a massive distortion.

Emptiness is a tool. It is a tweezers that removes the thorn or reification from the mind. Emptiness is a doorstopper that keeps the door of our mind open to possibilities rather than succumbing to automatic and erroneous certainties. Emptiness is a set of glasses that corrects distorted vision, so that we can begin to see reality clearly beyond our misperception.

Do not reify Emptiness: Emptiness is a negation, not a thing in it self. Emptiness negates the essentialness, substantiality and certainty of things that we perceive. Emptiness exists only in relation to an object or phenomenon, whose essence is to be negated. The chair is empty, it lacks intrinsic reality. The chair exists conventionally, as an appearance or co-arising phenomenon and as a designation of language. But upon further analysis, no “chairness” actually exists. For this reason, Emptiness is also empty. To reify emptiness as a thing in and of itself, is said to be the greatest downfall of them all. This is why great caution is often taken when teaching about this concept, because the tendency of the mind to grasp and reify is so strong, it can easily misperceive the medicine, rendering it poison.

Emptiness and Ultimate Reality: Emptiness negates a view of ultimate reality that is static, fixed, independent or intrinsically real. Instead it proposes that reality is a flow of appearances, based on causes and conditions, mutually arising and fading in a constant dance, interrelated with all other things, completely free and open to change. The moment we solidify a perception of others and things as inherently fixed and real, thereby closing off their essential flow and connection, is the minute we create our own difficulty and suffering. This is the therapeutic use of language and perception that Mayahana Buddhism offers. It is the basis or womb of compassion.

The Bodhisattva: Soldier of Love

2009-04-20T23:24:00.000-07:00

Definition
Context
Ideal
Vow
Training

Bodhisattva:
Is a yogi who has vowed to achieve the full awakening of Buddhahood, motivated by love and compassion for all sentient beings. The Bodhisattva can be seen as a soldier in the army of love and a champion of the contemplative path.

Context:
The Hinayana or “Lesser Vehicle”, represents the original phase in the development of Buddhism, which occurred during the life of the Buddha and in the years after his passing. The Hinayana tradition is characterized by monasticism and renunciation, whereby an individual renounces the stresses of compulsive living, drops out of the world to study and meditate with other contemplatives and yogis, and eventually achieves enlightenment. The Mahayana or “Great Vehicle” represents the second phase in the development of Buddhist thought and practice. Mahayana teachings arose in the 1st century of the Common Era, roughly 500 years after the Buddha. Central to the development of the Mahayana were the prajnaparamita or perfection of wisdom scriptures, which present the notions of emptiness, relativity and non-dualism. These concepts help to establish that no difference inherently exists between the compulsive world (samsara) and freedom (nirvana). As a result, Mahanyana teachings shift their emphasis from individuals renouncing and retreating from the world in a spirit of detachment, to reengaging and transforming the world in the spirit of love and compassion.

Ideal:
The ideal of the Hinayana is the arhant or liberated saint, who has given up compulsive life, followed the Four Noble Truths, and achieved liberation. In the Mahayana, the ideal shifts to the bodhisattva or warrior of love. Rather than solely cultivating renunciation, there is a greater emphasis on the development of bodhicitta, or spirit of enlightenment. Bodhicitta has two parts: the ultimate non-dual insight of emptiness/relativity; and, the conventional application of compassion that arises naturally from that insight. The Bodhisattva’s motivation is to engage in self-development in order to refine the skills (upaya) necessary to help teach all beings how to become happy and free. Arhants focus on their own liberation, while Bodhisattva’s work towards the liberation of others. The purpose of the Mahayana movement is to reverse not just an individual’s central preoccupation, but the social order of the world, from egocentric and disconnected into altruistic and harmonious.

Vow:
The Bodhisattvas, can be seen as urban yogis, who take the contemplative education and stress-free lifestyle out of the monastery or ashram, and into the market place. They do so by taking on spiritual commitments and vows of conduct to help train their mind’s in the midst of the inevitable adversity of worldly life. The Bodhisattva vow is to achieve the full awakening of a Buddha, in order to benefit all living beings. Nothing short of full Buddhahood will suffice to accomplish such a vast aspiration. It might be helpful to examine the lifestyle and behaviors of people like the Dalai Lama and Tich Nat Hanh, who represent the bodhisattva ideal and vows. Far from monastic recluses, each of them remains committed to worldly activities, social engagement and and endless teaching schedule, designed to help beings transform adversity into opportunity and hatred into love.

Training:
The Bodhisattva trains in the Six Perfections or Transcendent Virtues (paramitas): Generosity, Ethics, Patience, Diligence, Concentration, and Wisdom. The trainings all aim fundamentally to uproot the self-habit (atmagraha), the root of suffering, and develop positive qualities of mind in its place. In the Hinayana approach, represented in the Four Noble Truths, liberation is achieved using wisdom as an antidote to misperception, concentration or mental development as an antidote to disturbing emotions, and ethics as an antidote to harmful behavior. To these core trainings, the Mahayana add generosity, patience and diligence in order to achieve full enlightenment and social transformation. Generosity is necessary to build positive karmic energy (aka force, merit) that fuels the engine of altruism; patience is necessary to endure the hardship encountered when dealing directly with the anger and afflictions of living beings; and, diligence is required because the process of social transformation on the scale envisioned by the Mahayana will take countless lifetimes. The six perfections are expounded in the 8th century classic training manual, the Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life (Bodhicaryavatara), written by Master Shantideva.

Four-fold Process of Exchanging Self and Other

2009-04-12T10:25:00.000-07:00

1. Equalizing Self and Other
2. Contemplating the Limits of Self-Preoccupation
3. Contemplating the Benefits of Altruism
4. Exchanging Self and Other

Contemplate:

1. Equalizing Self and Other
All living beings want happiness and wish avoid suffering.
Ultimately there is no real difference between myself and others.
From our DNA all the way up to our basic psychology, when the surface "differences" are analyzed not much distinction between living beings can be found.

2. The limits of Self-preoccupation
All suffering comes from I, me, mine.
The most fundamental misperception is our separateness into "self" and "other", which leads to clinging/attachment to objects that are "mine" and aversion/aggression when the "I" is threatened or unsatisfied.
While fight-flight, self-protection, is innate to our biology, so to is love-growth, social instinct, empathy and care, which were essential in the evolution as mammals and human beings. We can override our evolutionary animal instinct of self-protection and develop out mammalian love-growth instinct of cooperation. The Tibetan word for Buddha, Sangye, actually means eliminate/cultivate as in to completely eliminate negative qualities and completely cultivate positive ones.

3. The Benefits of Altruism
All joy and success is a result of the care and concern we received from another living being.
Everything you've learned, every moment of happiness you've experience, every opportunity for growth that has arisen, has done so in relation to, and through the kindness of, other living beings.
The social instict for love and care is our highest evolutionary potential.
Once we intuitively experience no distinction between ourselves and others, than care and compassion are effortless and spontaneous. Like a hand that moves away from the fire when one finger is burned, a mother too acts selflessly and automatically, not perceiving any distinction, when her child in in danger.
Ultimately kindness, care and the connection they produce feel good, provide meaning and lead to true happiness.

4. Exchanging Self and Other
Exchanging self and other is a process of deep empathy, of reconnecting ourselves with others, by dissolving the misperception of separateness.
Empathy for others has a two fold benifit: First, it connects us to people when they are suffering, so from thier side they feel more safe and cared for; and, two, from our side, it reverses and dissolves our own self-habit or instinctual self-preoccupation, the root of suffering and alienation.
When people feel safe, cared for and connected, they are free to achieve their highest potential; therefore love is essential in optimizing the social ethos and bonds between beings.
Seeing things from another persons perspective is "freeing", it loosens our automatic and ridged view of the world and situation and people from our own side. This is why therapy can be helpful, because the relationship acts as an opportunity for a patient to see things from outside the prison of their misperception.

Meditation on Giving and Taking (Tonglen):

• As usual begin with aspiration, particularly the altruistic aspiration to achieve freedom for the benefits of others.
• Do some breathing meditation to settle the mind.
• Select a loved one, neutral one, difficult person, or group of people, to visualize and contemplate upon.
• Reflect on their current experience of suffering.
• Imagine taking on their suffering, in the form of a black smoke mounted on your in-breath.
• Imagine that this black smoke dissolves your own self-habit at the center of your heart.
• Imagine that you are capable of metabolizing negativity, like a good parent who can tolerate the tantrum and trauma of a child.
• Allow your empathy for the suffering of the other to arouse love and compassion.
• Imagine sending love and care to the other in the form of white light mounted upon your out-breath.
• Imagine that they receive this care and that it purifies the destructive self-habit at their heart.
• Imagine that through care both you and the other are freed from the self-habit, the root cause of suffering. Rejoice in this activity.
• Continue giving and taking.
• Dedicate the positive energy to the welfare and liberation (from the self-habit) of all living beings.

The meditation on giving and taking is not a mystical practice that heals others from afar. It works primarily on your mind to: 1) reverse the automatic pattern of seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, and 2) dissolving the inner terrorist, the self-habit, at the root of suffering. With a mind firmly rooted in compassion our experience and exchanges and with other living beings in the world inevitably transforms for the better.

More on Giving and Taking (Tonglen):
http://www.naljorprisondharmaservice.org/pdf/Tonglen.htm

Overcoming the Five Hindrances

2009-04-11T11:47:00.000-07:00

The following is taken from Nyanaponika Thera
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nyanaponika/wheel026.html

The Five Hindrances are the major psychological impediments to mindfulness (present center awareness) and the deepening of concentration into sublime states of consciousness.

The Five Hindrances are:
1. Sensual Desire/Attachment
2. Anger/Aversion
3. Restlessness
4. Dullness
5. Doubt

1. Overcoming Sensual Desire
Six things are conducive to the abandonment of sensual desire:
Learning how to meditate on impure objects;
Devoting oneself to the meditation on the impure;
Guarding the sense doors;
Moderation in eating;
Noble friendship;
Suitable conversation.

2. Overcoming Anger
Six things are helpful in conquering anger and aversion:
Learning how to meditate on loving-kindness;
Devoting oneself to the meditation of loving-kindness;
Considering that one is the owner and heir of one's actions (kamma);
Frequent reflection on it Cause and effect
Noble friendship;
Suitable conversation.

Also helpful in conquering ill-will are:
Rapture, of the factors of absorption (jhananga);
Faith, of the spiritual faculties (indriya);
Rapture and equanimity, of the factors of enlightenment (bojjhanga).

3. Overcoming Dullness
Six things are conducive to the abandonment of sloth and torpor:
Knowing that overeating is a cause of it;
Changing the bodily posture;
Thinking of the perception of light;
Staying in the open air;
Noble friendship;
Suitable conversation.

Also helpful in conquering sloth and torpor are:
The recollection of Death  and impermanence.

4. Overcoming Restlessness
Six things are conducive to the abandonment of restlessness and remorse:
1. Knowledge of the Buddhist scriptures (Doctrine and Discipline);
2. Asking questions about them;
3. Familiarity with the Vinaya (the Code of Monastic Discipline, and for lay followers, with the principles of moral conduct);
4. Association with those mature in age and experience, who possess dignity, restraint and calm;
5. Noble friendship;
6. Suitable conversation.

Also helpful in conquering restlessness and remorse is:
Rapture, of the factors of absorption (jhananga);
Concentration, of the spiritual faculties (indriya);
Tranquillity, concentration and equanimity, of the factors of enlightenment (bojjhanga).

5. Overcoming Doubt
There are things which are wholesome or unwholesome, blameless or blameworthy, noble or low, and (other) contrasts of dark and bright; frequently giving wise attention to them — that is the denourishing of the arising of doubt that has not yet arisen, and of the increase and strengthening of doubt that has already arisen.
(note: the first three and the last two are identical with those given for restlessness and remorse. Only the fourth is different)

1. Knowledge of the Buddhist scriptures (Doctrine and Discipline);
2. Asking questions about them;
3. Familiarity with the Vinaya (the Code of Monastic Discipline, and for lay followers, with the principles of moral conduct);
4. Firm conviction concerning the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha;
5. Noble friendship;
6. Suitable conversation.

Also helpful in conquering Doubt are:
Reflection, of the factors of absorption (jhananga);
Wisdom, of the spiritual faculties (indriya);
Investigation of reality, of the factors of enlightenment (bojjhanga).

The Four Noble Truths

2009-03-16T20:37:00.001-07:00

The Four Noble Truths provide the fundamental framework of Buddhist psychology. A traditional medical model describing the symptom, etiology, prognosis and treatment for suffering, the Four Noble Truths are presented in two causally linked dyads: 1) suffering and its causes; 2) freedom and it causes. The significance of this teaching is that by studying, reflecting and realizing its meaning, one obtains everything one needs to become free and happy.

Suffering is to be understood
The Cause is to be abandoned
Freedom is to be realized
The Path is be cultivated
-The Buddha

Short Outline:

I. Truth of Suffering
A. Ordinary Suffering
B. The Suffering of Change
C. The Suffering of Conditioning/Habit

II. Truth of the Origin
A. Attachment
B. Aversion
C. Misperception

III. Truth of Cessation
A. Complete freedom is possible
B. Suffering is created by mind, thus Freedom is created by mind
C. Learning and personal effort are the conditions of freedom

IV. Truth of the Path
A. Three Higher Trainings
B. Three Types of Learning
C. Three Sources of Learning

Explanation:

I. First Noble Truth: Suffering
The unconscious or unawakened life leads to unavoidable suffering and dissatisfaction. The nature of suffering is threefold:

A . Ordinary Suffering: Birth, illness, old-age and death, separation from loved ones, having to be with difficult ones, and the loss of objects of desire are unavoidable and painful.

B. Suffering of Change: All things are impermanent, temporary and fleeting. Even people and experiences that provide some measure of happiness eventually become the source of suffering because they do not last.

C. Suffering of Conditioning: The five-fold mind/body life-systems (body, sensations, perceptions, intentions, and consciousness) that constitute the appearance of “self” are conditioned by disturbing emotions (kleshas) and compulsive habits (karma). This is consistent with current stress research that suggests that our mind/body process has evolutionarily (genetically and biologically) been conditioned or determined by fight-flight reactivity. In other words, stress and suffering are somehow “embedded” in our psycho-biology if left as is.

II. Second Noble Truth: Cause of Suffering
Buddhist psychology is based upon a rational and empirical science of causality and avoids two extremes of theism (the belief that a God figure or external presence determines our life and events) and materialisms (the belief that things are random and without causal determinants). Buddhism asserts that one’s current experience of suffering or happiness is the direct result of one’s previous actions (karma) conditioned by disturbing emotions (klesha) or virtues (paramitas) respectively.
There are Three Causes of suffering (two secondary and one primary):

A. Desire/attachment: The untrained, unconscious mind compulsively pursues pleasure in objects, experiences and people outside of the self, unaware of their impermanent nature. Desire is due to a perceptual exaggeration of the positive qualities of an object, while attachment is the inability to let them go.

B. Aversion/Avoidance/Anger: The untrained, unconscious mind compulsively avoids, rejects or resists unpleasant objects, experience and people, unaware of the causal process of their arising. A desire thwarted, lost or unattained leads to disappointment and anger. Anger is due to a perceptual exaggeration of the negative qualities of an object.

C. Delusion/misperception: The primary root cause of the other two secondary causes is our habitual state of unawareness, which erroneously perceives reality. When we are unaware of the salient characteristics of reality (ie. emptiness/interdependence, impermanence, and suffering) we cannot accurately respond to our situation. At the heart of our desirous attachment and aggressive avoidance is the incorrect belief that a self within us and things exists as an intrinsically real, separate, independent, fixed and permanent entity. This is our fundamental misperception. Because of the minds instinctive tendency to reify (making something real that it not) the self, we become self-centered, preoccupied with gratifying the self, and hostile about protecting the self.

C.2. Three Characteristics of Self and Phenomenon:
1) Emptiness or No Self: There is no intrinsically real, unrelated, enduring, separate, autonomous self within us or things. This does not mean that no self exists at all, as is asserted in nihilism. Our self and objects do exist in an interrelated, interdependent, constantly changing matrix based on causes and conditions. According to Buddhism nothing exists absolutely; everything is relative and interdependent. Things that are fixed or absolute by definition cannot be related to, as they theoretically lay outside the causal matrix of interdependence. The flip side of emptiness is that because all things lack intrinsic reality or a fixed self, they can be related to, and can change. We could not learn, grow and change if we were really as fixed as we unconsciously believe ourselves to be. When you hear “all things are empty” this does not mean they don’t exist, it simply means they are empty of inherently existing from their own side. Ultimately, the “self” is a mere consensus designation of language, falsely reified and superimposed over a causal arising of interdependent phenomenon or parts, themselves lacking any inherent, intrinsic reality.

2) Impermanence: Because things are empty and lack inherent autonomy/existence they are impermanent and non lasting. The molecules and sub-particles that comprise things and the sub-processes that constitute the life systems are empty of any lasting core, thus come into being, persist for some time and eventually decay. Change, the flow of life and the passing of time is contingent upon emptiness.

3) Suffering: Because things lack inherent existence (emptiness) they are subject to change and do not endure (impermanence). As a result of this constant change process (birth, death and rebirth) some measure of suffering is unavoidable. It is the price of being part of an open interdependent system. Some amount of pain is built into the fabric of existence because it is not static, rather an open system. The question is how much extra suffering do we create by misperceiving, attaching and avoiding this natural process. As they say, “pain is inevitable, suffering is optional”. Other sources consider the third characteristic to be Freedom. Phenomenon are impermanent because they lack an essential essence, and because they lack any essential essence their nature is "free" to learn, grow and change. The most fundemntal characteristic of mind is its potential for enlightenment or complete freedom.

III. The Third Noble Truth: Freedom
It is possible for a human being to be completely free of the causes of suffering. The word Buddha means “Awakened”, and represents the full flowering or peak potential of a human being. The word freedom means “free from something” as in “sugar free” and “caffeine free”. There are two things an awakened person is free from: afflictive emotions (kleshas) such as greed, hatred, delusion, pride, envy, jealousy etc; and compulsive habits/actions (karma). Nirvana means to cease, to end. What ends for the awakened mind are the emotional afflictions and the compulsive habit actions that emerge from the afflictions.
Habits here are threefold and include any action of body (behavior), speech (words) and mind (thoughts) that are done with unawareness or inattention. Karmic results and consequences are determined by one’s intentions and actions. Good karma is the result of actions of body speech and mind done with a positive mental state, realistic perception and altruistic intention, while bad karma results from actions committed under a negative mental state, unrealistic misperception of self and reality and self-centered intention. Since current intentions are so vital in producing future outcome and experience, in Buddhist psychology a premium is place on decreasing afflictive emotions that obscure pure perception of reality in order to create wholesome actions.

Since the causes of suffering lie within the mind through afflictive emotions, unconscious habits and misperceptions, than freedom also lies with in the mind, through sublime emotions, conscious and altruistic habits each based on accurate perception of self and reality.

The Third Noble Truth asserts a generous and optimistic view of the mind and its potential. In order to say that all minds can eventually become free, it is understood that an innate inborn potential for freedom is already present, albeit obscured by misperception, habit and afflictions. The path of Buddhist psychology becomes the process of removing the delusion, bringing the cessation of actions and afflictions, and consciously developing virtues (paramitas) such as generosity, morality, patience, effort, concentration and wisdom that will lead the mind to full awakening. The fully developed or awakened mind is characterized as infinitely “clear and knowing”.

IV. The Fourth Noble Truth: The Path to Freedom
The Path to freedom entails Three Higher Educations, Three Types of Learning, and Three Sources of Learning.

Three Higher Trainings:
1. Ethics or Virtue:
Right Actions, Speech, and Livelihood
2. Mental Discipline:
Right Effort, Mindfulness and Concentration
3. Wisdom:
Right View of reality and Intention

Three Types of Learning:
1. Wisdom born of “hearing” includes listening to, reading about and studying the Dharma using one’s intellect.
2. Wisdom born of “reflection” takes the concepts one has studied and applies critical reasoning, reflection, discussion and debate in order to come to a more correct and intuitive understanding.
3. Wisdom born of “meditation” takes ones intuitive understanding and applies it in an analytic meditation in order to come to an experiential insight.

Here meditative learning is just one aspect of the contemplative path. Ideally we should not overemphasize meditation practice to the exclusion of studying correctly and reflecting accurately about contemplative principals. Time for studying and discussing is as important as time on the cushion.

Three Sources of Learning (aka Triple Refuge):
1. Teachers. The Buddha or one’s mentor. The source of knowledge acquisition in the Buddhist tradition comes through a long lineage of masters that trace their origin directly back to Shakyamuni Buddha. Role modeling is essential, as knowledge is passed directly from mentor to student.
2. The Teachings and Methods. In order to develop along the contemplative path one not only needs a teacher, but also the precise science, methodologies and art to practice for one self.
3. The Community. Those that value and uphold the Teachings and Methods. Because contemplative learning is largely counter intuitive and counter cultural, strength and support is often found in numbers.

Guidelines for Starting a Meditation Practice

2009-03-08T10:42:00.000-07:00

Contents:
I. Space: Where to Meditate
II. Posture: How to Sit in Meditation
III. Instruction for Mindfulness Meditation
IV. 5 Stages of Meditation (Traditional Formulation)
V. When and How Much to Meditate

I. Space: Where to Practice Meditation
The following are guidelines for those who would like to begin to meditate on their own at home, in addition to the guidance of teachers and the support of a community.

1. Choose a quite space in your home or in a safe environment.
2. Create some privacy, close the door or ask others for some alone time.
3. Turn off any cell phones and other electronic devices such as radios or TV’s.
4. Clean and tidy the space, as this will help put the mind at ease.
5. Make the space pleasing to the senses, meaningful or sacred by arranging flowers, lighting candles or incense, setting up pictures or statues of inspiring people or places and making offerings and gestures of gratitude. This helps to demarcate the meditation space from ordinary space.

II. Posture: How to Sit in Meditation (from the 7 point Vairochana Posture)

In the beginning comfort is more important than form. The form includes:

1. If seated on the floor, place your legs in full or half lotus position or just crossed them in front of you. The right hand is placed in the left hand, palms facing upwards, with the tips of the thumbs gently touching. If seated in a chair, place your feet flat on the ground and hands folded in your lap.
2. Eyes are half open gazing softly at the space a foot or so in front of you. This will help prevent you from falling asleep. If restless, trying closing the eyes completely to help the mind begin to relax.
3. Keep your spine erect like a stack of coins, upright but not ridged. This will help keep you stay alert. Position your meditation cushion beneath your rear to raise the spine and tilt forward the pelvis. If in a chair come forward slightly with your back away from the back of the chair and your rear at the front half of the seat.
4. Shoulders are even and relaxed. Be mindful of hunching and slouching.
5. Dip your chin down slightly.
6. Keep a relaxed space between lips and teeth, and do not clench the jaw.
7. Rest you tongue softly on the roof of your pallet.

III. 5-Point Instruction for Mindfulness Meditation

1. Begin with reflecting on your spiritual aspiration for your life in general and clarifying your intention to meditate in particular. The more specific your intention the clearer the direction for your mind.
2. Select the object upon which you will focus your awareness (ie. the breath, sensations, emotions, sounds, consciousness, a specific theme, a visual object etc.)
3. Breath diaphragmatically in order to trigger the relaxation response. After a short period you can allow the breath to settle into a natural rhythm.
4. Once you realize you have been distracted from the mediation object, return your awareness back to the focus with an attitude or disciplined determination and non-judgmental care, patience and friendliness.
5. Seal your meditation with a dedication, recommitting your energies toward your initial aspiration. Here again, be specific as to what you will dedicate your energy towards during your between meditation period in everyday life.

IV. 5 Stages of Meditation (Traditional Tibetan Buddhist Approach)

1. Preparation: The mind is prepared by a number of activities including reflection on refuge, aspiration, four-immeasurables, visualizing the field of merit, seven-limb prayer, mandala offering, and other prayers.
2. Contemplation: Reflecting on a particular theme from the Stages of the Path Literature (Lam Rim) such as the “preciousness of human life” that motivates your practice. Select an object of meditation based on the contemplative theme or stage in the progression.
3. Meditation: Can include any combination of techniques: Analytic contemplation, single-pointed concentration, and visualization.
4. Dedication: Dedicate the positive force or energy (aka merits) generated by the practice to one’s own or to another’s spiritual awakening, before the potency is destroyed by afflictive emotions.
5. Between Sessions: Reflect on and try to assimilate the meaning of the particular meditative theme or topic as it relates to your daily activities and life.

V. When and How Much to Meditate

1. In general it is advised to meditate first thing in the morning when the mind is fresh and well rested. Practically speaking however, consider when your own energy level is optimal and when you have the time in your schedule.
2. In the beginning, commit to slightly less meditation time than you think you should do. Once you’ve decided on length of time, follow through without exception. Quality, consistence and follow through are more important that duration. Ideally you should end meditation while you are still enjoying it so that you desire to return to practice the next day. This is called ‘developing a taste for the practice’. If meditation becomes a drag to early, chances are you will abandon the practice altogether. Try starting with 5-10 minute intervals working up towards 25-30 minute periods. Most research suggests that 30 minutes of daily practice over 8 weeks results in various health benefits.
3. Consistency is important. Better to do a little meditation every day than to do a long stretch once or twice a week.
4. Remember that meditation alone does not constitute the entire contemplative path. Balance your meditation practice with readings, attending lectures, participating in discussions and debate with others, and spending time reflecting on the significance of spiritual themes in your own life. For more on this see the Fourth of the Four Noble Truth in an earlier post.

Defining Contemplative Psychotherapy

2009-03-01T09:31:00.000-08:00

What is Contemplative Psychotherapy and how does it differ from conventional psychotherapies?

Contemplative Psychotherapy is the integration of aspects of contemplative theory and practice common to the Indian Yogic and Indo-Tibetan Buddhist traditions, with aspects of clinical theory and practice of Depth psychotherapy common to psychodynamic and humanistic traditions.

What Contemplative traditions offer:
1. Advanced stages of human development from adulthood to enlightenment.
2. Identification of mental mechanisms that obscure perception of the true nature of reality and the awakening of the self.
3. Methods of introspection and change based on self-awareness practices such as meditation and hatha yoga.

What Depth psychotherapies offer:
1. Preliminary stages of human development from early childhood to adulthood.
2. Identification of ego defense mechanisms that prevent the genuine expression of self and from maturely securing one’s needs.
3. A method of introspection and change based on an interpersonal relationship that evaluates and addresses transference projection and counter-transference issues.

Philosophical Assumptions Underlying Contemplative Psychotherapy:

Based on Walsh (2007). Contemplative Psychotherapies. In Current Psychotherapies 8th Edition.

1. Our usual state of mind is significantly underdeveloped, outside of our conscious control and dysfunctional.

2. This state of dysfunction goes unrecognized because:
a. It is so common to human beings that it is considered ordinary.
b. There are a number of defense mechanisms within the mind that mask and conceal the level of dysfunction from oneself and others.

3. Psychological suffering, from mere dissatisfaction to psychopathology, is a function of the untrained or dysfunctional mind.

4. It is possible to discipline and train mental functions such as attention, awareness, cognition and emotions.

5. The mind that is trained produces states of positive emotions, wellbeing and exceptional capacities for wisdom, compassion and happiness.

6. The mind that is fully trained or supremely developed achieves a state of awakening (nirvana). This mind no longer is subject to negative emotions (klesha) or unconscious habits that propel actions (karma).

7. Beneath the dysfunctional mental faculties of inattention, unawareness, unrealistic thoughts and negative emotions lies a deeply ingrained misperception known as the evolutionary self-habit (atmagraha). The self is falsely reified (assigned ontological realness), from which self-preoccupation, fear-based attachment, aggressive fight-flight defensiveness and ultimately all suffering derives.

8. Contemplative traditions such as the Indian Yoga and Tibetan Buddhist Mind Science offer useful and effective techniques for dealing with mental dysfunction.

9. These systems are not faith-based religions, but rather sophisticated self-healing psychologies that require a person to undergo an inner transformation through personal effort.

Principals of Positive Psychotherapy

2009-02-23T09:26:00.000-08:00

Western Psychology in general and psychotherapy in specific, have been around for only about 60 years. Growing out of the medical model, psychotherapy has focused almost exclusively on psychopathology, mental illness and the reduction of negative symptoms. Very little attention has been paid to fostering human flourishing, peak potential, positive emotions and happiness. It is refreshing to witness the emergence of Positive Psychology to meet these needs. While Indian yogic and Indo-Tibetan Buddhist psychologies have for centuries focused on the full range of human experience from misery to enlightenment, our own tradition is perhaps finally ready to consider how to optimally develop a human's being innate capacity for health and happiness.

The essential principals of Positive Psychotherapy summarized here are based on Seligman, Rashid, and Parks (2006), article entitled "Positive Psychotherapy", found in American Psychologist.

The authors describe 3 types of happiness and the 3 types of lives:

The Pleasant Life
• Hedonic approach to happiness, ie. to have as many pleasurable experiences as possible. Developing skills to amplify and intensify the experience and duration of pleasure.
• Positive emotions about past memories such as satisfaction, fulfillment, and pride are developed by gratitude and forgiveness exercises.
• Positive emotions about the future include hope, optimisms, faith, and trust, are developed through optimism exercises.
• Positive emotions about the present, include satisfaction derived from immediate pleasure, and are developed through savoring the present moment exercises such as mindfulness of eating.
• Studies indicate that positive emotions counteract the causal process of depression and contribute to resilience to crisis.

The Engaged Life
• Engagement, involvement or absorption in three realms of life: work, relationships and leisure.
• “Flow” is the subjective experience of engagement in which subject-object dualisms dissolves; time passes quickly; attention is concentrated on the activity; sense of self is lost.
• Engagement is enhanced by identifying core or “signature” strengths and then seeking opportunities to use them. (ie. client with creative talent is encouraged to take an art class).

The Meaningful Life
• Meaning is derived by using one’s signature strength or talent in the service of something bigger than one self (ie. altruistic activities in family, community, religion, society).
• Those who are able to use meaning to convert crisis or adversity into opportunity achieve the greatest benefits.
• Lack of meaning is not just a symptom, but a cause of depression, thus cultivating meaning will relieve depression.

Human beings are evolutionarily primed (biologically and genetically) to remember the negative, attend to the negative and expect the worst. This has ensured the survival of a species. Negative emotions are primarily driven by negative memories, negative expectations and depressed people exaggerate and generalize this natural tendency. Therefore, it is in one’s best interest to learn to override this automatic tendency towards the negative by cultivating positive emotions, realistic expectations, and to transform the traumas of the past into the fodder of meaning.

The three types of happiness and the three areas of life should all be valued and cultivated. The happiness of engadgement and the happiness of meaning are said to be foundational, while the happiness of pleasure is an added bonus. From the perspective of Positive Psychology the pursuit of pleasure, engagement and meaning form a coherent path of living that leads to lasting happiness.