In the first week of December last year the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies held a five-day residential course on Buddhist Psychology. The intention of the course was to introduce students to the classical models of mind and mental processing contained in the primary texts of the Pali Canon and other Buddhist texts, and then to review this material from the contemporary perspectives of modern psychology. The program was co-sponsored by the Cambridge Institute of Meditation and … [Read more...]
Healing or Harming
A question that has been coming up a lot lately in various discussions is this: “According to the teaching of the Buddha, is violence ever justified?” The short answer is “No.” But in a longer answer that probes more carefully some of the practical dimensions of the human condition, there may be grounds for modifying this position. Perhaps the situation is not dissimilar from the two levels of truth found articulated in Buddhist philosophy, whereby something can be conventionally true but, … [Read more...]
A Simple Matter of Choice?
These remarks are exerpted from a Bhavana Program on Intention offered at BCBS in June of 2001. When we first look at the issue of intention, we might have the sense that it is all just a simple matter of choice. But when I reflect upon this phrase, I find myself putting a question mark at the end of it. A simple matter of choice? Maybe yes, maybe no. Let’s have a look and see what is happening when we make choices. First of all, we should recognize that in Buddhist teachings the idea of … [Read more...]
Where the Action Is
There are two aspects to every moment’s experience. One is the content, what it is you are aware of; the other is the intention, what your emotional response is toward that object of awareness. In the Buddhist way of looking at things, the first is largely irrelevant, while the second is immensely important. According to Buddhist psychology, human experience is constructed anew every moment as consciousness of one of the six objects (a form, a sound, a smell, a taste, a touch or a thought) … [Read more...]
The Crow-Birth: A Jātaka Story
Jātaka is a Pali word meaning “birth-story” (jāta—“that which is born” and ka—from katheti—“to relate”). The Jātaka may simply be Indian folklore reworked to suit Buddhist aims, but they are also believed to be the Buddha’s own account of his previous lives. In each of these tales, the Bodhisatta [one committed to awakening] is seen perfecting those qualities that led to his full awakening as the Buddha of our era. Scenes from the Jātaka appear on the carved stone railings at Sanchi and Bharhut … [Read more...]
The Last Stronghold of Self
I find Buddhist practitioners to be quite good at establishing skillful intentions. We endeavor to keep the precepts, to rise up to the demands of daily practice, and to diminish sense desires. And this can be inspiring to witness. Our resolve is undeniable. Still, the thing I hear most often as a Dhamma teacher is how frustrating it can be trying to stay on course once we establish our intentions. We are constantly faced with patterns and habits that run contrary to our … [Read more...]
A Question of Skill
Thanissaro Bhikkhu, also known more informally to many as Ajaan Geoff, is an American-born Theravada monk who has been the abbot of Metta Forest Monaster near San Diego, CA, since 1993. He teaches regularly at BCBS and throughout the US and has contributed significantly to the Dhamma Dana Publications project with his books Wings to Awakening, Mind Like Fire Unbound, and a new free-verse translation of the Dhammapada. Ajaan Geoff, thirty years ago you were a student at Oberlin … [Read more...]
Dhamma as Skillful Kamma
There is a rather humorous text in the Middle Length Discourses called the Kukkuravatika Sutta, or The Dog-duty Ascetic (M 57). In the Buddha's time, the so-called spiritual scene was full of people who did extreme ascetic practices. In this text, we’re told of an ascetic who likes to practice like he’s a dog. He walks around on all fours, traipsing in and out of puddles, and will only eat food that is thrown on the ground. And he has an ascetic friend who likes to practice like he’s an ox. This … [Read more...]