Excerpted from talks given during an 8-week course at CIMC on Equanimity. As human beings we are subject to continual changes in life. The Taoists spoke about the ten thousand sorrows and the ten thousand joys. Joy turns to sorrow. Sorrow turns to joy. No one is exempt. Equanimity is the liberating quality that allows us to keep our hearts open and balanced, quiet and steady, in the midst of all these changes. We develop equanimity through being mindful of our reactions to what the Buddha … [Read more...]
The Investigation of What Is Important: The Second Factor of Awakening
Santikaro Bhikkhu is an American-born monk who has been living in Thailand at the Suan Mokh monastery for twenty years. His teacher was Ajahn Buddhadasā, a well-known scholar and practitioner who contributed greatly to the development of Engaged Buddhism through his writing and teaching. These pages are extracted from a seven-day Bhāvana Program at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies that took place in March 2000. The Seven Factors The Pali word bojjhaṅgā is usually translated as "factors … [Read more...]
Food for Awakening: The Role of Appropriate Action
The Myth of Bare Attention The Buddha never used the word for “bare attention” in his meditation instructions. That’s because he realized that attention never occurs in a bare, pure or unconditioned form. It’s always colored by views and perceptions—the labels you tend to give to events—and by intentions: your choice of what to attend to and your purpose in being attentive. If you don’t understand the conditioned nature of even simple acts of attention, you might assume that a moment of … [Read more...]
The Nature of Compassion
This article is excerpted from a talk given at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies on July 27, 1994. My colleague Joseph Goldstein and I just returned from teaching in Boulder, Colorado at the Naropa Institute. Naropa was celebrating its twentieth anniversary, and it was also the twentieth anniversary of our beginning to teach in this country. It was a time filled with nostalgia and also a time for a lot of reflection: what have we done over the last twenty years? Have we done what we … [Read more...]
The Pāramis: Heart of Buddha’s Teachings and Our Own Practice
This article is adapted from a one- day workshop offered by Sylvia Boorstein at the Bane Center for Buddhist Studies on April 5, 1997. Since that time, Sylvia has also taught a ten-week course on Paramis at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California. We begin this day of practice in the traditional way of honoring the Buddha and all those others who have awakened to the possibility of living a fully wise and compassionate life. We take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the … [Read more...]