I am intrigued by how we can live the 'holy life' as lay people. How do we erase the imaginary line between formal sitting practice and the rest of our lives? How can we bring full engagement to formal and informal practice? Is it possible to embody, in our lives, the understanding and insight that comes with intensive training? And can we live our lives in a way that expresses and continues to deepen our realization? These questions fuel my practice and my teaching.
I place a lot of emphasis on the Buddha's teaching about mindfulness of the body. The body is a powerful dharma gate. I encourage people to deeply investigate the body and use it as a place of recollection in daily life.
Our individual and cultural habits, our confusion, all require a sincere and ongoing commitment to spiritual life and practice. In order to mature our 'layastic' practice, we need to develop a palette of practices: mindfulness, loving-kindness, inquiry, reflection, precept practice, service, sutta study, etc.
I believe passionate engagement is the foundation of the spiritual path. Spiritual life blossoms when mindfulness is woven with a heartfelt sense of loving-kindness and compassion. With warm mindfulness as the basis of practice, our attachment to identity, roles and experience begins to loosen. As our experience and understanding matures, faith develops. This nourishes a devotion to practice which further deepens our insights.
It is precious to be born in the human realm and have an opportunity to practice and awaken. May we appreciate our inheritance and bring to life the teachings of the Buddha.
Exploring what we think death is and it’s role and function as part of Buddhist meditation and realization. We examine the role of death in our conventional lives with the arising and passing of roles, worlds we’re involved with & times and stages of our life that pass. What happens as we normalize the dying process as part of the great letting go. How does letting go reveal the awakened heart?
What is it to age and how do we apply, learn and discover the dharma at this phase of life? We recognize the difficulties and joys of aging. Having lived a long life can bring a mature equanimity as the basis of our practice and life. Dharma points us to the simplicity of life and practice highlighted in Buddha’s instructions to Bahiya.
Gratitude arises naturally as we explore/open to the truth of the living impermanence of our lives. The dharma unveils various gifts of our aliveness. We recognize and become awake to the magic of life itself.
Recognizing letting go as a natural part of our life and death. The story of Anathapindika death, how he received the highest teachings and changed Buddhist culture so that these teachings are offered to all of the 4 fold Sangha.
Exploring the celebration & relationship to death on Halloween and through the Zen practice of Segaki. We recognize the normalcy of death through Buddhist teachings, reflecting on our lives and in each moment of practice. Using reflection and meditation we discover how death leads to awakening and living our lives fully.
Maranasati – Mindfulness of Death is called The Supreme Mindfulness Practice by the Buddha. It teaches us to let go and value the fullness of our impermanent lives. Contemplating death reveals the paradox of dharma and death which are experience and known both personally and impersonally.
