Compassion - Mindfulness, Kindness and Our Common Humanity

From the basis of our simple practices we can include mindfulness of how intentions and actions arise in reaction to what is pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral (vedana). The unconscious actions we take in response to vedana are the conditioning circumstances for our suffering. It behooves us to raise awareness to how our reactivity to vedana further conditions our patterns of craving, aversion, and ignorance.

In every moment of subjective experience there is a quality of pleasure, displeasure or neutrality. Bring mindfulness to the quality of Vedana trains us how not to add suffering when pain arises or pleasure fades.

Two Views of the nature of impermanence: The moment-to-moment view, and the infinite immensity view.

All experience arises and passed in the vast space of awareness. This meditation, adapted from Tibetan text, directs attention to awareness itself rather than the objects within the awareness.

Dukkha is an inevitable part of life, the 1st Noble Truth. How we meet it and work with it is a key issue of practice. If understood, it can be a doorway to liberation.

The Buddha's teaching leading to the freedom from the clinging to I, Me and Mine.

The Buddha taught that the six sense spheres of hearing, seeing, sensing, smelling, tasting and cognizing represent "the all". The Bahiya Sutta points directly to the sense spheres as not-self.

Fear of letting go and trust in the dharma

We are in an ever changing universe, yet conventionally don't understand this. Mindfulness brings us so much intimacy with things as they truly are that we wake up to this streaming nature. We have to let go of old habits of clinging to align with the stream we are in.

In the Dharma, it is said that there are Two Guardians of the world. They are actually inner guardians, or attitudes of mind, that support non-harming in our speech and behavior. This is a powerful cause for liberation to mature, resulting in a beautiful mind/heart.

Mindful awareness creates spaciousness for love to naturally shine through -- your true nature. The talk includes reminisces of Ram Dass, major benefactor of the insight meditation community, who passed away Dec. 2019 and whose practice was "I am loving awareness."

Guided meditation for embodying equanimity: neutral, friend and self

This talk emphasizes Wise Intention in the context of a long retreat: Wise Intention includes the three aspects of renunciation (letting go of the sense desire), loving kindness and compassion.

The highest of all teachings is "an appropriate response" that response that leads to the lessening of suffering for ones self and others. Less of a "thing" but more of an ongoing process of inquiry.