Everyone knows that "things change". Yet as the Mahabarata points out "only the surface-mind understands, the actual sense never goes into our heads".
Exploring our experience deeply, we can move past the surface understanding to deeply recognize this truth.
The journey and thread that weaves through each,... one begets and is of the other... how Valentines day and Presidents day can lead us to Awakening...
The Buddha spoke of Nekkhama or renunciation as source of happiness. This is because it gives rise to contentment-seeing this moment as complete as it is. This talk explores the experience of inner contentment.
Human beings seek to control their experiences in order to be happy. But when we approach meditation practice with a fixed agenda, we miss the mark. Freedom and liberation comes from learning to harmonize with reality, not in trying to impose our preferences upon it.
One of the patterns we meet in meditation, over and over again, is the wandering mind. Exploring this pattern without judgment, we can come to deep understanding about the nature of our minds.
We review and expand the themes from last time- the importance of body practices for our times and lives, exploring our attitudes toward the body and developing basic body practices. Then we focus on mindfulness of the body, outlining several further practices and emphasizing especially how body practices help us practice more fully and critically in the flow of the daily life.
Sincerity of heart is the most important ingredient that we can bring to practice. This talk explores that theme with special focus on the Four Iddhipadas, or Bases of Success that fuel our sincere motivation.
