Through our practice we can directly experience our body as a field of energy in constantly changing forms. Sometimes what seems to be a wall is actually a doorway into the direct experience of our true nature.
A guided meditation leading to an exploration of the first foundation of mindfulness. Questions addressed include: why focus on the body and how the body relates to the other foundations.
Because we live in such a mental culture, we sometimes interpret meditation as getting rid of all thinking. But inquiry and investigation, often aided by language are crucial to Buddhist practice. We look at three practical methods of inquiry, using (1) mindfulness (2) deep listening, and (3) the lens of particular teachings.
Beth Gendler, author of Notes On The Need For Beauty, reflects in dialogue with Donald Rothberg and the Sanga, on the nature of beauty, “cleansing the doors of perception, and the place of beauty in transformative practice.”
We use Dogen’s famous passage to explore issues of self and not-self, by looking at 1. how we study the self, 2. how, in studying the self, we forget the self, and 3. how, in forgetting the self, we are most ourselves and most fully with others.
Right livelihood, one of the factors of the Eightfold Path, is primarily focused on the ethical qualities of our work. We explore this factor, as well as the related sense of vocation or calling – to have one’s life and work express one’s gifts while contributing and providing a path to universal Dharma.
