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.
Contemplating our mortality personally as well as learning how Buddhism utilizes Mindfulness of Death as a gateway to Awakening. The Advice to Anathapindika gifts us with the deeper teachings on letting go of attachment; letting go of our identity; letting go of life!
Discovering how Right Effort leads to being present, awakening and realizing the Truth of the Dharma. We explored different currents of Rt. Effort: gentle; relaxed; willful; strong; fierce. We examined why and when different streams of effort might be skillful.
What makes humans precious? The magic, mystery & wonder embodied consciousness that is characterized by the Oneness of Birth-and-Death, & the paradox of unity of suffering and awakening being in Precious Human Birth
We explored the components & dynamics of the 1st Foundation: Breath; Body Posture; Parts of the Body; Awareness in all activities of the Body. We examined the Insight with leads to being Independent- Not clinging to anything in the world.
What is to Awake? What is it to Awaken? Different forms and levels of awakening. How awakening begins in each moment. The relationship of love & awareness to awakening in Buddhist teachings and suttas.
