Seattle Insight Meditation Society

The spiritual path seems to offer a true perspective on life by pinpointing our exact location in time and place. It points to the body as a vehicle for discovery, and once the body is explored, we find our true ground of being. We now know where are in time (now) and in place (here) and no longer have to apologize for where we are or what we are doing. The coordinates of our location are determined and we cannot lose our way. This is the spiritual ascent of our journey. Life starts to make sense in ways it has not before, we see more clearly, and our actions conform to this new perspective. We actually begin to like ourselves as if we were coming out of the shadow of our own judgment. It is like journeying up a mountain with each new vista providing insight and perspectives on how far we have journeyed and where we still need to go. Our confidence grows accordingly and we no longer fear our abilities to make this journey. There is great joy in climbing this mountain, and we feel at the top of our game. Somewhere near the summit, we gain a view of the whole surround, and realize, perhaps for the first time, that one very important task remains. In order to descend the mountain, we have to step out of ourselves. This did not occur to us as we were ascending. We were too engrossed in the perspective the mountain was offering and too enamored in our new-found confidence and the rooted ground under out feet. The ascent gave us meaning and purpose beyond anything we had imagined. We were advancing on the true and natural relationship to life and felt the beginning of that contentment. At the crest of the mountain we suddenly realized that this true relationship was never about my perspective on life as a bystander. This new view is a union without a watcher. Now we feel a hesitation. Is this what I want? It seems as if just when we have found our footing, the mountain is asking us to jump off the cliff. This is the counter-influence, and the descent seems much harder than the ascent only because we did not expect to have to let go of our gained ground. Why not delay this next move and frolic among the peaks? We peer down the mountain and look over the life we have ascended, but now we know we are being asked to descend back into that same life without acclaim. The exquisite views from the mountain top were a false nirvana, and we are asked to reenter as no one special. Both the ascent and the descent of the journey are essential and equally important. In the ascent we are shoring ourselves up, building our confidence, and perceiving ourselves with the love we deserve. Then the descent, and the relinquishment of all that has meant so much to us, returning to zero. The journey is a complete circle (ensō in Japanese) returning us to a world that until now, we have never fully understood. This talk is also presented in video here: http://seattleinsight.org/Talks/BrowseTalks/DharmaTalk/tabid/90/TalkID/780/Default.aspx

With the ready acceptance, rapid proliferation and application of mindfulness in contemporary lifestyles, it is important to remember the Buddha’s understanding of the benefit of mindfulness: insightful understanding and liberation from suffering. When was the last time you were reminded of and encouraged to seek the goal of realizing nibbāna? (Audio note: This recording has some rustling noises because of a microphone problem.) This talk is also presented in video here: http://seattleinsight.org/Talks/BrowseTalks/DharmaTalk/tabid/90/TalkID/790/Default.aspx

One of the first insights we often have early in our practice is also one of the most difficult to personally accept, which is how self-centered we are. Our thoughts and feelings envelope every sensory contact, we are front and center to every experience, and volitionally behind every action we take, and it is almost always undertaken for self-serving reasons. This I-centered worldview is so automatic, many of us cannot conceive of operating from a different perspective. But that is what a spiritual journey ultimately does. It takes us beyond a self-focused life where “I” predominate, into a life of inclusion where we are not the center of our world. This week we will investigate the continuum from self-centeredness to all beings. The right side of the continuum, “all beings,” represents the total inclusion of the heart, the left side, self-centeredness, is the state of isolation and separation where much of our life is lived. How could we possibly move beyond our own self-concerns? Moving beyond what is best for “me” seems so implausible as to be impossible, but it only seems that way because we do not know what we are or how we are formed. As the practice progresses, we sense the porousness of self, that it is not as dense and isolated as we once thought. We begin to see the boundaries that separate us are self-induced. Slowly we learn how to release those boundaries, and in so doing join with others. This usually takes time and perseverance because as we release these divisions it upsets our world order. It is relatively easy to intellectually or imaginatively release the boundaries that separate ourselves from others (“may all beings be happy”), but very difficult to actually change perception and engage in the world from this perspective. The spiritual journey is easily stated but difficult to act upon. When we sense a tenderness in our hearts for someone, let us not pass that by in the course of our day. Stay there for a while and let an appropriate action result from that tenderness. Maybe it will be nothing more than making eye contact, maybe offering spare change, maybe more. Let the heart begin to respond beyond our selfish demands. The Dalai Lama said, “We can let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us and make us kinder. We always have a choice.” Using life to soften our hearts is a wise orientation to Dharma and eventually brings everyone along within our hearts. This talk is also presented in video here: http://seattleinsight.org/Talks/BrowseTalks/DharmaTalk/tabid/90/TalkID/762/Default.aspx

Karuna is the word for compassion in Pali, the language of the original Buddhist teachings. It is taught as a meditation that cultivates our natural capacity for a compassionate and loving heart. Karuna practice is traditionally offered along with meditations that enrich lovingkindness, joy in the happiness of others, and equanimity. These practices lead to the development of concentration, fearlessness, happiness and a greater ability to love.

Chapter Eleven in Awakening: A Paradigm Shift of the Heart is the highlighted chapter for this week. The continuum we will explore is Denial to Openness. There is an acceptable tension we each carry and are reluctant to address spiritually. That tension holds our thoughts, attitudes, self-beliefs, and projections together in a systematic self-serving way. It is the collection of aggregates laced together with our narrative that we will protect at all costs, and it is all tied to our current worldview. The practice begins within this worldview where everything is tightly controlled around a condensed center called me. We keep ourselves in control by refusing to examine and question our way out - this is denial. Denial will not look at facts beyond the opinions it has of those facts. Yet dharma is the undefended fact, and facing facts is fundamental to dharma growth. This, then, is a key continuum to understand. Slowly as we cross the continuum, we loosen a little, letting new experiences in, perceiving from a quieter vantage point, and slowly opening to what we are seeing. Our hearts warm and we feel more inclusive. However, opinions suddenly form around these new feelings and here we may stumble into the false nirvana of liberalism, where we pride ourselves in our inclusiveness and egalitarianism. One expression of this false nirvana is when we wonder why everyone doesn’t see the truths we see and hold the same view. This is a warning sign of a perception gone astray, and if not corrected, will prevent us from being truly open and moving forward. Openness does not come with or from a view. Openness is wide open like the sky allowing everything to move through it, and is the willingness to be receptive and nonjudgmental regardless of circumstances. But given the dangers of life, how can we ever expect to be truly open? This is not a calculated opening, but rather an opening without reservations. We have no choice but to open since the dharma is inclusive, the good, the bad, the just, and the unjust; all beings, all things without exception. There is no unity without absolute inclusion. Leave one thing out and we are back where we started. It is only my egoic self that protests, and here we come to the counter influence of the continuum. Either we pull back from further openness and maintain our defensiveness and denial or we surrender to the limitations of the world. We are forced to decide whether to see in unity or forever live within duality. To see life within the unity of existence means we see without contention. This talk is also presented in video here: http://seattleinsight.org/Talks/BrowseTalks/DharmaTalk/tabid/90/TalkID/761/Default.aspx

The Buddha said, “One who knows love is very close to the truth.” As we practice, and identification with appearances diminishes, we will find ourselves from time to time suddenly surrounded by great space. The great space seems to have come from nowhere. Maybe it came from the relaxed way we were observing, or out of a momentary respite from self-indulgence. It does not matter how it came, only that it came. The space reassures us that love is there, and even when it seems to be hidden, it lies in wait for our acknowledgment. If we look through that space focusing on objects, love will be missed. If we abide within the space itself and rest there, then our actions will come from its power and grace. This talk is also presented in video here: http://seattleinsight.org/Talks/BrowseTalks/DharmaTalk/tabid/90/TalkID/730/Default.aspx

The practice of metta is not the state of metta. Metta is unconditional love and the practice of metta attempts to nudge the mind in the direction of unconditioned love by showing how the opinions we hold of ourselves and each other create separation and distance. It is our perceptions that need to be changed and the key to doing that is questioning deeply the opinions we hold. We think our opinions are the truth, and we can be very reluctant to change them. But opinions are just circumstantial emotions that have been conditioned onto a person, place, or thing. To live under the influence of our opinions is to live enslaved to our thoughts and feelings. Opinions can and do change but they need our intention to look from a different perspective. That is what metta practice attempts to do. It works because we begin to appreciate the state of connected love we fall into when we release our opinions, but our convictions come back very quickly if we have not explored the false nature of all assumptions. This talk is also presented in video here: http://seattleinsight.org/Talks/BrowseTalks/DharmaTalk/tabid/90/TalkID/728/Default.aspx

There is a kind of clamor we make when we are pushing ourselves forward trying to accomplish spiritual objectives. We keep ourselves pumped up in an excitable state and busily looking toward the results of our efforts. But the direction the heart takes is in the opposite direction. The heart moves toward nothing special, simplicity, and a full embrace of the here and now. We can rediscover the refuges we take in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha when we pair the refuges with the true direction of the heart. The Buddha is stillness, the Dharma is discovering that stillness in all things, and the Sangha is the intimacy shared when two or more people can be safely quiet together. The heart flourishes within these refuges and intimately connects with the nothing special here and now. This talk is also presented in video here: http://seattleinsight.org/Talks/BrowseTalks/DharmaTalk/tabid/90/TalkID/726/Default.aspx

In the suttas the quality of faith, or saddha, is often compared to a seed, and the process of awakening is likened to the maturation and full flowering of that seed.  This talk explores various ways that we can understand and nourish this important quality, coming to appreciate its capacity to generate energy and empower us on the path. This talk is also presented in video here: http://seattleinsight.org/Talks/BrowseTalks/DharmaTalk/tabid/90/TalkID/727/Default.aspx

This talk is also presented in video here: http://seattleinsight.org/Talks/BrowseTalks/DharmaTalk/tabid/90/TalkID/724/Default.aspx

As we move along the path of our inner journey, sometimes we are on a solo trip and sometimes we have the company of others. The role that others play in our journey can have a profound impact on our personal and spiritual development. The Three Wholesome Exchanges are specific ways in which we interact with others that can bring about transformative change in them and in ourselves. In this dharma talk, Phillip explores some of the mysteries that propel our movement along the path toward peace and freedom. This talk is also presented in video here: http://seattleinsight.org/Talks/BrowseTalks/DharmaTalk/tabid/90/TalkID/725/Default.aspx

Spiritual practice is all about unburdening our lives, which depending upon the circumstances, can be called surrender, renunciation, letting go, simplicity, or relinquishment. Suffering is the process of adding to the nothing we are. Every psychological, material, and spiritual layer we add on, ultimately weighs us down, narrows our options, and ties us to its limitations. For example when we define ourselves, we are forced to live as if the definition were true and deny a range of qualities that do not fit our image. At some point the burden of these add-ons become overwhelming, and we then become willing to surrender everything that we have artificially imposed upon us. Relinquishment is returning to our natural state by releasing our accumulations. This process can go as fast or take as long as we wish it to take. The more we are accountable to the burdens we bear, the more willing we become to relinquish that unneeded weight. The timing is ours alone, but the process of relinquishment is very simple and straightforward. This talk is also presented in video here: http://seattleinsight.org/Talks/BrowseTalks/DharmaTalk/tabid/90/TalkID/722/Default.aspx

This talk is also presented in video here: http://seattleinsight.org/Talks/BrowseTalks/DharmaTalk/tabid/90/TalkID/721/Default.aspx

It can be difficult to piece the many instructions of our Buddhist practice into a single coherent whole. We may sense we need to shore up one area and in the next moment we seem deficient in another. The Buddha summarized all the practices he taught into three words: sila (ethical conduct), samadhi (steadiness of mind), and panna (understanding and wisdom). When we get confused about what we should be doing, we might want to return to those three words for direction. They are the keys to birthing our hearts. These three words move in synchronicity to one another. If our minds are too discursive, we focus on distinct experiences, like the breath, until the mind settles. As it settles more, we see deeply into the interconnected fiber of life, which reinforces actions in alignment with the principles of our hearts. When there is sufficient steadiness of mind, our understanding of life deepens, our heart opens, and ethical conduct falls in line with the pain and suffering we see. The wish to hurt ourselves or others falls away with insight, not from moral restraint. We experience ourselves as being a part of and no longer separate from the web of life and we act in accordance with that understanding. This talk is also presented in video here: http://seattleinsight.org/Talks/BrowseTalks/DharmaTalk/tabid/90/TalkID/703/Default.aspx

The path of awakening emphasizes both inner development and the embodiment of that understanding in every area of our life.