My focus in teaching is to provide the support that students need to turn their life to the dharma, to truth, and to find ways to come out of their pain and suffering. The retreat experience is an invaluable aid to this exploration; however, what matters more is how one integrates this under- standing into everyday life.
I care that students see through the illusory wall between formal meditation and their daily life. Then, what remains is a meditative attitude to all that occurs.
Vipassana practice helps us to become respectful and caring towards ourselves and others. This generates the conditions of mind and heart that allow us to awaken to the truth of who we are, rather than believing in our limited assumptions. As we see the impersonal nature of our own mind, we then experience a deep engagement with life that allows for a complete transformation of the heart. When we know this deeply, we can no longer unconsciously engage in actions that will lead to suffering and the ongoing destruction of our planet.
As a teacher, I am accessible and able to meet people at an intimate level. I am interested in how the language that we use can show where we are holding on. I look to the concepts about reality that people believe in as the key that unlocks the door to liberating insight. People can easily discount their experiences and forget that they hold the seeds to liberation, that the wisdom is already within them. As people speak what is in their hearts, affirmation brings about the confidence needed to take the next step, which can often seem confusing and daunting as one walks into the unknown territory of the mind.
As the force of identification with our body, mind and feelings gets weaker, the sense of 'me-ness' weakens. Then, the 'I' is not so demanding and we small the perfume of selflessness.
Sometimes mindfulness of the body is neglected for more exalted meditation experiences. However, the first foundation of mindfulness points to the importance of grounding in the body as a central support for presence and connection to our experience, which allows for a deeper investigation into the nature of things.
Our meditation practice encourages letting go of what is familiar and secure to allow a deeper intimacy with the way things are. As we do this, we open the door to love, trust and the mystery of the unknown.
When we speak of the healing power of mindfulness, we mean healing the clinging mind. For this, we draw on mindfulness that opens the door to our wisdom and compassion, so we can see the truth clearly with a kind and loving-heart.
'Doing' can create a lot of stress. As I examine and let go of habitual patterns, I open to the freshness of not knowing and experience a wise and direct engagement with life
Mindfulness practice is a confrontation with what is true in each moment--we examine the ways we defend against painful experience so that we can open to the richness of being alive.
When we are identified with these five mind states they are called hindrances to seeing the way things actually are. Each one is explored along with skillful antidotes to help overcome them.
Using the Buddha's teaching on the Four Ways of Undertaking Things, we can examine what the basis is for our choices. Is it ego that imposes an idea of what is right or wrong? Or can we listen more deeply to our inner wisdom?
Every moment is a revelation of the Four Noble Truths. What kind of suffering do we have influence over? Once we deeply understand the nature of impermanence, freedom from suffering is close at hand.
