Using mindfulness and insight we can expand the range of experiences we can stay conscious within. Freedom arises as we move beyond our attachments and preferences, and into things just as they are.
Second talk in an 8-week series on the 7 Factors of Awakening that began with an overview March 10. James highly recommended the booklet
The Power of Mindfulness by Nyanaponika Thera as a precise and concise guide for "tidying the mental household."
The talk ends with a homework assignment for the week.
The 7 Factors of Awakening are the Buddha’s list of qualities that need to be developed in order to fully awaken. This eight-week series begins with an overview of all 7 Factors followed by a discussion of each individually in greater depth over the coming weeks. Besides exploring them theoretically, James encourages us to take them on as practices as we go through the weeks seeing how we can consciously cultivate them and bring them into our daily lives. The seven factors are:
How do we stay mindful in the world of technology, email and internet? How Buddhist teachings on mindfulness and intention help give us presence in the midst of it all.
We step back to look at how we develop the three meditative path factors separately, and how, as practice deepens, the factors become interwoven, and we move forward a kind of mindful, concentrated, effortless effort.
