3 Kinds of Sila: How to work with the 5 precepts inwardly, to cultivate self/other, compassion and good will.

Mind (citta) as the Buddha’s focus of investigation. As both the cause of suffering and the means to its cessation The Buddha points to two states or tendencies of mind Akusala - unwholesome, unskillful Kusala - wholesome, skillful, beneficial Suffering follows the unwholesome mind, Happiness follows the wholesome mind like a shadow that never departs. Our task, step by step, is to train the mind and supplant the unwholesome state with the wholesome states. Greed, hatred and Delusion are the root causes for the unwholesome mind. We must cultivate the factors that are the cause for the wholesome mind at three levels. Coarse - Actions, bodily or verbal. We use the five precepts to prevent unwholesome tendencies at this level. Obsessive, compulsive patterns - Thoughts, emotions. We use meditation, deep samadhi directed to an object, to see the arising of these tendencies and still the mind. Underlying tendencies, attachments - the remaining defilements We use wisdom, insight, to investigate the body and mind and see their impermanence and stop the clinging to a false self to uproot these final tendencies. This is liberation.

Dharma Talk

Be as you are. This talk encourages a spacious and accepting attitude that embraces experience just as it is occurring. It is inspired by non-meditation approaches that bring relaxation, release, and ease to awareness without the exertion or efforts of striving. Mindfulness instructions are simple: observe your experience of sensory contact, observe what occurs at any sense door. You don't need to do very much with what you observe. See what is happening; be present with what is. Several obstacles to deep presence are examined. We learn to release attachments to material stuff, to overcome the influence of social expectation, and to renounce distracting and unskillful speech. We also learn to free the mind from mental proliferation, worry, and restless wandering; to embrace precepts that protect us from doing habitual or selfish actions; and to let go of clinging whenever it arises. This approach illuminates the power of renunciation; the calming of concepts of self, I, me, and mine; and the great peace that brings an end to suffering.

A contemplative approach to working with the five precepts in retreat.

date estimated

A talk given in celebration of our friends in Korea

Opening talk by Mathew Daniell with comments by Doug Phillips and meditation instruction by Larry Rosenberg.

The deeper and direct meaning of the three refuges and eight precepts are described and reflected on, in addition to a general reflection on how to relate to practicing the essence of the Buddhadhamma.