How we create, reify and cling to self. How this is a source of Dukkha and how we can find our way to freedom.

After some further examination of the nature of samadhi practice, we look at the “three ways of seeing that liberate,” focusing especially on impermanence (anicca) and dukkha, with some attention to not-self (anatta)

Understanding meditation practice in the context of dharma. Reflections on how the body (and our dinner) is created from conditions. Exploration of impermanence (anicca) and not-self (anatta) teachings in reference to the body, soup & spoons.

Not-self or anatta and an overview of the five aggregates subject to clinging

Understanding Anatta and Self View: seeing the difference between ourselves and our views of ourselves.

In the first of two talks reflecting on just returning from five weeks of teaching and traveling in Israel/Palestine, we start to explore two themes: (1) identity in the context of Buddhist teachings about anatta and Donald's experience of being with many people in Israel with very similar East European Jewish ancestry; and (2) how to understand, be with, respond to, and transform unresolved and tragic historical trauma and suffering, found both with Jewish Israelis and Palestinians both in Israel and the occupied territories. A second talk will continue this exploration.

Exploring the sense of self and identity through the Buddha's strategy of Not-Self

Instructions in the hall - bringing awareness to the interconnected nature of all phenomena and their lack of inherent self existence

The purpose of insight as seeing clearly into the three universal characteristics of anicca - impermanence, dukkha - unsatisfactoriness, and anatta - not-self, and how the five hindrances of sensual desire, ill will or aversion, sloth and torpor, restlessness and remorse, and sceptical doubt get in the way of clear seeing

We first explore further the "three ways of seeing that free" (examining the "three characteristics" of phenomena), with particular emphasis on a practically-based overview of anatta (not-self). We then see how samadhi practice and insight practice develop, as they progress, toward a third mode of practice--opening to "awakened awareness" or "radiant mind." We look at the nature of awakened awareness, and point to several practical methods of accessing awakened awareness.

An overview talk for a daylong of teachings and practices related to exploring anatta (not-self).

Four Noble truths meet ultimate and relative reality, meet anatta and identity

Self – Not-Self. Channa receives help when stuck and lost.

This talk explores the process of clearly seeing the arising of reactivity in a way that leads to our freedom. It also offers reflections on opening up to the selfless aspect of our experience.

We explore further the nature of samadhi practice, then examine the relationship of samadhi practice and insight practice generally. We focus for most of the talk on practicing "three ways of seeing"--seeing impermanence, dukkha (reactivity, unsatisfactoriness), and anatta (not-self)--with an emphasis on practicing with seeing impermanence.

3 Characteristics (anicca, anatta, dukkha). 5 aggregates, perception as impermanent, unsubstantial and unreliable. Seeing through illusions of time and space.

The three characteristics of Anicca, Dukkha and Anatta that offer keys to our freedom.

We explore how the ordinary experience of dukkha becomes dukkha ñāṇa, understanding of the universal characteristic (samañña lakkhaṇa) of dukkha. We look at the how the perception of impermanence (anicca-saññā) creates anxiety when the heart intuits the groundless of experience, and how the unfolding of this anxiety is mapped by the dukkha ñāṇas of classical Theravāda Buddhism. Finally, we see how the experience of dukkha gives way to that of not-self (anattā), when the heart stabilises through the maturity of mindfulness (sati) and equanimity (upekkhā).

Here we look at one aspect of the teaching of anattā, that of life-after-life, or rebirth. We see that this teaching does not say that any being or thing transfers from one life to the next, and yet because we are caught up in identity we can’t help but think in such terms. We also look at some characteristics of our culture that make it particularly difficult for us to come to terms with this teaching.

We continue with Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta, here focusing on the turning point represented by disenchantment (nibbidā). This creates a process of the fading of obsession, liberation and the exhaustion of birth. The Buddha expresses as a state of intimacy, conveyed by the statement, “There is no more of this!”

After teaching the first Buddhist meditation retreat to the five ascetics, the Buddha introduces the topic of not-self (anattā) with Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta. Tonight we look at the Buddha’s perspective on how we create a self by clinging to five categories or “bundles” (khandha) of experience. The key moves are: “This is mine;” “I am this;” and “This is my self.”

Tonight we explore the fourth satipaṭṭhāna, that of tracking dharma or dharmas (dhammānupassanā). Tracking dharma (singular) involves learning the conceptual framework that gives meaning to the experiences we undergo. We learn to read our experience. When experience means something, then it can transform our life. Tracking the dharmas (plural) entails learning to perceive our experienced world as no more than a flow of phenomena, that arise and cease dependent on conditions. This represents the maturity of insight into not-self (anattā).

The teaching of anattā (“not-self”) points to one of the three fundamental areas of liberating insight taught by the Buddha (along with the teachings on impermanence and on suffering or dukkha). Yet anattā can very challenging and confusing for contemporary practitioners. Is there “no self” (as anattā is sometimes translated)? How do we make sense of our feelings of individuality, identity, ancestry, and vocation? How do we address our own personal experiences of woundedness, trauma, and oppression? Are these all simply to be “transcended”? How is a sense of self actually in many ways important for contemporary spiritual development, and how is working with our own individual conditioning, whether psychological or social in origin, central to our liberation? How do we integrate attending to such conditioning with opening as well to the power and energy of experiences beyond the habitual sense of self? In this daylong, we will explore these vital questions primarily in a practical way. Using the metaphors of “thinning the self” and working with a “thick” sense of self, we will cover three aspects of practice: (1) cultivating, in several ways, the “thinning” of the self, both in meditation and in everyday life, including working with the Five Skandhas or “aggregates” of experience; (2) tracking and working with different manifestations of a “thick” sense of self, both as appearing in experience and as hidden to awareness; and (3) opening to experiencing beyond a fixed sense of self, as awareness, compassion, and responsiveness deepen.

This is the fourth talk in a speaker series titled Fundamental Buddhist Principles 2015. As we observe our daily and meditative experience, the mind naturally begins to notice "universal" qualities of experience: impermanence (anicca), unsatisfactoriness (dhkkha), and emptiness (anatta). These three - especially impermanence - are gates to spiritual freedom. It's how we relate and react to these three characteristics that determine whether we suffer or be at peace.

Background of Teaching on anattatā - dimensions of impersonality - psychological models of self and possible confusions

Vipallasa Sutta: Understanding perception and the ways in which we have errors in understanding of the three characteristics (anicca, anatta, dukkha) and asubha that keep us spinning in delusion. Doggies and empty boats.

We examine practicing with the Three Characteristics, particularly with Dukkha (suffering) and anatta (not-self). Then we explore "spacious awareness," a type of non-conceptual awareness beyond the splits of knower and known, particularly in the teachings of the Buddha and the Thai Forest tradition, with some reference to Tibetan and Zen traditions. Thirdly, we outline a number of ways to access this kind of awareness.

Beyond developing samadhi and mindfulness, we can turn our attention to developing liberating insight. While these are many insights that can come through meditation, the insight around anicca (change), dukkha (unsatisfactoriness) and anatta (non self) address our compulsion to crave and cling.

After some reflections on some of the reasons why anatta (not-self) can be confusing, we explore especially how to practice with anatta: (1) opening to a sense of flow increasingly without a sense of self; (2) exploring the many ways in which there is a "thick" sense of self, both appearing in experience and sometimes hidden to immediate experience; (3) further meditative ways to "thin" the self; and (4) ways of thinning, especially as our practice deepens, the "meditative self."

Taking refuge, remembering compassion, seeing impermanence, not self, unsatisfactoriness, (3 characteristics - anicca, anatta, dukkha)

Insight into "not-self" (anatta) is one of the core aspects of wisdom. After briefly reviewing some of the challenges of understanding anatta, we look at four practical ways to explore anatta, through focusing on 1) everyday and meditative experiences of "flow", 2) studying the "thick" or strong sense of self when it appears, 3) practicing in other ways to "thin" the self, and 4) opening to awareness without a sense of self or identification with the contents of experience.

Things are not what they seem Nor are they otherwise - Buddha This talk explored the role and dynamic of paradox in Buddhist teaching and practice. We looked at the paradox inherent in the experience of the three characteristics -- anicca (impermanence), dukkha (suffering) and anatta (self and not self). As we relax with the paradoxical experience the three characteristics become portals to awakening.

This is the second discourse given by the Buddha to his five original ascetic companions after setting the wheel of the Dharma in motion. The Buddha gives his teaching on Anatta (or not-self), and the five become enlightened.

Do you ever get sleepy while meditating? In this discourse, the Capala Sutta from the Angutarra Nikaya, the Buddha catches one of his main disciples, Ven. Maha Moggallana nodding off. He then offers him seven strategies for overcoming "sloth and torpor". Identifying with the drowsiness can actually be a doorway to the wisdom of anatta or the selfless nature of reality.