Unfettered Mind

Appearances and reality; what life is and staying present in it; the world in which we think we live and the world in which we actually live; where does Buddhism and politics come together; how does one work with psychological trauma in practice; working with fear; how does interdependent origination relate to our thoughts; karma, rebirth, and evolution; translating Buddhist poetry and spiritual writing; discussion of mantra at the end of the Heart Sutra

The three kayas or forms of Buddhahood (Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, Nirmanakaya) and their characteristics; special traits of Buddhahood; understanding the activities of Buddhahood as the natural response of compassion instead of viewing them as special abilities; thanks and acknowledgments to everyone who helped manage the class and make the podcasts possible.

Discussion of the highly coded text used in these last chapters; overview of the ten bhumis or stages and how they relate to one's experience; how the stages reflect specific, real-life experiences and shifts; division of stages into impure and pure. Discussion of the first (nature) of the two aspects of the pristine awareness of Buddhahood; evaluating experience; resting in experience and seeing what is, bringing these two together; seeing things as they are, knowing how they appear; meditation instruction for upcoming week.

The problems and advantages of charting spiritual progression; spiritual growth is rarely linear; the five paths as a way of organizing accumulated wisdom; The Path of Accumulation (gathering resources), mindfulness, perfect abandonment, and miracle powers; The Path of Application or Accommodation (no independent existence), the four stages and four noble truths, the five powers and strengths; The Path of Insight (seeing the nature of things); The Path of Meditation and the noble eight-fold path; The Path of Perfection (attention and seeing are stabilized).

Participants' experience with previous week's meditation on exploring the difference between doing routine, simple activities as usual and doing them when one has dropped into the clear resting mind; importance of means and wisdom; perfection of wisdom is knowing precisely what you are experiencing or know directly that all experience arises from no thing; translation points, change "realize" to "know directly" and "phenomena" to "experience"; entering into the mystery of "what am I? what is this experience I call life? what is time?"; approaching experience as just experience; practice instructions; meditation assignment for upcoming week on exploring when and how do I experience time in daily activities and meditation?

Participants' experience with previous week's meditation on comparing experience in actions with clear and unclear intention; remedies for the following reactive emotions: desire, anger, instinct/blind stupidity/ignoring, jealousy, and pride; experiencing vs acting out or suppressing emotions; remedies are used to develop unfragmented attention; three kinds of stable attention; meditation assignment for upcoming week on exploring the difference between doing routine, simple activities as usual and doing them with a resting mind.

Participants' experience with previous week's meditation on exploring one's experience with enthusiasm and lack of enthusiasm in everyday life; stability vs concentration; results of agitated mind; clairvoyance as a mistranslation of what can happen with a stable mind; stable attention gives rise to compassion; natural virtue of resting mind; stopping distraction; primary characteristics, genesis and faults of fragmentation of attention and solitude; evaluating what brings meaning, value and peace to us; clear intention leads to stable attention; meditation assignment for upcoming week on comparing experience in actions with clear and unclear intention.

Participants' experience with previous week's meditation on working more deeply to experience what one seeks to avoid by exiting into impatience; translation issues around "perseverance, diligence, effort, etc."; working hard the right way; virtuous, spiritual and practical aspects of working hard; passivity vs laziness; 3 types of laziness and remedies; translation issues around laziness; 3 types of diligence; 3 efforts; natural enthusiasm in working hard at virtue; efforts on one's spiritual path; working hard with no sense of effort; meditation assignment for upcoming week on exploring one's experience with enthusiasm and lack of enthusiasm in everyday life.

Participants' experience with previous week's meditation on exploring impatience and what you are afraid of experiencing at that moment; impatience arising from your feeling weaker than what is opposing you; anger resulting from impatience conditions quickly and deeply; essential gesture: compassion creates a sense of ease; classification: patience when interacting with others, patience with self in spiritual practice, patience with fear of no-self; primary characteristics; developing patience with self; experience anger without acting it out; patience for the rigors of practice; patience which allows us to know just how things are; meditation assignment for upcoming week: work more deeply to experience what one seeks to avoid by exiting into impatience.

Moral Discipline Participants' experience with previous week's meditation on exploring the difference between doing the moral thing because you know its the right thing to do and doing the moral thing because it is natural; morality as discipline; morality as skillful means; advantages of practicing and disadvantages of refraining from moral discipline: exercise of discipline as stepping out of conditioned behavior; essential gesture: moral discipline is learned through interaction; classification: restraint, generating the good and wholesome, wake up to every aspect of our experience; primary characteristics; generating good and wholesome outcomes; descriptive guidelines for living awake; moving from ordinary moral discipline to the perfection of moral discipline; end outcome; meditation assignment for upcoming week on exploring impatience and what you are afraid of experiencing at that moment.

Participants' experience with previous week's meditation on exploring the difference between giving with a sense of I and other and giving without a sense of I and other; advantages of practicing and disadvantages of refraining from generosity; essential gesture; classification; primary characteristics; 4 methods for increasing the power of generosity; moving from ordinary generosity to the perfection of generosity; end outcome of generosity; meditation assignment for upcoming week on exploring the difference between doing the moral thing because you know its the right thing to do and doing the moral thing because it is natural.

Participants' experience with previous week's meditation on experiencing the four black dharmas; genesis & fruition vehicles; six perfections: generosity, morality, patience, effort, meditative stability & wisdom; their specific evolutionary order; their characteristics; generosity as letting go; paramita; meditation assignment for upcoming week on the difference between giving with a sense of I and other and giving without a sense of I and other.

Introduction of participants; workshop outline; meditation instruction; Who am I conventionally speaking? What are my interests, talents, influences, gifts? Where am I going?

Who am I ultimately? Am I my name, my body, my feelings, my thoughts, what I experience? sense of self; impermanence of self; independence of self; irreducible aspect of self.

Who am I functionally? Who am I in the family environment? Who am I in the work environment? Who am I acting in each of the six realms?