Against The Stream

The spiritual revolutionary defies both the internal and external forces of oppression.

In America we like to talk about equality and human rights, but this country was founded on violence and oppression. Our forefathers stole this land from the native peoples, waging war on the rightful inhabitants of the continent. The history of slavery and racist oppression toward each newly arriving ethnicity on these shores has left us with a legacy of ignorance. Although some of the outright bigotry has lessened in our recent past, racism is still the substratum of our society’s structure. This is not just an American phenomenon of course; in fact, our classist, sexist, and racist culture is quite similar to the ancient Indian society that the Buddha was born into. Ignorance is not just Western or Eastern; it is human. For the awakened revolution to take root, the pervasive racist structure of society has to be dismantled. This is what the Buddha began to do way back in the day, through nonviolent defiance and compassionate engagement with the system of oppression.

There is nothing incompatible between defying the lies of human ignorance and serving the truth of enlightened human potential. Defiance is renunciation: the effort of avoiding and speaking out against the causes of suffering is always going to be part of the path to spiritual awakening.

Religion, which was obviously created to give meaning and purpose to people, has become part of the oppression. This is true in both Eastern and Western religious traditions. The Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad were all revolutionaries who critiqued and attempted to dismantle the corrupt societal traditions of their time. Yet their teachings, like most things in human society, have been distorted and co-opted by the con- fused and power-hungry patriarchal tradition. What were once the creation myths of ancient cultures have become doctrines of oppression. More blood has been spilled and more people oppressed in the name of religion than for any other reason in history! Although faith and religiosity are central to human history, it may be time to reject all forms of organized religion and to begin afresh with practical, applicable, and experiential philosophy. I would reject so-called Buddhism along with the rest, because much of what masquerades as Buddhism today is in direct opposition to what the Buddha actually did and taught.

The Buddha was insistent on questioning and defying the religious structure. He urged everyone he came into contact with to find the truth for themselves, not based on faith or tradition, but out of their own direct experience of wisdom and compassion. So the spiritual revolutionary must defy the religious structures as well as the material world.

We can look to religions and spiritual teachings for the tools of awakening—the truth does reside in most of the religions— but we must understand that all religions also contain confused traditions and lies that need to be destroyed by clear under- standing and our own direct experience of awakening.

Defiance means standing up for what you know is right, rejecting patriarchal human dogma, and embracing the search for meaning with a steadfast engagement with reality. It means seeing clearly our mind’s fears and attachments as impersonal, conditioned phenomena and destroying the misidentification with the mind’s confusion. Beneath the confusion we will find the heart’s natural wisdom and compassion.

The spiritual revolutionary defies both the internal and external forces of oppression.

This is our story; one of struggle and awakening.

How can we use the Buddha’s story as temple for freedom from suffering?

30-minute guided meditation followed by a Dharma talk with Jason Murphy.

Death meditation.

Take a moment after your meditation to just reflect on what happened in your own mind and heart. Perhaps some important reminders of amends to make, or forgiveness we need to continue to work on towards ourselves or others.

It’s actually even worth taking some notes rather than just thinking, “I'll remember”. Sometimes when you have a meditation like this it's worth actually sitting down and reflecting a little bit. Maybe you hadn't thought of these things in a long time but then when you had 30 minutes to live, it all came rushing back. And maybe you think, “I do want to follow through rather than going back to sleep, rather than going back into denial or avoidance.”

30-minute guided meditation on death followed by a Dharma talk with Noah Levine.

The Heart Practices

How to Find Balance and Freedom Amidst Extremism

I'm going to make a statement.

You can decide if you agree with me or not.

Think about it for a minute.

Here’s the statement:

Everybody is annoying.

Not some people.

Not most people.

Everybody.

I want you to reflect for a moment…have you ever had a relationship with somebody that didn't annoy you?

Nope.

Think of your close family. Have your parents or grandparents ever bugged you or annoyed you? Anybody have a parent that didn't annoy them?

Have you ever had a friendship with somebody that there was never an annoyance, there was never a conflict?

How about an intimate relationship? Have you ever had an intimate relationship with somebody that didn't at times annoy you?

How about a Dharma teacher? Have you had a Dharma teacher that didn't annoy you? I haven't and I've had lots of Dharma teachers. They've all annoyed me at times, and I'm sure I have annoyed all of you at times.

Maybe you have had a different experience than I have, but I think that it might be true that everyone is annoying at times.

And, maybe it's not the completely the right frame to say that other people are annoying.

It's probably much more wise for us to take full personal responsibility for being annoyed by humans.

But how often do we think that everyone else is the problem? Think, “if the annoying people just weren't so annoying, I'd be happy.”

I'm going to make a statement.

You can decide if you agree with me or not.

Think about it for a minute.

Here’s the statement:

Everybody is annoying.

Not some people.

Not most people.

Everybody.

I want you to reflect for a moment…have you ever had a relationship with somebody that didn't annoy you?

Nope.

Think of your close family. Have your parents or grandparents ever bugged you or annoyed you? Anybody have a parent that didn't annoy them?

Have you ever had a friendship with somebody that there was never an annoyance, there was never a conflict?

How about an intimate relationship? Have you ever had an intimate relationship with somebody that didn't at times annoy you?

How about a Dharma teacher? Have you had a Dharma teacher that didn't annoy you? I haven't and I've had lots of Dharma teachers. They've all annoyed me at times, and I'm sure I have annoyed all of you at times.

Maybe you have had a different experience than I have, but I think that it might be true that everyone is annoying at times.

And, maybe it's not the completely the right frame to say that other people are annoying.

It's probably much more wise for us to take full personal responsibility for being annoyed by humans.

But how often do we think that everyone else is the problem? Think, “if the annoying people just weren't so annoying, I'd be happy.”

Sunday morning’s I like to offer instructions and reflections on the heart practices – these are practices we cultivate; attitudes, perspectives that we cultivate, to be able to respond to life as it is.

I could use mind or heart interchangeably in this talk. I’ll mostly use mind tonight, but just as a reminder, in Buddhism, we use the work ‘citta’ which translates as the heart mind; the understanding that our emotions are mind states.

When you have a strong emotion you feel it in your body, and even subtle emotions, if you’re embodied, if you’re tuned in, you feel them in your body. There is not a real separation between the mind and the body - the heart mind.

This practice we do, that we call mindfulness, is also called Vipassana or ‘insight meditation’ – training the mind to see clearly –insight of seeing reality and seeing clearly and learning to respond more appropriately to what we are seeing, what we are experiencing, and what we know to be true.

I could use mind or heart interchangeably in this talk. I’ll mostly use mind tonight, but just as a reminder, in Buddhism, we use the work ‘citta’ which translates as the heart mind; the understanding that our emotions are mind states.

When you have a strong emotion you feel it in your body, and even subtle emotions, if you’re embodied, if you’re tuned in, you feel them in your body. There is not a real separation between the mind and the body - the heart mind.

This practice we do, that we call mindfulness, is also called Vipassana or ‘insight meditation’ – training the mind to see clearly –insight of seeing reality and seeing clearly and learning to respond more appropriately to what we are seeing, what we are experiencing, and what we know to be true.