Appamada

The Depth in Practice group discusses Case 18: A monk asks Zhaozho, "Does the dog have Buddha Nature?" // Zhaozho says, "Yes." // The monk says, "Since it has, why is it then in this skin bag?" // Zhaozho replies, "Although he knows better he deliberately transgresses." // Another monk comes along: "Does the dog have Buddha Nature?" // "No," Zhaozho says. (The Japanese word "Mu" means " no.") // The monk says, "All beings have Buddha Nature, why not this dog?" // "Because he still has a mind," Zhaozho answers. //

Additional links for this session:

Buddha Nature: https://justthiszen.blogspot.com/2012/03/buddhathief-nature-buddhathief-nature.html

Kim’s take: https://justthiszen.blogspot.com/2012/03/do-dogs-have-buddha-nature-by-kim.html

Chinese: https://justthiszen.blogspot.com/2009/05/dog-from-wumenguan.html

Depth in Practice meets virtually at Appamada every week. Anyone is welcome to join the group! If you are interested in joining, please go to the calendar at appamada.org to find the link for the group. If you would like to donate to Appamada, please go to appamada.org and click on the contribute button at the bottom of the page.

00:00:33 - Dharma Talk

00:02:43 - The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honourably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

Rumi

00:03:30 - “An Ordinary Day,” by Norman MacCaig

I took my mind a walk
or my mind took me a walk–
whichever was the truth of it.

The light glittered on the water
or the water glittered in the light.
Cormorants stood on a tidal rock

with their wings spread out,
stopping no traffic. Various ducks
shilly-shallied here and there

on the shilly-shallying water.
An occasional gull yelped. Small flowers
were doing their level best

to bring to their kerbs bees like
aerial charabancs. Long weeds in the clear
water did Eastern dances, unregarded

By shoals of darning needles. A cow
started a moo but thought
better of it… And my feet took me home

and my mind observed to me,
or I to it, how ordinary
extraordinary things are or

how extraordinary ordinary
things are, like the nature of the mind
and the process of observing.

By MacCaig

00:05:35 - Joel leads a 6 minute Body Scan

00:30:32 - Joel takes us through a contemplation of the 3 poisons (2 minutes)

00:39:09 - Joel Invites Reflections

MB

2024-03-15 |Day 1 | One Day+ Sit | The Hindrances | Joel Barna

2023-10-08 | Class 9 | Taking Up the Way of Supporting Life | With Joel Barna & Robin Bradford

00:00:26 - Joel Opens up the Meeting

00:02:20 - Joel Talks About the Precept ‘Taking Up the Way of Supporting Life and Not Killing’

00:15:06 - Poem by David Whyte - No Path

00:17:43 - Joel Guides Us All Into Sitting for 10 Minutes

00:19:01 - Robin Talks About the Precept ‘I Vow to Take Up the Way of Supporting All Life’, and Discusses the use of Language around the Precepts

00:29:20 - Robin Invites Comments

00:43:41 - Robin Introduces the Topics for the breakout Room Exercises

00:43:46 - !st Question - Is a “no kill” animal shelter working if animals suffer due to poor living conditions?

00:44:45 - 2nd Question - Can someone following the precepts eat meat?

00:45:39 - 3rd Question - Can one consume fossil fuels (drive a car, fly in a plane) knowingly contributing to climate crisis?

00:45:55 - 4th Question - Is euthanasia – the “painless killing of a patient with an incurable disease” – okay?

00:46:45 - Guidance for Connection Rooms - In Groups for 15 Minutes - sit for 1 minute - Discuss from the heart. Actively listen. Speak to essence. Notice what’s simultaneously happening in your body - where is there tightness, where is there heat, maybe boredom, withdrawal - just notice

00:49:15 - Robin Invites Reflections

01:03:37 - The Next Precept - To Not Disparage the Triple Treasures - Joel will be sending out Materials for this precept soon

No Path ~David Whyte

There is no path that goes all the way.

Not that it stops us lookingfor the full continuation.

The one line in the poemwe can start and follow straight to the end.

The fixed belief we can hold,

facing a stranger that saves us the trouble of a real conversation.

But one day you are not just imagining an empty chair

where your loved one sat.You are not just telling a story

where the bridge is down and there’snowhere to cross.

You are not just trying to pray to a God you imagined would keep you safe.

No you’ve come to the place where nothing you’ve done

will impress and nothing you can promise will avert

the silent confrontation,the place where

your body already seems to know the way having kept

to the last its own secret reconnaissance.

But still, there is no path that goes all the way

one conversation leads to another

one breath to the next until

there’s no breath at all

just the inevitablefinal release of the burden.

And then your life will have to start all over again for you to know even a little of who you had been.

~David Whyte

MB (Public)

00:00:19 - Class 6 Begins

00:00:25 - Joel Weaves the Precept and Preliminaries Together

00:01:26 - Training in the The Preliminaries - Joel Describes These…

00:01:53 - The 1st Preliminary - The Rarity and Preciousness of Human Life

00:04:45 - The Inevitability of Death

00:05:29 - The Awesome and Indelible Power of Our Actions

00:12:27 - Joel Describes the Activity for the Connecting Rooms

00:14:43 - Questions for the Connection Rooms: What is stealing? How might it arise in my life?/How can I know what is freely given?/Do I steal from myself? If so, how?/What is generosity? Is it the same or different from giving freely? How might it be expressed without reinforcing a separate sense self? - Connection Rooms for 15 Mins in Groups of 3

00:14:56 - Thoughts/Reflections from the Connection Rooms

00:35:29 - Joel Offers Some Words from Peg Syverson About Metta Practice

00:40:29 - Joel Begins the Meta Practice

00:42:47 - Joel Talks About Offering Dana to Appamada - (Appamada.org/contribute)

00:45:13 - Next Months Class

MB (Public)

2024-03-12 I Inquiry I Nothing and Nobody I Flint Sparks by Appamada

00:00:26 - Joel Offers an Overview of the Class

00:03:11 - Sitting for 10 Minutes Offering Metta/Joel then Begins with the Precept ‘Speaking Truthfully’, and The 8 Fold Path’

00:13:07 - Joel Invites Participants to Share their 'Recasting' of the Precept 'I Take Up the Way Of Speaking Truthfully

00:35:54 - Jessica Talks About Hakomi and how to Cultivate Loving Presence

00:47:09 - Joel Offers An Exercise for the breakout Rooms (15 Minutes long - 3/4 People in Each Room)

00:51:38 - Joel Invites Reflections on the breakout Room Exercise

00:55:28 - Joel Introduces 'Right Speech' and Gives The Readings for the Next Month - Chapters 6 and 7 in

Waking Up To What You Do By Diane Eshin Rizzetto, Bringing the Class to a Close

MB - (Public)

2023-02-02 | Class 1 | Precepts | Joel Barna

00:00:29 - Joel Gives Words of Gratitude, and Welcomes Everyone

00:02:34 - Please Pause Video Here if You'd Like to to Sit for 3 Minutes

00:02:48 - Joel Invites the Participants to Introduce Themselves

00:15:23 - Joel Offers an Overview Of the Class, Outlining the Offerings

00:17:48 - Ann Talks About The Verse of the Robe and Sewing - How Buddha's Robe Relates to the Precepts

00:33:46 - Joel Talks About The Buddhist Precepts - What Taking the Precepts Requires/Means

00:52:16 - Joel Talks About the Learning Record

01:01:27 - Participants Go Into Breakout Rooms

01:01:48 - Closing Comments/Questions

Book Mentioned During the Class:

Waking Up to What You Do: A ZEN Practice for Meeting Every Situation - A Zen Practice for Meeting Every Situation with Intelligence and Compassion

MB (Public)

00:00:27 - Dharma Talk

00:15:06 - Exercise - 1. Consider something that you struggled with (were stuck in for quite a while).

00:15:50 - 2. While you were suffering - Did you seek out for help? Or did you stay in solitude?

00:16:11 - 3. How did you deal with it? Did you separate from other people?

00:16:46 - 4. In retrospect, what helped most in getting through your suffering, and did being aroung other people have an impact

00:17:34 - Participants go into breakout rooms for 20 minutes - 10 minutes to write/10 minutes to share

00:17:42 - Laurie invites Questions/reflections

2024-02-24 | Dharma Talk | Spiritual Bypassing | Laurie Winnette