Today’s talk comes from a year-long exploration of the paramitas, the perfecting qualities that lead to liberation, offered by HaiAn during the Thursday Meditations. This week explores the fifth paramita, dhyana or meditation.  If you’re unfamiliar with the paramitas, Chapter 25 in Thich Nhat Hanh’s “The Heart fo the Buddha’s Teaching” offers an introduction and Norman Fischer’s “The World Could be Otherwise” gives a deeper dive. The paramitas are related to the parami, in Pali, for the Theravada tradition. We are happy to offer these teachings to you. If you would like to support us to continue to make these teachings available, go to https://www.dharmapathways.org/donate

Today’s talk comes from a year-long exploration of the paramitas, the perfecting qualities that lead to liberation, offered by HaiAn during the Thursday Meditations. This week continues the exploration of the fifth paramita, dhyana or meditation.

Today’s talk comes from a year-long exploration of the paramitas, the perfecting qualities that lead to liberation, offered by HaiAn during the Thursday Meditations. This week is an introduction to the fifth paramita, dhyana or meditation.  If you’re unfamiliar with the paramitas, Chapter 25 in Thich Nhat Hanh’s “The Heart fo the Buddha’s Teaching” offers an introduction and Norman Fischer’s “The World Could be Otherwise” gives a deeper dive. The paramitas are related to the parami, in Pali, for the Theravada tradition. We are happy to offer these teachings to you. If you would like to support us to continue to make these teachings available, go to https://www.dharmapathways.org/donate

This is the final in a 9-week series on the Brahma Viharas, the Buddha's teachings on true love.

This course is offered by Dharma Pathways, a collaboration of dedicated Buddhist monastics whose aspiration is to support individuals and communities on the path of awakening, service, and wellbeing. Click here to sign up for our Newsletter and be informed about future offerings.

As monastics we share the Dharma freely and live from what is offered.  We rely solely on donations to support our basic needs, our outreach, and our studies.  You are welcome to make a donation to the teacher or the whole organization here to help us continue to make courses like these possible.

 

Quote from Caroline Jones and Paul Burrows

Metta, [kindness] the love that connects, is an antidote to all forms of aversion. It is not attachment. If it slides into sentimentality, karuna [compassion] brings the heart back into balance. 

Karuna, the love that responds, is an antidote to cruelty. It is not pity. If it slides into sorrow, mudita [appreciative joy] brings the heart back into balance. 

Mudita, the love that celebrates, is an antidote to envy. It is not competitive. If it slides into agitated excitement, upekkha [equanimity] brings the heart back into balance. 

Upekkha, the love that allows, is the antidote to partiality. It is not indifference. If it slides into disconnection, metta brings the heart back into balance.

This talk offered to the new Irish Earth Holders community on Sunday, June 28th. Begins with a guided meditation and then some dialog and discussion of how we can respond to the multiple crises of justice that we face.

This guided meditation on equanimity accompanies the eighth week of the course: "Teachings on Love" with HaiAn (Sister Ocean.)

Offered to you by Dharma Pathways

We are happy to offer these teachings and practices freely.  If you'd like to support our work and the monastics, please make your way to our donation page.

In a time of physical isolation it is essential to know how to generate love from the inside. The Brahma Viharas, or The Four Immeasurable Minds, are the Buddha’s teachings on love. The four qualities of friendliness, compassion, resonant joy, and equanimity offer a time-tested path that anyone can follow to nurture the deepest love for all beings, including ourselves.

 

This week's practice: 

- Every day cultivate upekkha (the love that allows with spaciousness, stability, and inclusivity) for at least 10 minutes towards someone you care about with the recorded meditation or with your own wording. Notice your reaction to the practice as well as the effect on your relationship.

 

Quotes:

What is the heart of this old monk like?

A gentle wind beneath the vast sky ~ Ryokan

 

Bhikkhu Bodhi states: “The real meaning of upekkha is equanimity, not indifference in the sense of unconcern for others. As a spiritual virtue, upekkha means stability in the face of the fluctuations of worldly fortune. It is evenness of mind, unshakeable freedom of mind, a state of inner equipoise that cannot be upset by gain and loss, honor and dishonor, praise and blame, pleasure and pain. Upekkha is freedom from all points of self-reference; it is indifference only to the demands of the ego-self with its craving for pleasure and position, not to the well-being of one's fellow human beings. True equanimity is the pinnacle of the four social attitudes that the Buddhist texts call the 'divine abodes': boundless loving-kindness, compassion, altruistic joy, and equanimity. The last does not override and negate the preceding three, but perfects and consummates them.”[1]

 

~

This course is offered by Dharma Pathways, a collaboration of dedicated Buddhist monastics whose aspiration is to support individuals and communities on the path of awakening, service, and wellbeing. Click here to sign up for our Newsletter and be informed about future offerings.

As monastics we share the Dharma freely and live from what is offered.  We rely solely on donations to support our basic needs, our outreach, and our studies.  You are welcome to make a donation to the teacher or the whole organization here to help us continue to make courses like these possible.

This guided meditation on experiencing unpleasant sensations for the fifth week of the course entitled "Teachings on Love" with Sister HaiAn (Sister Ocean.)

Offered to you by Dharma Pathways

We are happy to offer these teachings and practices freely.  If you'd like to support our work and the monastics, please make your way to our donation page.

In a time of physical isolation it is essential to know how to generate love from the inside. The Brahma Viharas, or The Four Immeasurable Minds, are the Buddha’s teachings on love. The four qualities of friendliness, compassion, resonant joy, and equanimity offer a time-tested path that anyone can follow to nurture the deepest love for all beings, including ourselves.

This week's practice: 

- Practice sending metta, karuna, or mudita to a person you find challenging every day this week.  See what happens. 

- Play with the idea that "people are doing their best, given their circumstances." What do you notice in your body in response to this phrase? Are there different words and phrases that help you to stay open in the face of people you find difficult, grounded in the impermanent, conditioned nature of existence?

 

 “Everyone wants a happy life without difficulties or suffering. We create many of the problems we face. No one intentionally creates problems, but we tend to be slaves to powerful emotions like anger, hatred and attachment that are based on misconceived projections about people and things. We need to find ways of reducing these emotions by eliminating the ignorance that underlies them and applying opposing forces.” ~ HH the Dalai Lama

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This course is offered by Dharma Pathways, a collaboration of dedicated Buddhist monastics whose aspiration is to support individuals and communities on the path of awakening, service, and wellbeing. Click here to sign up for our Newsletter and be informed about future offerings.

As monastics we share the Dharma freely and live from what is offered.  We rely solely on donations to support our basic needs, our outreach, and our studies.  You are welcome to make a donation to the teacher or the whole organization here to help us continue to make courses like these possible.

This guided meditation on experiencing unpleasant sensations for the fifth week of the course entitled "Teachings on Love" with Sister HaiAn (Sister Ocean.)

Offered to you by Dharma Pathways

We are happy to offer these teachings and practices freely.  If you'd like to support our work and the monastics, please make your way to our donation page.