This talk, provided by Lezlie Laws, continues reviewing elements of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse, focusing in the Third Foundation, Mindfulness of the Mind.  Lezlie uses a Zen question to foster internal understanding of how the mind creates a self:  “What Is This?”  The question is not intended to be abstract and intellectual, but rather to invite direct subjective knowledge of how the mind is created in and ongoing way.

During the talk, Lezlie refers to a YouTube interview involving Ezra Klein and Stephen Batchelor, a well-respected Buddhist teacher and author who suggests the value of this question.  Here is a URL recording that conversation:  https://secularbuddhistnetwork.org/ezra-klein-interviews-stephen-batchelor-on-what-is-this/

During this meditation, Lezlie Laws provides suggestions that involve a useful question for exploring the nature of the mind–“What is this?”.  The question curiosity regarding how the mind creates the experience of selfing and is intended to diminish the demands of craving and clinging.  This contemplation is intended to support her comments during the Dharma talk that followed this contemplation reviewing the Third Foundation of Mindfulness, Mindfulness of the Mind.  She also suggests ways to apply this question directly to one’s subjective experience while meditating and participating in daily life experiences.

During this talk, Allie Vaknin provides a review of the second of the four foundations of mindfulness, vedanupassana, traditionally translated as mindfulness of feelings.  Her comments include references to how feelings can be understood not only as emotions, but also as craving pleasant experiences orexperiencing unpleasant feelings with aversion.  The goal of practice is to directly know a feeling as just a feeling, not a person, without impulsive reactivity.

Here is the Emotion Wheel illustration she refers to in the talk:  Feeling Wheel

This talk, presented by Susan Baxter, focuses on the first of the four foundations of mindfulness, which contemplates how the mind makes meaning and responses to physical stimuli.  She describes how she learned how to skillfully use various mindfulness practices to cope with chronic pain.

During this first of a series of talks reviewing the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse, a key teaching in all the Buddhist traditions.  Peter describes the repetitive passages in each of the foundations were required for centuries in a pre-literate culture.  He reviews how some of those passages have profound importance for understanding and practicing what is in the discourse.

Here are the notes prepared for the talk:  Overview of the Satipatthana Sutta

Here is an excellent translation of the Sutta:  Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta by Thanissaro

Periodically, Peter will be available to answer questions about Buddhist concepts and practices.  During this talk, he focuses on how consistent meditation practice develops internal awareness skills in the same way that consistent practice with a musical instrument develops musical skills.

During this talk, Susan Baxter contributes to an ongoing review of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse, focusing on the first foundation, mindfulness of the body.  Susan provides a personalized view of the benefits of scanning attention through the body when confronted by a chronically painful medical condition.  This review includes comments by those participating in the meeting.

This is the first of several Dharma talks that review what many believe is the most important teaching of early Buddhism, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse.  Peter reviews the general history and overall structure of the teaching, emphasizing various repetitive phrases and providing explanations of the archaic wording to make the teaching more accessible for a contemporary student.  Next week, Susan Baxter will review the first Foundation, Mindfulness of the Body, including how the Sutta describes the practice of anapanasati, mindfulness of breathing meditation.

Here are the notes prepared for this talk:  Overview of the Satipatthana Sutta

Here is a translation of the Sutta, as rendered by Bhikkhu Analayo, a preeminent Buddhist scholar and teacher:  ANALAYO TRANSLATES THE SATIPATTHÃNA SUTTA

Occasionally, Peter provides an opportunity for open questions or comments about Buddhist doctrine or practice experiences.  During this talk there are comments about retreat experiences, specifically one organized through the teachings of S. N. Goenka.  There are also questions about practices such as full body scans.  Peter responds to a question regarding any similarities between Buddhist Madhyamaka concepts and Advaita Vedanta, a Hindu view on non-self.

During this talk, Allie Vaknin continues reviewing the Paramis, a grouping of mind conditioning functions that, when developed to full potential, cooperatively liberate the mind from distress and confusion.  Energy is described as the driver of Right Effort in the mind and body, and must be freed up from attachment to unwholesome views to be purified.