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Brighton Buddhist Centre 1

Introduction to Buddhism course

The following course outline is offered for you to use in whole, as a framework on which to hang your own ideas and examples, or as a source of ideas for your own course. Please feel free to make use of it how you want.

The aims of the course are:

o Using the framework of ethics, meditation and wisdom, to explore in a joined-up way different areas of ethical practice and the laksanas

o To help participants deepen their practice of the mindfulness of breathing and metta bhavana meditations; to introduce walking, just sitting and visualization practice; and help them consolidate a home practice

The method used is to balance input, practice and participation, with plenty of time for questions and discussion; to put the teachings into practice in everyday life

Each week follows a similar pattern:

o A recap of the previous week’s teaching o Seeing how everyone has got on with their home practice for the week o Meditation input and practice o Dharma input, based on an exploration of the Three Jewels o Sometimes a further period of meditation o Setting of home practice for the following week o Sending a midweek text to encourage with home practice


Introduction to Buddhism course

What is a Buddhist?

Week 1 Introduce the team then invite participants to introduce themselves – their name and one thing they are looking for from the course. Introduction to theme: On this course we are asking: what is a Buddhist? what difference does it make to someone’s life being a Buddhist? Brainstorm what difference might it make to theirs? Our framework will be the threefold path: ethics, meditation, wisdom. Include what’s come out of the brainstorming. This isn’t a sequential path – each week we’ll be looking at different aspects of it, showing how they connect and influence one another. There’s no such thing as a ‘typical Buddhist’. The Dharma touches each of us differently so we become more fully ourselves. Draw on the parable of the raincloud.

Time 20

mindfulness of breathing refresher Briefly go over the practice then do it

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How did they get on with the meditation? Share in pairs then with main group

10-15

Leg stretch

5

A Buddhist is someone who practices ethics

Ask what responses they have to the word ‘ethics’

Buddhists think about ethics in terms of the whole way we are in the world, whether it’s through actions or speech or states of mind, and the system of values which governs this – which is dominated by the values of love and wisdom.

It’s important to make an emotional or heartfelt connection with a desire to be ethical – try this exercise. . .

Recall as vividly as possible something unkind we’ve done recently, noticing how it makes us feel physically, how it makes us feel about ourselves and then in relation to the world at large. Then do the same with something kind we’ve done. Invite maybe 3 people to share

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outcome with whole group, open up discussion.

Conventionally in ethics we’re likely to think about being good or bad, or actions being good or bad. Buddhists use the language of ‘skillful’ and ‘unskillful’.

What these words point to is not just the act or words, but also the state of mind, the intention behind this act. Has the person acted, responded in a way that they intended to give expression to those values of love and wisdom?

The emphasis in ethical practice is therefore on developing skillful intentions – and what those are we will be looking at over the course.

A connection can immediately become clear between ethics and the mindfulness we cultivate through meditation: we need to become more aware of the circumstances in which we act and speak and think, and of our state of mind with its intentions.

There is also a connection in that ethics becomes about transforming our mind, making a shift from self-centred behavior that is based on our personal likes and dislikes, towards one that benefits others. To do this we need to cultivate an imaginative identification with others: what would they want or appreciate?

Shelley quote ‘The great secret of morals is love; or a going out of our own nature, and an identification of ourselves with the beautiful which exists in thought, action, or person, not out own.’ Invite questions

Home practice . . . Choose someone you see during the week whom you don’t know – on a bus or train, in a shop. . . – and see what you can pick up about them from their manner, expression. Try putting yourself in their shoes - what might their experience be at this moment, what might it be like to be them?

5

Poem by Ian Crichton Smith None is the same as another. O none is the same. That none is the same as another Is matter for crying Since never again will you see That one, once gone.


In their brown hoods The pilgrims are crossing the land And many will look the same But all are different And their ideas fly to them On accidental winds Perching awhile in their minds From different valleys. None is the same as another. O none is the same. And that none is the same is not A matter for crying. Stranger, I take your hand, O changing stranger.

End with a few minutes just sitting if time Make sure you have everyone’s mobile number so they can be texted in the week. Give out course outline and handout for week Give the date of the day retreat at the end of the course


Week 2 Recap briefly key teachings from last week – our first answer to the question, what is a Buddhist? is that a Buddhist is someone who practices ethics – a whole way of being in the world that is not about being good or bad but about developing skillful intentions that express our key values of wisdom and love, and whose effect is to gradually lessen our self-centredness and turn us towards others.

5

How did they get on with their home practice? Share in pairs and then with whole group

10-15

A Buddhist is someone who cultivates metta What is metta? The word can be translated as ‘love’ or ‘loving-kindness’ or ‘friendliness’. But as we know from life and doing the metta bhavana meditation, we can’t always feel love for someone, let alone for everyone. Instead we can think of it as an attitude rather than feeling – a desire or a wish for someone, everyone to be happy, free from suffering, for things to go well for them.

2

Metta bhavana refresher Go over practice then do it

30

How did they get on? Ask for comments, questions

5-10

Leg-stretch

5

More on metta

We can see this wish for all beings to be happy in the Buddha’s teaching in the metta sutta – give them each a copy

Draw out the lines in this that point to this attitude; the connection between ethics and metta in the first half; the shift from self- to other-centredness; the link in the last line with wisdom.

So what is this wisdom? Metta rests on the Buddha’s core teaching, the truth of conditionality and connectedness. To begin to explain this, do the following exercise. . .

All need to be sitting/standing in a circle. Place an object in the middle e.g. a phone. Ask people to suggest a few of the conditions – say 5 - that

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were necessary for this object to come into existence, and write them on post-it notes that you place around the object. Then depending on the size of the group, either individually or in small groups, take one of these conditions and ask what was needed to bring those into being, and then those. and write all this on post-its leading away from the object. You should end up with something spidery-looking! If you all look at this, you can see that there are already conditions that have come up more than once. But if you imagine doing the same exercise with other objects in the room, you can see that there will be lots of overlapping. This illustrates that everything, all living beings, are part of a connected-up network, influenced by and influencing one another. Image of Indra’s net. We are not isolated, we all depend on one another, we are all important, of value. On this basis we can be wishing one another well. Any questions?

An ethical dilemma or two to consider from the point of view of metta (if there is time): Divide in to small groups. Give each group a copy of a dilemma (see appendix) to discuss. Discuss in main group.

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Home practice Think of an event in the week ahead that could be challenging: how can you act less from self-centredness and more from metta?

2

Poem: Seamus Heaney’s Lovers on Aran The timeless waves, bright, sifting, broken glass, Came dazzling around, into the rocks, Came glinting, sifting from the Americas To possess Aran. Or did Aran rush to throw wide arms of rock around a tide That yielded with an ebb, with a soft crash? Did sea define the land or land the sea? Each drew new meaning from the waves' collision. Sea broke on land to full identity.

Give out handouts


Week 3

Recap briefly key teachings from last week – that the key value in Buddhist ethics is metta, and this emerges out of the truth of the interconnectedness of all beings.

5

How did they get on with their home practice? – share in pairs then bring comments and questions to whole group

15

Mindfulness of breathing – theme of focus and breadth – With this practice, we are learning to gain some control over our restless mind – without being controlling! One of the ways we can do this is to play with being more expansive in the quality of our attention, or more focused. Typically in a meditation we might spend the first two stages bringing focus to the breathing sensations so that the mind can grow calmer. In the third stage we might be able to open out into a broader, more expansive awareness of those sensations and whatever is happening in the mind – all of it simply coming and going. And then in the final stage, building on this greater calm and expansiveness, we can develop a gentle, single-pointed focus. How are they getting on with meditating at home? In pairs or threes:

1. What is going well? 2. What is getting in the way, what difficulties are they

encountering? 3. How might they get round these?

Feedback to whole group

30 20

Leg-stretch

5

A Buddhist is someone who practices mindfulness What is mindfulness?

Brainstorm and write up on flipchart: how do they experience being unmindful?

One definition is that of Jon Kabat Zinn, the originator of therapeutic mindfulness training programmes: ‘The awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose. . . and non-judgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment.’ Comment on this phrase by phrase.

We can get more of a felt sense of what mindfulness is both by experiencing it, perhaps in meditation, and comparing it with its

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opposites: being on automatic pilot, or our mind racing with thoughts, carried away by stories we tell ourselves, distracted, unfocused. . . Mindfulness is spacious attention.

The Buddha taught that there were four aspects of our experience of which we could be mindful: sensations in the body, the quality of our experience (pleasant, unpleasant or neutral), what is going on in the mind, and ‘dhammas’ – all objects and beings in the world around us. Bearing these in mind helps us be more comprehensive in our practice

What is the point of mindfulness? 1. To rescue us from how our minds often are – maybe

restless, dreamy, irritable, sluggish – by coming more into the present

2. To become more sensitive to others and to the world, and therefore more ethical

3. To help us integrate – we begin as having multiple aspects or personalities, often conflicting. Mindfulness highlights which are unhelpful and out of synch with our true values, so that all of our energy can begin to move in the same direction.

4. To help us see the true nature of our experience by showing us the habits and stories that mask this. This is the wisdom aspect of mindfulness which we will go into more next week.

Invite questions

Mindfulness practice: Walking meditation, encouraging mindfulness of body sensations, what’s seen, heard, thoughts. Encourage noticing of any stories they may be generating. Feedback to group and discussion

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Home practice Mindful walk or activity: choose either a walk that you do most days – maybe to the bus stop or shop, or with your dog – or an activity like taking a shower or making breakfast. As you do it, try to be aware of sensations in your body and details in your environment that you might normally not notice. How does it feel to walk or act like this? Give out week 3 handout


Week 4

Recap briefly key teachings from last week we looked at what mindfulness is and isn’t (repeat definition), the different areas of our experience that we can bring mindfulness to, and why we practice it - to help rescue us from how our mind is, to help us become more sensitive to others, to help us integrate the disparate aspects of our personality and to help us see the true nature of our experience

5

How did they get on with their home practice? Share in pairs then with whole group.

15

Introduction to just sitting practice This is an openness to the flow of our experience just as it is, whatever comes into awareness – sensations, thoughts, emotions. We sit with them in an easy, spacious way, letting them come and go. So relaxation is important but also enough alertness that we don’t end up lost in daydreams or storylines. It may help to have a thread of breath-awareness running through the meditation to help maintain this alertness. Lead a sit with a period of relaxation at the start Invite comments

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A Buddhist is someone who is learning how to live with impermanence (Illustrate this with your own examples)

On the introductory meditation course we heard about the Buddha’s teaching of the Four Noble Truths. These say that we suffer and the cause of this is ‘wanting’, chiefly wanting things to be different from how they actually are. Suffering or unsatisfactoriness is one of three key qualities of life that he drew particular attention to - because we keep running away from them. By reflecting deeply on them over and over, we gradually align ourselves with them and grow at peace with life.

The second of these qualities is impermanence. What is meant by this?

Partly, that everything comes to an end – good times (and bad), relationships, careers, the life of loved ones, our own life. . . everything on which our security depends.

But also, everything is in a state of flux – from trivial things like a shop no longer stocking the coffee we like to big ones: our

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health, finances, reputation; the environment, relations between communities and countries. . .

We are buffeted around by life, going from highs to lows and back again often many times in the course of a day. This makes us insecure and anxious; even in happy phases there is a background sense that this won’t last.

So impermanence, change, is at the root of much of our suffering – we cling to what is familiar, to how we want things to be in the face of all evidence to the contrary.

Discuss in small groups using questions (give each group a copy of these – see appendix) Bring main points/any questions to whole group

Leg-stretch

5

What can we do?

Our practice is to develop an inner stability, equanimity, in the midst of all this change. How? -

We learn to turn towards our experience rather than push it away, accepting that there will be some things that we can change and others that we cannot, welcoming what we cannot change as an opportunity to align ourselves with reality and to grow.

We cultivate qualities of stillness, simplicity and contentment in our life – this is an aspect of our ethical practice.

1. Stillness – making time to be quiet, on our own; meditation

2. Simplicity – reducing input, cutting out where possible what complicates our life

3. Contentment – an appreciation for ourselves and the life we have

Home practice Brainstorm with a partner what in your life works against a peaceful existence – what over-stimulates, complicates. Decide on one thing that you can realistically reduce or cut out over the coming week, that will bring greater stillness into your life.

5

Meditation Begin by paying attention to sensations in your body – breathing, any sensations that come into awareness - and the way in which these are

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constantly changing. Then bring to mind an image of tranquility – a calm lake, a garden first thing in the morning, a sunset…. Allow this to bring peace into your being. Let this give you a sense of commitment to greater peace in your life.

End with a poem, Rumi’s 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 honorably. 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. Give out week 4 handouts


Week 5

Have an Avalokitesvara rupa or image on the shrine Recap briefly key teachings from last week - that impermanence is one of three characteristics of life that the Buddha emphasized, and that an important aspect of our practice is to cultivate equanimity through bringing greater stillness, simplicity and contentment into our lives.

5

How did they get on with their home practice? You could ask for 2-3 ‘success stories’ and also a couple of examples of what got in the way of reducing input

10-15

Metta bhavana with emphasis on openness to and acceptance of ourselves (our present experience) and of the others in the practice. You could bring in this quote: Metta means ‘giving complete space to the other person and allowing them to be themselves. . . It means generating a response of loving kindness that will remain undisturbed whoever we meet and whatever state they are in; a response of loving kindness that will be undisturbed by whether or not we agree with the person or even like them.’ (Subhadramati in ‘Not about being good’)

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Leg-stretch

5

A Buddhist is someone who practices generosity Use your own examples in this

Generosity is an extension of metta, valuing others as much as ourselves – it is a way of being in the world, of responding to situations and people, and as such is an ethical principle.

The founder of our movement, Sangharakshita (of whom more next week), has said that even if you can’t do anything else in your spiritual life, you can practice generosity.

Different kinds of generosity. . . Ask them to come up with examples

We live in a consumerist society and are conditioned to be in a relationship with others of payment for what they provide us with. We’re can become obsessed with acquiring possessions, with property, with bargains.

At the same time we’ve probably all experienced the joy of a spontaneous gift, whether we made it or received it; the joy of

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putting on a celebration of something special; the joy of inviting others to come along to some special event. By contrast with what we pay for, these experiences are priceless.

We can also see that generosity encourages a state of mind that is expansive, plentiful. We are focused on what we have rather than we what we do not – an abundance mentality rather than a poverty one.

We can also contrast how we feel when we are generous with how we feel when we are mean or even take something that isn’t ours.

Generosity also has a ‘wisdom dimension’: we come to see that nothing is truly ours to own, that one day when we die we will have to give it all up anyway. Such reflections loosen up our attachment to our possessions, help us feel more free.

A further wisdom aspect connects us to the third of the three facets of life that we have been looking at, the first two being unsatisfactoriness and impermanence. The third is lack of fixed essence or self – something we all think we have, our ‘me-ness’. But the Buddha pointed out this is an illusion we create to give us a sense of security in our uncertain world. It brings us much unhappiness because we are forever trying to shore it up, particularly with possessions, in a way that is unachievable. Generosity is one of many practices Buddhism has developed to help weaken our dependence on this sense of fixed self and live more directly in the way things actually are.

Group discussion, giving each group a copy of the questions in the appendix. Bring any questions or issues back to whole group.

Draw their attention to the Avalokitesvara rupa/image on the shrine describe its various features

Over the centuries there evolved within Buddhism a sense of Bodhisattvas – ‘enlightenment beings’ who were of a different order from the human realm, inhabiting a different dimension and expressing different aspects of enlightenment such as wisdom, compassion or energy. They were understood as existing to help us towards enlightenment. They epitomized generosity.

In traditional Buddhist cultures they are considered as actually existing and are the objects of great devotion.

For us, conditioned as we are by our rational, scientific culture, this may be hard to contemplate. But over time they can come to touch something in us – our own aspirations towards a more beautiful, awakened state of being, an awareness that we can’t quite achieve this on our own terms and with our own resources.

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We can become more open to these beings.

Within our own Triratna community there is a strong devotional aspect, one that we don’t insist on in any way but that we offer for when people feel ready for it.

Invite questions

In this spirit, we invite you to try this exercise. . . Closing your eyes, connecting to your body and breathing. Laying one of your hands open in your lap, imagine that there is placed within it the quality that you feel you most have to offer the world. Then bring to mind the image of Avalokitesvara with all his hands. What gift might he offer you that would most help you at this moment on your path?

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Home practice Can they carry out an act of generosity during the week, something out of the ordinary for themselves, noticing how it makes them feel. Also next week we’ll be devoting a chunk of time to their outstanding questions, so think over the week if there is anything left they would like to ask. Handouts

5


Week 6

(Prepare the shrine with night lights to offer) Recap briefly key teachings from last week - the importance of generosity, how this connects to the third of the three characteristics of life taught by the Buddha, that we have no fixed, separate self. We also looked at the figure of Avalokitesvara and being open to energies outside ourself.

5

Mindfulness of breathing meditation

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Summary of the course: Offer a ‘bird’s eye view’ of the course content. This could be done as a continuation of the meditation, slowly, reflectively.

On this course we have been looking at some key Buddhist teachings on what is called the Threefold Path of ethics, meditation and wisdom, showing the connections between them. Now, to give you an overview, we’ll separate them out and give them their traditional formats or titles:

the ethical teachings: traditionally these are introduced in the format of 5 precepts , both negative and positive. We have been looking at cultivating positive ethical behavior and speech, and this is summarized in a ritual kind of way in precepts which are frequently recited, for example at the start of an event.

1. With deeds of loving kindness, I purify my body 2. With open-handed generosity, I purify my body. 3. With stillness, simplicity and contentment, I purify my body. 4. With truthful communication, I purify my speech. 5. With mindfulness clear and radiant, I purify my mind.

The word ‘precept’ usually means a rule, so it is important to emphasize that in Buddhism we understand these precepts as training principles – guidelines for training our behavior and our mind. Then there is the negative version for each, what we train not to do: 1. I undertake to abstain from taking life. 2. I undertake to abstain from taking the not-given. 3. I undertake to abstain from sexual misconduct. 4. I undertake to abstain from false speech. 5. I undertake to abstain from taking intoxicants We have not focused on these on the course but if you take your

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exploration of Buddhism further you will find yourself studying them before long.

Meditation: We have continued on the course to practice the mindfulness of breathing and metta bhavana meditations, and have introduced walking meditation.

Wisdom: We have looked at the Buddha’s teaching of the three characteristics of existence: unsatisfactoriness, impermanence and no fixed self or essence.

Leg-stretch

5

Time for their ‘burning questions’ Use this as a time for discussion,not just Q&A

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What next? Give them a handout listing the possibilities – foundation course, drop-in classes, Sangha night, volunteering. . . Also going on retreat – give them the Rivendell programme Reminder about the course day retreat You might offer to meet up with them again in a few weeks to meditate together and see how they are doing

5

Final ritual Begin by contacting a sense of well-wishing towards ourself first for self, asking what is our heart’s wish for ourself? Ring bell, people go up in pairs to shrine and offer a nightlight, bearing in mind that heart’s wish. Then wishing everyone in the group well, and finally all beings.

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What is a Buddhist? – course outline

Week 1 The threefold path of ethics, meditation and wisdom Introduction to Buddhist ethics

Week 2 Metta and inter-connectedness

Week 3 Mindfulness The Buddha and his enlightenment

Week 4 Living with impermanence

Week 5 Altruism ‘No fixed self’ Archetypal figures in Buddhism: the Bodhisattva

Week 6 Pulling the threads together: ethical principles and wisdom teachings What next?


What is a Buddhist? – Week 1 handout

What is a Buddhist? What difference does it make to someone’s life being a Buddhist? What difference might it make to yours?

The threefold path: ethics, meditation, wisdom. This isn’t a sequential path – each week we’ll be looking at different aspects of it, showing how they connect and influence one another

There’s no such thing as a ‘typical Buddhist’. The Dharma touches each of us differently so we become more fully ourselves

A Buddhist is someone who practices ethics

Buddhists think about ethics in terms of the whole way we are in the world, whether it’s through actions or speech or states of mind, and the system of values which governs this – which is dominated by the values of love and wisdom.

It’s important to make an emotional or heartfelt connection with a desire to be ethical.

Conventionally in ethics we’re likely to think about being good or bad, or actions being good or bad. Buddhists use the language of ‘skilful’ and ‘unskilful’.

What these words point to is not just the act or words, but also the state of mind, the intention behind this act. Has the person acted, responded in a way that they intended to give expression to those values of love and wisdom?

The emphasis in ethical practice is therefore on developing skilful intentions – and what those are we will be looking at over the course.

A connection can immediately become clear between ethics and the mindfulness we cultivate through meditation: we need to become more aware of the circumstances in which we act and speak and think, and of our state of mind with its intentions.

There is also a connection in that ethics becomes about transforming our mind, making a shift from self-centred behavior that is based on our personal likes and dislikes, towards one that benefits others. To do this we need to cultivate an imaginative identification with others: what would they want or appreciate?

Home practice

Choose someone you see during the week whom you don’t know – on a bus or train, in a shop. . . – and see what you can pick up about them from their manner, expression. Try putting yourself in their shoes - what might their experience be at this moment, what might it be like to be them?


None is the same as another.

O none is the same.

That none is the same as another

Is matter for crying

Since never again will you see

That one, once gone.

In their brown hoods

The pilgrims are crossing the land

And many will look the same

But all are different

And their ideas fly to them

On accidental winds

Perching awhile in their minds

From different valleys.

None is the same as another.

O none is the same.

And that none is the same is not

A matter for crying.

Stranger, I take your hand,

O changing stranger.

Ian Crichton Smith


What is a Buddhist? – week 2 handout

A Buddhist is someone who cultivates metta

What is metta? The word can be translated as ‘love’ or ‘loving-kindness’ or ‘friendliness’. But as we know from life and doing the metta bhavana meditation, we can’t always feel love for someone, let alone for everyone. Instead we can think of it as an attitude rather than feeling – a desire or a wish for someone, everyone to be happy, free from suffering, for things to go well for them.

We can see this in the Buddha’s teaching in the metta sutta.

Notice the lines in this that point to this attitude; the connection between ethics and metta in the first half; the shift from self- to other-centredness; the link in the last verse with wisdom.

So what is this wisdom? Metta rests on the Buddha’s core teaching, the truth of conditionality and connectedness. We can realise this truth when we reflect on any object, person, situation. They have each required multiple conditions to bring them into existence and had any of the conditions been different, that object, person or situation would have been different too.

Everything, all living beings, are part of a connected-up network within which they all condition/influence one another and are conditioned/influenced by one another.

It’s almost impossible not to be aware of our connectedness at a certain level given the globalized economy, the internet, mobile phones. . . We know how much of an effect we have on one another through these.

But can we be true to this connectedness in a way that values one another, all species – can we use it to spread love rather than hatred, benefit rather than harm?

It’s on the basis of the truth of connectedness that we practice the metta bhavana and wish one another well.

Home practice

Think of an event in the week ahead that could be challenging: how can you act less from self-centredness and more from metta?


The timeless waves, bright, sifting, broken glass, Came dazzling around, into the rocks, Came glinting, sifting from the Americas To possess Aran. Or did Aran rush to throw wide arms of rock around a tide That yielded with an ebb, with a soft crash? Did sea define the land or land the sea? Each drew new meaning from the waves' collision. Sea broke on land to full identity.

Seamus Heaney

http://www.poemhunter.com/seamus-heaney-3/poems/


What is a Buddhist? – week 3

Mindfulness of breathing – theme of focus and breadth

With this practice, we are learning to gain some control over our restless mind – without being controlling! One of the ways we can do this is to play with being more expansive in the quality of our attention, or more focused. Typically in a meditation we might spend the first two stages bringing focus to the breathing sensations so that the mind can grow calmer. In the third stage we might be able to open out into a broader, more expansive awareness of those sensations and whatever is happening in the mind – all of it simply coming and going. And then in the final stage, building on this greater calm and expansiveness, we can develop a gentle, single-pointed focus.

A Buddhist is someone who practices mindfulness

What is mindfulness? One definition is that of Jon Kabat Zinn, the originator of therapeutic mindfulness training programmes: ‘The awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose. . . and non-judgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment.’

We can get more of a felt sense of what mindfulness is both by experiencing it, perhaps in meditation, and comparing it with its opposites: being on automatic pilot, or our mind racing with thoughts, carried away by stories we tell ourselves, distracted, unfocused. . . Mindfulness is spacious attention.

The Buddha taught that there were four aspects of our experience of which we could be mindful: sensations in the body, the quality of our experience (pleasant, unpleasant or neutral), what is going on in the mind, and ‘dhammas’ – all objects and beings in the world around us. Bearing these in mind helps us be more comprehensive in our practice

What is the point of mindfulness? 5. To rescue us from how our minds often are – maybe restless, dreamy,

irritable, sluggish – by coming more into the present 6. To become more sensitive to others and to the world, and therefore

more ethical 7. To help us integrate – we begin as having multiple aspects or

personalities, often conflicting. Mindfulness highlights which are unhelpful and out of synch with our true values, so that all of our energy can begin to move in the same direction.

8. To help us see the true nature of our experience by showing us the habits and stories that mask this. This is the wisdom aspect of mindfulness which we will go into more next week.


Home practice

Mindful walk or activity: choose either a walk that you do most days – maybe to the bus stop or shop, or with your dog – or an activity like taking a shower or making breakfast. As you do it, try to be aware of sensations in your body and details in your environment that you might normally not notice. How does it feel to walk or act like this?



A Buddhist is someone who is learning how to live with impermanence

Last week we learned about one of the Buddha’s key wisdom teachings, that we suffer and the cause of this is ‘wanting’, wanting things to be different. Suffering or unsatisfactoriness is one of three key qualities of life that he drew particular attention to - because we keep running away from them. By reflecting deeply on them over and over, we gradually align ourselves with them and grow at peace with life.

The second of these qualities is impermanence. What is meant by this?

Partly, that everything comes to an end – good times (and bad), relationships, careers, the life of loved ones, our own life. . . everything on which our security depends.

But also, everything is in a state of flux – from trivial things like a shop no longer stocking the coffee we like to big ones: our health, finances, reputation; the environment, relations between communities and countries. . .

We are buffeted around by life, going from highs to lows and back again often many times in the course of a day. This makes us insecure and anxious; even in happy phases there is a background sense that this won’t last.

So impermanence, change, is at the root of much of our suffering – we cling to what is familiar, to how we want things to be in the face of all evidence to the contrary.

What can we do?

Our practice is to develop an inner stability, equanimity, in the midst of all this change. How? -

We learn to turn towards our experience rather than push it away, accepting that there will be some things that we can change and others that we cannot, welcoming what we cannot change as an opportunity to align ourselves with reality and to grow.

We cultivate qualities of stillness, simplicity and contentment in our life – this is an aspect of our ethical practice.

4. Stillness – making time to be quiet, on our own; meditation 5. Simplicity – reducing input, cutting out where possible what

complicates our life 6. Contentment – an appreciation for ourselves and the life we have


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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 honorably. 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.

Mewlana Jalaluddin Rumi

Home practice

Reduce or cut out over the coming week something that over-stimulates you or complicates your life and without which you will have greater stillness and simplicity.

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A Buddhist is someone who practices generosity

Generosity is an extension of metta, valuing others as much as ourselves – it is a way of being in the world, of responding to situations and people, and as such is an ethical principle.

The founder of our movement, Sangharakshita, has said that even if you can’t do anything else in your spiritual life, you can practice generosity.

Different kinds of generosity. . . time, energy, shared experiences, gifts, money, encouragement, positivity….

We live in a consumerist society and are conditioned to be in a relationship with others of payment for what they provide us with. We’re can become obsessed with acquiring possessions, with property, with bargains.

At the same time we’ve probably all experienced the joy of a spontaneous gift, whether we made it or received it; the joy of putting on a celebration of something special; the joy of inviting others to come along to some special event. By contrast with what we pay for, these experiences are priceless.

We can also see that generosity encourages a state of mind that is expansive, plentiful. We are focused on what we have rather than we what we do not – an abundance mentality rather than a poverty one.

We can also contrast how we feel when we are generous with how we feel when we are mean or even take something that isn’t ours.

Generosity also has a ‘wisdom dimension’: we come to see that nothing is truly ours to own, that one day when we die we will have to give it all up anyway. Such reflections loosen up our attachment to our possessions, help us feel more free.

A further wisdom aspect connects us to the third of the three facets of life that we have been looking at, the first two being unsatisfactoriness and impermanence. The third is lack of fixed essence or self – something we all think we have, our ‘me-ness’. But the Buddha pointed out this is an illusion we create to give us a sense of security in our uncertain world. It brings us much unhappiness because we are forever trying to shore it up, particularly with possessions, in a way that is unachievable. Generosity is one of many practices Buddhism has developed to help weaken our dependence on this sense of fixed self and live more directly in the way things actually are.

Over the centuries there evolved within Buddhism a sense of Bodhisattvas – ‘enlightenment beings’ who were of a different order from the human realm, inhabiting a different dimension and expressing different aspects of enlightenment such as wisdom, compassion or energy. They were understood as existing to help us towards enlightenment. They epitomized generosity.

In traditional Buddhist cultures they are considered as actually existing and are the objects of great devotion.

For us, conditioned as we are by our rational, scientific culture, this may be hard to contemplate. But over time they can come to touch something in us


– our own aspirations towards a more beautiful, awakened state of being, an awareness that we can’t quite achieve this on our own terms and with our own resources. We can become more open to these beings.

Within our own Triratna community there is a strong devotional aspect, one that we don’t insist on in any way but that we offer for when people feel ready for it.

Home practice

Can you carry out an act of generosity during the week, something out of the ordinary, noticing how it makes you feel.

Also come to the next session with any questions you’d like to ask about Buddhism or meditation.


What is a Buddhist? – week 6

Summary of the course:

On this course we have been looking at some key Buddhist teachings on what is called the Threefold Path of ethics, meditation and wisdom, showing the connections between them. These can be separated out and given their traditional formats or titles:

the ethical teachings: traditionally these are introduced in the format of 5 precepts , both negative and positive. We have been looking at cultivating positive ethical behaviour and speech, and this is summarized in a ritual kind of way in precepts which are frequently recited, for example at the start of an event:

1. With deeds of loving kindness, I purify my body 2. With open-handed generosity, I purify my body. 3. With stillness, simplicity and contentment, I purify my body. 4. With truthful communication, I purify my speech. 5. With mindfulness clear and radiant, I purify my mind.

The word ‘precept’ usually means a rule, so it is important to emphasize that in Buddhism we understand these precepts as training principles – guidelines for training our behavior and our mind.

Then there is the negative version for each, what we train not to do:

6. I undertake to abstain from taking life. 7. I undertake to abstain from taking the not-given. 8. I undertake to abstain from sexual misconduct. 9. I undertake to abstain from false speech. 10. I undertake to abstain from taking intoxicants

Meditation: We have continued on the course to practice the mindfulness of breathing and metta bhavana meditations, and have introduced walking meditation, just sitting and visualization practice.

Wisdom: We have looked at the Buddha’s teaching of the three characteristics of existence: unsatisfactoriness, impermanence and no fixed self or essence.

Resources

Online

Freebuddhistaudio.com – lots of talks on Buddhism plus guided meditations

Wildmind.org – guided meditations, online meditation courses


Reading

On Buddhism:

Chris Pauling, Introducing Buddhism

Sarvananda, Meaning in Life

Vajragupta, Buddhism: Tools for Living Your Life

Jinananda, 100-minute Buddha

On meditation:

Jinananda, Meditating

Vessantara, The Breath

Vessantara, The Heart

Paramananda, A Deeper Beauty

All published by Windhorse


Metta Sutta (various translators, assimilated by Subhadassi) Those who know what’s best for them, who’ve glimpsed tranquillity, are skilful, straight; gently spoken, modest. They’re content to live simply, carefully; their senses quiet. They’re not too busy, overconfident, or overanxious about family. They try to do nothing to give those they respect reason for disappointment. They cultivate the wish: Let all be well and safe, let all be happy! Whatever’s alive, without exception, whether weak or strong; from the smallest to the biggest thing; seen or unseen; far or near; born or being born, may all be happy! May no-one deceive or put down anyone, anywhere; may none wish others harm through resentment or hatred. As a mother might protect her only child, risking her life, let these open-hearted wishes be yours. Grow this all-embracing mind of love: a love that can’t be ruffled, beyond even the slightest hatred. Whether you’re lying down, sitting, standing or walking around, work on this with gusto: it’s the best frame of mind to let prejudice go, to stay ethical, and to keep things in perspective so you overcome all hankering, at long last stop going round in circles.


Week 2 – ethical dilemmas for discussion

“Personally, I still eat meat. I don’t see a very good/convincing argument

for why the life of an animal should be more “sacred” than the life of a

plant. We have to eat to live.I eat out of necessity without malice so

there is no need to be vegetarian to practice Buddhism.” What do you

think?

Sam’s parents retired a couple of years ago after working hard all their

lives. He is already not happy that they have bought a flat to let to top

up their pensions when he cannot afford to own a home. Now, to

celebrate their ruby wedding anniversary, they are planning to go on a

cruise. Sam disapproves of this because cruise ships are significantly

increasing planetary carbon emissions. He believes he should argue his

case with them but knows he risks putting further strain on their already

difficult relationship. What should he do?


Week 4

Is there a way in which the quality of impermanence is particularly alive

for you at the moment, and what effect is this having on you?

What strategies do you employ in your life to shield yourself from the

fact that things are insecure, that they will end one day?

Can you come up with examples, either from your own life or more

globally, of impermanence or change having been something positive?

Is there a way in which the quality of impermanence is particularly alive

for you at the moment, and what effect is this having on you?

What strategies do you employ in your life to shield yourself from the

fact that things are insecure, that they will end one day?

Can you come up with examples, either from your own life or more

globally, of impermanence or change having been something positive?


Week 5

As a group, can you come up with a couple of examples where an act of generosity

on your part has given you particular pleasure?

Do you connect with the terms ‘abundance mentality’ and ‘poverty mentality’? Can

you describe what they feel like? In what conditions are you more likely to feel

each?

To which of your possessions do you feel most attached?

How do your possessions contribute to your sense of yourself, to your identity?

How does it feel to contemplate loosening up your sense of identity? What would

be the advantages of this?

As a group, can you come up with a couple of examples where an act of generosity

on your part has given you particular pleasure?

Do you connect with the terms ‘abundance mentality’ and ‘poverty mentality’? Can

you describe what they feel like? In what conditions are you more likely to feel

each?

To which of your possessions do you feel most attached?

How do your possessions contribute to your sense of yourself, to your identity?

How does it feel to contemplate loosening up your sense of identity? What would

be the advantages of this?

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