kāyānupassanā - 3 Questions

Bhāvanā–"Calling into being“ - Satipaṭṭhāna as Orientation

Language & relational analogies and senses - two camps of meditators - meeting my own meditative "gold standard"

Sati and Saññā

Paying attention to the disappearing phase localizing states in bodily vocabulary - 5 questions to the breath - 4 stages of an event.

Three main functions of the citta; contemplative traditions in search to heighten the power of understanding; voluntary and involuntary attention; mind-training and the essentially intentional nature of mind.

Clarification on vedanā and citta - Paying close attention to the disappearance and the climate in the space opening up.

Meaning of the term - Function in meditation and life –Textual references from Suttas - Ajahn Buddhadhasas reading of sampajaññā - 4 sampajaññā in the exegetical tradition

Manifestations - possible causes - remedies

Metta with images

Sense channel check; settling into whole-body awareness, dislodging the self perspective with the bent gaze

Why body? Purpose and role of body contemplation practices.

The predicament of mind trying to understand itself; meditation as hopeful but messy business.

Differences between moha and avijjā; a footnote on the wheel of becoming.

Naming the big tasks in contemporary language; possible pitfalls in each of the dimensions

History of the acrobats: Individualism and altruism.

3 Questions - body as anchor and resting place for attention.

Text and context - vedic background of attachment (upādāna) - diṭṭhi and how we got there in the first place.

Sati as attuned attentional relationship. Two dimensions of training mindfulness: (i) temporal continuity (ii) spatial stability. Preferences and inclinations of meditators for one above the other are natural but need challenging. Instructions for a day's practice of kāyānupassanā.

Sati in the Suttas – Contexts and Descriptions from the Early Buddhist Tradition

Attitudes and expectations re meditation practice: beyond the feel-good factor. How the Vism. illustrates Mindfulness of Breathing.

Relational analogies with differing human senses – seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, smelling – Questions to connect more deeply with the breathing experience.

(Brief intro:) Mindfulness without Pali - psychological aspects of sati. What can go wrong even if we get what we want; Forms of desire east of the western map for this term (kāma-taṇhā, bhava-t, vibhava-t.)

Connecting vedanā questions with ānāpānasati

Vedana-citta connction; staying with the vanishing.

Citta: Identifiying and Discerning the 16 states of mind that DN 22 and MN 10 refer to.

4 Dimensions in the teaching on universal Empathy. The Brahmavihara are neither just emotions nor exclusively meditation objects, rather they are intrinsic to any notion of health, growth, maturity, wellbeing, realization and liberation.

(i) between sensory indulgence and self-mortification; (ii) between being and non-being (iii) the monks' and nuns' lifestyle between brahminical family ideals and that of ascetic religious seekers (iv) between shame (hīri - based on self-respect) and fear of social consequences (ottappa - based on understanding good morals)

Examples; Reading of the Kaccānagotta-Sutta (SN 12.15)

The empowerment won by ardency, perseverance and focusing of (i) zeal (ii) energy (iii) consciousness (iv) investigation/discernment

Two sets of 7 qualities of a kalyānamitta. The inner friend through the practice of Refuge. Noble Friendship at the heart of Sangha and Learning.

3 dimensions of changing dukkha through mindfulness

On retreat of the effect of how we live our life can reveal itself

5 Ways of dealing with tenacious unwholesome thought from the Vitakkasaṇṭhāna-Sutta: Analogie, description, pragmatics of going about it.

Breathing and its symbolism - breathing and the lakkhanā - breathing and samatha & vipassanā

The Buddha as a healer: the ariyasacca as formula rather than as doctrine; perspectives on a tentative history of "The Four Noble Truths" and how to take their medicine, rather than just believing in its efficacy.

Reflection–Vertical and Horizontal: On East and West meeting the individual's process in different ways. Instruction- Becoming more intimate with the experience of breathing; using the centering questions.+

meanings of nimitta in the sutta

Follow-up from last night with addendum

Role of upādāna in generation of suffering - Fire imagery and vedic background; Text of S 44,9 / S iv 398; Explaining the specifics of the 4 forms of grasping (attavādūpādāna) touched only briefly.

Cittānupassanā needs dhammānupassanā. The smelly bag.

(SN 47.10 / S v 147) Finding the entry to the Spiral Path through the inspiring sign.

The fire similes (SN 46.53 / S v 112)

Brief Reading of the Ahāra-Sutta SN 46.51 / S v 102

Asanga's nine stages of Calm Abiding (with a printout of a Tibetan 19th century drawing illustrating this Path.

Background of Teaching on anattatā - dimensions of impersonality - psychological models of self and possible confusions

Synopsis of last night - reasons for reification through attentional habits, perceptual habits and language.

Sedaka-Sutta from Pali and from Chinese Traditions: Looking after other by looking after oneself; looking after others by looking after oneself.