Focus on Investigative Awareness and Working with Pain

We begin with a review of how the Buddha saw "ignorance" of the basic nature of things (not so much of facts or information) as the basic problem of human life; we are as if asleep, caught in dream-like living, and need to "wake up." For the Buddha, we are especially ignorant about impermanence, dukkha (or reactivity--grabbing at the pleasant and pushing away the unpleasant or painful and believing that this is the way to happiness), the nature of the self, and nirvana or awakening. We bring in a brief report of the experience of attending the previous week's EcoDharma retreat at Spirit Rock, emphasizing especially the pervasiveness of a sense of separation--from the earth, other living beings, and each other--and the connection of such sense of separation with our systemic problems. Indigenous teachers at the retreat particularly emphasized living without such separation. The second part of the talk, we focus on the teaching of not-self (anatta), and ways of practicing that deepens our understanding of not-self, as well as how we hold this understanding of pervasive human ignorance with compassion and kindness, including in our responses to the manifestations of ignorance. The talk is followed by discussion.

This session offers a brief reflection and guided meditation on expanding awareness to include sensations throughout the body. With special attention to working wisely with pain, the instructions emphasize mindful presence, compassion, and skillful relationship to experience.

Q1 Could you speak further on how we can preserve our energies? 04:46 Q2 I've a volatile and troubled sibling and have tried to act with compassion. But the cost is over dependency and the constant drama. What can you advise? 17:33 Q3 Is there a way in meditation to deal with blind spots? 24:09 Q4 How would you suggest that we work with traumatic life events that have occurred in the past and of which one has hardly any recollection of? 27:28 Q5 How to deal with persistent feelings in different parts of the body? 33:24 Q6 I had a lot of difficulty with my hand. Sometimes the pain would throw me to the floor. QiGong has been helpful. Can you suggest any other techniques? 37:17 Q7 I've had problems in my throat with difficulty to swallow and also feeling difficult to balance and an inner shakiness. Do you have any suggestions? 38:48 Q8 Some meditation instructions I've tried suggest progressing in stages and only moving on to the next set of challenges once mastery has been achieved in the current level. I often feel contracted with a sense of me, doing this type of practice. What would you advise? 43:07 Q9 Can you please give further clarifications on cetana. 48:35 Q10 The mind can be silent for a long period of time with a few thoughts coming and going. I'm not sure what I should do. Just observe? I can be bored sometimes.

(Précised) Q1 If I sometimes expand beyond the body in meditation, should I bring my attention back to the body? 04:12 Q2 What are the best ways to deals with meditation pain? 13:13 Q3 Can you please explain about sakayadithi?

We begin by remembering the three core methods of training given by the Buddha (wisdom, meditation, and "ethics"), and their interrelationship. We reflect on how ethics has often been marginalized in Western Buddhism (and at times in Asian Buddhism). We then look in depth at the first lay ethical precept, non-harming, first in terms of the core teachings of the Buddha, and its centrality in the earlier Indian traditions of the Vedas. We examine some of the more "outer" dimensions of practicing non-harming, seeing how, with mindfulness and strong intentions, we can bring non-harming into our daily lives, including in our speech and communication. We then look at the more "inner" dimensions of practicing non-harming, looking in particular at how harming ourselves or others typically comes out of our own pain, so that practicing with pain (and the teaching of the Two Arrows) is central. The talk is followed by discussion.

This talk occurs five days after Joanna's death at age 96, and two days after Donald attended a wake for Joanna at her home, saying good-bye to her. Donald first met Joanna Macy in 1977, while still a student. When he moved to Berkeley, California in 1988, he helped start a neighborhood daily meditation group of ten households, including that of Joanna and her husband Fran. So he got to know Joanna and Fran as friends and neighbors. In 1991, he first trained in her approach, later called "The Work That Reconnects" and offered this work in different venues. Over the years, they have stayed friends and colleagues, and sometimes taught together. In this talk, Donald gives a sense of the trajectory of Joanna's life and work, showing photos of Joanna spanning her life-time and interspersing stories of training with Joanna and using her practices and perspectives in his own teaching. He focuses in the second part of the talk on the four aspects of the "spiral" of her teaching: (1) starting with gratitude, (2) honoring our pain for the world, (3) seeing with new eyes, and (4) going forth into the world. We close with a brief account of Joanna's wake from two days before the talk, and a video recording from the wake of group singing about the "Great Turning." The talk is followed by discussion and closing intentions. For the slides shown during the talk, see document 318, below.

We begin with a period of settling, developing greater samadhi or concentration, and then move to mindfulness practice, including giving some attention to noticing moderate or a little greater levels of pleasant or unpleasant feeling-tone. When we notice pleasant or unpleasant feeling-tones, is there any tendency toward grasping or pushing away, in habitual or automatic ways? We then explore gratitude as a practice, simply reflecting on ways that we are grateful, first for aspects of our own lives, and then for aspects of the wider world. This is followed by opening with mindfulness to some difficult or painful aspects of our world, whether close to home or farther away, inspired to see and be with what is painful through wisdom and care. We end with a return to mindfulness practice for a short time. (This guided meditation is related to the talk that follows, honoring the life and work of Joanna Macy.)

The essence of compassion is honesty about suffering. Compassion is what naturally arises when we turn towards hurts, pain, suffering with love.