Buddha-Sasana

On Buddhist ethics. The primary principle of Buddhist ethics is the development and cultivation of virtue as a quality of character. Virtuosity in virtue is a quality of the awakened ones. This is contrasted with modern understandings of ethics, but is arguably a basic human drive and definitive of a meaningful or well-lived life. (February 9, 2024)

This talk reviews what the early texts say about samādhi 'concentration', much of which may surprise you. This talk was originally presented on July 2, 2023 broadcast from Minnesota via Zoom to the English Dharma Group at Jade Temple in Houston Texas. (February 2, 2024)

“If consciousness were not to descend into the mother's womb, would name-and-form take shape in the womb?” "No." The most common traditional interpretation of this famous passage (from DN 15) is that consciousness travels into the womb to unify with the fetus of name-and-form at con­ception. I argue that this interpretation is untenable. (Rebroadcast 1/26/2024, originally broadcast 9/25/2020)

The Buddha-Sāsana is Buddhism as a living tradition, something that evolves, spreads to new lands, dies out in old lands, rather than Buddhism as the Dharma, which is much more static. A key question for the Buddha seems to be is how well the Buddha-Sāsana would retain the authenticity of the Buddha-Dharma.

The teaching of emptiness is often considered to be an innovation of Nagarjuna or of the Prajnaparamita Sutras. However this important teaching had been expounded by the Buddha many centuries before, but has become obscured. But how? (Rebroadcast 1/12/2024, originally podcast 7/16/2021)

The Buddha clarifies an explicit methodology which is nonetheless often overlooked by students of the Dharma. Much of this has to do with the practical and experiential orientation of the Dharma. The Buddha's methodology furthermore involves regarding the world as both insubstantial and conditional. (Repodcast 1/5/2024, originally podcast 7/30/2021).

The Buddha clarifies an explicit methodology which is nonetheless often overlooked by students of the Dharma. Much of this has to do with the practical and experiential orientation of the Dharma. (Repodcast 12/29/2023, originally podcast 7/23/2021).

Last week's talk demonstrated the exemplary support the Buddha provided to women's practice. This week we will look at a controversial text, describing with the origin of the nun's sangha, that at first sight seems to paint a starkly contrasting picture of the Buddha.  (repodcast 12/22/2023, originally podcast 6/5/2020)

Buddhism is not widely known as a religion of gender-equality. But the early the discourses show repeatedly that the Buddha had the deepest kindness and respect for women, as particularly evident in his treatment of the nun's Sangha. (repodcast 12/15/2023, originally podcast 5/29/2020)

The wide-ranging teaching of the four noble truths can come under satipaṭṭhāna investigation if we look for its observables in those texts that are more nuts-and-bolts in style, although the fourth noble truth, when equated with the path itself, is more difficult to accommodate.. (Satipaṭṭhāna Exercise Instructions 12, 12/8/2023)

The awakening factors describe the growth of samādhi that is readily experienced within satipaṭṭhāna practice per se. This exercise should be assimilated as in routine monitoring of the constellation of satipatthana factors alive in other exercises. (Satipaṭṭhāna Exercise Instructions 11, 12/1/2023)

We look at the dhamma and the observables involved in comprehending the six senses of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind. (Satipaṭṭhāna Exercise Instructions 11, 11/24/2023)

The appropriation-aggregates (form, feeling, perception, fabrication and cognizance) represent one of the most fruitful themes of satipatthana contemplation. (Satipaṭṭhāna Exercise Instructions 10, 11/17/2023)

The five hindrances fall under the fourth (dhamma) satipaṭṭhāna. Verifying and internalizing their understanding is an aid in general Buddhist practice, and only secondarily in quelling the presumption of self. (Satipaṭṭhāna Exercise Instructions 9, 11/10/2023)

The observables in the mind contemplation are states of mind. Once again the observables reveal non-self, but the chosen observables also collaterally support the understanding of important Dhammic concepts. (Satipaṭṭhāna Exercise Instructions 8, 11/3/2023)

Feeling (pain, pleasure and neither) is the basis of the second satipatthana contemplation, which seeks to demonstrate that there is no witness/self behind witnessing the world. (Satipaṭṭhāna Exercise Instructions 7, 10/27/2023)

The charnel ground contemplations give a means of observing the shift in our presumption of body/self with the progressive natural decay of a corpse. (Satipaṭṭhāna Exercise Instructions 6, 10/20/2023)

The elements (earth, water, fire and air) give an alternative was of deconstructing the body/self. I also discuss the the practical need sometimes to favor samādhi over analysis and vice versa. (Satipaṭṭhāna Exercise Instructions 5, 10/13/2023)

We review the contemplation of body parts, which we talked about some weeks ago, then discuss the varying modes of context and conceptuality in practice. (Satipaṭṭhāna Exercise Instructions 4, 10/6/2023)

Contemplation of bodily actions takes us off the cushion potentially into everyday life. It can be used independently of satipatthana to cultivate mental development. (Satipaṭṭhāna Exercise Instructions 3, 9/29/2023)

Contemplation of posture tends to take us off the cushion and, like the breath, is relatively discussion. We end with some discussion of intergrating samādhi into these exercises. (Satipaṭṭhāna Exercise Instructions 2, 9/22/2023)

Breath provides weak internal evidence, fragmentary and transitory, for presuming an external body/self. (Satipaṭṭhāna Instructions 1, 9/15/2023)

Why do we need scholarship at all? Why not just teach how to meditate? (In the series Rethinking the Satipaṭṭhāna, 9/8/2023)

Extending the primary analysis of the satipaṭṭhāna refrain to the fourth satipaṭṭhāna raises some issues. (Body in body internally and externally 4, 9/1/2023)

We take up the contribution of the refrain of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta to the contemplation of the individual exercises, focusing on “internal analysis.” (Body in the body internally and externally 3, 8/25/2023)

External analysis is to seek the external body in the observable evidence in which one is absorbed. (Body in body internally and externally 2, 8/18/2023)

We take up the contribution of the refrain of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta to the contemplation of the individual exercises, focusing on “internal analysis.” (Body in body internally and externally 1, 8/11/2023)

I describe how to practice the body parts exercise of the first satipaṭṭhāna, as a practical example of the systematic way I have been explaining satipaṭṭhāna in the last series of talks. (8/4/2023)

The practice of the first three satipaṭṭhānas aims at the deconstruction self in its facets of body, feelings and mind. (A back-roads tour of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta 4, 7/28/2023)

The correspondence of the fourth satipaṭṭhāna with both the five stages of liberation and the seven factors of awakening make the role of satipaṭṭhāna in developing right view clear, as well as the open-endedness of the Dhamma teachings examined in the fourth satipaṭṭhāna. (A back-roads tour of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta 3, 7/21/2023)

We continue by looking at two more representative exercises, reviewing the conclusion of the sutta and reviewing the corresponding texts in the Pali and Chinese traditions. (A back-roads tour of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta 2, 7/14/2023)

We begin a first pass of this important tutorial, identifying the satipaṭṭhāna method that supports the satipaṭṭhāna contemplative practice and see how the exercises are structured. (A back-roads tour of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta 1, 7/7/2023)

We look at the oft overlooked qualities of silent cognition (effortless attention) in explaining how samādhi leads to gnosis and vision. (The Miracle of Samādhi 4, 6/30/2023)

The absence of discursive thought in the second jhana is characteristic of effortless attention in cognitive science, which in turn is characteristic (perhaps counter-intuitively) of expert-level skill or virtuosity. This seem to be why samadhi produces the fruits attributed to it. (The Miracle of Samādhi 3, 6/23/2023)

Entering the jhānas involves a mind that lets go of hindrances, becomes one-centered and finally stills discursive thought. (The Miracle of Samādhi 2, 6/16/2023)

Samādhi brings joy and leads to knowledge and vision. It also arises spontaneously without effort. (The Miracle of Samādhi 1, 6/9/2023)

We will see that sammāsati (what others call “right mindfulness”) is the application of the satipatthana method for achieving and acquiring virtuosity in the other path practices. (The Satipatthana Method 4, 6/2/2023)

We look at how the application to everyday, non-Dhammic practices are utilized for training in the Buddhist art of skillfulness itself. (The Satipatthana Method 3, 5/26/2023)

Proficiency-comprehension (satisampajañña) is a ubiquitous human cognitive faculty that is developed and cultivated to become the satipaṭṭhāna method. (The Satipatthana Method 2, 5/19/2023)

The satipatthana method is the art of skillfulness enumerated in the Satipatthana Sutta, but applicable in many diverse practice contexts. (The Satipatthana Method 1, 5/12/2023)

If not sati, what is it we think we experience when we practice “mindfulness”? (How “Mindfulness” got Mislabeled 3, 5/5/2023)

The development of vipassanā as a mass meditation movement beginning in Burma resulted in some serious Dhammic shortcuts that marginalized the original meaning of sati. (Mislabeled 2, 4/28/2023)

There is a huge disconnect between our modern understanding of "minfulness" and the Pali word sati that 'mindfulness' was supposed to translate. (How "Mindulness got Mislabeled 1, 4/21/2023)

A monk is an anomaly in the Wild West of Buddhism, and so ends this narrative. (Through the Looking Glass 12, 4/14/2023)

Cloth management and alms for the new bhikkhu. (Through the Looking Glass 11, 4/7/2023)

I ordain as a bhikkhu, March 10, 2009, with unexpected pomp in Central Burma. (Through the Looking Glass 10, 3/31/2023)

I travel to the land of the golden pagodas to ordain as a bhikkhu. (Through the Looking Glass 9, 3/24/2023)

I seek out and am inspired by Western monks in Texas and California, and resolve to ordain as a bhikkhu. (Through the Looking Glass 8, 3/17/2023)

A brief history of Zen priesthood and how it felt to be a priest in the USA. (Through the Looking Glass 7, 3/10/2023)

I visit Japanese, Burmese, Chinese and Vietnamese temples and talk to monks. (Through the Looking Glass 6, 3/03/2023)

I ordain as a Zen priest at the Austin Zen Center. (Through the Looking Glass 5, 2/24/2023)

I decide to dedicate my life to Buddhist practice and move to a Zen monastery in California. (Through the Looking Glass 4, 2/17/2023)

I discover why forms and rituals are important and officially take refuge. (Through the Looking Glass 3, 2/10/2023)

I begin Zen meditation retreats and raise some curious questions about myself. (Through the Looking Glass 2, 2/3/2023)

I begin to tell my own “way seeking mind” story of how I first came to Buddhist practice. (Through the Looking Glass 1, 1/27/2023)

We review Buddhism’s unique roles in the symbolic/transcendent world. (Buddhism as Self-Help 18, 1/20/2023)

We look at how Buddhism fits into the symbolic structures of social cognition: the sacred, myth, ritual and community, and how meaning, motivation and supramundane experience are rooted there. (Buddhism as Self-Help 17, 1/13/2023)

Social cognition works symbolically. We continue our understanding of the constructed symbolic world in terms of myth and the sacred and their influence on human behavior. (Buddhism as Self-Help 16, 1/6/2023)

Symbolism provides the workings of social, cooperative life. We discuss the ubiquity and importance of ritual and then the ethic of living by vow, with examples from the Zen tradition. (Buddhism as Self-Help 15, 12/30/2022)

Lasting well-being is possible within the selfless, pro-social, cooperative world. We discuss moral communities, when they go wrong and the Buddhist resources that make them work. (Buddhism as Self-Help 14, 12/23/2022)

The Buddha divides thoughts into wholesome and unwholesome. The mundane unwholesome search for hedonic pleasure necessarily fails to produce lasting well-being for modern psychological and evolutionary reasons. (Buddhism as Self-Help 13, 12/16/2022)

The monastic Sangha provides a context in which social conditions that presuppose a self are excluded. (Buddhism as Self-Help 12, 12/9/2022)

A quick tour of various societal structures gives us an idea of where a non-self might be able to live and thrive. (Buddhism as Self-Help 12, 12/2/2022)

Contrary to being the ideology of global capitalism, Buddhism is only marginally about self-help under adverse social conditions, but intrinsically concerned with improving social conditions. (Buddhism as Self-Help 10, 11/25/2022)

The Buddha made clear that the success of our practice depends critically on an appropriate social context for practice. Self-help focuses on practice in inappropriate contexts. (Buddhism as Self-Help 9, 11/18/2022)

We look at the social psychology of managing our self-image in social contexts as a source for the ego-self and the authentic self, and how individualism is nonsensical. (Buddhism as Self-Help 8, 11/11/2022)

We discuss self-presentation as an individual adaptation to survival in the sociocultural matrix. (Buddhism as Self-Help 7, 11/4/2022)

Humans are fundamentally cooperative and social creatures. We show that most significant individual cognition serves social cognition, drawing significant differences between humans and other apes in this regard. (Buddhism as Self-Help 6, 10/28/2022)

We discuss Buddhist practices for deconstructing the thing-self, and then how modern Buddhism is interpreted in terms of the modern authentic self. (Buddhism as Self-Help 5, 10/21/2022)

We discuss how the ego-self is produced through appropriating assets as “me” and “mine” in Buddhist thought, and then how the historically evolved self in the west became the authentic self. (Buddhism as Self-Help 4, 10/14/2022)

We discuss the thing-self in Buddhist thought, and the evolution of the self in European history. (Buddhism as Self-Help 3, 10/7/2022)

The Buddha analyzed the self at two levels: the thing-self and the ego-self. We use the ego-self, produced in becoming, to begin the analysis of the evolving western sense of self and its shadow sense of lack. (Buddhism as Self-Help 2, 9/30/2022)

Has Buddhism become “the hegemonic ideology of global capitalism"? (Self-Help 1, 9/23/2022)

I argue that modern “mindfulness” corresponds pretty closely to ‘samādhi’ in the early Buddhist texts. (9/16/2022)

How did the meaning of sati evolve from early Buddhist times to give us our modern understanding of “mindfulness”? (9/9/2022)

‘Mindfulness’ misses the mark as a translation of Pali sati. Preferable is ‘recollection.’ (9/2/2022)

More tips for the student confused by Buddhist technical terms. (Buddhist Terminology, talk 2, 8/26/2022)

Tips for the student confused by Buddhist technical terms. (Buddhist Terminology, talk 1, 8/19/2022)

What can we expect to result from the practice of Satipatthana? (Rethinking Satipatthana, talk 22, 8/12/2022)

Inclusion of the for noble truths under phenomena greatly extends the scope of the satipatthana. (Rethinking Satipatthana, talk 21, 8/5/2022)

We discuss how the practice of satipatthana helps us to perceive the world directly in terms of Dharma, to gain knowledge and vision of how things are. (Rethinking Satipatthana, talk 20, 7/29/2022)

The factors of awakening arise from satipatthana practice to produce concentration. Concentration in turn influences or rather interferes with the process of constructing the world. (Rethinking Satipatthana, talk 19, 7/22/2022)

The key exercises of the contemplation of phenomena are closely connected to the links of dependent coarising. We discuss what we can learn from this critical teaching. (Rethinking Satipatthana, talk 18, 7/15/2022)

We discuss the an alternative model of cognition in the Buddha’s teachings that accounts for the arising of the experiential world from the basis of the six senses. (Rethinking Satipatthana, talk 17, 7/8/2022)

We discuss the five aggregates of appropriation, a hugely important model of cognition in the Buddha’s teachings that accounts for the internal constructedness of the world. (Rethinking Satipatthana, talk 16, 7/1/2022)

We discuss the five sources of distraction in meditative and contempletive practice. (Rethinking Satipatthana, talk 15, 6/24/2022)

We introduce the fourth broad subject of contemplation, phenomena or experiences as described in the Dharma, a set of six exercises to be discussed in the following weeks. (Rethinking Satipatthana, talk 14, 6/17/2022)

We talk about the third broad subject of contemplation, states of mind. (Rethinking Satipatthana, talk 13, 6/10/2022)

We move past the body contemplations to contemplating our likes and dislikes. (Rethinking Satipatthana, talk 12, 6/3/2022)

We use the analogy of understanding clouds to illustrate the logic of internal analysis, then consider the contemplation of decaying corpses, which are much like clouds. (Rethinking Satipatthana, talk 11, 5/27/2022)

We take a closer look at internal analyis described in the satipatthana refrain, its logic and its function. Find supplementary materials at sitagu.org/shortlinks/satipatthana/ (Rethinking Satipatthana, talk 10, 5/20/2022)

We take up contemplation of elements, and consider to what extent we are examining something imagined as opposed to something imagined in the body contemplations. Find supplementary materials at sitagu.org/shortlinks/satipatthana/ (Rethinking Satipatthana, talk 9, 5/13/2022)

We take up contemplation of body parts and contemplation of elements. Find supplementary materials at sitagu.org/shortlinks/satipatthana/ (Rethinking Satipatthana, talk 8, 5/6/2022)

We investigate impermanence with respect to actions of the body. Find supplementary materials at sitagu.org/shortlinks/satipatthana/ (Rethinking Satipatthana, talk 7, 4/29/2022)

We take up the second satipatthana exercise, also among the body contemplations, and deepen our understanding of internal analysis. Find supplementary materials at sitagu.org/shortlinks/satipatthana/ (Rethinking Satipatthana, talk 6, 4/22/2022)

We take up the first of about twenty satipatthana exercises, and the first of the body contemplations: contemplation of breath. Find supplementary materials at sitagu.org/shortlinks/satipatthana/ (Rethinking Satipatthana, talk 5, 4/15/2022)

We begin reading the Satipatthana Sutta and introduce toolbox of mental faculties we are asked to maintain in the practice of Satipatthana. Find supplementary materials at sitagu.org/shortlinks/satipatthana/ (Rethinking Satipatthana, talk 4, 4/8/2022)

We discuss the role of right effort and right mindfulness in the Satipatthana. Find supplementary materials at sitagu.org/shortlinks/satipatthana/ (Rethinking Satipatthana, talk 3, 4/1/2022)

We discuss the role of right understanding and right samadhi in the Satipatthana. Find supplementary materials at sitagu.org/shortlinks/satipatthana/ (Rethinking Satipatthana, talk 2, 3/18/2022)