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2024-03-26 I Inquiry I Are You Clear About Practice? I Flint Sparks by Appamada
Ordinary things are all Extra-Ordinary | Joel Barna 00:02:31 - A Reading from 'After Buddhism' by Stephen Batchelor 00:07:36 - Joel gives instructions on how to write a Pantoum Poem (Please see below) 00;11:56 - Joel’s Pantoum 00:13:18 - Joel explains how to format the 8 lines into a Pantoum 00:15:09 - Participants Write for 10 Minutes 00:15:19 - Instruction for Connecting Rooms/Groups 00:15:49 - Participants go into Breakout Rooms/Groups for 10 Minutes 00:15:58 - Some of the Participants share their Pantoums 00:22:31 - Joel begins to bring the meeting to a close Pantoum Instructions below: 1. A line about something that’s become ordinary for you; 2. Where does this ordinary thing happen? 3. A line about time: When did you notice this ordinary thing had become ordinary? 4. Other surrounding events: what happens before it? what happens after it? 5. What is a single feeling you have about this ordinary thing? 6. What do you most wish to say about this ordinary thing? (You may wish to imagine yourself speaking to a person you think will listen: it could be yourself.) 7. A line showing us an object that’s associated with this ordinary; 8. Something about your body and this ordinary. Then arrange the lines in this order: 1st verse 1 2 3 4 2nd verse 2 5 4 6 3rd Verse 5 7 6 8 4th Verse 7 3 8 1
The Depth in Practice group discusses Case 20: Dizang asked Fayan, "Where are you going?"// Fayan said, "Around on pilgrimage." // Dizang said, "What is the purpose of pilgrimage?" // Fayan said, "I don't know." // Dizang said, "Not knowing is most intimate." // Depth in Practice meets virtually at Appamada every week. Anyone is welcome to join the group! If you are interested in joining, please go to the calendar at appamada.org to find the link for the group. If you would like to donate to Appamada, please go to appamada.org and click on the contribute button at the bottom of the page.
The Depth in Practice group discusses Case 19: A monk asked Yunmen, “Not a single thought arises: is there any fault or not?” // Yunmen said, “Mt. Sumeru.” // [According to Jain cosmology, Mount Meru (or Sumeru) is at the center of the world surrounded by Jambūdvīpa, in the form of a circle forming a diameter of 100,000 yojans. (description from Wikipedia)] Depth in Practice meets virtually at Appamada every week. Anyone is welcome to join the group! If you are interested in joining, please go to the calendar at appamada.org to find the link for the group. If you would like to donate to Appamada, please go to appamada.org and click on the contribute button at the bottom of the page.
The Depth in Practice group continues discussing Case 18: A monk asks Zhaozho, "Does the dog have Buddha Nature?" // Zhaozho says, "Yes." // The monk says, "Since it has, why is it then in this skin bag?" // Zhaozho replies, "Although he knows better he deliberately transgresses." // Another monk comes along: "Does the dog have Buddha Nature?" // "No," Zhaozho says. (The Japanese word "Mu" means " no.") // The monk says, "All beings have Buddha Nature, why not this dog?" // "Because he still has a mind," Zhaozho answers. // Depth in Practice meets virtually at Appamada every week. Anyone is welcome to join the group! If you are interested in joining, please go to the calendar at appamada.org to find the link for the group. If you would like to donate to Appamada, please go to appamada.org and click on the contribute button at the bottom of the page.
Horizonless Intimacy Dear Friends, I captured this image as I took an early morning walk along the beach in Bray, Ireland (County Wicklow) this past Monday morning (7/28/08). I was looking across the Irish Sea as the sun made its way up through the clouds. If I would have been able to see beyond the horizon where the sea and the sky appear to meet, I would have found northern Wales on the other shore. In fact, on the previous afternoon while walking along another stretch of beach just south of Bray near Newcastle I ran upon a granite marker tucked among the boulders of the seawall protecting the railroad that passed nearby. On the opposite side of the the railway from the nearly hidden marker was an abandoned and decaying building. The marker indicated that it was from this site and this tiny station that underwater telegraph cables were first laid beginning in the late 1880's, connecting Ireland and Wales. These connections were in use through the early 1930's. What happened then? I suppose technology changed what was possible. Horizons for communication were extended and expanded. If my view across the Irish Sea could have extend even further that morning, beyond the Welch border, I would have encountered the midlands of England where I had just spent the previous two weeks teaching and walking on the moors of Derbyshire. Further still and the English Channel would have come into view and then the Netherlands, France, and the whole European continent. Where would it have ended? With a higher or more complete view, when obstructions or limitations are released, when horizons vanish, what can be seen? Apparently there is no end to the great view of a liberated mind, which I am only imagining, even while my particular human senses are, of course, quite limited. These past three weeks have been very concentrated for me - many days of teaching and very deep encounters. I worked with a number of wonderful people who were wholeheartedly offering themselves to a process of assisted self-discovery in mindfulness. They were curious about what they could see and what horizons they might explore as their self-identifications relaxed into the more diffuse awareness and warmth of intimacy. In my reading this morning, I ran across this brilliant statement by the late Irish poet John O'Donohue: "In the human face infinity becomes personal." As I turned my attention to the vastness of the morning sky, into the cold wind, and toward the glistening sea last Monday, my awareness expanded and opened, inviting the unbound possibilities of my heart and mind to know themselves more fully. In the very next moment, in the reflected light of that same morning sun as I turned and looked into the eye of my friend Donna with whom I was walking, that vastness became personal, close, and alive. This is also what I saw in the faces of the participants in the retreats over these past three weeks. In the reflected presence they offered to each other, they began to see their own brilliance and fullness, flaws and limitations, all perfect because they were whole. This is the same infinitely transformative potential I see in the faces of each person who brings themselves forward in our Inquiry Groups, who come to practice discussion, and who sit in the zendo every day. We offer ourselves to each other so we can remember our vulnerable humanness and, in the bargain, get a glimpse of the divine. "In the human face infinity becomes personal." What are the limits of this liberating intimacy? Our spiritual ancestors suggest that it is boundless. Let's turn to face each other again and again, and in that reflected presence, discover this truth to be our own. ~Flint
The Depth in Practice group discusses Case 18: A monk asks Zhaozho, "Does the dog have Buddha Nature?" // Zhaozho says, "Yes." // The monk says, "Since it has, why is it then in this skin bag?" // Zhaozho replies, "Although he knows better he deliberately transgresses." // Another monk comes along: "Does the dog have Buddha Nature?" // "No," Zhaozho says. (The Japanese word "Mu" means " no.") // The monk says, "All beings have Buddha Nature, why not this dog?" // "Because he still has a mind," Zhaozho answers. // Additional links for this session: Buddha Nature: https://justthiszen.blogspot.com/2012/03/buddhathief-nature-buddhathief-nature.html Kim’s take: https://justthiszen.blogspot.com/2012/03/do-dogs-have-buddha-nature-by-kim.html Chinese: https://justthiszen.blogspot.com/2009/05/dog-from-wumenguan.html Depth in Practice meets virtually at Appamada every week. Anyone is welcome to join the group! If you are interested in joining, please go to the calendar at appamada.org to find the link for the group. If you would like to donate to Appamada, please go to appamada.org and click on the contribute button at the bottom of the page.
00:00:33 - Dharma Talk 00:02:43 - 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 honourably. 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. Rumi 00:03:30 - “An Ordinary Day,” by Norman MacCaig I took my mind a walk or my mind took me a walk– whichever was the truth of it. The light glittered on the water or the water glittered in the light. Cormorants stood on a tidal rock with their wings spread out, stopping no traffic. Various ducks shilly-shallied here and there on the shilly-shallying water. An occasional gull yelped. Small flowers were doing their level best to bring to their kerbs bees like aerial charabancs. Long weeds in the clear water did Eastern dances, unregarded By shoals of darning needles. A cow started a moo but thought better of it… And my feet took me home and my mind observed to me, or I to it, how ordinary extraordinary things are or how extraordinary ordinary things are, like the nature of the mind and the process of observing. By MacCaig 00:05:35 - Joel leads a 6 minute Body Scan 00:30:32 - Joel takes us through a contemplation of the 3 poisons (2 minutes) 00:39:09 - Joel Invites Reflections MB
2024-03-15 |Day 1 | One Day+ Sit | The Hindrances | Joel Barna
2023-10-08 | Class 9 | Taking Up the Way of Supporting Life | With Joel Barna & Robin Bradford 00:00:26 - Joel Opens up the Meeting 00:02:20 - Joel Talks About the Precept ‘Taking Up the Way of Supporting Life and Not Killing’ 00:15:06 - Poem by David Whyte - No Path 00:17:43 - Joel Guides Us All Into Sitting for 10 Minutes 00:19:01 - Robin Talks About the Precept ‘I Vow to Take Up the Way of Supporting All Life’, and Discusses the use of Language around the Precepts 00:29:20 - Robin Invites Comments 00:43:41 - Robin Introduces the Topics for the breakout Room Exercises 00:43:46 - !st Question - Is a “no kill” animal shelter working if animals suffer due to poor living conditions? 00:44:45 - 2nd Question - Can someone following the precepts eat meat? 00:45:39 - 3rd Question - Can one consume fossil fuels (drive a car, fly in a plane) knowingly contributing to climate crisis? 00:45:55 - 4th Question - Is euthanasia – the “painless killing of a patient with an incurable disease” – okay? 00:46:45 - Guidance for Connection Rooms - In Groups for 15 Minutes - sit for 1 minute - Discuss from the heart. Actively listen. Speak to essence. Notice what’s simultaneously happening in your body - where is there tightness, where is there heat, maybe boredom, withdrawal - just notice 00:49:15 - Robin Invites Reflections 01:03:37 - The Next Precept - To Not Disparage the Triple Treasures - Joel will be sending out Materials for this precept soon No Path ~David Whyte There is no path that goes all the way. Not that it stops us lookingfor the full continuation. The one line in the poemwe can start and follow straight to the end. The fixed belief we can hold, facing a stranger that saves us the trouble of a real conversation. But one day you are not just imagining an empty chair where your loved one sat.You are not just telling a story where the bridge is down and there’snowhere to cross. You are not just trying to pray to a God you imagined would keep you safe. No you’ve come to the place where nothing you’ve done will impress and nothing you can promise will avert the silent confrontation,the place where your body already seems to know the way having kept to the last its own secret reconnaissance. But still, there is no path that goes all the way one conversation leads to another one breath to the next until there’s no breath at all just the inevitablefinal release of the burden. And then your life will have to start all over again for you to know even a little of who you had been. ~David Whyte MB (Public)
00:00:19 - Class 6 Begins 00:00:25 - Joel Weaves the Precept and Preliminaries Together 00:01:26 - Training in the The Preliminaries - Joel Describes These… 00:01:53 - The 1st Preliminary - The Rarity and Preciousness of Human Life 00:04:45 - The Inevitability of Death 00:05:29 - The Awesome and Indelible Power of Our Actions 00:12:27 - Joel Describes the Activity for the Connecting Rooms 00:14:43 - Questions for the Connection Rooms: What is stealing? How might it arise in my life?/How can I know what is freely given?/Do I steal from myself? If so, how?/What is generosity? Is it the same or different from giving freely? How might it be expressed without reinforcing a separate sense self? - Connection Rooms for 15 Mins in Groups of 3 00:14:56 - Thoughts/Reflections from the Connection Rooms 00:35:29 - Joel Offers Some Words from Peg Syverson About Metta Practice 00:40:29 - Joel Begins the Meta Practice 00:42:47 - Joel Talks About Offering Dana to Appamada - (Appamada.org/contribute) 00:45:13 - Next Months Class MB (Public)
2024-03-12 I Inquiry I Nothing and Nobody I Flint Sparks by Appamada
00:00:26 - Joel Offers an Overview of the Class 00:03:11 - Sitting for 10 Minutes Offering Metta/Joel then Begins with the Precept ‘Speaking Truthfully’, and The 8 Fold Path’ 00:13:07 - Joel Invites Participants to Share their 'Recasting' of the Precept 'I Take Up the Way Of Speaking Truthfully 00:35:54 - Jessica Talks About Hakomi and how to Cultivate Loving Presence 00:47:09 - Joel Offers An Exercise for the breakout Rooms (15 Minutes long - 3/4 People in Each Room) 00:51:38 - Joel Invites Reflections on the breakout Room Exercise 00:55:28 - Joel Introduces 'Right Speech' and Gives The Readings for the Next Month - Chapters 6 and 7 in Waking Up To What You Do By Diane Eshin Rizzetto, Bringing the Class to a Close MB - (Public)
2023-02-02 | Class 1 | Precepts | Joel Barna 00:00:29 - Joel Gives Words of Gratitude, and Welcomes Everyone 00:02:34 - Please Pause Video Here if You'd Like to to Sit for 3 Minutes 00:02:48 - Joel Invites the Participants to Introduce Themselves 00:15:23 - Joel Offers an Overview Of the Class, Outlining the Offerings 00:17:48 - Ann Talks About The Verse of the Robe and Sewing - How Buddha's Robe Relates to the Precepts 00:33:46 - Joel Talks About The Buddhist Precepts - What Taking the Precepts Requires/Means 00:52:16 - Joel Talks About the Learning Record 01:01:27 - Participants Go Into Breakout Rooms 01:01:48 - Closing Comments/Questions Book Mentioned During the Class: Waking Up to What You Do: A ZEN Practice for Meeting Every Situation - A Zen Practice for Meeting Every Situation with Intelligence and Compassion MB (Public)
00:00:27 - Dharma Talk 00:15:06 - Exercise - 1. Consider something that you struggled with (were stuck in for quite a while). 00:15:50 - 2. While you were suffering - Did you seek out for help? Or did you stay in solitude? 00:16:11 - 3. How did you deal with it? Did you separate from other people? 00:16:46 - 4. In retrospect, what helped most in getting through your suffering, and did being aroung other people have an impact 00:17:34 - Participants go into breakout rooms for 20 minutes - 10 minutes to write/10 minutes to share 00:17:42 - Laurie invites Questions/reflections
2024-02-24 | Dharma Talk | Spiritual Bypassing | Laurie Winnette
Gateway to the Temple: Homage to Lahaina ~ Flint Sparks At the entry gate of every temple, a great bell waits. When struck, a deep resonant call is sent out, A powerful sound, but something closer to gravity, Invisibly pulling us across the threshold into a sacred space, Toward the promise of the perfected love we secretly long for; A divine love which is equally terrifying As it beautifully consumes and nourishes us. On that Summer day in August there was no bell. No call was sent out; No signal, no warning announcing the impending destruction. Only the savage wind, Tearing down the dry, ragged slopes Carrying one small spark Which would destroy a town. And now we gather in safety at the blackened boundary, Not able to enter, although we long to help, Not able to turn away, even though the bearing witness is awful. Instead we find ourselves at this thin place between life and death, Called by the resonant silence of those who are gone And the compassionate cry arising from our own hearts. But isn’t it always like this for us? Hesitating to enter the frightening places which could save us. Pausing, unable to move, Knowing we have to go there, to do what we have to do. Crossing the turbulent threshold where love and loss collide. Like the powerful winter swells pounding the shoreline, Impossibly rearranging mountains of sand, Over and over again. Life heaves itself into being, in all of its wild beauty, And then inexorably sweeping it all away, Only to offer it all back, again and again. Maybe this is what the temple bell is signaling: The willingness to carry on, even knowing the disturbing truth of impermanence and uncertainty; The faith to continue to care for each other, even when we’ve been emptied and discouraged; And a boundless hope which holds firm, even as everything changes without warning. The temple gate is now in ashes, The great bell is silent. Can you hear it?
2024-03-03 | A reading written by Ed Browne ‘The Ten thousand Idiots’ | with Ann Lipscomb 00:00:27 - A reading from The Most Important Point: Zen Teachings of Edward Espe Brown ‘The Ten thousand Idiots’ 00:12:28 - Reading ends 00:13:55 - Ann opens up the floor for Questions/comments 00:39:50 - Announcements
2024-0-27 I Inquiry I En-Couragement I Trudy Johnson by Appamada
2024-02-20 I Inquiry I The glass is already broken I Suzanne Kilkus by Appamada
2024-02-18 | Dharma Talk | 'Skillfull Means, Practice, and Mistakes | Ellen Hippard 00:00:20 - Dharma Talk 00:18:20 - Ellen Invites comments and reflections
2024-02-13 I Inquiry I I Took My Mind a Walk I Josh Gifford by Appamada
The Depth in Practice group discusses the following case: Fayan asked Xiushan, “A hairsbreadth's difference is as the distance between heaven and earth'-- how do you understand?” Xiushan said, “A hairsbreadth's difference is as the distance between heaven and earth.” Fayan said, “How can you get it that way?” Xiushan said, “I am just thus--what about you?” Fayan said, “A hairsbreadth's difference is as the distance between heaven and earth.” Xiushan thereupon bowed. Depth in Practice meets virtually at Appamada every week. Anyone is welcome to join the group! If you are interested in joining, please go to the calendar at appamada.org to find the link for the group. If you would like to donate to Appamada, please go to appamada.org and click on the contribute button at the bottom of the page.
00:00:21 - Dharma Talk 00:28:25 - Meeting with Joel
2024-02-05 I Inquiry I Just Say Something! I Josh Gifford by Appamada
Depth in Practice discusses the following koan: Magu, ringed staff in hand, came to Zhangjing; he circled the meditation seat three times, shook his staff once, and stood there at attention. // Zhangjing said, Right, right.” // Magu also went to Nanquan, circled the meditation seat three times, shook his staff, and stood there at attention. // Nanquan said, “Wrong, wrong.” // Magu said, “Zhangjing said ‘right’ — why do you say ‘wrong’?” // Nanquan said, “Zhangjing is right—it’s you who’s wrong. This is something that can be blown by the power of the wind—it inevitably disintigrates.” // Depth in Practice meets virtually at Appamada every week. Anyone is welcome to join the group! If you are interested in joining, please go to the calendar at appamada.org to find the link for the group. If you would like to donate to Appamada, please go to appamada.org and click on the contribute button at the bottom of the page.
The Depth in Practice group continues to discuss the following koan: "Where have you come from?" // Yangshan said, "From the rice field." // Guishan said, "How many people are there in the rice field?" // Yangshan thrust his hoe into the ground and stood with his hands folded on his chest. // Gusishan said, "There are a great number of people cutting thatch on the South Mountain." // Yangshan took up his hoe and left immediately. Depth in Practice meets virtually at Appamada every week. Anyone is welcome to join the group! If you are interested in joining, please go to the calendar at appamada.org to find the link for the group. If you would like to donate to Appamada, please go to appamada.org and click on the contribute button at the bottom of the page.
The Depth in Practice group discusses the following koan: "Where have you come from?" // Yangshan said, "From the rice field." // Guishan said, "How many people are there in the rice field?" // Yangshan thrust his hoe into the ground and stood with his hands folded on his chest. // Gusishan said, "There are a great number of people cutting thatch on the South Mountain." // Yangshan took up his hoe and left immediately. Depth in Practice meets virtually at Appamada every week. Anyone is welcome to join the group! If you are interested in joining, please go to the calendar at appamada.org to find the link for the group. If you would like to donate to Appamada, please go to appamada.org and click on the contribute button at the bottom of the page.
00:00:26 - Robin Offers Teachings from. 'The Shamanic Bones of Zen' 00:20:07 - Robin Offers Instructions for the Connection Rooms: ‘In what ways, if any, have you experienced Zen practice as embodied, connecting to nature and ancestors, and/or mysterious and beyond the logical mind?’ 00:25:29 - Robin Invites Reflections and Comments The Shamanic Bones of Zen: Revealing the Ancestral Spirit and Mystical Heart of a Sacred Tradition By Zenju Earthlyn Manuel (Author), Paula Arai (Author)
2024-01-30 I Inquiry I Everyday Radiance I Flint Sparks by Appamada
