DharmaMind Buddhist Group

The Principles of the Spiritual Path Part 3

This talk completes the trilogy on the principles of the spiritual path with some emphasis on meditation, and the need to always be cultivating the ability to get to know yourself with insight in the context of a spacious mind that points continually to your true nature. There is also attention given to two features that are often seen as controversial in modern western buddhism - surrender and service. These features have shown to be have been exploited by some teachers who want control and power over their students. This danger needs to be guarded against with utmost diligence, but to dismiss these two principles as not being necessary for the cultivation of the spiritual path runs the danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

The Principles of the Spiritual Path Part 2

This second talk focuses primarily on learning to 'Trust your Inner Guru' which means for us buddhists to make contact with and recognise buddha nature. This along with our type of meditation defines this path as being both spiritual and buddhist. All other features of this path can be assigned to the universal pursuit of the spiritual path and other practices too. Many buddhists in the west these days are marginalising the concept of buddha nature as being irrelevant but by doing this how can what we practice be then said to be a spiritual path? It is only when we open to and embrace our own inner nature beyond the conditioning that we are familiar with do we find the bridge to the unconditioned, true liberation from birth and death and our eternal divine nature.

The Principles of the Spiritual Path Part 1

What is the spiritual path and how should it be defined? In these talks this path although common to all those with spiritual aspirations is viewed from a dharmic training viewpoint with it's unique perspective on self and buddha nature. Each of the 12 principles is investigated with only 2 of those principles seen as being uniquely Buddhist. After an introduction, the first principle to be looked at is 'Acceptance of life's Vicissitudes' and how to find the middle way and equanimity in the midst of the up's and down's of everyday living.

The Great Adventure

To engage with this type of dharma training it is important to know the correct spirit that should always be with you. This training is not a cerebral exercise but much of one that takes place in the body and the emotions. It is important therefore to consider that you are not so much on a path with a sense of duality but rather engaging directly with an adventure. An adventure is something that you can never be certain of its outcome yet retail the excitement of alway going into what will always be the unknown. Step outside of the comfort zone you've created for yourself that houses the dukkha you experience into something that may evoke fear but step into it anyway. Take a chance, and see how it works out, This is the spirit of our training.

Beyond Death - the Eternal Flow

Yesterday in the talk recorded at Anybodys Barn there was the focus on the reality of death which comes to all living things. Today the talk focuses on the logic that if some living thing dies it therefore means that at some point it must have come into being or been born. This notion of being born and dying needs to be seen as a creation of a mind that misunderstands what it is actually experiencing with this idea of a beginning and an end. When we learn to see this we can return to the truth in that everything is not broken up in this way but is rather in a state of flux and so see that nothing actually dies because it was never born in the first place.

The Myth of Death

Life comes to an end for all of us, this we all know. Because of this reality it should be seen that it is very important to prepare yourself for that event because expectations of this will have a profound impact on life as you now experience it, and also what follows. We learn through thinking and reinforcing a sense of self to create our experiences as a world of mental dharmas and objects all separate, independent and always changing. This way of seeing things creates the notion that everything is born, lives and dies. We too along with our body are a part of that apparent reality. Yet, there is part of ourselves to be discovered that is not a part of that cycle of birth and death. When we discover that part as being our true reality we discover that the event of death is just a play of the mind and a myth that has possessed us all of our lives. Take refuge there in the silent stillness of who you really are and you will live life without fear.

Finding Joy Within Practice

We all come to this practice because we don't feel satisfied or fulfilled with life as it is, so us practitioners are inevitably draw to the experiences of dukkha and see them as the cause of our malaise. This is what is seen to need to change if we are to achieve our desire for fulfillment. The problem with this is that we can so easily focus almost exclusively on this negative side of ourselves to the exclusion of the positive side that we all have, and the positive side of this wonderful and mysterious world that we all live in. So to change we need to turn ourselves not exclusively to the negative but also to the positive, and include life itself, to create an antidote that will help disempower and counterbalance dukkha so allowing it to fade and fall away.

Q & A - Session 2

On this the final day of the ninth Snowdonia retreat at Trigonos we continue with a richly diverse question and answer session started the day before covering the extensive teachings of the DharmaMind group. These teachings embrace every aspect of training from the basic understanding of meditation to the direct discovery of your true nature. These teachings point to what is needed to grow into and embrace with a wholehearted spirit the commitment needed to break free of the conditioned nature that diminish human potential, and discover that part of ourselves that is not touched by this conditioning and so return to who we really are - a true warm-hearted human being, mysterious and eternal.

Q & A - Session 1

After 4 talks that focused on the main features of the DharmaMind practice, the students of the group now have the opportunity with this session the opportunity to clarify aspects of the training through the first of 2 question and answer periods - For example: What are the tools we use for developing insight? How do I let go of insight? Are dreams significant on the path?

Complete Teachings - Talk 4

Vipaśyanā is a Sanskrit word translated means insight which is the instigator of transformation; and in this fourth talk we go deeply into this important feature of the Buddha's path. For us in our group we don't follow insight formulas but rather have without picking and choosing an open forum to all of our experiences both on and off the meditation cushion. When we come to discover our innate 'blue sky' of stillness we learn to bring the insight tools of investigation characterised by the 'white cloud' to our practice. Here we discover the ancient practice of 'silent illumination' which for us is the pinnacle of our commitment and which when cultivated can take us like an arrow to complete liberation.