Buddhism Videos

We continue our discussion with Shambhala acharya, Judith Simmer-Brown, about how we can strategically invest in American Buddhism so that it survives in the long-term. We explored the first three areas of importance in-depth in part 1, which included the translation of core texts, the development of a monastic lineage, and the appointment of dharma heirs.In this part of the discussion we flesh out the details of the fourth area, which is royal patronage. Judith speaks about how, given a lack of that kind of support, most dharma teachers and organizations turn whole-heartedly to the market to sustain them. And with that come all sort of issues--including the pursuit of fame and fortune. We finish the discussion, going back to the question of whether we'll be able to develop a monastic community in the West, and why that's important to the healthy development of Buddhism in America.This is part 2 of a two-part series. Listen to part 1, The Survival of American Buddhism.

Show Notes: In this podcast, Guy Finley takes a look at why it is that we seem to repeat the same experiences over and over again, and what it is we need to understand about life if we want to be truly alive. Highlights: A person can spend many years searching for truth, and at a certain point, because his or her findings have been incomplete, that man or woman will begin to wonder whether or not an authentically fearless life actually exists. Truth itself wants you to know that not only does a life without fear exist, but that it is your right to have such a life. And yet there is an immense difference between suspecting that you are not intended to live with so much worry and anxiety, and the actual relationship with a life that is untouched by these negative states. As we are presently, we do not see the whole of our own lives. What does it mean to see the whole of something? Whenever "winter storms" come into our lives, we usually run from them because it is not the kind of weather that we want. Instead of staying with the whole movement of that season, of that moment, we bail on ourselves; or more accurately, something inside of us convinces us that this isn't the way that life is supposed to be. Life itself is cycles, but human beings do not allow the seasons of their own lives prove to them that there is something greater than the sum of its parts. The individual scenes in our lives are intended to change by themselves, but we exit the scene before the whole movement is complete, and therefore we repeat the same scenes over and over again. You are not the seasons of your life. However, the seasons that you resist become the whole of your life. When the season of suffering, of worry, heaviness, despair, or lack of inspiration passes through, you try to escape how you feel through yet another plan, and therefore you mistake the season for being the very center of your life. You can understand that everything comes and goes. You are not meant to be in control of life in the way that you currently think. You are meant to be conscious of the part of you that wants to control life. The only time that you think that you have to control an event is when you are afraid of what the event means to you; then it is not you who is in control, but fear that is in control. Fearlessness comes with a whole life. No real fear exists in the whole. Anger stays as anger, fear stays as fear, negative states remain as negative states because they are fed by resistance. When you do not feed a negative state through resistance, then under law that negative state must move through its natural course. These seasons of the soul move independent of your involvement with them. Who you really are has nothing to do with what comes and goes during your life. Who you really are is unimaginably greater than the sum of all of these parts. You can download this podcast here. Visit our Web site to see all past podcasts.

:

Agga Maha Kamatthana cariya Sayadaw Gyi U Kit Sar Ya Na gave this Saturday Dhamma Talk no. 67 (Meditation and Q&A) on 7th November 2009 at the London Mogok Yeiktha. The regular talks are now broadcast live at 7.30 pm UK time on Saturdays via VZO Conference connecting to MOGOKTALK using the latest VZO version. Up to 120 participants are accepted at any time during the talks.

:

Speakers: Roshi Joan Halifax & Sensei Beate Genko Stolte Sensei Beate begins the talk by exploring the five skandhas and encouraging sesshin participants to study the skandha of feeling in particular. The ancestors did exactly this, and it produced clarity in their lives. We too must be courageous and look at our experience through the skandhas. Roshi Joan illustrates this point with stories of the ancestors facing their fears and looking deeply into the nature of the mind, as we do in sesshin. We cannot gain insight by using a map or relying on sutras or teachings. We must rely on our own experience to awaken.