Notes from the March 20 Sangha gathering

Dear Sangha:

It was wonderful seeing so many of you this afternoon. And it was an honor to have the Rev. Dainei Page Appelbaum of the Iowa City Zen Center sit with us, as well as Ellen Marie of the Iowa City Buddhist Community, which is sponsoring the upcoming visit of Khenchen Rinpoche April 1-3. Here are some of the remarks I made during our time together, as well as the announcements. 

“There’s no resting place when there’s fighting in the home.” (quote of an interview subject in a book on intimate partner violence by Janette Taylor, a faculty member at the University of Iowa College of Nursing and Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies)

• This applies to our interior life, too. We cannot be peace for others if we’re not at peace in our heart-mind.
• Meditation isn't about beating ourselves into submission. This isn't  about accomplishing something or being perfect, however we perceive that to look.
• It’s about observing the mind, making peace with the body and setting our attention to be fully awake.
• It can lead to dramatic experiences, sometimes; after especially fruitful meditations I have floated through days and weeks in a cocoon of happiness and peace. And of course, to no one’s surprise, the feelings changed and because I was clinging to that momentary happiness I often felt kind of depressed, let down, as if something went wrong. But nothing went wrong. Life was just being life.
• What we’re really after, then, isn’t dramatic experiences (though they occur and can encourage us in our practice) or permanent bliss (because nothing is permanent) but to incrementally, and rarely in a linear fashion, stretch the tent of our heart-mind to take in life exactly how it presents itself, without wanting it to be different. To be at ease with what is, as we talked about during our metta meditation last time. With pleasure and pain, loss and gain, praise and blame, fame and shame.
• Or imagine a spark plug, which ignites flammable gases and creates combustion. If the gap in the spark plug is widened, the spark can’t arc across the contact points. In the same way, we use meditation and other mindful practices to grow the gap so that the jolts of emotional energy we feel most of our waking hours take fractions of a second longer to ignite into words, actions, stories and thoughts that create suffering for us and for those around us.
• We become more spacious; more present.
• Viktor Frankl, an Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, says this: “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."
• Jack Kornfield: “When our heartfelt attention begins to separate the reality of the present from the endless waterfall of our thoughts, the world shines with a brilliant beauty.”
• So we settle into our posture -- backs straight, shoulders and body relaxed, solid points of contact with the earth, hands on our knees or in the mudra, one resting inside the other and thumbs touching.
• Then we find and follow our breath, not with heavy concentration, like someone trying to wrestle a bull to the ground, but with a light attention. Almost a kind of spacious playfulness.
• Breathing in, I know I’m breathing in; Breathing out, I know I’m breathing out.
• It should be very light. Very kind. Very gentle. Filled with compassion and a childlike curiosity we ask: what is this? Who am I? What is this feeling arising and who is it happening to?
• If thoughts arise? Label them thoughts, and imagine them floating off the television screen of your mind. If sounds or smells or other external factors draw your attention away from meditation, regard them with an interior smile, and return to the breath.
• If it’s helpful to have a little structure to your meditation, you might count in-breaths and out-breaths until you reach 10; and if, as can happen, you lose track or get distracted, begin again. Always being patient and kind with yourself. 
• Toward the end of our meditation, I read the following excerpt from the Tao Te Ching:

If you want to become whole,

let yourself be partial.

If you want to become straight,

let yourself be crooked.

If you want to become full,

let yourself be empty.

If you want to be reborn,

let yourself die.

If you want to be given everything,

give everything up. 

Before the Dharma Teaching on the Five Mindfulness Trainings I provided a little background on their origins:

• Most religions have moral and ethical rules and commandments that their adherents are expected to follow. Failing to follow the rules is considered a transgression against God and can, depending on the faith tradition, lead to punishment and suffering.
• By contrast, Buddhism has what are called precepts.
• These aren’t commandments or laws, and they’re not mandatory (unless you take monastic vows). But they’re not mere suggestions, either.
• The Pali word most often translated as "morality" is sila, but it has several meanings.
• Sila can refer to inner virtue--such as kindness and truthfulness--as well as the activity of those virtues in the world. It can also refer to the discipline of acting in a moral way.
• Sila is best understood as a kind of harmony. Buddhist texts explain that sila has the characteristic of harmonizing our actions of body and speech.
• There are five core Buddhist Precepts (although there are many more for monastics):
• Not killing
• Not stealing
• Not misusing sex
• Not lying
• Not abusing intoxicants
• If we decide to maintain the Precepts, it’s not just a matter of following or not following a set of rules. It’s about training ourselves to behave as a Buddha would behave. It’s about how we might live with clear hearts and minds, and without the conditioning that has shaped us from birth.
• As we begin to work with the Precepts we will find ourselves "breaking" or defiling them over and over. But just as in meditation, when we gently return our attention to our breath when our minds wander, we can think of this as similar to falling off a bicycle. We we can beat ourselves up about falling -- which tends to create more suffering -- or we can get back on the bicycle and start pedaling again.
• Zen teacher Chozen Bays: "We just keep on working, we are patient with ourselves, and on and on it goes. Little by little our life comes more into alignment with the wisdom that gives rise to the precepts. As our minds get clearer and clearer, it's not even a matter of breaking or maintaining the precepts; automatically they are maintained."
• To make the precepts available and accessible to lay practitioners, Thich Nhat Hanh developed the Five Mindfulness Trainings.
• The Mindfulness Trainings describe a deep morality that also can be followed by non-Buddhists as guidelines to a peaceful life.
• On the Plum Village website, Thay says this: “The Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world.”
• So this afternoon we’re going to read the Five Mindfulness Trainings aloud.
• We are not taking formal vows by reading the Mindfulness Trainings today; there is a formal ceremony for receiving them, usually offered at retreats. And you don’t have to believe, agree to, accept or even apply them.
• Rather, this is a chance to become acquainted with the Buddhist approach to living with integrity, or rather integration. If one of the trainings speaks to a particular area of your life where you are seeking integration or healing, you might meditate on it over the next week, reread it and reflect. Ask what it’s saying to you.

Announcements

• Next Saturday, March 26, at 9 a.m. we’ll do a Walking Meditation through Hickory Hill Park. Meeting at the entrance off of 1st Avenue, at the T-intersection with Stuart Court. Rain or shine, but you might wear shoes or boots that you don’t mind getting muddy, as the spring rains are preparing the ground for new growth. This will go about 45 minutes to an hour. Then after, those who are interested can join us at the 1st Avenue Java House for tea or coffee and mindful conversation. If you have friends or family in town for Easter who may be interested in learning more about our sangha, about Thich Nhat Hanh, about mindfulness, please invite them. There’s a small parking lot, and also residential parking just across the street.
• I’ve scheduled our next regular sangha gathering for 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 5 in ICPL Room A.
• Through my friend Cheryl I learned about yet another meditation group in the area, the Iowa City Buddhist Community. Ellen Marie is one of the facilitators. She announced on our meetup page that Tibetan teacher Khenchen Rinpoche will visit Iowa April 1-3 to teach how to achieve happiness through uniting wisdom and compassion. “Khenchen will be teaching from the text How to Find Happiness and Wisdom which elucidates key elements of Buddhist thought.” Visit http://www.iowabuddhist.com for more information. Or email info@iowabuddhist.com ....or if you want to talk to someone call 937-244-1961.
• Finally, a reminder for those who are new or who didn’t attend our last meeting, Jeet, the owner of Om gifts, has offered a 15 percent discount for items, including meditation cushions. You are under no obligation to buy anything there. But if you plan to, I have some business cards on which she’s written her name. Please tell them you are part of the Iowa City Sangha.

Walking Meditation March 26 at Hickory Hill Park

At 9 a.m. Saturday, March 26, you're invited to join us for Walking Meditation, or Mindful Walking, at Hickory Hill Park on the east side of Iowa City. We will meet at the entrance at 1st Avenue and Stuart Court. There is a small parking lot at this entrance of the park; additional residential parking available just across the street on Stuart Court.

We'll plan to walk rain or shine. So please dress appropriately and wear shoes or boots that you don’t mind getting muddy, as recent rains have been preparing the earth for new growth. 

Walking Meditation is a form of slow, silent and mindful walking, where we enjoy nature and "kiss" the earth with each step. You can see Thay leading a walking meditation in Barcelona, Spain, in 2014 here.

The walk will last about 45 minutes, after which those who are interested are invited to gather at the Java House further south along 1st Avenue for beverages and mindful conversation.

This is a great opportunity for newcomers who want to learn more about the Sangha, Thich Nhat Hanh, or mindfulness practice. If you have friends or family in town this Easter weekend, please feel free to invite them.

Finally, please let me know if you are in need of a ride. I'm happy to pick up anyone who doesn't have transportation, with advance notice. 

Highlights from March 3 Sangha Gathering

Good morning, Sangha:

For those unable to attend last night’s meeting know that you were missed and that you were held in our thoughts. It was wonderful to see several new faces last night as well.

Even when you can’t attend I hope that, wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, you’re able to pause and bring the Sangha to mind. If you are unable to meditate, taking several refreshing in-breaths and out-breaths can bring you back to your true home and connect you with the Sangha. As one member who couldn’t make last night’s gathering noted, “Even though I was stuck in a project, I stopped and mediated with my Sangha. It was amazing and renewed my energy for the project when I resumed my work.”

So we can water one another’s seeds no matter where we find ourselves.

Last night, for our meditation, we practiced metta or loving-kindness meditation. This was what I shared before we began:

Two Sundays ago I attended a half-day workshop on peacemaking modeled on the life and teachings of Gandhi. Attendees asked how they could speak into the political process wisely, balancing their concern about particular candidates or platforms against their desire for inner peace.

One woman said she sees her anger as a necessary catalyst for change. But it was also clear she wasn’t so sure this was the wisest path.

The moderator said it’s important to acknowledge the energy behind our feelings of anger, fear and anxiety without crossing over into hatred and demonization, which is a kind of violence we do to ourselves as well as others.

He said that while it’s good and appropriate to have boundaries and to work with all our gifts and passion to enact political change, no matter how much we may “win” we lose if we forfeit our inner peace and humanity. And peace must come from within.

One way to water the seeds of love and compassion, and to sustain us as we pursue peace in our own hearts, in our homes, in our communities, in our workplace, in the political arena, is through metta or loving-kindness meditation.

This practice isn’t about feeling good or happy or warm and fuzzy or accepting the behavior of people; it’s about setting our intention. About nurturing the bodhicitta, or awakened heart.

Pema Chodron writes: “Sometimes when we do this kind of bodhicitta practice, we touch on people who immediately awaken warm feelings in us. Other times, though, we just feel numb. And then there are the times when we contact the hardness of our heart. Noticing this is very good, because it shows us when we’re open and when we’re closed. We should notice all of these things with compassion and loving-kindness towards ourselves, because the more we’re able to feel tenderness towards ourselves, the more easily it flows to others.”

So the intention is enough. We take a posture that we wish for happiness of ourselves and the happiness of all. This is different from struggling to fabricate a certain feeling, to create it out of our will, to make it happen. We just settle back and plant the seeds without worrying about the immediate result. That is our work.

Metta can take a number of forms, and feel free to experiment with different words and phrases in your own practice. For today, I invite you to hold a particular person in your mind, starting with yourself. As we breathe in and out mindfully, we say to ourselves: “May I be safe from harm. May I be happy. May I be healthy. May I live with ease.” Then we repeat this.

Next, we move to someone who has inspired or encouraged our meditation practice, perhaps a spiritual role model.  As we hold this person in our minds, we again say: “May she be safe from harm. May she be happy. May she be healthy. May she live with ease.” And we repeat that.

Then we move to someone we love and care for deeply: a parent, a child, a partner, a dear friend. “May he be safe from harm. May he be happy. May he be healthy. May he live with ease.” Again, twice.

Then we bring to mind someone neutral – the bagger at the grocery store, or someone you see often but don’t know; someone who doesn’t stir up any particular feelings in you, good or bad. Just bring them to mind and repeat the metta lines twice.

Then move to someone who challenges us. If we haven’t done this before, it’s prudent to start with someone who doesn’t stir us up too much -- maybe a coworker, or a relative, who annoys us. In time, as you cultivate your practice, you might consider people who trigger you more deeply. It could be someone you know personally or could even be a politician or public figure you’ve never met but who stirs up feelings of anger and maybe even violence.

“May she be safe from harm, may she be happy, may she be healthy, may she live with ease.” Again, twice.

Finally, we bring to mind every living thing on the planet. “May they be safe from harm, may that be happy, may they be healthy, may they live with ease.”

At the conclusion of our meditation, I read the following:

Shantideva, Indian Buddhist sage 700 A.D., wrote the Bodhisattva Prayer for Humanity. His Holiness the Dalai Lama recites it each morning upon awakening:

May I be a guard for those who need protection

A guide for those on the path

A boat, a raft, a bridge for those who wish to cross the flood

May I be a lamp in the darkness

A resting place for the weary

A healing medicine for all who are sick

A vase of plenty, a tree of miracles

And for the boundless multitudes of living beings

May I bring sustenance and awakening

Enduring like the earth and sky

Until all beings are freed from sorrow

And all are awakened.

And this, a Zen saying:

“In spiritual practice there are only two things: you sit and you sweep the garden. It doesn't matter how big the garden is.”

For the Dharma Talk, we read from “The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching” by Thich Nhat Hanh, pp. 24-27.

During announcements, I shared that I will be out of town the week of spring break, and that because some of our members have requested a weekend meeting time, I’ve scheduled Iowa City Public Library Room B for 1:30-3 p.m. Sunday, March 20. I hope to see you there.

I also shared that I’d like to plan a walking meditation, following by a conversation at a local coffee shop, some upcoming weekend, now that the weather is slowly getting warmer. I’ll share more on that soon.

Finally, Jeet Sain, the owner of Om gifts in downtown Iowa City, has graciously offered members of the Iowa City Sangha a 15 percent discount on meditation cushions. Of course there’s no obligation to buy a cushion, or to buy one from there, but if you’re inclined, I have several business cards with a note from her. Otherwise, you might just mention that you’re from the Sangha.

At the end of our meeting, we introduced a practice common in Sanghas: Sharing the Merit of our Practice. This was a chance for us to call to mind someone we know who is suffering or might otherwise benefit from any merit acquired through our meditation practice.

Finally, thanks to those who came up to ask if they could help with future Sangha meetings. I’m touched by your generosity and will certainly take you all up on the offer. As the saying goes, many hands make light work!

Wishing all of a mindful and centered weekend.

Stephen