Category Archives: Dharma Practice

Daylong July 13, 2013 with Jeff Hardin on The Abhidhamma

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Join us on Saturday, July 13, 2013, from 9am to 4:30pm at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Stanislaus County in the Sarana Kuti, 2172 Kiernan Ave., Modesto, CA for a daylong with Jeff Hardin on:

The Abhidhamma



A Practice-Study Daylong on Buddhist Psychology

The Abhidhamma is perhaps humanity’s most precise and detailed system for understanding human thought and behavior. Found in the third basket of teachings of the Pali Canon, it describes physical and mental experience in minute detail and on the momentary level. The constituent parts of reality are analyzed and their diverse conditions and interactions are elucidated. More than mere theory, however, the Abhidhamma provides the meditator with a sophisticated yet clear map for dissecting momentary experience and realizing liberating insights into the nature of reality.

During this study-practice daylong we will look at the history, theory and practice of the Abhidhamma. Didactic, discussion and guided meditation sessions will be integrated in order to explore the deeper meanings and movements of the mind and to provide a framework for working with Buddhist psychology in one’s own meditation practice and life. Please join us for an interesting and thought-provoking retreat.

Jeff HardinJeff Hardin has been practicing meditation since 2000. His areas of interest are participating in residential meditation retreats, studying the original discourses of the Buddha (the Pali suttas), and providing international humanitarian relief work. He is on the board of the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies, a volunteer for Buddhist Global Relief, and a founder of Insight World Aid. He is a graduate of the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leaders program and a Sacramento Insight Meditation community mentor. His supervising teachers are John Travis and Gil Fronsdal. Jeff is an emergency room physician in the Sacramento area.

This day is freely offered to all.  Donations are gratefully accepted to support the teacher and future offerings.  Please bring a vegetarian potluck dish to share for lunch, if you would like.  For the sake of those who may have sensitivities or allergies, please do not wear scented or perfumed products.  If you have a meditation cushion, please bring it.  Chairs will be available.  Suitable for all-levels of practitioners. A printable flyer is available here.

Sarana Kuti is the small stand-alone building on the UUFSC property at the rear of the east parking lot (the building with red and gold trim). It is behind the Johnson Building.

For additional information, please contact Lori Wong at 209-343-2748

If you plan to come, please let us know (it helps to know if we need a larger space) by filling out the form below. Thank you!

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On teachers and teachings…

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Whatever questions you have, whatever you do not understand about yourself, you have to pursue. If you have any dissatisfaction, any discontentment, you need to pursue it. Teachings and teachers provide help, guidance, and orientation so that you don’t spend too much time dealing with the wrong issues. The teacher saves you time, energy and effort. But the teacher can’t do it for you. The teacher gives you guidelines to help you do the practice and to help you deal with yourself. –A.H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), “Inexhaustible Mystery”

On Refuge

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“Even if you cannot gain concentration, at least you can be mindful. If you are always mindful you may gain concentration. But whether you do or not, perpetual mindfulness is the remedy against depression. If you are always mindful, even when tired or disinclined, you will have no regrets. This is your final refuge; and it cannot fail; but it is not achieved without perpetual effort, and perpetual effort is not easy. Unless you determine on this effort you are lost. This is written in fair weather: read it in foul.”

– Ven. Nanavira Thera

The American Heritage® Dictionary defines refuge as:

  1. Protection or shelter, as from danger or hardship.
  2. A place providing protection or shelter.
  3. A source of help, relief, or comfort in times of trouble.

From the Dhammapada 188-192 [translated by Gil Fronsdal]:

People threatened by fear

    Go to many refuges:

To mountains, forests,

    Parks, trees, and shrines.

None of these is a secure refuge;

    None is a supreme refuge.

Not by going to such a refuge

    Is one released from all suffering.

But when someone going for refuge

    To the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha

Sees, with right insight,

    The Four Noble Truths:

        Suffering,

        The arising of suffering,

        The overcoming of suffering,

        And the Eightfold Path

        Leading to the ending of suffering,

Then this is the secure refuge;

    This is the supreme refuge.

By going to such a refuge

    One is released from all suffering.

Joseph Goldstein says in his book One Dharma, “…in their deeper meaning, the refuges always point back to our own actions and mind states. Although there may be many false starts and dead ends as we begin our journey, if our interest is sincere, we soon make a life-changing discovery: what we are seeking is within us.”

“In Buddhism, refuge is a metaphor for wakefulness or presence. It is reminder of the basic orientation in Buddhist practice, namely, that suffering comes to end only through being awake and present. … Another way to think about refuge is that you become a refugee. A refugee is someone who leaves a country or homeland because life is no longer tenable there. When you take refuge, you are acknowledging that a life based on habituated patterns is no longer tenable for you. You are prepared to set out into the mystery and rely on awareness, wherever it may lead you.”

                                                                            — Ken McLeod