Resources from the Saturday Daylong on Service as a Meditative Practice

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A few words of wisdom from Jack Kornfield:

When genuine compassion and wisdom come together, we honor, love, praise, and include both ourselves and others. Instead of holding the ideal that we should be able to give endlessly with compassion for all beings “except me,” we find compassion for all beings including ourselves. The separation of self and others melts away. –Jack Kornfield, “A Path with Heart“

I’ve added a page of Buddhist Service Organizations to the website.

If you’re interested, here is the latest Insight World Aid eNewsletter vol 2-1.

Here is a link to the talks from the daylong.

Here are links to the Study and Book Resources that Jeff provided:

Study Resources:
Metta sutta study guide by Andrew Olendzki of the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. An excellent collection of materials for the study of and practice with the metta sutta. http://www.dharma.org/bcbs/ReadingRoom.html

The Spirit of Service Audio Series by Frank Ostaseski: http://www.sfinsight.org/talks.html.

Service Daylong audio files and other resources by Jeff Hardin and others on the Sacramento Insight Meditation website: www.sactoinsight.org.

Books:
The Engaged Spiritual Life: A Buddhist Approach to Transforming Ourselves and the World, by Donald Rothberg, 2006, Beacon Press.

Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness by Sharon Salzberg, 2004, Shambhala Publications.

How Can I Help? Stories and Reflections on Service, by Ram Dass & Paul Gorman, 1985, Alfred A. Knopf.

For a Future to Be Possible: Commentaries on the Five Mindfulness Trainings, by Thich Nhat Hanh, 1993, Parallax Press.

Here is the Service as a Meditative Practice Handout from the daylong.

Sacramento 2011 Vesak – Buddha Day

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Here is something that might be fun to attend nearby:

Vesak is celebrated in Buddhist countries and communities around the world to honor the birthday and teachings of the historical Buddha. While local celebrations have been held before, this year’s “Sacramento Buddha Day Event” brings together many Buddhist communities and meditation organizations to celebrate the 2600th anniversary of the Buddha’s life. The festivities offer a chance for Buddhist and non-Buddhist meditation practitioners to interact and learn, and for the general community to experience Asian culture and Buddhist teachings.

The Value of Stillness

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Some quotes from Tuesday night’s talk:

“Peace is a natural mind-state in every one of us.  Peace has been there since the day we were born and it is going to be there till the day we die.  ….
Experiencing peace is like looking at our hands.  Usually, we see only the fingers — not the spaces in between.  In a similar manner, when we look at the mind, we are aware of the active states, such as our running thoughts and the one-thousand-and-one feelings that are associated with them, but we tend to overlook the intervals of peace between them.” — Thynn Thynn, Living Meditation, Living Insight

‘We tend to be particularly unaware that we are thinking virtually all the time.  The incessant stream of thoughts flowing through our minds leaves us very little respite for inner quiet.  And we leave precious little room for ourselves anyway just to be, without having to run around doing things all the time.  Our actions are all too frequently driven rather than undertaken in awareness, driven by those perfectly ordinary thoughts and impulses that run through the mind like a coursing river, if not a waterfall.  We get caught up in the torrent and it winds up submerging our lives as it carries us to places we may not wish to go and may not even realize we are headed for.

Meditation means learning how to get out of this current, sit by its bank and listen to it, learn from it, and then use its energies to guide us rather than to tyrannize us.  This process doesn’t magically happen by itself.  It takes energy.  We call the effort to cultivate our ability to be in the present moment “practice” or “meditation practice.”‘ — Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever Yo Go, There You Are

“We’ve come to believe that the core capacity needed for accessing the field of the future is presence. We first thought of presence as being fully conscious and aware in the present moment. Then we began to appreciate presence as deep listening, of being open beyond one’s preconceptions and historical ways of making sense. We came to see the importance of letting go of old identities and the need to control….Ultimately, we came to see all these aspects of presence as leading to a state of “letting come,”of consciously participating in a larger field for change. When this happens, the field shifts, and the forces shaping a situation can shift from re-creating the past to manifesting or realizing an emerging future.” – Peter Senge

This Moment

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this moment
when compared to
remembered moments
is boring
.
but if I look closely
at all remembered moments
I find them just as boring
and for the same reason
.
the missing moment
the beautiful moment
the perfect moment
where all is fine
DOES NOT EXIST
it must be created
by taking any boring moment
(like this current moment)
and realizing quite clearly
that the only thing preventing
this moment from being
that beautiful moment
(that special moment)
is the act of comparison
.
one must embrace this boring moment
and make it that special moment
.
otherwise it will never exist
.
~ Benjamin Dean

The Simplicity of Freedom

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Love is born each time the intention is made to open the heart to whatever is here;
Freedom is found when the heart doesn’t hold on.

Here are the traditional words and Gil’s “common” words/phrases for the 7 factors of awakening:
mindfulness -> here
investigation -> what
energy -> this
joy -> yes
calm -> relax
concentration -> collect (or composure)
equanimity -> it’s okay

Service as a Meditative Practice – A daylong with Jeff Hardin on April 16

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Insight Meditation Modesto will be offering a daylong with Jeff Hardin of Sacramento Insight Meditation on Saturday, April 16th, from 9am to 4:00pm at Doctors Medical Center, 1441 Florida Ave., Conference Center, room 1, Modesto, CA (the Conference Center is the building between the parking structure and the emergency department) on:

Service as a Meditative Practice: A Study and Practice Daylong

Given all of the chaos in the world, there is a seemingly endless call to be of service to others. We do this daily on an individual level with our friends, loved ones, and even ourselves.  We can also get involved in service with volunteer organizations.  Regardless of what shape our helping takes, it is important to approach service with wisdom and compassion.  Using mindfulness we can investigate our internal and external experience before, during, and after helping others.  When we act from the stability of our insight meditation practice we have a better chance of being helpful without unintentionally harming ourselves or others.  This daylong retreat will look at service as a practice of meditative awareness.  We will alternate periods of discussion with sitting and walking meditation. There will be a brief slide presentation of examples of service and ample opportunities for sharing our experience.

Jeff 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 international humanitarian relief work. He teaches meditation as a community mentor for the Sacramento Insight Meditation group. He is on the boards of Insight World Aid, the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies, and the Folsom Pathways Sangha.  He also volunteers for Buddhist Global Relief. He is enrolled in the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leaders (CDL4) 2-year training program.  His supervising teachers are John Travis and Gil Fronsdal. Jeff works as an emergency room physician in Sacramento.

This day is offered by Insight Meditation Modesto and Jeff Hardin. Donations for Jeff and Insight Meditation Modesto are gladly accepted. Please bring a vegetarian potluck dish to share for lunch.  If you wish to sit on the floor and have a zabuton and/or meditation cushion, please bring it.  Chairs will be available.

For the sake of those who may have allergies or sensitivities, we kindly request that you do not wear any perfumes or other scented products to this workshop.