Posts by Dana Nourie
Dependent Origination: How did we get into this mess? (John Peacock)
Dependent origination is vital to our understanding of experience, how our suffering arises, dissatisfaction, disappointment, the causes, etc. In these two talks, John Peacock explains the details of why it’s important to understand, how we benefit, and that it’s easier to understand through practice:
Read MoreAwareness, Questioning, and the Path of Compassion
This is a wonderful talk by Martine Batchelor about the practice of awareness, questioning, and the path of compassion, and how they all fit together. Secular Buddhist practitioners often ask, So what is the practice? What do I do? Martine does a great job of explaining what we get out of the practice of meditation,…
Read MoreWeekly Practice (Causes & Conditions)
Last week we began our exploration of the first noble truth, dukkha, or suffering. We have a good idea of what suffering is and that there is more to it than we may have initially thought. But one of the amazing things about Buddha’s teachings was that he didn’t stop there. Instead, he explored deeply into the processes that cause suffering to arise. This week we are going to dig into the second noble truth, the causes and conditions of suffering.
Read MoreTraditional Dhamma, Secular Dhamma – Stephen Batchelor and Bhante Sujato
This video shows a dialogue between Stephen Batchelor and Bhante Sujato about the practice of Buddhism and its relevance at the dawn of the new millennium. Moderated by Tina Ng. Of course much of the discussion is over the topic of Rebirth . . .
Read MoreWeekly Practice (Dukkha, or Suffering)
We’ve covered a lot of ground in these Weekly Practices, and now you should have a good idea of what mindfulness and concentration are and how meditation develops both. We’ve also looked closely at the impermanence of everything, including the five aggregates that we tend to mistake for a static self. Lastly, we took a good look at craving and attachment.
This week we’ll examine dukkha, often translated as suffering. Dukkha is also the third mark of existence and the subject of the noble truths.
Read MoreWhat are your beliefs about the self?
Take this poll to share your beliefs about a self, or lack thereof:
Read MoreWhat's Your Calling or Purpose in Life?
At the Wisdom 2.0 conference I heard several speakers talk about their life’s calling, and others refer to life’s purpose. Our society speaks about people’s life’s purpose as though it’s a real thing out there to be discovered, to give life your life meaning. In fact, there are books such as A Purpose Driven Life, Finding Your Life’s Purpose.
Read MoreWeekly Practice (Clinging & Craving)
Over the past few weeks, we focused on exploring how the feeling of me, mine, and I arise from the five aggregates: body, feeling tone, perceptions, fabrications, and consciousness. Each of these arise as a part of the human condition. In fact, they’ve been necessary to our evolution as a species. Without a feeling of I, you might not bother to feed yourself.
The problems of the aggregates comes from not recognizing them as the processes that go into the making of a perception of self, not recognizing that these are impermanent, and the focus for this week, how we cling to them and crave for more.
Read MoreReport from Wisdom 2.0: Living with Awareness, Wisdom, and Compassion
Ted and I had the opportunity last week to attend the Wisdom 2.0: Living with Awareness, Wisdom, and Compassion conference in Redwood City, California. We listened to speakers who are well known in the Buddhist and Yoga communities, as well as some who are prominent in the technology industry. It was fascinating to hear how mindfulness, compassion, awareness, and empathy are being brought into the workplace through classes, yoga sessions, talks, etc, as well as how digital media are bringing people throughout the globe together to share and discuss these topics.
Read MoreWeekly Practice (Not Self & Review)
If you’ve been following along each week, first with impermanence, then with mindfulness and concentration, and then with body and feelings, and lastly with mental formations, you may have caught on to the repeated question, “Is this thought, feeling, body sensation, emotional reaction a solid, unchanging self?”
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