Meditation on Emptiness by Lama Marut

Friends,
Scroll to the last 14 minutes of this lecture for a great meditation on the emptiness of the self.  This is from the same lecture listed below; I highly recommend it.  We will do this meditation together this week.  With gratitude!

Great lecture on Emptiness by Lama Marut

Friends,

This has been a great lecture:
http://www.theknowledgebase-archive.com/files/teachings/dharmaessentials12/dharmaessentials12-lamamarut-03.mp3

In particular, the last 32 minutes make the topic clear.  Scroll to the right and enjoy : )

Dharma Class this Week: Wisdom

Join us as we continue our study of Wisdom in Chapter 9 in Master Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life.  As Lama Marut says, we'll practice learning to "pierce through the veil" which hides ultimate reality.  We'll examine ways in which we misinterpret the world around us, assigning permanence to that which is impermanent, and self-existence to that which has no fixed existence, thus create suffering for ourselves and others.  But just as this way of seeing the world has become habit, so can a view which is more liberating, more healing, and more aligned with ultimate reality become our mode of interacting with the world.

We'll use the same worksheet as last week (9.1, listed below).  To brush up on the topics, please listen to "The Clock Teaching" by Geshe Michael Roach, and "Simple words about Emptiness" listed below.  See you on Wednesday and Friday!

Chapter 9: Worksheet 1, for classes 3/19 and 3/21

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B20QPR_lUz-LTjQxRm5Ncm1lczQ/edit?usp=sharing

"The Clock" Teaching, an Emptiness exploration for classes 3/26 and 3/28

http://www.theknowledgebase.com/products/emptinessadeepdive-2010-losangeles-geshemichael

Simple words about Emptiness:

Dear friends, I happened upon this list during my studies.  Emptiness can be complex to discuss and understand, but this list put it all so simply in a way that's easy accept.  The authors are all close students of Geshe Michael Roach.  

Because things are empty, everything comes from seeds.

- Ningpo

Everything comes from how you treat other people.

- Rebecca

There is nothing in your reality that is not coming from your kindness in the past.

- Nicole

The way I see you is dependent on the karma I planted.

It all comes from how I treat others.

The way I experience you, comes from how I treat others.

- Christine

All things exist in dependence on a person observing them.

- Peter

Things exist in dependence on causes and conditions, their parts, and a mind to observe them.  Things need other things in order to exist.

- Nick

Envisioning ourselves as more than the body:

"Our feelings of isolation and alienation from our fellow human beings are in part due to thinking we are nothing other than the body.  Delinking the sense of self from one's own corporality is an important step  in re-identifying oneself as part of a larger whole, a nexus of being that joins us together."  - Lama Marut, A spiritual Renegade's Guide to the Good Life, pp. 153-154.

Ash Wednesday Class: Renunciation + finishing Chapter 8

Hi Friends,
Happy Mardi Gras!  This Wednesday we will meet to finish up Chapter 8 (using worksheet 8.4) and discuss Renunciation, the bedrock of the spiritual path.
With gratitude,
Keith

"Renunciation in this instance is not just throwing things away but, having thrown everything away (or given everything up), we begin to feel the living quality of peace. This peace is not feeble peace, feeble openness, but it has a strong character, an invincible quality, an unshakable quality, because it admits no gaps of hypocrisy. It is complete peace in all directions, so that not even a speck of a dark corner exists for doubt and hypocrisy. Complete openness is complete victory because we do not fear; we do not try to defend ourselves at all."

~ Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

"Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism"