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Dharma Talks
given at Barre Center for Buddhist Studies
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2021-12-12
Emptiness and Form: Fiction and the Dharma
1:29:59
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Ruth Ozeki and Francisca Cho
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| Buddhist traditions have sometimes characterized the dharma—the teachings of the Buddha—as beyond the realm of language and thought. If this is so, then why have so many Buddhists articulated their understanding of the dharma through literature, in poetry, discourses, plays, and fiction? Might the transformed modes of perception described in doctrinal texts be experienced through literature, through deeply engaging literary texts that blur boundaries between the imaginary, the representational, and the real? Join Ruth Ozeki, Zen Buddhist priest and novelist, and Francisca Cho, professor and one of the most prominent contemporary scholars on Buddhism and literature, as together, they explore emptiness and form, and the many ways that reading and writing literature can teach the dharma. |
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Emptiness and Form: Fiction and the Dharma
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2021-08-15
Entering the Sacred
38:43
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Ajahn Sucitto
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| The quality of the sacred is missing from our lives, that which is totally true and is always there. We can open to it every day, from that stable place of embodiment. From that open center, we form a relational entity that can carry our values and virtues forward. |
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The Sacred Cosmos
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2021-08-15
Q&A 3
32:36
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Ajahn Sucitto
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| Impact of other people; over-reliance on others; staying open with the unknown; responding to others’ sense of entitlement; innate truth of the cosmos; citta and the sense world; fear and constriction in the energy body. |
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The Sacred Cosmos
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2021-08-15
It’s the Wholeness that Does the Work
31:41
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Ajahn Sucitto
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| Mostly we operate from a fragment, excluding the whole of experience because it doesn’t fit our model of what should be. Return to wholeness, first in your own heart and mind, then extending it to society. Maintain a wide focus and receptivity, an open state where citta remains attuned, and you’ll find your inner security, having plugged into the life force as it manifests in this body. |
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The Sacred Cosmos
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2021-08-14
Q&A 2
30:38
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Ajahn Sucitto
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| Subject-object division of the senses; hardening in the face of trauma; greed, hatred and delusion; caring for others; broad vs. specific attention; harmonious relationships; experience of subjectivity; relationship of verbal formation (vacī saṇkhāra) to ānāpānasati. |
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The Sacred Cosmos
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2021-08-14
Kamma – Leaving Pain and Misery for a Divine Abiding
48:47
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Ajahn Sucitto
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| There is such a thing as good and evil and they give rise to fortunate or unfortunate consequences. Good and evil not as value judgments, but as particular energies that have consequences. The heart opens as a consequence of skillful energies, like generosity and love. This is the key to the celestial domains of the Sacred Cosmos, where gods are void of judgment and keen on Dhamma as a way to happiness. |
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The Sacred Cosmos
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2021-08-14
Guided Meditation – Subtleties of Breathing
22:17
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Ajahn Sucitto
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| Supporting the heart with embodiment, with steady ground and safe space, allow breathing to happen naturally. Releasing what’s not needed, the subtle shielding around the body, open to what’s around with goodwill and love. Whatever arises, breathing it in, breathing it out. |
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The Sacred Cosmos
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2021-08-14
Q&A 1
31:43
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Ajahn Sucitto
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| Separation and interconnectedness; citta doesn’t fit in this world; destruction of the environment; fear of letting go; energy of body vs. sensations; healing divisiveness in my community. |
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The Sacred Cosmos
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