Embark on a journey of self-discovery with me, Don Thompson, as we navigate the intricate landscapes of meditation practices and their myriad purposes. We'll be wading through the philosophical depths of Buddhism, contrasting its analytical traditions with the nurturing simplicity of mindfulness and loving-kindness. This episode is a contemplative odyssey, examining the crux of why we exist, and the diverse pathways within the Buddhist teachings that lead us toward that understanding. From the analytical rigor of Tibetan Buddhism to the gentle embrace of mindfulness, we explore how these varied approaches fit into the grand mosaic of the Eightfold Path.
During our conversation, I'll share intimate reflections on my own path, post-training with mindfulness luminaries like Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. I'll discuss the practical challenges of weaving mindfulness into the fabric of daily life and the discerning decision about whether to lead a sangha. This episode is an open invitation to seasoned practitioners and newcomers alike, to ponder the essential question of our purpose and how we might harmonize the rich spectrum of perspectives within the Buddhist philosophy. It's a call to reflect on the essence of our being and the transformative power of an examined life.
PLEASE READ - Terms of Use: https://www.nextpixprods.com/terms-of-use.html
Note that Don Thompson is now available as a coach or mentor on an individual basis. To find out more, please go to his website www.nextpixprods.com, and use the 'contact' form to request additional information.
Embark on a journey of self-discovery with me, Don Thompson, as we navigate the intricate landscapes of meditation practices and their myriad purposes. We'll be wading through the philosophical depths of Buddhism, contrasting its analytical traditions with the nurturing simplicity of mindfulness and loving-kindness. This episode is a contemplative odyssey, examining the crux of why we exist, and the diverse pathways within the Buddhist teachings that lead us toward that understanding. From the analytical rigor of Tibetan Buddhism to the gentle embrace of mindfulness, we explore how these varied approaches fit into the grand mosaic of the Eightfold Path.
During our conversation, I'll share intimate reflections on my own path, post-training with mindfulness luminaries like Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. I'll discuss the practical challenges of weaving mindfulness into the fabric of daily life and the discerning decision about whether to lead a sangha. This episode is an open invitation to seasoned practitioners and newcomers alike, to ponder the essential question of our purpose and how we might harmonize the rich spectrum of perspectives within the Buddhist philosophy. It's a call to reflect on the essence of our being and the transformative power of an examined life.
PLEASE READ - Terms of Use: https://www.nextpixprods.com/terms-of-use.html
Note that Don Thompson is now available as a coach or mentor on an individual basis. To find out more, please go to his website www.nextpixprods.com, and use the 'contact' form to request additional information.
Speaker 2:
Hi, don Thompson here with another podcast To dive into the topic regarding why are we alive. I'll call this part two because I listened to the previous podcast and I thought, well, there's just a little bit more to dive into here related to what I was getting into towards the end of the podcast the prior podcast, where I really talked about the impulse to transcend the earth in meditation, to reach out to the stars, and in meditation and mindfulness really it is a, you might say there's a little bit of attention between what is the purpose of meditation and mindfulness. There's also attention between different schools of thought related to what we might call reflective or philosophical schools of meditation or whether or not we should just practice mindfulness in a very simple way and to bring a sense of loving, kindness to, for example, the body through mindfulness of the body, using practices such as rain and other practices that have been discussed in this podcast, where we look at the emotions, reflecting on the emotions, reflecting on thoughts, watching the breath and so on. These practices are not really philosophical. They don't really ask us to consider philosophical questions such as why are we alive. They simply ask us to reflect or be mindfully aware of certain aspects of ourselves and to bring a sense of loving, kindness and compassion to ourselves in the process. So, in a way, I'm taking this opportunity to circle back to talk about some ideas regarding, well, what are the foundational ideas behind mindfulness that we can consider.
Speaker 2:
I have to say that I have a little bit of internal debate about this because, you know, I study different schools of thought within Buddhism and, having studied mindfulness training as taught by Tara Brock and Jack Cornfield, I would say that there can be a kind of an issue, really, or tension between this desire to be intellectual in our practice or to transcend the body in sort of practical aspect of mindfulness, the deals oftentimes with issues of pain or trauma or whatever, or just simply to reflect mindfully on different aspects of the breath, of the body, of the emotions, of the thoughts, and to bring loving kindness through, again, practices like rain, where we have a recognition and acceptance, investigation and nurturing or bringing loving kindness to all of those aspects of ourselves. So I found that, just anecdotally in dealing with some practitioners of mindfulness, that practitioners of mindfulness oftentimes don't really like to be analytical in their outlook. They don't really well, I wouldn't say look down on, but they sort of don't think well of necessarily the whole analytical exercise per se, and you can compare that, for example, to Tibetan Buddhism, which is a very analytical school of thought within Buddhism, or certain aspects of Tibetan Buddhism, and even Shakyamuni Buddha, the historical Buddha, would be quite analytical in terms of looking at ideas of emptiness and ideas of interdependent origination and dependent arising and all of these ideas that come out of Tibetan Buddhism, the Mahayana school of Buddhism, but also the Theravada school, the old school of Buddhism. Mindfulness comes out of the Theravada school originally, as discussed in another podcast. It's really an aspect of the Eightfold Path, it's one piece of it. So, because mindfulness is simply a part of the Eightfold Path, you have, you might say, a whole series of other considerations in the Eightfold Path that don't necessarily come into play through mindfulness practice, and people may or may not be interested in these other aspects of the Eightfold Path, and if you are, I encourage you to check it out. It's sometimes just plenty to have your mindfulness practice and there's really no need to go through the other aspects of Buddhism vis-a-vis the Eightfold Path. But you can certainly do that, of course, if you want to. There's a lot to explore there.
Speaker 2:
I found when I completed my course in mindfulness and my training in mindfulness. Even though I really admired and thought that the practices were quite wonderful, I noticed a couple of different things, and one thing I noticed is that I wasn't really interested in being any kind of a quasi-guru. So what that means is that typically a mindfulness teacher or, you know, trainee, someone certified in the practice, will set up a sangha and they will lead the sangha and they will have a group of this sangha usually small to begin with at least and they get together on a regular basis and they will lead the sangha. And this is one approach to, you know, using your mindfulness certification, and I really didn't necessarily want to do that. The other thing is that I really didn't necessarily feel that the mindfulness program was a conclusion of my investigation into meditation or even mindfulness itself, and there are a lot of different permutations to it and I wanted to explore that. So my answer was to start this podcast, which I did about a year or so ago, and what I wanted to do was look at different aspects of mindfulness in a sort of expanded way and also bring into bear, or bringing to the table, so to speak, my experience of the past 40 years or so in meditative practice, which has included a lot of different schools of thought, including Tibetan Buddhism, including what you might call American Buddhism, and also including Vedic and Hindu traditions, as well as the teachings of the Dalai Lama, who is, of course, tibetan. But the Dalai Lama really in a way transcends Tibetan Buddhism in that he has really his own way of thinking. In some ways he does A very interesting and fascinating figure, the Dalai Lama, in terms of what he has done in his writing and in his teaching.
Speaker 2:
The idea here of what I'm trying to convey with this podcast is, regardless of what spiritual practice you choose, and whether or not that has any kind of a esoteric element to it or not, whether or not it has ritual to it or not, whether or not it's very simple or complex, I would say, as long as it moves you towards compassion and to love, that it's, in my mind at least, a beneficial path. As long as the path is not leading you towards sectarianism, towards egotism, towards feeling you're better than other people or other sects out there, other religions, I think it's probably beneficial for you in many ways. So love and compassion don't really have any philosophy associated with them. They're a felt experience. They might have associated words, but they're not really necessarily to find some sense of ego. Through the process, love and compassion have actually felt really work against the ego in a lot of ways. They're always seeking to help the other, to elevate the other, to help the other.
Speaker 2:
That's the idea behind compassion and love. That's the natural outgrowth of that feeling. It's sort of organic. You don't really have to think about it too much. So really what you're doing with love and compassion is, of course, you're trying to give some sense of happiness and joy to the other person, to the other being. You're trying to help them. You're not really looking for a pet on the back, necessarily. You're not looking for the accolade. You're not looking for the Buddha to come down from heaven and anoint you and say you're enlightened. I mean, it's not really like that. Even though you might have wonderful experiences with teachers, you might have very powerful experiences with teachers and I certainly have that experience myself.
Speaker 2:
I do believe that the mental powers of the human being are astounding and really beyond anything that we have really any comprehension of, really from a Western scientific context. In my mind, the Western scientific paradigm oftentimes is ignorant of the powers of the human mind and they don't really look at it appropriately and they always want to tend to look at things from a biological process, from a process of the fundamental elements of biology or physiology, and they don't really look to things like spirit or things that are outside of that framework. And it's understandable, because they can't measure it. So, in terms of going back to the topic that we began with, what is the purpose of life, and reflecting again back on the previous podcast, if the purpose of life is really awareness, and awareness of the moment, well, that's what mindfulness really tells us to be aware in the moment, to be aware of the beauty of the moment.
Speaker 2:
If you can still the mind, if you can stop the thought or at least allow it to pass through you and observe it, then it opens up a whole realm of understanding which isn't so much goal-oriented or so much achievement-oriented, but it's really more about finding something in the present moment, something that isn't necessarily in the future, it's here, in the now. In a cliche kind of way you could say. It's really evoking us to live in the moment, to live in the now. It's sort of a comprehension of the true nature of the present moment, which is complete. It's, you know. Enlightenment, in a sense, is already here. It's not something we need to get to, it's not something we attain. It is what the natural state of things, so to speak. And that's really what mindfulness brings us to perceive that there isn't anything to attain. It's already here. In a way, when you meditate, time collapses. From this perspective, there is no time, there's no past, there's no present, really there's no future, there's just the presence of the moment.
Speaker 2:
I do believe that there are civilizations out there in the universe. My intuition tells me that probably there are intelligent civilizations that have gone through this process. And this is the process of evolution of humanity. And again, I might sound a little bit contradictory here, because I just talked about, well, everything's in the now and really not about the future. But in the process of going through mindfulness, of really accepting the effusiveness of the present moment, it brings a purpose to your life and it brings an evolution to your own perspective. That in turn helps humanity to evolve. I mean, it's in the moment in a way, but in a way it's transcendent of the moment. It helps to bring the culture, the civilization, to a new level simply by you meditating well by you being excellent in your endeavors in terms of meditation or whatever you do.
Speaker 2:
So the idea behind meditation, of course, is Really, there isn't anywhere to get to. You aren't getting anywhere. There's nowhere to go. You haven't come from any place and you aren't really going anywhere. And all of these ideas about coming from some place and going someplace and having ambitions and goals and all that stuff, well, it's all wonderful from a certain perspective and many people really have a need for that perspective at some point in their life, particularly when they're young. I mean, they need, you need, perhaps if you're young, you need to have goals, or if you're older, you need to have goals, you need to have something to work towards, you need to have a purpose. But after a while you realize that you know the beauty of life is really truly in the moment. It's right in front of you and if you can meditate and if you can stop your thoughts or quiet the thoughts or mindfully observe the thoughts, it is possible to collapse.
Speaker 2:
Time You're going into, you know, really a state of seeing the presence of the current moment, seeing the ocean of consciousness really is still the Dalai Lama's name means ocean of wisdom, and that's sort of what I'm getting at. He also talks about this in his teachings, about the clear air, the Dharma kaya, the clear light. You might think of it as like a blue sky, an empty blue sky, with the sun unfolding from the center of it. In the vacuum, it's like a void in it, she might say, of the central sun of the universe. You know, perhaps that's what it really is. What we're really looking to, moving toward, is that which has brought us into being essentially so.
Speaker 2:
I just wanted to, you know, talk a little bit more about what does it mean to be alive? What's the purpose of life? Why are we alive? Why are we alive? To find our sense of awareness and consciousness. It really helps to evolve humanity by evolving ourselves, and that may mean different things to different people at different points in their lives. It may mean, at one point, that you really need to be focused on your career. It may mean, at another point, you're focused on relationships. Perhaps at another point you're focused on educating people or making money.
Speaker 2:
You may have to go through different things before you reach this state where you realize that you know what you really need to do is quiet the mind and see the beauty of the moment that's in front of you and that really informs and brings meaning to all of those other aspects of your life. You know, it really enlivens them, it brings more meaning to them. You can do that by working on your own meditation. You can work it by listening to the guided meditations in this podcast. Feel free, please Use them. It can bring meaning to your life by, you know, building energy in your psyche, by building resilience, by allowing you to see the incredible opportunity and potential within the current moment to bring meaning to you, to bring light to you. The Dharmakaya, as stated. So I'll leave it at that. Thanks so much for listening and I'll talk to you in the next podcast. Cheers, bye-bye. You.