Dear Friends, Gil’s fourth talk on the faculty of samadhi considers the state of the mind “when we are fully present, fully engaged in what’s happening.”https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11153 He talks about some of the more refined states of concentration, often called ‘absorption’ – although he clarifies that this state is not one where we are losing ourselves in the experience.… Read More »
Dear Friends, Continuing the examination of samadhi, Gil brings in a couple of related words that bring out other dimensions in this practice and faculty. Rather than it being a laser-like focus, there’s a sense of “placing something together, bringing together, unifying, gathering together.”https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11146 We can settle into our experience – gathering all the fragmented parts in our… Read More »
Dear Friends, The next talk on samadhi looks at two movements of concentration practice – to initiate through connecting with an object and to engage with a sustained attention.https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11141 The two Pali words for these are vitakka (wi-tah-kah) and vicāra (wi-chah-rah). Normally I don’t worry about the pronunciation in my writing, but Gil does a bit of play… Read More »
Dear Friends, The fourth faculty is samadhi. This word is often translated as “concentration,” but as Gil mentions in this first talk on the topic, “it somewhat limits what samādhi means in the practice we do.”https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11137 Gil looks at samadhi two ways: as a capacity of the mind, which can become strong as it is used, and the… Read More »
Dear Friends, In Gil’s fifth short talk on the faculty of sati, he gives a overview of the progression thus far, and then briefly expands into exploring awareness itself.https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11130 Starting with a simple mindfulness – to connect to what’s here. Then having some recognition. Leaning back and observing without interference. Sustaining observation overt time, we notice the flow,… Read More »
Dear Friends, In the progression of discussing sati, mindfulness, so far, Gil has laid out a progression: we wake up to the present moment; we develop clear recognition of what is happening in the moment; we learn skills to sustain this recognition through time and observe the flow of experience without adding stories. Gil’s next step in the… Read More »
Dear Friends, After we initially establish mindfulness and start to recognize what is happening, we can open up to observing what is happening, without interference. Observation is the third aspect of sati that Gil discusses.https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11122 When we observe what is happening, we are not interfering with judgments, stories, attitudes, etc., that can cloud our perception. Gil notes, “It’s… Read More »
Dear Friends, In the second short talk on the faculty of sati, mindfulness, Gil brings in an element to help with the establishment of mindfulness – “the mind’s capacity to comprehend what is happening, to know what is happening. … This is the ability to clearly recognize what something is.”https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11117 The simple recognition that Gil discusses is not… Read More »
Dear Friends, The next series of talks will look at the faculty of sati, the Pali term that is commonly translated as mindfulness; Gil also uses the term awareness. As with the other faculties, Gil Fronsdal will focus in on different aspects of mindfulness that we can develop. The first aspect Gil reviews is what he calls “simple… Read More »
Dear Friends, Gil’s fifth talk on viriya looks at “effortless effort.”https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11105 He describes the progression of effort as “deeper layers of letting go.” Effortless effort is a continuation of this flow of effort in a profound way. There is equanimity, non-reactivity, non-attachment. An analogy Gil shares is that of something tethered outside with a rope. Over time, the… Read More »
Dear Friends, Gil is building the progression of effort in practice. The initiating effort gets us going, perhaps again and again. Then we can make choices where we will put the effort – to something helpful or not helpful. Then we develop some level of relaxed persistence, some continuity of practice. Gil describes these as “what we offer”… Read More »
Dear Friends, So far we have explored the energy to get started (initiating effort), the way we can decide where to put our effort (right endeavor), and today, we will review what Gil calls Continuous Effort.https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11099 As he surmises, the phrase “continuous effort” brings up for me a tightness, a striving, a gotta-get-this-right feeling. And that is quite… Read More »
Dear Friends, The next aspect of viriya that Gil discusses is right endeavor.https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11093(Gil talks about the word “right” elsewhere: “it’s useful to think of it as meaning ‘appropriate,’ as when we speak of having the ‘right’ tool for a particular task.”) He uses the word “endeavor” as it is “what we are trying to do, what we are… Read More »
Dear Friends, Today, we’ll shift to the next of the faculties – viriya – the effort, energy, spark that gets a person started and continuing on the practice. We all know that doing things can sometimes be hard – it’s hard to get started, it’s hard to keep going. That might be why viriya shows up in so… Read More »
Dear Friends, Over the series of talks, Gil Fronsdal has traced a journey along which our saddha may progress. This journey may be linear, or we may jump around, or we may spiral in ever deepening ways. We started with faith, which inspires us to practice. Then confidence, when we start to value the practice and see the… Read More »
