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Compassion Practice (Four Immeasurables)

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Compassion Practice (Four Immeasurables) COMPASSION PRACTICE (FOUR IMMEASURABLES) Nov 23 – Dec 09 2020 Teacher: Glen Svensson (Please switch off your webcam & microphone) COURSE STRUCTURE • five 90 minute sessions (19:00 – 20:30) • each session – presentation, meditation, presentation, meditation, Q&A Schedule 1. Mon Nov 23 – Loving-kindness (& dealing with attachment) 2. Wed Nov 25 – Compassion (& dealing with anger) 3. Wed Nov 02 – Empathetic joy & equanimity 4. Mon Dec 07 – Exchanging self with others 5. Wed Dec 09 – Tong-len (giving & taking) Recommended reading • Four Immeasurables – Alan Wallace • Buddhism with an Attitude – Alan Wallace COMPASSION PRACTICE (FOUR IMMEASURABLES) SESSION 1: Loving-kindness MEDITATION Settling body, speech & mind SESSION 1: LOVING-KINDNESS 1. Compassion practice 2. Loving-kindness 3. Meditation – loving-kindness 4. Tips for the practice 5. Attachment 6. Meditation – dealing with attachment 7. Dispelling misconceptions 8. Q&A 9. Dedication 1. COMPASSION PRACTICE Two wings of practice Theravada (Pali) Mahayana (Sanskrit) 1. Prajna (wisdom) – vipashyana 3 marks of existence emptiness 2. Upaya (method) – compassion 4 immeasurables bodhicitta Four Immeasurables 1. Loving-kindness (maitri) “May all living beings have happiness & it’s causes.” 2. Compassion (karuna) “May they be free of suffering & it’s causes.” 3. Empathetic joy (mudita) “May they never be separated from the happiness that is free from suffering.” 4. Equanimity (upeksha) “May they abide in equanimity, free of attachment & aversion to those near & far.” 1. COMPASSION PRACTICE Door of entry • Theravada – renunciation (nihsarana: nih – out of, sarana – to move) • aspiration for liberation from suffering (self compassion) • Mahayana – bodhicitta (bodhi – enlightenment, citta – mind) • aspiration for enlightenment for the benefit of others Two main methods to cultivate bodhicitta 1. Seven cause and effect 2. Equalizing and exchanging self with others • tong-len (giving & taking) 1. COMPASSION PRACTICE Compassion training • Four Immeasurables (foundation) 1. Loving-kindness Session 1 2. Compassion Session 2 3. Empathetic joy Session 3 4. Equanimity Session 3 • Exchanging self with others Session 4 (building on the foundation) • Tong-len (giving & taking) Session 5 • Dealing with attachment Session 1 • Dealing with anger Session 2 • Integrating into daily life Session 5 2. LOVING-KINDNESS “Those desiring to escape from suffering hasten right toward their own misery. And with the very desire for happiness, out of delusion they destroy their own well-being as if it were the enemy.” Shantideva (8C) Loving-kindness (Sanskrit: maitri; Pali: metta) • the wish/aspiration for ourselves & others to have happiness & it’s causes • not an emotion –> translating as ‘loving-kindness’ rather than ‘love’ • we already have a desire for happiness however it is often misdirected • out of delusion we destroy our own well-being as if it were the enemy • to cultivate loving-kindness we need to know: • 1. What is happiness?, 2. What are the causes of happiness? and 3. How do we cultivate those causes? • otherwise loving-kindness is just words with no meaning 2. LOVING-KINDNESS 1. What is happiness? 1. Temporal happiness (pleasure) • stimulus-based (conditioned happiness) • transient, unsustainable, unreliable, not in nature of happiness • what we can get from the world 2. Genuine happiness (inner well-being) • not stimulus-based (unconditioned happiness) • stable, sustainable, reliable, in nature of happiness • what we can bring to the world 2. LOVING-KINDNESS Mistaking pleasure for genuine happiness • leads to craving/attachment to pleasure • worry/anxiety (not getting it/not getting enough of it/losing it) • frustration (when not getting it) • over-indulging (when getting it) • dissatisfaction/disappointment (when not living up to expectations) • more craving (when not fully satisfied) • stop enjoying things (attachment: ‘I want something bigger, better and different’) Not mistaking pleasure for genuine happiness • strive for inner well-being • enjoy pleasurable experiences more fully • not a choice between pleasure & genuine happiness (‘renunciation’) 2. LOVING-KINDNESS “Find out what really constitutes true well-being and, based on this understanding, pursue it.” Buddha 2. What are the causes of happiness? • Theravada traditions (Pali) – Noble Eight Fold Path • Mahayana traditions (Sanskrit) – Six Perfections Three higher trainings 1. Ethics (shila) 2. Concentration (samadhi) – jhana/shamatha 3. Wisdom (prajna) – vipassana/vipashyana 2. LOVING-KINDNESS Noble eight-fold path Three higher trainings Six perfections 3. Right speech 1. Generosity 4. Right action 1. Ethics 2. Ethics 5. Right livelihood 3. Patience 6. Right effort 4. Joyous effort 7. Right mindfulness 2. Concentration 5. Concentration 8. Right concentration 1. Right view 2. Right thought 3. Wisdom 6. Wisdom 2. LOVING-KINDNESS 3. How to cultivate the causes of happiness? 1. Ethics (shila) – avoiding harmful behaviour 2. Concentration (samadhi) – shamatha practice 3. Wisdom (prajna) – vipashyana practice (3 marks of existence, emptiness) Stages of cultivation of loving-kindness 1. Friends 2. Strangers 3. Enemies 4. All living beings (Immeasurable loving-kindness) One more stage at the beginning: loving-kindness toward oneself 3. MEDITATION Loving-kindness (self, friend, strAnger, enemy) 4. TIPS FOR THE PRACTICE Tips for the practice • start with oneself (especially if suffering from low self-esteem) • focus both on individuals & groups • how to cultivate for difficult people? avoid cognitive fusion (more in next session) • ‘I find visualization difficult’ (clear visualization not most important aspect) • alternative method – just repeating mental aspiration (not using visualization) Obstacles to loving-kindness • far enemy: ill-will –> dealing with anger (next session) • near enemy: attachment –> dealing with attachment 5. ATTACHMENT Attachment (Sanskrit: ragah; Pali: lobha) • attachment is a mental affliction (klesha) • klesha – mental factors which cause the mind to become disturbed (26, 6, 3) • definition of attachment: a mental factor that sees its object as attractive, exaggerates the object’s attractiveness and thus wishes to possess and hold it • where does attachment come from? • it comes from our distorted view of reality • ie. objects of our attachment seem to be the source of our happiness • attachment is to be fully eliminated (since it is a mental affliction) • does that mean we need to eliminate all desires/passions? • words ‘desire’ & ‘passion’ are used in two ways • 1. craving/attachment, 2. aspiration 5. ATTACHMENT Four distorted views 1. Changing as unchanging 2. Pleasure as happiness 3. No self as self 4. Dependent as independent The three poisons (the three main mental afflictions) 1. Ignorance (avidya) – grasping to independent me and independent world 2. Attachment (ragah) 3. Aversion (dvesha) – next session (dealing with anger) 5. ATTACHMENT Dealing with attachment 1. clear understanding of attachment • what it is and how it leads to suffering 2. cultivating view of genuine happiness (preliminaries) 3. using mindfulness (shamatha) • simply observing attachment as it arises (window of opportunity) • thus not identifying with it, has no power over us and also nothing feeding it • attachment will simply dissipate by itself (not need to fight with it) 4. applying antidotes (vipashyana) • impermanence (seeing object as changing moment by moment) • emptiness (seeing beauty as in eye of the beholder) Practicing these methods in meditation and then applying them in daily life. 5. ATTACHMENT Conative (Preliminaries) Attentional (Shamatha) (Vipashyana) Cognitive Affective (Compassion) “All components of the model are interconnected. The model represents a systemic and dynamic process of evolving toward well-being. Therefore, although we describe each of the mental balances below as individual factors, it is important to note that as balance is gained in one area, it affects the other three.” Alan Wallace (Mental Balance & Well-Being) 6. MEDITATION DeAling with AttAchment 7. DISPELLING MISCONCEPTIONS 1. “I need attachment to enjoy things” (without attachment my life would become very bland & boring because I’ll be detached from everything) • attachment interferes with the enjoyment of the simple pleasures in life (ie. fear/worry, frustration, over-indulging, dissatisfaction, more craving) • lose enjoyment (attachment always looking for something bigger, better & different) – retreat food experience • letting go of attachment (is not the same as detachment) • the two extremes – attachment & detachment • both arising from distorted view of reality (source of happiness/suffering is out there in the world) • middle way – non-attachment (ie. enjoying things without attachment) • arises from correct view of reality (source of happiness/suffering lies within the mind) 7. DISPELLING MISCONCEPTIONS 2. “I need attachment to have a relationship” • attachment defined differently in Buddhism & psychology (intention vs emotion) • psychology: attachment is a deep and enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another across time and space • Buddhism: attachment is a mental factor that sees it’s object as attractive, exaggerates the object’s attractiveness and thus wishes to possess and hold it • important to distinguish between love (loving-kindness) & attachment • love: the wish for them to be happy (without expecting anything in return) • conditional love: love polluted by attachment (ie. “I will love you as long as you
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