Fall 2011 Shamatha Retreat

Dharma talk: Meditative cultivation of Compassion and the Suffering of Change On the “most wanted” list of mental afflictions is hatred. Craving/attachment is the #1 culprit in the suffering of change. Craving and attachment are always carried by a conceptual line (i.e. they are one step removed from reality). There is the sense of “If only……” (I had this or that, I would be happy). The object of desire seems static (it is an object), but everything is in flux. Arhats are free of suffering because they are free of attachment. They feel pain, but the experience is different because there is not grasping at “my body.” The pain just arises in space. The two parts of Buddhist ethics are (1) doing no harm and (2) being of benefit. If we were all ethical, 95 percent of the blatant suffering in the world would vanish. Shamatha is one level of Samadhi. You achieve a more balanced mind and have the experience of bliss, non-conceptuality, and luminosity (it is moment to moment, but the experience is there).