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45 mins
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William Duncan is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Earth Sutras
Time: 5:15 PT / 8:15 ET
45 mins
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84899734346
Friends, I am happy to offer this series for free, so please do not feel any pressure to donate anything.
The donations I do receive all go towards the building of a new more robust and active website.
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Class One - Buddhist
Sutra of Forty Two Chapters (Chapter 12)
The Buddha said, “People have twenty kinds of difficulties:
“It is difficult for the poor to practice dana.
“It is difficult for the rich and eminent to practice the Way.
“It is difficult to renounce life when facing death.
“It is difficult to encounter the Buddhist sutras.
“It is difficult to be born in the age of a Buddha.
“It is difficult to subdue desire and lust.
“It is difficult not to covet what one likes.
“It is difficult to face humiliation without anger.
“It is difficult to have power and not abuse it.
“It is difficult to face situations with a detached mind.
“It is difficult to master vast areas of knowledge.
“It is difficult to extinguish self-conceit.
“It is difficult not to belittle those who are unlearned.
“It is difficult for the mind to act with impartiality.
“It is difficult not to gossip or be judgmental.
“It is difficult to meet the right, learned teacher.
“It is difficult to see one’s original nature and practice the Way.
“It is difficult to guide beings appropriately to liberation.
“It is difficult to be unperturbed by circumstances.
“It is difficult to master the expedient means of the Way.”
Below are the ones we focused on in class with my loose (less acurate but for me more impactful) personalized translation
1. “It is difficult for the poor to practice dana.
“It is difficult to give when one is poor.”
“You will struggle to be truly generous.”
“You will struggle with generosity”
2. “It is difficult for the rich and eminent to practice the Way.”
“With your level of wealth it will be difficult to deepen spiritually.”
3. “It is difficult to renounce life when facing death. (It is difficult to face the certainty of death.)
“You will face deep distress at the moment of death.
6. “It is difficult to subdue desire and lust.”
“You will be held hostage by lust and desire for most if not all of your life.”
8. “It is difficult to face humiliation or to be insulted without anger.”
“You will become angry when you feel humiliated and when your ego is insulted.”
9. “It is difficult to have power and not abuse it.”
“When you get power by way of finances, reputation, attractiveness, etc, you will use that power to manipulate others for your advantage.”
10. “It is difficult to come into contact with things and have no thought of them.”
“You will spend most or all of your life being emotionally distraught over external circumstances you have no control over.”
13. “It is difficult not to belittle those who are unlearned.”
“For most of your life you will look down on and/or talk badly about those who have less education then you.”
19. “It is difficult to see a state and not be moved by it.”
“You will be annoyed often by external circumstances.”
“It is difficult for the poor to practice dana.
“It is difficult for the rich and eminent to practice the Way.
“It is difficult to renounce life when facing death.
“It is difficult to encounter the Buddhist sutras.
“It is difficult to be born in the age of a Buddha.
“It is difficult to subdue desire and lust.
“It is difficult not to covet what one likes.
“It is difficult to face humiliation without anger.
“It is difficult to have power and not abuse it.
“It is difficult to face situations with a detached mind.
“It is difficult to master vast areas of knowledge.
“It is difficult to extinguish self-conceit.
“It is difficult not to belittle those who are unlearned.
“It is difficult for the mind to act with impartiality.
“It is difficult not to gossip or be judgmental.
“It is difficult to meet the right, learned teacher.
“It is difficult to see one’s original nature and practice the Way.
“It is difficult to guide beings appropriately to liberation.
“It is difficult to be unperturbed by circumstances.
“It is difficult to master the expedient means of the Way.”
Below are the ones we focused on in class with my loose (less acurate but for me more impactful) personalized translation
1. “It is difficult for the poor to practice dana.
“It is difficult to give when one is poor.”
“You will struggle to be truly generous.”
“You will struggle with generosity”
2. “It is difficult for the rich and eminent to practice the Way.”
“With your level of wealth it will be difficult to deepen spiritually.”
3. “It is difficult to renounce life when facing death. (It is difficult to face the certainty of death.)
“You will face deep distress at the moment of death.
6. “It is difficult to subdue desire and lust.”
“You will be held hostage by lust and desire for most if not all of your life.”
8. “It is difficult to face humiliation or to be insulted without anger.”
“You will become angry when you feel humiliated and when your ego is insulted.”
9. “It is difficult to have power and not abuse it.”
“When you get power by way of finances, reputation, attractiveness, etc, you will use that power to manipulate others for your advantage.”
10. “It is difficult to come into contact with things and have no thought of them.”
“You will spend most or all of your life being emotionally distraught over external circumstances you have no control over.”
13. “It is difficult not to belittle those who are unlearned.”
“For most of your life you will look down on and/or talk badly about those who have less education then you.”
19. “It is difficult to see a state and not be moved by it.”
“You will be annoyed often by external circumstances.”
Class Two - Buddhist
Root Verses Of The Seven Point Mind Training
༄༅། །ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་བློ་སྦྱོང་དོན་བདུན་མའི་རྩ་བ་བཞུགས་སོ། ། - Root Verses Of The Seven Point Mind Training - Chekawa Yeshe Dorje - 1102–1176
Today we are looking at a classic text in the family of LOJONG teachings. This text has 7 Sections with 59 subsections. These subsections are often translated as slogans. We will be exploring the first of two slogans in section 4. That slogan has 5 different sections (I know, this is classic Buddhist textual organization; subsections upon subsections.)
ཚེ་གཅིག་གི་ཉམས་ལེན་དྲིལ་ནས་བསྟན་པ། - Section 4 - Applying the Training to Daily Life
སྟོབས་ལྔ་དག་ལ་སྦྱར་བར་བྱ། ། - Slogan 17 - Practice The Five Strengths, the condensed heart instructions.
The Five Strengths are:
1. Power of Determination
2. Power of Familiarization
3. Power of Virtuous Actions
4. Power of Remorse
5. Power of Aspiration
Today we are looking at a classic text in the family of LOJONG teachings. This text has 7 Sections with 59 subsections. These subsections are often translated as slogans. We will be exploring the first of two slogans in section 4. That slogan has 5 different sections (I know, this is classic Buddhist textual organization; subsections upon subsections.)
ཚེ་གཅིག་གི་ཉམས་ལེན་དྲིལ་ནས་བསྟན་པ། - Section 4 - Applying the Training to Daily Life
སྟོབས་ལྔ་དག་ལ་སྦྱར་བར་བྱ། ། - Slogan 17 - Practice The Five Strengths, the condensed heart instructions.
The Five Strengths are:
1. Power of Determination
2. Power of Familiarization
3. Power of Virtuous Actions
4. Power of Remorse
5. Power of Aspiration
Class Three - Vedanta/ Christian
The Bhagavad Gita/ The Ascent of Mount Carmel
कर्मण्यकर्म य: पश्येदकर्मणि च कर्म य: | स बुद्धिमान्मनुष्येषु स युक्त: कृत्स्नकर्मकृत् || 18||
karmaṇyakarma yaḥ paśhyed akarmaṇi cha karma yaḥ sa buddhimān manuṣhyeṣhu sa yuktaḥ kṛitsna-karma-kṛit
BG 4.18: Those who see action in inaction and inaction in action are truly wise amongst humans. Although performing all kinds of actions, they are yogis and masters of all their actions.
karmaṇyakarma yaḥ paśhyed akarmaṇi cha karma yaḥ sa buddhimān manuṣhyeṣhu sa yuktaḥ kṛitsna-karma-kṛit
BG 4.18: Those who see action in inaction and inaction in action are truly wise amongst humans. Although performing all kinds of actions, they are yogis and masters of all their actions.
For we are not discussing the mere lack of things; this lack will not divest the soul, if it craves for all these objects. We are dealing with the stripping of the souls appetites and gratifications; this is what leaves it free and empty of all things, even though it possesses them. Since the things of the world cannot enter the soul, they are not themselves an encumbrance or harm to it; rather it is the will and appetite dwelling within it that causes the damage.
The Ascent Of Mount Carmel - Book 1, Chap. 3 Section 4 St. John of the Cross
The Ascent Of Mount Carmel - Book 1, Chap. 3 Section 4 St. John of the Cross
Class Four - Yoga
The Yoga Sutra
अविद्यास्मितारागद्वेषाभिनिवेशः क्लेशाः ॥३॥
2.1 tapaḥsvādhyāyeśvarapraṇidhānāni kriyāyogaḥ
Kriya yoga consists of the austerity of non-reactivity in certain types of mental and physical discomforts (tapas), meaningful study and inquiry (svadhaya) and holding an attitude of reverence and devotion (ishvaraoranidhana).
समाधिभावनार्थः क्लेशतनूकरणार्थश्च ॥ २.२ ॥
2.2 samādhibhāvanārthaḥ kleśatanūkaraṇārthaśca
The purpose (arthah) of kriya yoga is for weakening the mental affliction configuration (klesha) and thus bringing about (bhavana) meditative insight triggering awakening (samadhi).
अविद्यास्मितारागद्वेषाभिनिवेशाः क्लेशाः ॥ २.३ ॥
2.3 avidyāsmitā rāga dveṣābhiniveśaḥ kleśāḥ
This mental affliction configuration (klesah) consists of; universal misunderstanding (avidya), ego (asmita), attraction (raga), aversion (dvesha), and unconscious fear of death (abhinivesha)
अविद्या क्षेत्रमुत्तरेषां प्रसुप्ततनुविच्छिन्नोदाराणाम् ॥ २.४ ॥
2.4 avidyā kṣetramuttareṣāṃ
All mental afflictions of the mind arise out of avidya
अनित्याशुचिदुःखानात्मसु नित्यशुचिसुखात्मख्यातिरविद्या ॥ २.५ ॥
2.5 anityāśuciduḥkhānātmasu nityaśucisukhātmakhyātiravidyā || 2.5 ||
Avidyā consists in regarding a transient object as everlasting, an impure object as pure, misery as happiness and the non-self as self.
2.1 tapaḥsvādhyāyeśvarapraṇidhānāni kriyāyogaḥ
Kriya yoga consists of the austerity of non-reactivity in certain types of mental and physical discomforts (tapas), meaningful study and inquiry (svadhaya) and holding an attitude of reverence and devotion (ishvaraoranidhana).
समाधिभावनार्थः क्लेशतनूकरणार्थश्च ॥ २.२ ॥
2.2 samādhibhāvanārthaḥ kleśatanūkaraṇārthaśca
The purpose (arthah) of kriya yoga is for weakening the mental affliction configuration (klesha) and thus bringing about (bhavana) meditative insight triggering awakening (samadhi).
अविद्यास्मितारागद्वेषाभिनिवेशाः क्लेशाः ॥ २.३ ॥
2.3 avidyāsmitā rāga dveṣābhiniveśaḥ kleśāḥ
This mental affliction configuration (klesah) consists of; universal misunderstanding (avidya), ego (asmita), attraction (raga), aversion (dvesha), and unconscious fear of death (abhinivesha)
अविद्या क्षेत्रमुत्तरेषां प्रसुप्ततनुविच्छिन्नोदाराणाम् ॥ २.४ ॥
2.4 avidyā kṣetramuttareṣāṃ
All mental afflictions of the mind arise out of avidya
अनित्याशुचिदुःखानात्मसु नित्यशुचिसुखात्मख्यातिरविद्या ॥ २.५ ॥
2.5 anityāśuciduḥkhānātmasu nityaśucisukhātmakhyātiravidyā || 2.5 ||
Avidyā consists in regarding a transient object as everlasting, an impure object as pure, misery as happiness and the non-self as self.
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Everything is waiting for you
By David Whyte Your great mistake is to act the drama as if you were alone. As if life were a progressive and cunning crime with no witness to the tiny hidden transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely, even you, at times, have felt the grand array; the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding out your solo voice. You must note the way the soap dish enables you, or the window latch grants you freedom. Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity. The stairs are your mentor of things to come, the doors have always been there to frighten you and invite you, and the tiny speaker in the phone is your dream-ladder to divinity. Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the conversation. The kettle is singing even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots have left their arrogant aloofness and seen the good in you at last. All the birds and creatures of the world are unutterably themselves. Everything is waiting for you. |
Class Five - Christian/ Zen
The Cloud of Unknowing/ Fukanzazengi
Fukan-zazengi - 13th Century - Dōgen Zenji - 1200 – 1253
Already There/ No Place To Get To
The Way is originally perfect and all-pervading. What need is there for practice and
realization?
The Dharma vehicle is rolling freely. Why should we exhaust our effort?
There is no speck of dust in the whole universe. How could we ever try to brush it clean?
Everything is manifest at this very place. Where are we supposed to direct the feet of our
practice?
But We Still Apply Effort Because We Don't See It Yet
...Although Shakyamuni was wise at birth, can't you see the traces of his six years of
upright sitting? Bodhidharma transmitted the mind-seal from India. Can't you hear the
echo of the nine years he sat facing a wall?
If even the ancient sages were like this, how can we today dispense with wholehearted
practice? Therefore, put aside the intellectual practice of investigating words and chasing
phrases, and learn to take the backward step that turns the light and shines it inward.
Your body and mind will drop away of themselves, and your original face will manifest.
If you want to get into touch with things as they are, you - right here and now - have to
start being yourself, as you are…
…the Dharma …cannot be understood by
discriminative thinking...
Your conduct must be beyond seeing forms and hearing sounds, it
must be based on the order that is prior to knowledge and views. Don't worry about if you
are more intelligent than the others, or not. Make no distinction between the dull and the
sharp-witted. If you concentrate your effort single-mindedly, that in itself is
wholeheartedly engaging the way. Practice-realization is naturally undefiled. Practicing
the way means to live the present day.
Already There/ No Place To Get To
The Way is originally perfect and all-pervading. What need is there for practice and
realization?
The Dharma vehicle is rolling freely. Why should we exhaust our effort?
There is no speck of dust in the whole universe. How could we ever try to brush it clean?
Everything is manifest at this very place. Where are we supposed to direct the feet of our
practice?
But We Still Apply Effort Because We Don't See It Yet
...Although Shakyamuni was wise at birth, can't you see the traces of his six years of
upright sitting? Bodhidharma transmitted the mind-seal from India. Can't you hear the
echo of the nine years he sat facing a wall?
If even the ancient sages were like this, how can we today dispense with wholehearted
practice? Therefore, put aside the intellectual practice of investigating words and chasing
phrases, and learn to take the backward step that turns the light and shines it inward.
Your body and mind will drop away of themselves, and your original face will manifest.
If you want to get into touch with things as they are, you - right here and now - have to
start being yourself, as you are…
…the Dharma …cannot be understood by
discriminative thinking...
Your conduct must be beyond seeing forms and hearing sounds, it
must be based on the order that is prior to knowledge and views. Don't worry about if you
are more intelligent than the others, or not. Make no distinction between the dull and the
sharp-witted. If you concentrate your effort single-mindedly, that in itself is
wholeheartedly engaging the way. Practice-realization is naturally undefiled. Practicing
the way means to live the present day.
Cloud of Unknowing - 14th Century - Anonymous Monk
Chapter 3 - Be at home in the darkness
And so diligently persevere until you feel joy in it for in the beginning it is usual to feel nothing but a kind of darkness about your mind, or as it were, a cloud of unknowing.
You will seem to know nothing and to feel nothing except a naked intent toward God in the depths of your being. Try as you might, this darkness and this cloud will remain between you and your God. You will feel frustrated, for your mind will be unable to grasp him, and your heart will not relish the delight of his love. But learn to be at home in this darkness. Return to it as often as you can, letting your spirit cry out to him whom you love. For if, in this life you hope to feel and see God as he is in himself it must be within this darkness and this cloud.
...fix your love on him forgetting all else, which is the work of contemplation..."
Chapter 32 - Instructions on Contemplation
1. “When distracting thoughts annoy you try to pretend that you do not even notice their presence or that they have come between you and your God. Look beyond them - over their shoulder, as it were - as if you were looking for something else, which of course you are. For behind them God is hidden in the dark cloud of unknowing.”
2. “…command yourself to God in the midst of your enemies and admit the radical impotence of your nature. I advice you to remember this device particularly, for in employing it you make yourself completely supple in God’s hands. And surely when this attitude is authentic it is the same as self knowledge because you have seen yourself as you are…This indeed is experiential humility.”
Chapter 41
3. “…remain at it (the contemplative work) always either in earnest or, as it were, playfully…this work demands a relaxed, healthy, and vigorous disposition of both body and spirit.”
Chapter 1 - Progression through the stages
“...one time you were caught up in ... mundane existence along with your friends. But I think that the eternal love of God...could not bear to let you go on living so common a life far from him.
And so with exquisite kindness, he awakened desire within you, and binding it fast with the leash of loves longing, drew you closer to himself into what I have called the more Special manner of living.
He called you to be his friend and in the company of his friends, you learned to live the interior life more perfectly than was possible in the common way.
Is there more? Yes, for from the beginning I think God’s love for you was so great that his heart could not rest satisfied with this. What did he do? Do you not see how gently and how kindly he has drawn you onto the third way of life, the singular?
Yes, you live now at that deep solitary core of your being, learning to direct your loving desire toward the highest and final manner of living which I have called perfect”.
Chapter 3 - Be at home in the darkness
And so diligently persevere until you feel joy in it for in the beginning it is usual to feel nothing but a kind of darkness about your mind, or as it were, a cloud of unknowing.
You will seem to know nothing and to feel nothing except a naked intent toward God in the depths of your being. Try as you might, this darkness and this cloud will remain between you and your God. You will feel frustrated, for your mind will be unable to grasp him, and your heart will not relish the delight of his love. But learn to be at home in this darkness. Return to it as often as you can, letting your spirit cry out to him whom you love. For if, in this life you hope to feel and see God as he is in himself it must be within this darkness and this cloud.
...fix your love on him forgetting all else, which is the work of contemplation..."
Chapter 32 - Instructions on Contemplation
1. “When distracting thoughts annoy you try to pretend that you do not even notice their presence or that they have come between you and your God. Look beyond them - over their shoulder, as it were - as if you were looking for something else, which of course you are. For behind them God is hidden in the dark cloud of unknowing.”
2. “…command yourself to God in the midst of your enemies and admit the radical impotence of your nature. I advice you to remember this device particularly, for in employing it you make yourself completely supple in God’s hands. And surely when this attitude is authentic it is the same as self knowledge because you have seen yourself as you are…This indeed is experiential humility.”
Chapter 41
3. “…remain at it (the contemplative work) always either in earnest or, as it were, playfully…this work demands a relaxed, healthy, and vigorous disposition of both body and spirit.”
Chapter 1 - Progression through the stages
“...one time you were caught up in ... mundane existence along with your friends. But I think that the eternal love of God...could not bear to let you go on living so common a life far from him.
And so with exquisite kindness, he awakened desire within you, and binding it fast with the leash of loves longing, drew you closer to himself into what I have called the more Special manner of living.
He called you to be his friend and in the company of his friends, you learned to live the interior life more perfectly than was possible in the common way.
Is there more? Yes, for from the beginning I think God’s love for you was so great that his heart could not rest satisfied with this. What did he do? Do you not see how gently and how kindly he has drawn you onto the third way of life, the singular?
Yes, you live now at that deep solitary core of your being, learning to direct your loving desire toward the highest and final manner of living which I have called perfect”.
John Keats
"...when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason."
"...the burden of the Mystery."
"...the burden of the Mystery."
Hafiz - Translated by Daniel Ladinsky
We have not come here to take prisoners
We have not come here to take prisoners But to surrender ever more deeply To freedom and joy.
We have not come into this exquisite world to hold ourselves hostage from love.
Run my dear, From anything That may not strengthen Your precious budding wings, Run like hell, my dear, From anyone likely to put a sharp knife Into the sacred, tender vision Of your beautiful heart.
We have a duty to befriend Those aspects of obedience of our house And shout to our reason “Oh please, oh please come out and play.”
For we have not come here to take prisoners, Or to confine our wondrous spirits But to experience ever and ever more deeply our divine courage, freedom, and Light!
We have not come here to take prisoners But to surrender ever more deeply To freedom and joy.
We have not come into this exquisite world to hold ourselves hostage from love.
Run my dear, From anything That may not strengthen Your precious budding wings, Run like hell, my dear, From anyone likely to put a sharp knife Into the sacred, tender vision Of your beautiful heart.
We have a duty to befriend Those aspects of obedience of our house And shout to our reason “Oh please, oh please come out and play.”
For we have not come here to take prisoners, Or to confine our wondrous spirits But to experience ever and ever more deeply our divine courage, freedom, and Light!
Elizabeth Gilbert
"The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them." —, Big Magic
Class Six - Jewish -Kabbalah/ Mahayana Buddhism
The Zohar/ The Matan Torah of Baal Ha-Sulam/ Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra
Today is a look at "The Law of the Equivalence of Form" and "Bodhichitta".
The Matan Torah of Baal Ha-Sulam
"This is what our sages said, "Let all your actions be for the Creator," that is, Dvekut with the Creator. Do not do anything that does not promote this goal of Dvekut. This means that all your actions will be to bestow and to benefit your fellow person. At that time, you will achieve equivalence of form with the Creator—as all His actions are to bestow and to benefit others, so you, all your actions will be only to bestow and to benefit others. This is the complete Dvekut."
Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra
8.125
“If I give this, what will be left for me?”
Thinking of oneself – the way of evil ghosts.
“If I keep this, what will be left to give?”
Concern for others is the way of heaven.
8.129
All the joy the world contains
Has come through wishing happiness for others.
All the misery the world contains
Has come through wanting pleasure for oneself.
“If I give this, what will be left for me?”
Thinking of oneself – the way of evil ghosts.
“If I keep this, what will be left to give?”
Concern for others is the way of heaven.
8.129
All the joy the world contains
Has come through wishing happiness for others.
All the misery the world contains
Has come through wanting pleasure for oneself.