Sunshine Coast Retreat House

We do this work to expand awareness, deepen wisdom and increase compassion for the benefit of all beings.

Why is it necessary to go to all this effort to learn about meditation? If it is true that the force of Universe is moving all of us in the direction of awakening, why the emphasis on this seemingly artificial “practice”?

The answer is that the “individual” consciousness, associated with a particular body, and the story that develops with it, is subject to many distortions which have accumulated on its journey from beginingless time until now. These distortions have three root causes: intentions and actions arising from hatred; from greed, and from ignorance. Obviously, there are many variations on each of these three themes. If this were not the case, the awakened state would be fully realized, because this transcendence is the fabric upon which our lives are woven. It is only because we carry the screens, blinds and filters created by past unwholesome activity that we are not able to perceive this reality right now. Read the rest of this entry »

We do this work to expand awareness, deepen wisdom and increase compassion for the benefit of all beings.

First of all, I’d like to refresh your memory of the Jungian mandala of the four functions of the human being which we spoke about last week. Do you recall what they are? Sensing, evaluative, intellectual and intuitive.

Now, the fact that you have a physical body is rather obvious to you! And most adults have some sort of understanding that this physical body has an anatomical structure similar to other adult human bodies, but with built-in strengths and weaknesses that are quite individual, conditioned by genetics, accident and opportunity (or lack of opportunity) for development. Read the rest of this entry »

We do this work to expand awareness, deepen wisdom and increase compassion for the benefit of all beings.

What is meditation? It may interest you to know that in the ancient language of the culture where these practices were first developed, there wasn’t a word which exactly translates as “meditation”. This English word is our Western construct; the being who taught the system we are going to study over the next few months, Sakyamuni Buddha, used two words to describe the process: one which means “concentration” and another which means “mental development”. So here is a new idea for you. Meditation exercises involve training the “individual” mind to concentrate on particular objects in very specific ways, in order to strengthen and purify consciousness to the point where it is possible to awaken to, or perceive its union with, transcendent or “universal” consciousness. Read the rest of this entry »

Two weeks ago we ended with a consideration of the word samma and you were invited to explore the implications of a totality perspective in your daily lives. If you gave this a try, you will know directly how difficult it is. Only when we begin to realize how much we think, speak and act without awareness of totality do we begin to develop as students of the path of liberation. We have to see how much our lives are dominated by partiality. This lovely word can mean two things: preference and incompleteness — really the same, when you stop to consider.

Tonight’s task is very big . . . to give an overview of The Eightfold Noble Path as the foundation for our life as practitioners. So we have to start with the first principle the Buddha taught, also the most difficult: totality view or totality understanding. We’ll spend a lot of time with this principle, because
all the rest flows from it. Samma ditthi means knowing the nature of reality as an awakened being would know it — directly, without concepts. But for us, who dwell so incompletely in the realm of concepts, we can try to use them skillfully, as the Buddha did.

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“Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”– The Red Queen to Alice, in THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, by Lewis Carroll

“I, too, use concepts, but I am not fooled thereby.” — Namgyal Rinpoche

I take refuge in the vast intelligence of Universe.
I take refuge in the order and chaos of universal law.
I take refuge in the interconnectedness of all manifestation.

At a small gathering with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Victoria nearly 20 years ago, he was asked to give a talk on Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, the Three Refuges, in some traditions referred to as The Three Jewels. He arrived late by helicopter from Vancouver, was visibly tired (and dare to say it, stressed) after speaking to a large crowd in BC Place Stadium that morning, and he had a very short time with us before he had to helicopter back to Vancouver for an evening reception in his honour.

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Have you ever experienced a moment of feeling fully alive? All by yourself, not doing anything, not thinking, simply feeling spacious and energetic, brimming over with curiosity and potential? Surprisingly, this is a quiet feeling; no big drama. Alert and focussed, but not focussed on anything in particular. This is the feeling of one’s own mind in its natural awake state, unconditioned by desiring this, fearing that or by habitual depression or agitation.

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There is no awakening without compassionate action. Many practitioners find their growth and unfoldment has stalled, even though their skills as meditators are well-honed, and their lives well-founded in the practices of non-harming. How can this be?

One contributing factor is misunderstanding the importance of service, in the context of dharma practice. Like all words, service carries a load of cultural conditioning. We think of it as “performing good deeds” or “helping out” or “doing our part.” Volunteering fits into the same mental category as writing a cheque to a community charity . . . something we do in order to be responsible citizens and which makes us feel good about ourselves.

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From a talk given by Bonni Ross in Vancouver, March 1997

Let’s begin with a traditional reflection:

From beginningless time until now, countless unwholesome actions have been performed, knowingly or unknowingly, due to ignorance.
The results of these actions are continuously coming into consciousness now, creating great suffering.
I feel remorse for having been involved in such actions.
They are like poison, and with all my heart, I wish to be free of them.
May I never perform such actions again.

Also from beginningless time, I and all beings, including all the saints and Buddhas of all time, have performed countless wholesome actions.
I rejoice in, and feel my life supported by, this wondrous ocean of positive energy.
May all my actions increase this wholesome force.

May I never give up the realization of total, unformed potential.
May I never reduce myself or any other being to the false understanding of seeing them as a permanent self or object.

Until I am able to abide without clinging in that realization, I will take Refuge — in the Buddha as guide, the Dharma as path, and the Sangha as spiritual companion.

May all my actions be motivated by the wish to decrease the suffering of all beings.

In order to fulfill that wish, I will do as all the Bodhisattvas have done — as much as possible of whatever is necessary.

By the merit gained through this prayer may I awaken speedily for the sake of all beings. Read the rest of this entry »

From a talk given in Vancouver by Bonni Ross February 25, 1997

I take refuge in the vast intelligence of Universe.
I take refuge in the order and chaos of universal law.
I take refuge in the interconnectedness of all manifestation.

It’s in my mind over these next few weeks to revisit some primal ideas about the Teaching, partly as an exercise for myself, because I find that if I make it a discipline to re-visit certain very basic principles on a regular basis it keeps these ideas very fresh and alive. I have also found that there’s a real desire in many people to have some of these principles expressed in ways that don’t rely so strongly on the ancient language. Read the rest of this entry »

From a talk given in Vancouver by Bonni Ross February 18, 1997

We hear a lot today about the need for relief from physical illness or stress, and very often that is what causes an investigation of meditation to begin. Another cause is emotional turmoil of some kind, which eases into a temporary calm or peace during meditation. Both of these categories of motivation result in using meditation to change conditions which are seen to be negative to other conditions which are deemed ‘positive’ or ‘better’.

Another type of meditator is an adventurer — she or he want to explore the nature of the mind itself, to experience the various phenomena which arise in consciousness. They seek to know, and sometimes to love, more deeply and fully. Read the rest of this entry »