Lezione 1
First Factor. Mindfulness, Presence, Awareness And Clarity
In this talk, we first introduce all the Factors of Awakening, as essential states of mind and heart that we develop on the journey to awakening. We show their key importance within traditional Buddhist teaching and practice, the dharma, and how they can be understood within our meditation, spiritual practice and daily life. Then we explore mindfulness, how we practice it, how it can deepen and become the doorway to spiritual insights, and how it can be a fruitful and inspiring part of our life beyond formal meditation practice. We explore the aids and supports to the practice of mindfulness, as well as the obstacles and hindrances, and show how it can become natural and not another burdensome training.
Lezione 2
Second Factor. Investigation, Exploration, Insight
The second factor is what we do with mindfulness awareness, how we direct it to meet our inner truth and listen to all the voices of our body, mind, heart and soul. When our attention is directed towards our authentic experience it begins to uncover layers and reveal what is usually hidden. Investigation is not just analytic or conceptual, although these can sometimes come in and add a useful dimension to awareness. It is more about the penetration of awareness into places which it normally does not reach: going deeper and more open and discovering the nature of our experience and ourselves.
Lezione 3
Third Factor. Energy, Effort, Motivation, Curiosity
The third of the Factors of Awakening is the whole field of the energy and motivation that drives our transformative journey. It is obvious that the first two factors, mindfulness and exploration, can bring juice to our minds and hearts. We become curious as things unfold, and we want to go deeper. It is as if the story is gripping and we cannot put the book down, or the creativity fire is strong and we have to keep going. Energy takes many forms. It can be the way our heart is touched and we are motivated, it can be a deep vital force, it can be the need for effort and determination but at other times the power of surrender. In this talk, we will explore the range of these qualities and how to develop them.
Lezione 4
Fourth Factor. Joy, Rapture, Happiness And Contentment
Basic cheerfulness and contentment is both a result of and an aid to spiritual life. In the Factors of Awakening it rests on a process of awareness, exploration, discovery and enthusiasm for the both the process and the gifts that it brings to our life. It is a direct consequence of meditation which helps us to be close to life, and a consequence of insight which is the 'Wow' of realizations that arise on the way. In this talk we will explore how this joy can be developed and become a consistent background to our life, despite all the changing and even difficult circumstances that we may encounter.
Lezione 5
Fifth Factor. Calm, Serenity, Ease And Peacefulness
A meditative, contemplative, and joyful life, the first four factors, is the source or ground of a peaceful and serene existence. The heart and mind are unruffled and not constantly agitated by changing circumstances. There is far less friction because the awareness is open and connected to life and not constantly resisting, avoiding, denying or controlling it. Seeing the truth of things, as the Buddha said, helps us ''to be an island'', within the stormy seas of life. In this talk, we will explore how we can encourage and develop inner peace, and see clearly when it is genuine and when it is avoidance and shutting down. We will show how things look from the point of view of the ocean or the point of view of the waves.
Lezione 6
Sixth Factor. Meditative Concentration, Focus, And Absorption. Unification Of Consciousness
The sixth factor gets to the heart of meditative practice. Peace, well-being, insight, and letting go of disturbing mental constructions, the previous five factors, all help the development of samadhi in which we dive into awareness, lose ourselves and let go of the usually distracted mind. Samadhi can be absorption into one object, such as a candle, but it is often practised with moving objects, such as the breath which changes and comes and goes. When we get close and intimate with the object of meditation we increase the power and penetration of the mind, and unify mind and heart, which invites realization and liberation.
Lezione 7
Seventh Factor. Equanimity, Steadiness, Spaciousness
The seventh factor, equanimity, is a key quality that is one of the hallmarks of awakening, and a quality that matures at the end of the road, though it is also touched at the beginning of the journey. When our awareness is spacious, interconnected, and free, it is not easily disturbed by the coming and going of circumstances. It involves an inner subtle protection, not an outer protection based on our boundaries and defences, which is indifference or switching off. Although sometimes we do need boundaries and outer protection, gradually this can be replaced by equanimity as we develop. All our spiritual practice and meditation create a limitless and interconnected awareness, in which there is much less sense that the world out there can hurt the person in here. We can be in the storm, not just in the eye of the storm, and like the Taoist image, bend and flow and dance with the changes and the unexpected, whether pleasant or unpleasant.
