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COURSE

Walking The Buddha's Path In A Time Of Crisis

With Sean Oakes

Ordinary life is hard already, with everything we have to do, track, and take care of. Then along comes another crisis! As I’m writing this, the coronavirus pandemic is still growing in devastation around the world. People are out of work, the economy is crashing, loved ones are getting sick or dying, and many of us are confused and scared. Can meditation and spiritual practice help in a moment like this? It can, but not necessarily in the way we want. This course explores the Buddha’s radical approach to transforming despair into wisdom, hopelessness into confidence, and confusion into clarity. It’s for beginners but goes deep fast. We start with pain and end with a taste of liberation, and in the process learn how to move through life with more joy, peace of mind, and love.

Transform despair into wisdom, hopelessness into confidence, and confusion into clarity with teachings of the Buddha.

10 Days

6.4k students

4.8 stars

17 min / day

English

About this course

Orienting Practice

Refuge Prayer

Impermanence Awareness

Meet your Teacher

Sean Oakes

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Sebastopol, CA, USA

Sean Oakes, PhD (he/him, queer, of Spanish/Puerto Rican and Northern European ancestry living on unceded Pomo land in California), teaches Buddhism, Yoga, and somatic practice. He received teaching authorization from Jack Kornfield, wrote his dissertation on extraordinary states in Buddhist meditation and experimental dance, and focuses on the integration of philosophy, somatics, and social justice discourse with the Dharma. He teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, East Bay Meditation Center, New York Insight, Insight Timer, and elsewhere.

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10 Days

6.4k students

4.8 stars

17 min / day

English

Lesson 1

This Is Hard!

We begin with the obvious: this is hard! The coronavirus crisis seems like a disruption to “business as usual” but it’s really a wake-up call to come out of denial. The path begins with an approach that is simple but profound: being with our experience just as it is, without clinging to fantasies of it being better. Only from this willingness to be present with what is can we begin to turn the heart toward peace and wisdom. In this lesson we learn a basic mindfulness practice called “orientation.

Lesson 2

Everything Is Workable

When we meet difficulty with presence, and take everything as part of the path, a powerful clarity arises in the heart. Traditionally called “faith,” in Buddhism this refers to the confidence we feel when we trust our teachers and elders, and the teachings, to guide us. We know everything is workable, and this becomes the path out of hopelessness and despair, and into the heart of practice. In this lesson we explore the Buddhist practice of “going for refuge.”

Lesson 3

Pleasure Is The Path

Now we start to engage with the nuts and bolts of practice: how we direct our attention, and how to interrupt the habits of distraction and anxiety. The inspiration that begins our practice develops here into a subtle joy and confidence, but we have to attend carefully to the hindrances. In this lesson we bring together the first two aspects of embodied meditation practice: orientation to our physical space, and allowing our attention to connect with things that are pleasurable, beautiful, interesting, or at least neutral.

Lesson 4

Enjoy Your Meditation

Do you treat meditation like a chore, or a self-care discipline, like exercise or cleaning your house? That’s ok, but like any discipline, it only really takes off when you begin to enjoy it. When you want to spend time doing it, not just for the hoped-for results like less anxiety or stress, but because it’s one of the loveliest parts of your day. Learning to make pleasure the heart of meditation practice builds embodiment, relaxation, and concentration, and helps you to both prioritize and deepen in practice. In this lesson we learn an embodied meditation style based in full body breathing.

Lesson 5

Fall In Love With Stillness

Enjoying meditation means enjoying stillness. Even if stillness doesn’t come naturally to you, or if turning inward brings up painful memories or emotions, silence and stillness can be learned. Modern cultures have lost the taste for tranquillity, but learning to rest in a state that’s peaceful, sober, and lucid is one of the most nourishing gifts we can give to the body and mind. In this lesson we work directly with the senses, and how to minimize distraction and deepen relaxation.

Lesson 6

Love & Happiness

It may seem like happiness is inappropriate in a moment of crisis, but the opposite is true! When we’re calm, resourced, and happy, it’s easy to care for ourselves and others, and happiness is one of the most powerful supports for insight and wisdom. The more we connect with our innate ability to be present and connected to goodness, the more happiness will become a part of everything we do, including how we respond in an emergency. In this lesson we learn a basic form of lovingkindness (mettā) practice.

Lesson 7

Mindfulness—Not For The Faint Of Heart!

Meditation and mindfulness are not the first steps in practice, but build on the core skills of emotional stability and orientation to the present moment. Mindfulness in Buddhism is a systematic inquiry into our human experience, and demands courage, confidence, and self-love. It is embodied, emotional, and intimate. As it matures, mindfulness flowers into wisdom, and is the doorway to a radical shift in our way of being in the world. In this lesson we learn a classic Buddhist form of moment to moment mindfulness practice.

Lesson 8

It's Like This

The heart of the Buddha’s wisdom teachings, known as Dhamma, is the invitation to understand our human experience directly, through intimate contact with life. Intimacy with life reveals three important aspects of all experience: nothing is permanent or ultimately reliable, and no experience, even of the body, heart, or mind, is stable enough to be called “me, myself, or mine.” These insights challenge the core of our identities, plans, and worldview, but they open into an extraordinary freedom. In this lesson we learn a simple practice for turning mindfulness toward clear seeing.

Lesson 9

Enlightenment Means Growing Up

The heart of liberation is a specific kind of letting go. The challenge with letting go is that we can't do it on purpose, any more than we can rush the process of becoming a mature adult. It takes life experience, and the emotional integration of that experience, to truly grow up. As we develop even very basic forms of meditation and mindfulness, we begin to understand the habit of grasping and what it feels like when grasping releases. In this lesson we explore disengaging from addictive sensory stimulation and deepening in the joy of simple presence.

Lesson 10

What Wisdom Feels Like

Because the habits we’re working to change have their roots deep in our being, it's important to recognize when they shift, even in subtle ways. Liberation is not an all or nothing experience. Every little release from grasping and fear is a little liberation, and every bit of insight builds on the last. In this lesson we practice recognizing when grasping is absent, and savoring the taste of liberation. And we set the foundations in place for a lifetime of practice, deepening in love and presence for the well-being of everyone in the world.