Objective:
•
To provide both a theoretical and experiential understanding of Buddhist
Teachings as they relate to issues of Social Responsibility.
•
To discuss Mindfulness as it relates specifically to unlearning racism,
sexism, homophobia and other forms of hierarchical thinking and behavior,
as well as to our understanding of active Nonviolence
•
To provide some Meditation and Mindfulness Practices that relate specifically
to connecting with the world.
•
To discuss briefly the historical and cultural contexts for Inner
Training such as Meditation, Prayer etc. Transcendentalism and Materialism.
The interweaving of poetry, politics and mysticism.
Agenda:
Presentation
•
Spiritual Practice AS Social Responsibility: Discussion of
how the dichotomy between the spiritual and the political is counterproductive.
Discussion of some other constructs by which we polarize the world
to filter our experience of it in an attempt to understand. How we
isolate ourselves for the sake of a false sense of security.
Practice
and Application
•
Everyone Can Meditate: Meditation as a real tool that can provide
real benefit for anyone. It may be a lifelong practice, but it does
not require a lifetime of training to become adept. Meditation not
as, "stopping my mind," or "controlling the mind," or manufacturing
exotic states of mind. Meditation as a way to refine our relationship
to our experience of living.
•
Love and Understanding are the same: Instruction in basic Meditation,
with a special focus on practices for cultivating Compassion, Empathy,
Love (loving kindness) , and the application of these practices
in everyday life.
•
Meditation IS Everyday Living: Tools of cultivating Mindfulness
in Everyday life and action.
Presentation
and Discussion
•
Meditation, Revolution, Poetry: The use of poetry, language,
and the creative imagination as tools for empowerment and personal
transformation. Sustaining awareness through creativity.
•
The Buddha was a Feminist: To summarize he Buddha's teaching
on caste, environmental responsibility, and women and how this relates
to other core teachings of Buddhism.
Outcome:
It
is the intention of the facilitator that participants will leave this
workshop with some basic skills in Meditation, as well as some cognitive
tools to help to motivate them to explore their own practice of Meditation
further; and to feel empowered that their Meditation is their own,
that it is a journey into their life, not something superimposed from
outside.
It
is also the intention of the facilitator that participants will be
encouraged to draw parallels between things that are often held to
be separate and unconnected, and to use reflective, meditative tools
(rather than merely intellectual tools) to do so.
It
is also the intention of the facilitator to rekindle and deepen our
common innate love of poetry and the poetic sensibility - in the service
of a peaceful and awakened life.
Short Version
Buddhist Mindfulness
Training as Social Responsibility. Meditation instruction,
and discussion of ways to integrate Mindfulness into everyday life.
We will look at tools to help us reconnect to the world and to each
other, Interdependence and Social Responsibility, ways to 'speak truth
to power' by how you live. In addition to Buddhist teachings this
workshop will draw from the poetic and mystical traditions, as well
as movements for social justice.