|
------------------------------
The
Urban Dharma Newsletter...
February 24, 2004
------------------------------
In
This Issue: Buddhism
and Emotions
1.
What is Emotion? ...by Lama
Gendyn Rinpoche
2.
Mature Emotions ...Ajahn Vajiro
3. Buddhism and the Blues ...By Hara Estroff Marano
4. from 'Living Dharma' ...by Venerable Lama Yeshe Losal
5. from 'Taming the Tiger' ...by Dr Akong Tulku Rinpoche
6. Buddhism and Human Feelings ...Rev. Gregory Gibbs
7. Temple/Center/Website:
Vista Buddhist Temple
8. Book/CD/Movie: Healing Emotions
...by Daniel Goleman
-------------------------------
1.
What is Emotion? ...by Lama
Gendyn Rinpoche
http://www.diamondway-buddhism.org/teachings/english/bt2emotions.htm
It
is important to be clear about what we mean by the word emotion.
We
use the word daily to describe something that can be readily
identified, a definite feeling in the mind that is both a reaction
and a driving force. In Buddhism however, emotion is much more
than that. It is a mental state that starts the instant the
mind functions in a dualistic mode, long before the normal person
is conscious of it.
Emotion
is the habitual clinging that makes us automatically categorize
our experiences according to whether our ego finds them attractive
(desire), unattractive (anger), or neutral (ignorance). The
more clinging there is, the stronger our reactions will be,
until we reach a point where they finally break into our conscious
mind and manifest as the obvious feelings we usually call emotions.
The
above reactions are termed the three poisons, to which are added
those of considering our own experience as predominant (pride)
and judging our own position in relation to the object perceived
(jealousy), to give the five poisons. The word poison is used
because these reactions poison our mind and prevent the appearance
of its intrinsic wisdom.
2.
Mature Emotions ...Ajahn Vajiro is the senior incumbent
of Bodhinyanarama Monastery in New Zealand.
http://www.fsnewsletter.net/31/31.htm
In
the teachings of the Buddha there are mentioned the Brahma Viharas.
These are usually translated as the divine, or heavenly abidings.
This is from a literal translation:
"Brahma
- God, and Vihara - Dwelling. They can be brought down from
the heavens, to earth, by considering that as emotions they
motivate and encourage the transcending of the limitations of
basic human existence."
This
'transcending of limitation' is a definition of growing. For
the seed of this idea I am grateful to a friend who pointed
out that they can be considered the mature emotions. What follows
are a few further reflections; not intended as a comprehensive
analysis of the Brahma Viharas which may be found in a text-book
on Buddhism.
Emotions,
it seems clear to me, are motivating. I tend to think of them
as those things that cause, or fuel, or drive us to, motion.
They provide the fuel that drives the movement; the action,
towards or away from some object or situation. We move and act
through body, speech or mind and that movement is a response
to the stimulation of the senses. It is in the responding that
we can first notice the arising of emotions. Before the movement
there is stimulation of the senses; this is the contact. A feeling
follows, then perception; it is this which is mixed with, or
linked to, the mature emotions. There is then in Pali no direct
translation for the English word emotion. An emotion is a mixture
of perception and sankhara - habit pattern; both of which may
be consciously trained. Mature emotions are those emotions that
are the response of, and fuel the movement of, the mature person.
Mature
emotions are . . . those emotions that allow other people to
mature.
Sometimes
the goal of Buddhism can be described in terms that lead me
to think that what is being sought is a cold emotionless passionless
heart - no response, no feeling, no desires, no motivation.
This conflicts with our image of the Buddha as someone with
a strong motivation, a strong compassion to lead a life that
would be of greatest benefit to all beings.
Mature
emotions are also those emotions that allow other people to
mature. So when a person acts or responds with mature emotion,
other humans are helped in a way that allows them to transcend,
to grow beyond their limitations. This appears abstract; and
yet when we consider how parents can best allow their children
to mature, it is through the expression of mature emotion.
The
four 'maturing emotions', as explained here, may be realised,
in practice, as being linked; only divided for the sake of convenient
analysis and explanation. They are like different aspects of
the same place, different ways of describing heaven. We describe
the different aspects to help us to find a way of noticing them
so we may express them, play with them, in our lives.
The
metta - kindness - engendered in us encourages us to accept
ourselves and others, and so to understand ourselves and others.
Understanding implies wisdom. And this wisdom is that which
allows us to find the way, to grow beyond, or let go of, that
which limits and binds the heart. The kindness expressed to
others allows them to accept themselves and others.
This
is an emotional, gut or heart acceptance that allows the acts
of body, speech and mind that are a response to that which is
perceived as 'other' to be kind; not motivated by not-liking,
not motivated by aversion or fear. The effect is unlimited.
Metta is radiant and attractive, warming to those that are cold,
cooling to those that are hot.
Karuna
- Compassion - works. It works for us in allowing us to
perceive the pain, anguish, affliction, agony, torment and distress
of others clearly, through allowing it into our experience also.
It is then something that has moved further out of the realm
of the ignored or the unconscious into the realm of the included,
the accepted, the conscious. Compassion is spacious, allowing
the way things are to exist, to change, and to end. Particularly
it allows pain to end. This means that it must be patient, not
in any hurry to force pain to end or to try officiously to get
rid of pain. It is the active side of wisdom and is the supreme
purifier. The Buddha's compassion allowed him to realise that
there is still something that can be done by a fully enlightened
being. It was compassion that motivated him to teach "for
the benefit of those with little dust in their eyes".
Mercy
is a way to think of compassion, a word not often used and yet
evocative of the quality of heart that is willing to bear the
burdens of others; willing to always help to the best of its
ability, listening out for the cries for help and acting. The
'cries' may not be loud. It can be as ordinary as helping to
clean-up after an event or set up before the event. Whenever
we notice that some assistance would be appreciated and are
willing to act to give it, we practise karuna.
Mudita
is usually translated as sympathetic joy. This has meant little
to me. The suggestions in the words of sympathy, pathetic and
joy suggest an omelette that has a strange flavour. 'Sympathy'
and 'joy' seem to mix easily; it is the addition of 'pathetic'
by alliteration that jars the palate. Appreciate, joy, enjoy,
and bring joy to, are words that evoke from me the qualities
of heart that are the opposite of envy and jealousy; the opposite
of those qualities that wish to bring someone down to a lower
level. is also a suffering that we can avoid; but it takes practice.
It takes wise reflection, it takes effort and understanding.
Mudita
implies full consciousness. We need to discriminate, to be conscious,
to open to the possibility of appreciation. Particularly encouraged
is consciousness of the good, the virtue and the wisdom of others.
What mudita allows is the arising of an aspiration to do or
to be likewise. Luang Por Sumedho has said that when we can
appreciate the beauty of a rose in full bloom, we can be moved
by mudita. The suggestion is to practise at all levels. Sometimes
when looking at a rose we can be caught by so-called 'realism'
and just see that the flower will fade; we can be a bit like
Scrooge with "bah humbug", a sour response to any
suggestion that beauty can be appreciated without falling into
desire to possess or hold on to. The balance is provided when
upekkha is present.
Upekkha:
again first the usual translation - equanimity. I prefer serenity,
with the implied suggestion of accepting limitation and rising
above it. The phrase, "be serene in the oneness of things"
has always struck me as a beautiful suggestion to my heart when
there is frustration with the pace of life; the limitations
of the universe; or the limitations of myself or others. There
has to be a conscious acceptance of the limited way things are,
to allow the heart to train to transcend that limitation.
On
a mundane level, if I wish to train myself to touch type I have
first to accept that right now there is not the ability to touch
type; and only then can the effort be honestly made to learn
to train the fingers and the eyes to work together in an automatic
way. If I am unwilling to accept the fact that right now there
is not the ability and yet I wish to touch type then I can pretend,
but the only person I will be really fooling is myself. We do
this on a grand scale when we would like to be mature and fulfilled
people and we are unable to accept the limitations we find ourselves
with. We can then pretend to be mature when we are in fact not
really clear about our emotions or intentions and allow ourselves
to be motivated by immature and damaging emotions. In the case
of touch typing there is no real harm done; in the case of the
person pretending to themselves and others that they are grown
up, it is more dangerous both for themselves and others.
The
four Brahma Viharas work together. Ajahn Buddhadasa talked in
terms of upekkha overseeing the other three. In skilful and
beautiful situations mudita is the mature motivation of the
heart. If it is possible to alleviate a situation where there
is pain or distress compassion maybe invoked. An unpleasant
or ugly situation invokes metta. Acceptance, an aspect of metta,
finds its echo in the acceptance of limitation implied in upekkha,
which is why metta is such an important beginning.
For
most of us and even in animals it is metta, as found in the
acceptance of the mother of the child, that is the first emotion
that allows us, and others, to grow and begin to mature. If
there is no metta expressed to an offspring, particularly a
human child, it will either die quickly or grow to be a very
warped and immature individual. It is the primary motivation
that allows the very young to mature. The young express it in
the way they reach out and learn about the place in which they
find themselves. Young children can pick up things without discrimination
and, to the horror of the adults, place them in the mouth. There
is in this action of the child a very crude level of acceptance
and lack of discrimination operating as the child begins to
reach out beyond itself.
Compassion
allows us to recognise the changes and developments that are
a part of the natural changes from baby, to child, to young
person, to adult, to old person - and the pain of separation
from the known, which is part of this process - and bear the
changes sensitively.
Mudita
allows us to enjoy life. The beauty and the wonder of this strange
experience of being a sensitive separate life somehow mysteriously
connected with it all. And when all the fear of the unknown
has been allowed to fall away, the wonder of the unknowable
can be appreciated and enjoyed.
What
moves us through life, through the uncertainties and changes
is what can bring some freedom for people. Our intentions move
us through life, our intentions are the area of our greatest
freedom. To use and train this freedom wisely is the challenge.
3.
Buddhism and the Blues ...By
Hara Estroff Marano -- Publication Date: Oct 30, 2003
http://www.psychologytoday.com/htdocs/prod/PTOArticle/pto-20031030-000001.asp
Summary:
Mediation techniques can help cure depression. Buddhist psychology
offers more than a method of investigation. Its core techniques
of meditation and awareness may have much to offer ordinary
Westerners, whose material comforts have not wiped out rampant
emotional distress.
To
most people Buddhism is an ancient Asian religion, although
a very special one. It has no god, it has no central creed or
dogma and its primary goal is the expansion of consciousness,
or awareness.
But
to the Dalai Lama, it's a highly refined tradition, perfected
over the course of 2,500 years, of analyzing and investigating
the inner world of the mind in order to transform mental states
and promote happiness. "Whether you are a believer or not
in the faith," the Dalai Lama recently told a conference
of Buddhists and scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, you can use its time-honored techniques to voluntarily
control your emotional state.
Yes,
the Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of over 300 million Buddhists
worldwide. Yes, he is the head of the Tibetan government in
exile. But in the spirit of Buddhism the Dalai Lama has an inquiring
mind and wishes to expand human knowledge to improve lives.
At its core, Buddhism is a system of inquiry into the nature
of what is.
He
believes that psychology and neuroscience have gone about as
far as they can go in understanding the mind and brain by measuring
external reality. Now that inner reality--the nature of consciousness--is
the pressing subject du jour, the sciences need to borrow from
the knowledge base that Buddhism has long cultivated.
A
comprehensive science of the mind requires a science of consciousness.
Buddhism offers what MIT geneticist Eric Lander, Ph.D., called
a "highly refined technology" of introspective practices
that provide systematic access to subjective experience. Yet
Buddhist psychology offers more than a method of investigation.
Its core techniques of meditation and awareness may have much
to offer ordinary Westerners, whose material comforts have not
wiped out rampant emotional distress.
Over
the past 15 years, starting with his own personal interest,
the Dalai Lama has set up discussions with Western scientists
in an effort to further knowledge about the emotions. The recent
meeting, held at MIT, was actually the eleventh in a series
of annual conversations sponsored by the Colorado-based Mind
& Life Institute. But it was the first one that was open
to other participants.
The
Buddhist view of how the mind works is somewhat different from
the traditional Western view. Western psychology pretty much
holds to the belief that things like attention and emotion are
fixed and immutable. Buddhism sees the components of the mind
more as skills that can be trained. This view has increasing
support from modern neuroscience, which is almost daily providing
new evidence of the brain's capacity for change and growth.
Buddhism
uses intelligence to control the emotions. Through meditative
practices, awareness can be trained and focused on the contents
of the mind to observe ongoing experience. Such techniques are
of growing interest to Western psychologists, who increasingly
see depression as a disorder of emotional mismanagement. In
this view, attention is hijacked by negative events and then
sets off a kind of chain reaction of negative feeling, thinking
and behavior that has its own rapidity and inevitability.
Techniques
of awareness permit the cultivation of self-control. They allow
people to break the negative emotional chain reaction and head
off the hopelessness and despair it leads to. By focusing attention,
it is possible to monitor your environment, recognize a negative
stimulus and act on it the instant it registers on awareness.
While attention as traditional psychologists know it can be
an exhausting mental activity, as Buddhists practice it it actually
becomes a relaxing and effortless enterprise.
One
way of meditation is to use breathing techniques in which you
focus on the breathing and let any negative stimulus just go
by--instead of bringing it into your working memory, where you
are likely to sit and ruminate about it and thus amplify its
negativity. It's a way of unlearning the self-defeating ways
you somehow acquired of responding catastrophically to negative
experiences.
Evidence
increasingly suggests that meditation techniques are highly
effective at helping people recover from a bout of depression
and especially useful in preventing recurrences. Medication
may be needed during the depths of an acute episode to jump-start
brain systems, but at best "antidepressants are a halfway
house," says Alan Wallace, Ph.D., head of the Santa Barbara
Institute for the Study of Consciousness. But meditation retrains
the mind to allow ongoing control over the content of thoughts
and feelings.
Basic
Meditation Exercise
1.
Sit with an alert and relaxed body posture so that you feel
relatively comfortable without moving. (You can sit either in
a straight-back chair with your feet flat on the floor or on
a thick, firm cushion three to six inches off the floor.)
2.Keep
your back, neck and head vertically aligned, relax your shoulders
and find a comfortable place for your hands (usually on your
knees).
3.
Bring your attention to your breathing. Observe the breath as
it flows in and out. Give full attention to the feeling of the
breath as it comes in and goes out. Whenever you find that your
attention has moved elsewhere, just note it and let go and gently
escort your attention back to the breath, back to the rising
and falling of your own belly.
4.
When you can maintain some continuity of attention on the breath,
try expanding the field of your awareness "around"
your belly to include a sense of your body as a whole.
5.
Maintain this awareness of the body sitting and breathing, and,
when the mind wanders, bring it back to sitting and breathing.
4.
from 'Living Dharma' ...by Venerable Lama Yeshe Losal
http://www.samyeling.org/Buddhism/Teachings/3Emotions.htm
When
you have identified your major problem, whatever the poison,
whatever the problem is that is bothering you terribly, you
should then sit there, relax, and call up this emotion in your
meditation. Whether it is anger, jealousy, pride, envy, whatever,
summon it here. Then introduce yourself to this being which
has somehow caused so much chaos in your life for so long, and
investigate this feeling of yours. How big is it? Is it oblong?
Round? Black? White? What colour, what shape is it?
Look
at the essence of this emotion that makes you suffer so much.
You always think that the emotion is genuinely happening, but
if that were the case, it should have a shape, a colour, a size.
If you are bothered by something, there must be something there
for you to be bothered by! How can anything bother you when
you find nothing? If it were a solid entity, really existing
in some part of your body, you could just remove it with an
operation and thus solve all your problems. However, emotions
have no such characteristics.
This
is the time to do a really proper investigation through meditation.
Hopefully you will come to the very strong conclusion that there
isn't anything to worry about, because there is nothing to be
found. You then discover that you are responsible for creating
emotions that do not really exist, and that you yourself transform
them into solid realities.
That's
why our emotional states are so difficult to handle. Somehow
we are able to build this solid image out of an emotion, and
it bothers us all the time. It takes away our peace and destroys
whatever we're doing. If I were to tell you there is nothing
to bother you, you would certainly reply, Oh, this Lama Yeshe
is saying so, but my feelings really bother me. This is why
I'm asking you to do this investigation here, now, in your own
meditation. There is no other way. When you yourself come to
the conclusion that there is actually nothing there to bother
you, then youshould be relieved. It should comfort you to know
that somehow you have been enslaved by feelings that do not
really exist.
5.
from 'Taming the Tiger' ...by Dr Akong Tulku Rinpoche
http://www.samyeling.org/Buddhism/Teachings/3Emotions.htm
The
mind is the root of all our experience, both of ourselves and
of others. If we perceive the world in an unclear way, confusion
and suffering will surely arise. It is like someone with defective
vision seeing the world as being upside down, or a fearful person
finding everything frightening. We may be largely unaware of
our ignorance and wrong views, yet at present the mind can be
compared to a wild tiger, rampaging through our daily lives.
Motivated by desire, hatred and bewilderment this untamed mind
blindly pursues what it wants and lashes out at all that stands
in its way, with little or no understanding of the way things
really are.
The
wildness we have to deal with is not simply that of anger and
rage; it is much more fundamental than that. The tendency to
be driven by ignorance, hatred and delusion enslaves us, allowing
confusion and negative emotions to predominate. Thus the mind
becomes wild and uncontrollable and our freedom is effectively
destroyed. Normally we are so blind that we are unaware of how
wild our minds really are. When things go wrong we tend to blame
other people and circumstances, rather than look inside ourselves
for the causes of the suffering. But if we are ever to find
true peace or happiness it is that wildness within which must
be faced and dealt with. Only then can we learn to use our energy
in a more positive and balanced way, so that we stop causing
harm to ourselves and to others.
6.
Buddhism and Human Feelings ...Rev. Gregory Gibbs
http://www.vbtemple.org/travelers/gibs_feel.htm
A
Distorted View
There
is a wide-spread impression amongst non-Buddhists that the Buddhist
religion disregards human feeling. The notion of Buddhism as
an aloof teaching that prizes detachment developed in Europe
in the nineteenth century. This distorted view of Buddhism was
largely propagated by British and German diletantes who had
studied only the Theravadin approach as they found it in Thailand
and Sri Lanka. This concept of Buddhism as preferring a dry
and unfeeling way of living is built upon a misunderstanding
of the objective of the Buddhist religion and a one-sided study
of how monks and nuns address their emotional life. Let me look
at these two areas briefly.
The
Objective of Buddhist Living
The
common (distorted) view of Buddhism which I am trying to correct
presumes that the purpose of Buddhists is a detached life. But,
Buddhist philosophy actually views detachment as an extreme
as destructive as attachment. The historical Buddha, Sakyamuni,
tried to guide us on a middle path between attachment to pleasures
and possessions on the one hand and an ascetic detachment on
the other. Both of these extremes are unworthy according to
Sakyamuni Buddha.
The
middle path is not a middle of the road existence. Rather it
is living in the tension of being drawn toward various extremes.
Walking such a middle path is not an end in itself. Buddhists
do not cherish a life of moderation as such. Rather it is living
moderately and navigating between the extremes which leads us
toward our objective. The objective of Buddhist living is freedom
and realization of the Truth.
Freedom
is often conceived in a merely negative fashion -- freedom from...
But, freedom is not conceived in merely negative terms by Mahayana
and Vajrayana Buddhism. For us freedom means limitless potential.
The Larger Vehicle of Buddhist teaching explains freedom as
not being bound to some fixed forms of living, thinking and
feeling, but ALSO not being bound to formlessness. True freedom
is not detachment from forms of feeling, thinking and acting.
Rather it is the limitless potential to flexibly take on new
forms of being as situations and the needs they generate change.
Realization
of the Truth is interdependent with true freedom. Jesus is reported
to have said that, "the Truth will make you free."
Buddhists would agree. However, we might tend to emphasize that
FREEDOM WILL ALLOW YOU TO SEE THE TRUTH. Furthermore, realizing
the truth will make us happy. Happy in an elegant and subtle
way that goes beyond the happiness which we understand in contrast
to pain, humiliation and sadness.
There
is no way to adequately explain what such a realization of the
truth is like in the language of the unenlightened. Yet, there
is no other language and, as those who battle the AIDS virus
remind us, SILENCE IS DEATH. Therefore, let me break the 'noble'
silence of scholastic Buddhism and say that the realization
of the Truth is discerning and non-substantial, luminous oneness
of all persons, places and events. This realization is fulfilling
in a way that is similar to and yet transcendent of the pleasures
and rewards which come to us in our day to day affairs.
How
Buddhists Address Their Emotions
The
oldest Buddhist advice regarding emotions is that we might do
well to deliberately cultivate positive emotions. The classic
example of this is Metta meditation, the cultivation of kindly
intentions towards all living beings. This procedure probably
goes back to the historical Buddha, 2,500 years ago.
Once
Buddhism had established an elite of educated monks and nuns
the concern with suppressing disturbing emotions became a matter
of some urgency. In particular, monks found it hard to meditate
when they were still moved by sexual desires. The classic way
of suppressing sexual desire was to go to a graveyard at night,
dig up a corpse and watch it decay. The corpse would usually
be buried again before day break and then dug up again the next
night. After watching the progressive deterioration of a woman's
corpse over aperiod of a few weeks a monk would typically find
his sexual desires to have become dormant. This practice was
only engaged in by monks.
With
the Chan tradition in China (Zen) an approach of simply observing
the feelings as they are developed. Without trying to suppress
unwanted feelings or trying to cultivate positive emotions,
simple attentiveness to feelings was and is practiced. The nearly
universal experience which comes from this approach is that
the feelings become gentler, softer, more flexible. This is
considered an intermediate or advanced practice of Zen. Generally,
it is taught only following a long period of concentrating daily
on some particular object such as one's breathing. An almost
identical sort of sitting and allowing thoughts and feelings
to unfold, as they will, is practiced in Tibet and referred
to as Dzog-chen meditation. The Tibetans consider this a very
advanced practice and it is only taught to a person who has
spent many years doing rigorous visualizations.
In
the Jodo and Jodo Shinshu schools of Pure Land Buddhism the
emotions are similarly allowed to develop naturally. Generally,
unlike Zen and Dzog-chen, no special effort is applied to being
mindful of the emotions. In Jodo Shinshu the natural, relaxed
but devout holding of the Buddha's name in one's mind and heart
is allowed to work its magic off-stage. Without any special
effort to become gentler or more caring, but with a grateful
appreciation for the Buddha's gift of his name, the surrounding
emotional environment, internal and perhaps interpersonal as
well, tends to become more wholesome.
7.
Vista Buddhist Temple
http://www.vbtemple.org/index.html
As
North San Diego County, CA’s center for the continued
transmission of the Buddhist teachings, referred to as the Buddha-Dharma,
we are dedicated to the religious and educational aspirations
of Jodo Shinshu Buddhist families. All events, activities, and
religious gatherings are open to aspiring Buddhists, and membership
in the Temple is encouraged for continued attendance. We are
one of 60 Jodo Shinshu Temples in the Buddhist Churches of America,
each independently organized, but joined in the pursuit of the
Buddha Dharma.
History
The
commitment and dedication of pioneer Jodo Shinshu families in
the North County made possible the beautiful Temple we currently
enjoy. Beginning in 1929, about 25 pioneer families gathered
for religious, language schooling, and cultural and social activities
at each other’s homes. Seeing a need for expanded facilities,
the current Cedar street property was purchased in 1937 by the
Japanese-American community. Following World War II, the Cedar
Road property served as temporary lodging for returning interned
Japanese-American families. In 1978 the present Japanese Cultural
Center was built with a portion serving as a place for Buddha-Dharma
gatherings. Rev. Arthur Takemoto (1980-1994) became the first
full-time resident minister. Rev. John Iwohara served as resident
minister from 1996 to 1998. The current Temple was constructed
and dedicated in 1987. We are a California, religious corporation
and an IRS section 501 (c)(3) organization.
Facilities
The
air conditioned main hall is capable of seating 408 people,
and an engawa (covered porch-walkway) allows for an overflow
of 100 more for religious gatherings. A small library of English
and Japanese material is located ot the rear of the main hall.
A social hall including an audio system and stage, accommodating
250 is located downstairs, adjacent to a large kitchen. Four
classrooms are located to the south side of the downstairs hall.
Jodo
Shinshu
The
Buddha-Dharma as taught by Sakyamuni Buddha (560-480BC) is said
to encompass 84,000 different paths. Of these, the Vista Temple
emphasizes the teachings as clarified by Shinran Shonin (1173-1262),
known as Jodo Shinshu. Jodo Shinshu is part of the Mahayana
tradition with aspirations for birth in Amida Buddha’s
Land of Utmost Bliss through practice of the nembutsu or calling
the name of the Buddha of Infinite Wisdom and Compassion. Although
an understanding of the Buddha-Dharma can be fostered through
written, audio, and video material, an awareness of the living
expression of nembutsu comes from listening to the Dharma at
the Temple.
Primary
Activities
Weekly
Buddha-Dharma gatherings are scheduled for Sundays at 9:30 AM,
unless precluded because of major memorials or Temple events.
Seven major Jodo Shinshu commemorative gatherings are scheduled
throughout the year (consult the Temple Calendar for dates and
times). Two major fund-raising / religious / cultural events
are planned, one in the spring (the Hanamatsuri Bazaar, usually
in April) and one in the summer (the O-Bon Bazaar, usually in
July). A monthly newsletter announces activities and events.
Buddha-Dharma articles are also published in the newsletter.
8.
Healing Emotions ...by Daniel
Goleman
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1570622124/wwwkusalaorg-20/
Amazon.com
- Become a fly on the wall at the Mind and Body Conference III,
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with the Dalai Lama. East meets West in this important melding
of contemporary research on the interrelationship between emotional
states and physical well-being with the ancient Buddhist thinking
on this obvious connection.
Amazon.com
- Reviewer: Chinese Taoist from Detroit, Michigan United
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meditation, and Buddhism gathered with the Dalai Lama to conduct
the Third Mind Life Conference. The purpose of the Mind Life
Conferences is to discuss bridges and interface with what can
broadly be called the sciences of mind and life -biology, cognitive
science, neuroscience, and psychology, as well as philosophy
of mind. This third conference's purpose was to increase mutual
understanding and facilitate the emergence of new insight to
the relationship between health and emotional experience. This
book, Healing Emotions, is the record of this meeting.
Daniel
Goleman, scientific coordinator of the conference, cleanly edits
and presents the content of the conference. He introduces each
presentation with his summary of the content. Goleman then gives
the actual presentation made by each of the speakers, and continues
with the discussions that followed. The discussions cover ethics,
virtues, emotions' impact on health, stress, behavioral medicine,
self-esteem, medicine and compassion. In the presentations the
speakers share their theories, tests, results, and case histories.
Amazon.com
- Reviewer: A reader ...Dan Goleman has done it again. A
highly readable book rooted in scientific research - just like
his two books on Emotional Intelligence. Compared to other edited
Mind and Life Conference books, this one describes the conversation
in an extremely lively manner with explanations on Buddhist
and scientific concepts presented as footnotes, and as a result
making comprehension possible even with some abstract concepts
unfamiliar to novice like me.
The
enthusiasm shown by Dr. Goleman in the ability of mind over
body can be found throughout the book (especially in the chapter
presented by him where H.H. the Dalai Lama commented "You've
just given me a lot of ammunition). This is probably due to
his own knowledge and keen interest in the Eastern psychology
and meditation.
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