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Dialogue - immediate experience
We have explored the text in depth, and now we join together in immediate experience. We may still speak the actual textual words, but we also speak to present experience. What touches us now? We share our mundane observations, our pain, and our insights.
We join together in the present experience of the teaching. We may still hold the text in front of us, but because of our diligent practice up to now, we do not need to read it so intently. It lives within; we can trust this and speak the truth of this moment.We listen deeply to the whole. There are ample silences to soak in each and every spoken word, and the resonances they stimulate. We trust emergent experience. As we let go of strict adherence to the text, we find ourselves sitting just with how things are now. Thoughts from our life may come forward; issues we are dealing with may surface, even as we sit in practice. In the container of Dharma Contemplation, these continually arising thoughts, emotions, images, and bodily sensations are naturally viewed in a new way. We experience them through the lens created by the words we have been reading. How does the Dhamma touch and influence our lives? What is realized in this moment? How can we live these teachings, and can we use this moment to support one another on that path? Here, Dharma Contemplation reflects the personal immediacy of vipassana meditation. Mindfully, we share our mundane observations, our pain, and our insights. We are awaken and receptive as we listen to others. In our confusion and our clarity, we remember that our capacity for non-grasping follows us into this everyday life. What we say may still refer to the actual words of the text, but the core of what we are speaking is our present experience as drawn out by the words. This is a personal statement, not a theoretical one. We trust the work that has been done. We have deeply explored meaning, as well as the felt sense of the excerpt. We allow these phases to enrich and inform the present moment, but we release the pull towards them. We let go into the compassion, wisdom, and equanimity of the group, and stay with our inquiry into the emergent moment.We are patient, reflective. We are constantly refreshed by silence. Listening to other meditators’ truth, each person’s experience of the teaching becomes richer. Collective wisdom unfurls between us. Insight blooms within. Mindfulness and tranquility grow. In the ample silences, we soak in each and every spoken word and each nuance of internal and external experience. The attitude now develops into a full openness to the transformative wisdom of the teaching; that wisdom touches this moment of experience. The text has saturated our minds, our hearts. We recognize our capacity for unbinding and allow ourselves to be changed by the word. We speak the truth as it arises in this moment, where the Dhamma meets this human experience. This is also a time to accept the compassion of others and offer our own, recognizing the complexity and vulnerability of this deeply conditioned human life. We listen with full presence. Sharing and listening does not interrupt the silence nor the direct experience of the Dhamma. Rather, each contribution is met with wise attention and draws us ever more deeply into the moment. Sample of Practice: Participant two: I'm considering the work I've done...the practice I've engaged in over the years… and I realize that I carry an internal tone that says 'I never get it right…' And as we've sat here today with this excerpt and each others words, I've experienced a shift of sorts… I'm experiencing practice as a path....the way it's said to be... I'm seeing my life and practice unfold as part of the path, instead of as items to be placed in columns marked success or failure. Participant four: It's interesting, I have a similar experience. My practice life seems less daunting… I sense a clarity now, and there's a confidence in that clarity. Though as I allow mind to move to the some of the more difficult things occurring in my life… I can see how habitual thought kicks in… I have a large project at work that's coming to completion. How it's received by the customer will to a large extent determine how well we'll do for the next couple of years. When I consider this, and the pressures and personalities involved, an internal chatter arises… I become aware that I'm off… I get frustrated. But if I allow myself to recall the natural trajectory here, I can simply step into mindfulness and have a doorway into all this unfolding. Participant three: The question for me is how to do that. Such lovely things have been shared, and I dread it coming to an end. <laughter> But really, so much has arisen from us working… with so few words. In that alone, I get a sense of what can come from care and attention. From really bringing mindfulness to out lives… To bring that quality to interactions, or email, or anything really. So the question for me is how to support that. Participant one: Practice <smiling> Participant two: And by supporting one another. Participant four: It seems that through deep practice like this, a clarity arises… Maybe things we've never seen before, or maybe even just a slight shift in perspective...even just a remembering. And then we nurture it, so we can more easily bring that into focus… We can act from that clarity because we've practiced with it. |