Ground Mouth (3)

A recording of "The Brahmaviharas: The Heart Winds Beneath Our Sails in Ease and Dis-Ease " - a community meditation and dharma talk by Aishah Shahidah Simmons @elmcommunityinsight on Saturday, June 10, 2023 at 10:30am ET. The community discussion was not recorded. https://elmcommunityinsight.org 

The video recording of this meditation and talk is available here: https://youtu.be/UATzTBpSJZU

Chapters:
0:00 - 2:21 - introduction by Traci Hodes, Ph.D.
02:22 - 29:56 - guided meditation by Aishah Shahidah Simmons
29:57 - 36:56 - Aishah's honoring of Pan Asian Origins of Buddhism and Mindfulness
36:57 - 43:50 - 7-minute pause for hydration, stretching, walking meditation, or journaling
43:51- 1:13:30 - dharma talk on the brahmaviharas by Aishah Shahidah Simmons
1:13:35 - 1:16:52 - closing mettā meditation written by Osho Zenju Earthlyn Manuel

What are those practices that can support us in times of despair and also times of joy? The heart practices known in Theravada Buddhism as the Brahmaviharas (Great Abodes, Divine Dwellings, Divine Abodes) are heart winds beneath our sails when flying high and laying low. 

We tend to look for a way out when struggling with despair, fear, anger, and anxiety. When we practice regularly with the brahmaviharas, we can cultivate the compassionate strength to face our realities. The four brahmaviharas are:

Mettā (loving-kindness).
Karuna (compassion).
Mudita (empathetic or vicarious joy).
Upekkhā (equanimity or balance).

The brahmaviharas support our softening in the face of great despair without spiritually bypassing. We aren’t turning away or zoning out. Instead, we are turning toward and tuning in. They are concentration practices that point our attention to the object of the number of phrases. They are not mechanical exercises or affirmations. Instead, the phrases become anchors like our awareness of breath, sound, and bodily sensations. They steady the mind, train it, and the body to rest in the heart-mind (cittā). We can find sanctuary and rest in these qualities. We can quiet the mind and experience refuge or sanctuary in our boundless hearts. 

Resources referenced during the talk:
We’ve Been Here All Along  Funie Hsu published in Lion's Roar
In this article, "Funie Hsu says it’s time we recognize the contributions of Asian American Buddhists and address the racism and cultural appropriation that marginalizes their ongoing role in transmitting the dharma in the West."
https://www.lionsroar.com/weve-been-here-all-along/

You Belong: A Call for Connection by Sebene Selassie (HarperOne 2021)
https://sebeneselassie.com

Mindful of Race: Transforming Racism from the Inside Out by Ruth King (Sounds True, 2018) - https://ruthking.net

Tuere Sala - https://tueresala.org
Dara Elebe Williams: https://www.dharma.org/teacher/dara-w...
Konda Mason - https://www.spiritrock.org/konda-mason
Larry Yang - https://www.katalyfoundation.org/team...

Link to Aishah Shahidah Simmons's talk on Cultivating Balance in the Eight Worldly Winds
  

 • Balance in the Ei...  

For All Beings, Mettā meditation by Osho Zenju Earthlyn Manuel is featured in the anthology, Afrikan Wisdom: New Voices Talk Black Liberation, Buddhism and Beyond, edited by Valerie Mason-John (Vimalasara), (North Atlantic Books, 2021), pp. 329-330

The title of Zenju's recently published book, Opening to Darkness: Eight Gateways for Being With the Absence of Light in these Unsettling Times (Sounds True, 2023) - https://zenju.org/

The Brahmaviharas: Heart Winds Beneath Our Sails in Times of Ease and Dis-Ease

Noted filmmaker/activist Aishah Shaheedah Simmons weighs in on the issue of #consent in matters of #sexual #violence & the difference in the #burden of #proof for celebs like #Cosby and their #female #accusers. #safespaces #allegations #money #power

The MOJO 11.19.14 - Aishah Shaheedah Simmons

We continue our frank conversation with Aishah Simmons on the #Bill #Cosby rape #allegations, the persistence of #rape #culture, and how society must #change the #narrative on #sexual #violence.

The MOJO 12.16.14 - Aishah Simmons

Filmmaker, educator and sexual violence survivor Aishah Shahidah Simmons provides an update on her latest project, #LoveWithAccountability, the ongoing demands of healing work, and thoughts on the pending Cosby trial's larger societal implications.

MOJO 5.30.17 - Aishah Shahidah Simmons

Aishah Shahidah Simmons joins Wake Up With WURD, guest host Dr. Aaron Smith, to discuss the recent Bill Cosby verdict and she is also the Producer, Writer, and Director of "NO! The Rape Documentary."

Wake Up With WURD 4.30.17 - Aishah Shahidah Simmons

Scholar/activist Aishah Shahidah Simmons helps dissect the complex issues involved in seeking accountability for sexual violations of Black women and girls, and how philanthropy and fame affects public opinion.

The Source 5.11.18 - Aishah Shahidah Simmons

Aishah Shahidah Simmons ​is the Producer, Writer, and Director of “NO! The Rape Documentary.” She rejoins Wake Up With WURD to discuss her newest article, “New Whitney Houston documentary reveals she survived child sexual abuse. But the silence around it harmed her.”

Wake Up With WURD 5.24.18 - Aishah Shahidah Simmons

WURD Radio’s President & CEO, Sara Lomax-Reese interviews Tuere Sala, a seasoned meditation teacher and leader in the insight meditation movement. Sala will be in Philadelphia this weekend (Feb. 1st & Feb. 2nd) leading a retreat specifically for People of Color. She will explore how we can cultivate emotional states that will heal rather than harm. For more information, go to https://www.dvinsight.org/events.

Sara Lomax-Reese Interviews Tuere Sala

Aishah Shahidah Simmons (she/her) is a survivor-healer and an award-winning Black feminist lesbian filmmaker and writer who, for 30 years, has examined the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and sexual violence. Her cultural productions, the 2006-released ground breaking film NO! The Rape Documentary, and the 2020 Lambda Literary Award-winning anthology, Love WITH Accountability: Digging Up the Roots of Child Sexual Abuse (AK Press, 2019), center on breaking silences, healing, and non-carceral accountability for harm. Aishah is also a trauma-informed Mindfulness Meditation teacher who has been studying and practicing Theravada Buddhism for 20 years. Her current book-in-process, Love, Justice, and Dharma, is both the capstone of the trilogy of works that began with NO! and the bridge to her new direction of work primarily focused on offering resources and teachings on how mindfulness is a tool for supporting balance and cultivating compassion amid the often turbulent vicissitudes in life. She is on social media  @afrolez. Learn more at https://linktr.ee/afrolez

The Brahmaviharas: Heart Winds Beneath Our Sails in Times of Ease and Dis-Ease

Aishah Shahidah Simmons

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