In September 2023 London Insight Meditation hosted Christina Feldman for a retreat day on the theme of the Brahmaviharas as pathways of liberation.

Brahmaviharas as Pathways of Liberation

Further reflections on Muditā (as sympathetic joy)

Mettā (Befriending) and Muditā (Joyfulness)

The Brahmaviharas and their insight factors

What are the Brahmaviharas?

A recording of "Upekkhā | Equanimity: an anchor amid the groundless that life offers" - a community meditation and dharma talk by Aishah Shahidah Simmons at Elm Community Insight on Saturday, September, 2023 at 10:30am ET. The community discussion was not recorded. https://elmcommunityinsight.org.

This recording is also available on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/5DgKFaCzmiU?si=-1PzzeM71usWJWQC 
and Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/867630648

Skip to: 
00:02 - Welcome by Traci Hodes, Ph.D.
01:40 Guided meditation by Aishah Shahidah Simmons
37:03 - Dharma talk by Aishah Shahidah Simmons
1:02:59 Closing by Traci Hodes
1:04:26 Mettā (Dedication of Merit by One Earth Sangha)guided by Aishah Shahidah Simmons

Life is up, down, and all around. When not tuned in to the present moment, the vicissitudes can perpetually blow us around like a tumbleweed in a strong wind. Upekkhā | Equanimity is an anchor amid the groundlessness that life offers us. It’s the balance that supports our witnessing and being fully present for life’s vicissitudes. Naming Harriet Tubman as a bodhisattva, Aishah underscores how upekkhā is not milk toast. It is a compassionate force that is compassionately fierce.

Referenced and Related Resources:

The closing poem read by Aishah at the end of her guided meditation is from The Moon Appears When the Water Is Still: Reflections of the Dhamma by Ian McCrorie
https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Appears-When-Water-Still/dp/1928706177

The "Dedication of Merit" Aishah read during the closing mettā is by One Earth Sangha
https://oneearthsangha.org/articles/dedication-of-merit/

Upekkhā | Equanimity allows us to witness and be fully present for impermanence. 
Anicca (Pali) | Impermanence (English) Chant:
Annicca vata sankhara     All things are impermanent 
Upada vaya dhammino     They arise and they pass away 
Uppajjitva Nirujihanti         To be in harmony with this truth 
Tesam vupasamo sukho   Brings great happiness.
Link to a version of chant (in Pali Only) https://youtu.be/6nuFv2_g7dg?si=phplPbmB1Z_0ENH0

When we are agitated and in a reactive space, dharma teacher DaRa Williams invites yogis to ask ourselves the practice question, "Given the external conditions, what are you going to do about it (without causing harm to oneself or to others)?"

Below are practice questions created by dharma teacher Larry Yang that we can ask ourselves while practicing mettā | lovingkindness. Since mettā and upekkhā are in a cylical dance with each other, Aishah encourages incorporating these questions into an equanimity practice. They are especially helpful when the impulse is to react instead of pausing and then responding.
 
Can I be loving (to myself or others) in this moment?
If I can’t be loving (to myself or others) in this moment, can I be kind?
If I can’t be kind (to myself or others), can I be non-judgmental?
If I can’t be non-judgmental (of myself or others), can I not cause harm?
If I cause harm (to myself or others), can I cause the least amount of harm possible?

Link to Aishah's April 1, 2023 dharma talk "Balance in the Eight Worldly Winds" (Gain/Loss, Status/Disgrace, Censure/Praise, Pleasure/Pain)
https://youtu.be/de-Ih0vJFEw?si=CLAFP-CVgeClY-Wp

Link to Aishah's June 10, 2023 dharma talk "The Brahmaviharas: The Heart Winds Beneath Our Sails in Ease & Dis-Ease."  https://youtu.be/UATzTBpSJZU?si=0WI7kJGfuOIngPOJ

Dharma Teachers referenced:
Tuere Sala - https://tueresala.org
DaRa Williams - https://www.spiritrock.org/dara-williams
Larry Yang - https://www.spiritrock.org/larry-yang

Upekkhā | Equanimity: an anchor amid the groundlessness by Aishah Shahidah Simmons

London Insight Meditation hosted Jaya Rudgard in June 2024, for a retreat day on theme of "The Unshakeable Heart".

The Unshakeable Heart

Guided meditation

Introduction to the theme of the day

#SasanaPL
#InstaDhamma
#dzielnamowaDhammy

Więcej tu: http://sasana.wikidot.com/zrownowazenie-cz-2

Możesz nas też posłuchać na tych serwisach podkastowych -
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sasana-pl/id1592163368?uo=4 
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/039TDu6Pil0s4jutio5VeA 
Google Podcast: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3ByZWFrZXIuY29tL3Nob3cvNTE5OTg5OC9lcGlzb2Rlcy9mZWVk 
RSS: https://www.spreaker.com/show/5199898/episodes/feed 

Wspomóż prace Sasany: https://patronite.pl/sasanapl

Pomóż nam tłumaczyć teksty źródłowe: https://patronite.pl/TheravadaPL 

Oryginał można znaleźć tutaj: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZHSdDoe0GE

Tłumaczenie: Piotr Płaneta (https://sunyanando.pl/)
Redakcja polska: Katarzyna Gwiazda
Czyta: Michał Rusnarczyk (https://gadamstudio.pl/)

Zrównoważenie - część 2 - Ajahn Sona [LEKTOR PL]

#SasanaPL
#InstaDhamma
#dzielnamowaDhammy

Więcej tu: http://sasana.wikidot.com/zrownowazenie-cz-3

Możesz nas też posłuchać na tych serwisach podkastowych -
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sasana-pl/id1592163368?uo=4 
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/039TDu6Pil0s4jutio5VeA 
Google Podcast: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3ByZWFrZXIuY29tL3Nob3cvNTE5OTg5OC9lcGlzb2Rlcy9mZWVk 
RSS: https://www.spreaker.com/show/5199898/episodes/feed 

Wspomóż prace Sasany: https://patronite.pl/sasanapl

Pomóż nam tłumaczyć teksty źródłowe: https://patronite.pl/TheravadaPL 

Oryginał można znaleźć tutaj: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK9yEY4xsDk&ab_channel=AjahnSona

Tłumaczenie: Piotr Płaneta 
Redakcja polska: Izabela Mieszała
Czyta: Kamień Stulecia

Zrównoważenie - część 3 - Ajahn Sona [LEKTOR PL]

Aishah Shahidah Simmons brings the confluence of cultural work, activism, and a 2500-year-old practice to ground her courage in living this complicated life. A survivor-healer, Black feminist lesbian award-winning writer-filmmaker, Aishah brings her life lens to work reinforced by a 22-year practice of Vipassana Meditation and trauma-informed, mindfulness meditation teacher certifications. More than one year of cumulative silent retreat practice in the U.S. and India, a daily meditation practice, three decades of therapy, and a cultivated community are foundational to Simmons moving through the trauma and suffering she experienced from childhood and adulthood sexual violence. 

Aishah’s cultural productions --the 2006 groundbreaking, Ford Foundation-funded acclaimed feature film, NO! The Rape Documentary and the 2020 Lambda Literary-award winning anthology, love WITH accountability: Digging Up the Roots of Child Sexual Abuse break silences, offer healing paths for trauma, and provide visions for humanely disrupting the inhumane epidemic of sexual violence. 

Feminist activist Gloria Steinem says of Love WITH Accountability, "With this brave and healing anthology of truth-telling about sexual abuse within Black families, Aishah Shahidah Simmons sets an example for all families."

Ahead of its time, NO!’s world premiere at the 2006 Pan African Film Festival occurred 19 months before Title IX was successfully applied to campus sexual assault cases and is one of the contemporary instigators of the modern campus sexual assault movements. 

Alice Walker, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and human rights activist, says, “If the Black community in the Americas and the world would heal itself, it must complete the work, NO! begins.” 

Since 1995, Aishah has led over 400 workshops and dialogues in the U.S. and in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. She has received numerous awards, and held Artist-in-Residence and/or guest faculty appointments at colleges/universities and organizations including the University of Chicago, Temple University, Scripps College, Spelman College, Williams College, the University of Pennsylvania, the Weekly Dharma Gathering Platform, Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, Elm Community Insight: An Engaged Meditation Society, Morgan State University, Insight Meditation Community of Western Massachusetts, Sounds True, the Highlander Research and Education Center, the Collegeville Institute and Spirit Rock Meditation Center.

SASANA.PL to kanał, na którym publikujemy wykłady uznanych nauczycieli buddyzmu theravady. Są to zarówno instrukcje do medytacji, jak i dłuższe mowy przybliżające podejście buddyzmu do problemów, z którymi każdy z nas boryka się w życiu. 
Theravada powstała w III w. p.n.e. w północnych Indiach, po wyodrębnieniu się z ze wspólnego nurtu szkoły mahasanghików i jest najdłużej istniejącą szkołą buddyjską spośród wczesnych szkół. Dominuje w południowej i południowo-wschodniej Azji (gł. Birma, Kambodża, Tajlandia, Laos), aż po Indonezję, i bywa nazywana buddyzmem południowym. Czasami tradycja ta zaliczana jest do hināyāny, co nie jest właściwe zarówno ze względu na poprawność merytoryczną, jak i historyczną.

New tracks tagged #upekkha