DearKalyana-mitra,
Dear Friend on the NoblePath,
The Study being announced inthe attached pages is about the'Subtleties in theObservances ofMindfulness' aspractised and taught by the Himalayan Yogis: in Buddha's own wordsand of his commentators; The Sutra on Mindfulness and the Commentaryby Buddhaghosa.
in the Foothills of theHimalayas by the Holy River Ganges,
at Sadhaka GramaAshram.
Swami Veda Bharati Dr. Litt. Isa renowned scholar and meditation guide in the Himalayan tradition isone of the rare speakers of Pali (the language that the Buddhaspoke), Sanskrit and Vedic. He has access to literatures in seventeenlanguages. He has been teaching world wide now for nearly sixtyyears. He is also the founder of the Meditation Center, Minneapolis.
Also, about the teacher, pleasevisit
SwamiVeda Bharati
Servant of the Servants of theMasters
At Sadhaka Grama
For the serious student andaspirant
February 11-28, 2004 inRishikesh, India
The practice of mindfulness isenshrined as the foundation in all meditative systems. In theYoga-sutras of Patanjali it is referred to assmrty-upasthana,unfortunately ignored by most commentators on YogaSutras.
In the Pali language, in whichthe Buddha taught, it is called sati-patthana. TheSati-patthana-sutta, the Sutra on Mindfulness, is one of the fewcentralmost teachings of the Buddha (6th century B.C.).The commentary byBuddhaghosa (4th-5th century A.D.) on this sutra, incorporated in hiscomprehensive meditation manual Visuddhi-magga, thePathofPurification,is really a masterful one.
Swami Veda Bharati speaks and writes the Palilanguage (as he does the Sanskrit and the Vedic) and has directaccess to the text as well as to the personal initiatory experienceof this teaching.
Study the original first,before you go on to other interpretators'explanations. SwamiVeda Bharati, assistedby Anne Glazier (who is retired as a teacher of Sanskrit and Indianphilosophy at the School of Oriental and African Studies, Universityof London, an initiate of the Himalayan Tradition)will teach the text inhis usual lucid style together with a personal experience of variouslevels of mindfulness.
While unraveling the hiddensecrets of the text, emphasis will also be placed on actualpractices, for example the practice of the Walking Mindfulness, orthe mindfulness of one's personal emotions.
The course will also form partof the Teachers Training Program of the International Himalayan YogaTeachers Association as well as of the First Year Curriculum of theSwami Rama Dhyana Gurukulam.
SUBTLETIES INMINDFULNESS
There are six paths in pureMindfulness (anussati in Pali, anu-smrti in Sanskrit) and fourcategories of practices (anussati-kamma-tthanas). In our firstlecture we shall give a brief summary of these ten aspects ofmindfulness, before proceeding to the study of the Sutra on theMindfulness of Breathing.
Buddhaghosa goes into the deepsubtleties of the practices. These are still taught by the rare fewmonks in Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand and by the Himalayan Yogis(this last fact is not commonly known). At our Ashram we teach it asit is passed on in the Himalayan lineage.
For example, there are 16observances, divided into four quartets of four principles each, detailed by the Buddha and explained by Buddhaghosa. These go onsimultaneously together with the mindfulness of breathing. We shallpractice these in our teaching, based on any previous training andthe capacity of the students.
It is taught in five stagesdetailed in Buddha's own pedagogic system; it leads to manasi-kara,assimilating the experience of the practice into the mind (till thatalso may be renounced) till it ceases to be a practice and becomesthe aspirant's personal nature. There are eight parts to this'assimilation into the mind', using Pali terms :
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Anu-bandhana : continuation without interruption Phusana : feeling the place where the breath is touching Thapana : settling the mind to stay there Sal-lakkhana : observation (vippassana) vi-vattana : path of the practice pari-suddhi : fruition pati-passana : awareness of the entirety (19 levels)
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It is all explained in the text by way of parablesand examples. Here are a few glimpses:
(1)
When a person who has not conquered physical painssits on the meditation stool, the stool makes a sound (if woven soft,it) bends (or forms a hollow). The sheet on it gets wrinkled.However, one who has conquered the physical pains does not cause thestool to make a sound or to bend, nor does his sheet gets wrinkled.Why? Because one who has gained strength (virya) through previouspractice, feels as though his body is light. His mind is light…and he feels like he is jumping in space.
(2)
(The experience of subtlety develops like) aperson who may hit a bronze plate very hard, and hear its gross andloud sound. But s/he maintains his concentration and continues tolisten keenly. Then he hears the finer sound, as it becomes subtlerand subtler. So it is with going into the subtlety of thepractice.
(3)
As the needle for sewing a silk cloth needs to bea slim one, yet strong, so the awareness in practicing the subtlerlevels of mindfulness needs to become slim and strong.
These are just a few examples of how deep and yethow interesting this teaching is.
Prerequisites :
(1) Meditation and Its Practiceby Swami Rama of the Himalayas
(2)Superconscious Meditation by Swami Veda Bharati
(3) Cassettes on "BuddhistMeditation" by Swami Veda Bharati
(4) Thich Nhat Hahn, TheMiracle of Mindfulness:
An Introduction to thePractice of Meditation
(5) "Contemplative Walking" bySwami Veda Bharati
(6) Thich Nhat Hahn, Breathe!You Are Alive:
Sutra on the FullAwareness of Breathing
Feb. 11-13 : The FireCeremonies by the Tibetan monks of the Sakya School (tentativelyscheduled), at Sadhaka Grama.
Feb.13 : Installation of theBuddha Statue at Sadhaka Grama by His Holiness Sakya Trizin, the Headof the Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism.
Feb. 14-28 Study of theMindfulness Chapter of Visudhhi-magga, the most important meditationmanual of the Theravada Buddhism, the practices of which also formthe fundamentals of Tibetan meditation system in the CentralHimalayas.
Feb. 18 : annual Shiva-ratricelebrations (Swami Veda Bharati chants all night)
March 1-4 : Insightseeing-1,tour of holy shrines from Rishikesh.
March 5 -15 : Ten days silenceretreat (arrive on 4th, depart 16th but it is recommended to arriveearlier and get over the jet lag before starting the retreat).
Application of Yoga-nidra for(a) self-healing (b) memory recall (c) inspiration and revelationwill be taught and practised.
March 16 : Personal guidedmeditation and study retreats.
February 10 - March 27, 2004and April 6 - 20, 2004.
For more information, pleasephone or mail the below form or information to the contactinformation listed at the footer of this document.
Yes, please send me more information aboutregistering for the "Original Texts on Mindfulness"course.
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Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama,Virpur Khurd, Virbhadra Rd., P.O. Pashulok, Rishikesh (UA) 249203,India
Tel: 91-135-431485, 431693,450093; Fax: 91-135-431582
MYLAST DREAM FOR THIS LIFE, by Swami Veda
SWAMIRAMA INSTITUTE OF MEDITATION
Copyright 2003 West-Art, Prometheus89/2003