Buddhist Retreat

I was very impressed by this video of Thubten Chodron, speaking on why retreats are good for practice. She comes across as very thoughtful but practical.
This was the first time I had heard of her and found the description of what is available for lay people and for monastics to help me understand my own experience.

Suffering

When I posted earlier today about Jack Kornfield, I hadn't realized that my last post was also about him. As I listened to the second disk about the four noble truths, I thought about the question of suffering. I remember that I had read several books about the problem of suffering from a Christian perspective during my exploration just out of college. I also remember when the book When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Rabbi Harold S. Kushner came out. A couple of years ago, I touched on suffering in this blog.

What struck me today is that the first noble truth does not try to explain why God allows suffering as is common in Christian teaching. One should not begin a discussion by being defensive, yet that seems to be the approach in Christianity. Buddha does seem to have looked clearly at the world and began with something that should be obvious. Jack's teaching is the first time I have really paid attention specifically to the four noble truths though I have begun to become familiar with the buddhist view of suffering from other causal reading (articles and the web rather than books).

meditation

I picked up mediation for beginners by Jack Kornfield as an impulse buy in the store. Although familiar with his name, I don't think I have read any of his books. I posted the following:

A retreat in a box! Jack come across as a compassionate teacher in these sessions in front of an audience. He has such a clear explanation of meditation interspersed with practice on the first disk. The second disk is similar but covers the four noble truths. He gives real, practical examples without religious jargon. From the LA Times; "More and more, we're teaching meditation not as a religious activity but as a support for living a wise and healthy and compassionate inner life," Kornfield said recently. "A number of the people I teach don't consider themselves Buddhists, which is absolutely fine with me. It's much better to become a Buddha than a Buddhist." The title of the May 29, 2010 article by Kate Linthicum says a lot, "Teacher who helped shape American Buddhism is still on a quest." While having heard of him, I have not read his books but look forward to them. Up till now, I have read and listened to Jon Kabat-Zinn who I also recommend.

Using the programming functions on the CD Player, I have listened to just the talks or sat for just the meditations.