Wisdom Rising

Wisdom Rising: A Women's Meditation Retreat

Spirit Rock Insight Meditation Center // September 24-30, 2018

• 9/25: Day One
• Direct experience is the birthplace of wisdom.
• The Dharma is apparent and true in every moment; it is timeless; it can be directly experienced in every moment.
• Trust the inner wisdom.
• Fear is the opposite of trust.
• Wisdom is innate.  Buddha-nature.
• Prajñāpāramitā: goddess of wisdom; "the wisdom that goes beyond"
• Believe yourself and your inner wisdom!
• "Live with yourself as your island of refuge and not someone else, with the truth as your island of refuge and not something else."
• "yourself" = buddha; test the dharma for yourself, you are your safe space, your wisdom is your refuge
• "truth" = dharma; your truth
• + take refuge in saṅgha, your community, seen and unseen yet always present.
• 9/26: Day Two
• Anatta: no-self.
• Separation is delusion.  That person, being, entity you blame, hate, or love - this is you.  This is me.
• Taṇhā: 2nd Noble Truth.  Craving.
• Causes of suffering = path of resistance.  Resisting suffering engenders suffering.
• Fear is born of ego and is the core of resistance.
• I must forgive or I cannot be free.
• Resistance = opposite of forgiveness
• The more we survive dukkha (suffering/dis-ease), the more we sit with it, the more resilient we become; we begin to trust that we will make it.
• 9/27: Day Three
• "Trying to think your way to enlightenment is like trying to drink water from the word 'cup.'" (cannot be done; enlightenment is attained through direct experience)
• "The difference between a flower and a weed is a judgment."
• Teaching of Prajñāpāramitā: emptiness.
• Conventional reality = the dream (of what we think is real); absolute reality = waking up (to the emptiness of this delusion)
• Hold in the heart what the mind cannot handle.  Hold in the heart what the mind can handle.
• Compassion = caring.  "I care." / "I care about you."
• Compassion is the necessary, fundamental base and companion to wisdom.
• All compassion is born of self-compassion..
• Strip away the ego and you will know the bliss of emptiness.  This will shine and ripple to all beings.
• 9/28: Day Four
• Stillness.  River shore meditation.
• "Spiritual Friendship is the whole of the holy life."
• Generosity, compassion, compassionate listening, honesty, non-abandonment
• "She who stays."
• "Stay in your lane" - you can only influence you; yet, you ripple this influence.  Focus on knowing yourself.
• Spiritual path = "examine Self, forget Self, become intimate with all things." -Dōgen
• "intimate with all things" = enlightenment
• 9/29: Day Five
• We birth ourselves into each new moment.  
• Each moment is a product of the moment before it.  What kind of next moment do we want to create for ourselves?
• With every thought, we have a choice: do we choose to believe it/go with it, or do we choose to say, "This is not true," or, "Not now"?
• Wise speech: intentionality.  Authenticity.  
• Are these words serving?
• Is this the authentic truth?
• Knowing that we know we have a choice.  We know.

• Meeting with JoAnna
• Karma moves forward, it does not move backward.
• Buddhism does not have a rear-view mirror.
• Discern, yes, and learn from your growing inner wisdom.
• But do not bypass the necessity of self-trust.  This is how you will know trustworthiness in others.
• Your karma, each future moment, is dependent on the actions/thoughts of now.
• You determine your karma in each new moment.  The past is not here.  Here, is just now.
• My future is not determined by my past; my future is determined by my present.  ---->

• Quotes
• "Love says, 'I am nothing.'  Wisdom says, 'I am everything.'  Between the two my life flows." - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
• "Try to be mindful, and let things take their natural course.  Then your mind will become still in any surroundings, like a clear forest pool.  All kinds of wonderful, rare animals will come to drink at the pool, and you will clearly see the nature of all things.  You will see many strange and wonderful things come and go, but you will be still.  This is the happiness of the Buddha." -Ajahn Chah Subhato
• "In your investigation of the world, never allow the mind to desert the body.  Examine its nature, see the elements that comprise it, see the impermanence, the suffering, the selflessness of the body while sitting, standing, walking or lying down.  When its true nature is seen fully and lucidly by the heart, the wonders of the world will become clear.  In this way the purity of mind can shine forth, timeless and delivered." -Ajahn Mun Bhuridatta
• "Nothing whatsoever should be clung to as 'I' or 'mine.'  To understand this is to heal all illness and sorrow.  Let yourself be still, without grasping or resisting.  The wise person lives in voidness, with an open and free heart that does not cling to anything.  This is the pace of nirvana.  It is always here, available whenever we let go." -Ajahn Buddhadasa

• Practices
• River shore meditation: picture yourself sitting on a river shore.  Thoughts are boats that go by, label them, say "Hello, Goodbye," then be with the river, the water.  Still with body, with breath.
• Advanced dimension: note awareness of awareness, itself
• DharmaSeed (meditations recorded from retreat): retreat code = VVGN

Prajñāpāramitā Mantra
Gate gate
Para gate
Para sum gate
Bodhi svaha

Prajñāpāramitā

Prajñāpāramitā

Translation

Gone, gone

Gone beyond

Gone far beyond

Gone entirely

Circle

May I know that all of the wisdom I need is within me

May I know that enlightenment is within me

May I know that I am always whole, complete

Like the moon, even if it appears not so

Wisdom rising, like the moon

May I take refuge in my own wisdom

My own experience

The truth

⚬

Notes from Spirit Rock Residential Retreat: "Wisdom Rising: A Women's Meditation Retreat," led by JoAnna Hardy, Spring Washam, Erin Selover, Anna Douglas, Kate Johnson and Devon Hase, September 24-30, 2018.