Walking for Peace, Back to the Basics of Dharma, Dharmata Austin this Sunday January 23

[Janet Gilmore]

Dear Sangha,

Here is a link to a CNN story about the Buddhist Monks who are walking for peace - a 2300 mile journey from Fort Worth to Washington DC.  This small segment on CNN gives a glimpse into what they are doing and the profound effect it is having. I have been following them on their page on Facebook for a few weeks now.  Every day, the post about their journey, where they are, where they are headed and a short video of their pilgrimage. 

https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/14/us/video/ac360monks

What they are doing is raising awareness for loving kindness and waking up to our true nature. I believe this is what we are all doing every time we remember our true intention to wake up for the benefit of all beings, every time we recognize our own deluded thoughts of hatred and greed, every time we wake up from our self-induced sleep of unawareness. 

As the monks dedicate their day and every step along the journey to loving kindness, peace and awakening, we aspire to do the same in our own way.  Each morning when we wake up, we take a moment to renew our aspiration and to become friends with our own mind.  For some, action is required.  We think of those in harm's way and we ask sincerely what we might do to protect them and if there is something we can do, we do that. We are all on our own pilgrimage - walking for peace.

Thank you for your part in this journey.  Our sangha has been hosting a daily meditation  (Monday - Friday) on zoom since April 13, 2020.  That's 1,509 mornings of waking up... to our true nature as boundless love for the benefit of all beings and to reality as it is.   This is a version of walking for peace that many of us are doing!  You are welcome to join us anytime.

https://zoom.us/j/3999708495?pwd=bURaMEpzSm5aY3NuZGwxTEtuUmFmQT09

Meeting ID: 399 970 8495

Password: 042738

Something that is often taught in Buddhism is the necessity of maintaining "beginner's mind."  I find new revelations each time I study and contemplate what are the most foundational and so called basic teachings so it is with that in mind that I would like to invite everyone to a series of talks and discussions on the basic teachings. I am working on a syllabus to so that those who wish can study, hopefully we can benefit each other with this approach.  My initial thoughts are do a "Buddhism by the Numbers" approach. This is a rough outline of study (reserving the right to add, subtract or go out of order):

1 All dharmas agree at one point & drive all blames into One

2 Truths

3 Jewels

3 Poisons

3 Doors of liberation

3 Kayas

4 Noble truths

4 Reminders (thoughts that turn the mind to the dharma)

4 Immeasurables

5 Aggregates (skandas)

6 Realms

6 Bardos

7 Factors of awakening

8 Worldly concerns

10 Paramitas

12 Links of dependent origination

84,000 kleshas

Going beyond all counting - uncountable, unfathomable, inconceivable

This Sunday we will practice together virtually from 10-11 CST followed by a brief talk and discussion Even though it is out of numerical order, I would like to begin this series with the Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind to the Dharma.  This contemplation of the Four Reminders is often referred to as practicing the preliminaries.  The first Lojong Slogan is "Train in the Preliminaries" and those preliminaries are primarily these Four Reminders.  You can find many great writings on these preliminary practices and many of our sadhanas begin with this contemplation. Something about the four reminders can be found in almost any buddhist commentary.  I've appended Pema Chodron's brief explanation (derived from a couple of her books) of the Four Reminders. 

Also on Sunday you may want to join Anam Thubten  (beginning at noon Central time) for  practice and a dharma talk via this zoom link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81235688405?pwd=cWNhQVpDTWdSQ3k2Q09pRDByN29Odz09

Regular Austin Dharmata schedule details & quick links:

• Morning Meditation: 7:30 - 8:15 AM Monday - Friday
• Book Study: 6:30-8:00 PM Tuesday
  • "When Things Fall Apart" by Pema Chodron
    
• Sunday Sangha 10am - 12pm Every Sunday*
  • In-person Feb 1 & Feb 15
  • Address: 6017 Abilene Trail Austin, TX 78749
  • *we will not be having online sangha on Feb 22 due to Austin retreat
• Zoom Link for All Events: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3999708495?pwd=bURaMEpzSm5aY3NuZGwxTEtuUmFmQT09

Finally, I want to remind everyone that we have a rare opportunity to take time out to deepen our practice, meditate and study with Anam Thubten, here in Austin February 17 - 22. If you are interested in joining the retreat, there is still room and you can register here.

Thanks for putting up with this long email.

With love and gratitude,

Janet Gilmore

Four Reminders Commentary 

“The traditional four reminders are basic reminders of why one might make a continual effort to return to the present moment. The first one reminds us of our precious human birth. The basic thing is to realize that we have everything going for us. We don’t have extreme pain that’s inescapable. We don’t have total pleasure that lulls us into ignorance. When we start feeling depressed, it’s helpful to reflect on that. We are always in a position where something might happen to us. We don’t know. Life can just turn upside down. Anything can happen. How precious, how really sweet and precious our lives are. Beginning to realize how precious life is becomes one of your most powerful tools. We are actually in the best and easiest situation. It’s good to remember that. It’s good to remember all the talks you’ve ever heard on basic goodness and basic cheerfulness and gratitude. What we do to recognize our own precious human birth can be an inspiration for everybody else.”

The Wisdom of No Escape, 97-100

“The second reminder is impermanence. Life is very brief. Also, its length is unpredictable. If you realize that you don’t have that many more years to live and if you live your life as if you actually had only one day left, then the sense of impermanence heightens that feeling of the preciousness and gratitude. Remembering impermanence motivates you to go back and look at the teachings, to see what they tell you about how to work with your life, how to rouse yourself, how to cheer up, how to work with emotions. Still sometimes you’ll read and read and you can’t find the answer anywhere. But then someone on a bus will tell you, or you’ll find it in the middle of a movie. If you really have these questions you’ll find the answers everywhere. But if you don’t have a question, there’s certainly no answer.”

The Wisdom of No Escape, 101-102

“The third reminder is karma: every action has a result. Fundamentally, in our everyday life, it’s a reminder that it’s important how we live. Every time you are willing to acknowledge your thoughts, let them go, and come back to the freshness of the present moment, you’re sowing seeds of wakefulness in your unconscious. You are conditioning yourself toward openness rather than sleepiness. You’re sowing seeds for your own future, cultivating this innate fundamental wakefulness by aspiring to let go of the habitual way you proceed and to do something fresh. The law of karma is that we sow the seed and we reap the fruit. To remember that can be extremely helpful.” The Wisdom of No Escape, 103-104 “The Buddhist teachings on karma, put very simply, tell us that each moment in time – whether in our personal lives or in our life together on earth – is the result of our previous actions. The seeds the Unites States has sown in the last year, 5 years, fifty years, hundred years are having their impact on the world right now – and not just what the United States has sown but all the countries that are involved in the world situation today. Many of us feel a kind of despair about whether all this can ever unwind itself. The message of this book is that it has to happen at the level of individuals working with their own minds, because even if these tumultuous times are the result of seeds that have been sown and reaped by whole nations, these nations are made up of millions of people who, just like ourselves, want happiness. So think in terms of sowing seeds for your children’s future and for your grandchildren’s future and your grandchildren’s grandchildren’s future.”

Practicing Peace in Times of War, 85-87

“The fourth reminder is the futility of continuing to spin around on this treadmill that is traditionally called samsara. The essence of samsara is this tendency that we have to seek pleasure and avoid pain, to seek security and avoid groundlessness, to seek comfort and avoid discomfort. The basic teaching is that this is how we keep ourselves miserable, unhappy, and stuck in a very small, limited view of reality. The mind is always seeking zones of safety, and these zones of safety are continually falling apart. Samsara is preferring death to life.” The Wisdom of No Escape, 106-107 “The opposite of samsara is when all the walls fall down, when the cocoon completely disappears and we are totally open to whatever may happen, with no withdrawing, no centralizing into ourselves. That is what we aspire to. That’s what stirs us and inspires us: leaping, being thrown out of the nest, going through the initiation rites, growing up, stepping into something that’s uncertain and unknown. Basically you do prefer life and warriorship to death.”

The Wisdom of No Escape, 107-108