Mr. Vega teaches at Insight Hawai'i on the Big Island and has led 3-week retreats in Burma.
Update 8-20-20: He is the only American Buddhist I have ever known to question our Burmese teachers over their support for the genocide against Muslims in Myanmar.
But then: This was a short day of Sitting, Walking & Talking....not like West Wing where I'm as if stuck in my mind.
First he asked us to focus on a body part and inquire what we were feeling. He discussed different techniques of focus. As we drifted into our stillness I heard him say, "Do not get stuck in aversion or liking." He cautioned against "hunting for experiences" while meditating.
Vega told this story where someone at a retreat got annoyed by someone coughing all throughout a silent period: In the interview the participant complained to his teacher about the horrible coughing. The teacher said, "You should thank that person for showing you how bad your concentration is!"
JV also told us of a classic teaching called the Four Protections or Four Guardian Meditations:
1) Contemplating the Buddha's Virtue
2) Contemplating the defilements of the body.
3) Contemplating the Joys of Love.
4) Contemplating Death
So when we think of the ups and downs we get accustomed to the ups and downs, good/bad.
* * *
Someone asked what would be our affirmations and Mr. Vega went over what we often learn about at Insight Meditation Center of Pioneer Valley, The Brahmahivaras or Virtues and our basic Metta prayer. Forget how he worded it exactly but Sharon Salzberg once taught it as:
"May I be safe, May I be happy, May I be healthy and may I live at ease.
May you be safe, May you be happy, May you be healthy and may you live at ease.
(You = Loved ones and/or Benefactors, Friends, People we feel neutral about and Difficult folks- in more or less that order)
May we all be safe, May we all be happy, May we all be healthy and may we all live at ease."
(If we aren't feeling healthy we can say "strong" or "healthy and strong".) This picture was taken in the late afternoon so Jesse is smiling and yet you can see the shadows growing long.
Another thing he said is that in these troubling times some people wonder whether we really have the right to sit and meditate instead of taking action. JV said more or less, "If you can find the right conditions where it's peaceful enough to settle down, then it's actually your duty!"
Only then can we find the clarity and groudedness to take the most effective action, I think was the idea. Or to speak and communicated in ways that can best be heard. #GoodTmes!
Thanks to our fearless teacher and more to come soon on other IPV leaders and their classes!
Also on yoga-sanctuary.com New Year's Eve Retreat.
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