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I have recovered from the disease of Alcoholism. I believe there is only one person really,.. everybody. And that peace of mind is everything. -So treat your neighbor as you would treat yourself, because your neighbor IS yourself. I think most of recovery is what I would call common sense, but that learning to be ordinary is a true gift very few people acquire. My ambition is to accept everything unflinchingly, with compassion, and therefore be intrinsically comfortable in my own skin, no matter what. I am comfortable being uncomfortable and am willing to go to any lengths to improve my life. I believe the Big Book was divinely inspired, and is extraordinarily powerful. Unfortunately AA's best kept secret a lot of the time. (In my opinion). I just try to do what works, no matter what it is.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

What (free) stuff I'm listening to. Amongst other things.. Adyashanti

I love this !!!!! sooo much at the moment. Can't !! stop listening to it on my ipod. :)
The free basic teaching talks are ! excellent. But yes, I have bought some mp3's as well. Can't get enough of this at the moment. Love it to bits. I wonder what thing will be next?
Anyway I thought I would just include a reference to the free basic talks, as they pretty much cover 98% of the teaching anyway. Thats it.
I'm not going to go on about it as this one involves having to part with cash. Which I don't want to encourage people to do really. i prefer to mention free stuff only. I spend money on technology and esoteric stuff, so thats my weakness. My curiosity gets the better of me. Normally I lend people my CD's so that they can listen to the mp3's, but thats harder to do when we are not meeting each other in the AA meeting down the road, (!) but if you email me I'll see what I can do.
Hope you had a nice weekend :)
Full moon tonight!! Awesome :) I LOVE the full moon..

Here are links to the free talks on the basic teachings..? if you are interested. if not. Thats fine too :)
The Basic Teachings ~ Part 1....Principles of the Teaching
http://www.adyashanti.org/cafedharma/index.php?file=video
The Basic Teachings ~ Part 2 ...Application of the Teaching
http://www.adyashanti.org/cafedharma/index.php?file=video

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the links. I will certainly take a look at them ASAP.

I hope all is well!
NOS

Paul Garrigan said...

I went through a stage of listening to Adyashanti, but not so much anymore. A lot of people believe that he wrote the Jed McKenna series using this as a pseudo name. He has some interesting things to say for sure, but a lot of it depends on believing that he has reached a very high level of attainment. He seems to be fairly well connected to the non-duality/Advaita movement.

An Irish Friend of Bill said...

I see PG. Some former monastics whose practice I respect spoke well of him, so I thought I would look him up based on that. So far I am happy with what I have found. Normally I only look things up if (what I consider to be) a senior practitioner speaks well of something or somebody.
I haven't come across this degree of simplicity/clarity re non-duality before, or a simple formula for approaching that practice. perhaps there are a ton of equally clear people out there that I haven't found yet?, but I haven't found them.
Im fact I sort of resent the former lack of clarity, technical jargon, or complex amongst other teachers now.
Ultimately, all I know is that I am finding the methods useful. It addresses controlling tendencies inherent in other mindfulness disciplines which in my opinion have not been adequately spelled out within other traditions. He's like Ken Wilber without the jargon :)
I'm making progress with it, and some of the most senior and respected dharma practitioners I know seem to think he is clear as a bell, so I have sufficient faith in their judgement to make use of this discipline without fear of getting too derailed. It may have limited use as a vehicle. Who knows. But I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.. For now I'm just appreciating the simplicity and clarity of it as I haven't had it explained to me this simply before. So its a breath of fresh air having it explained in this way. I might get bored of it, but so far so good.

I'm very keen on people who manage to sustain a great practice outside monastic institutions, so people like Adya, K Wilber and Byron Katie are very interesting to me, as I have a lot of respect for how far they manage to get with their practice without having to spend 12 years in a monastery or another spiritual institution of some sort.I think there are some very realized people who practice outside monasteries so I am always interested in how they approach it.
I suppose I'm not that bothered if he is realized or not, because I'm just enjoying the simple breakdown of the process. Why did nobody else bother to spell it out so simply before? Thats what I find ? strange.. Who knows. After I listened to his stuff, it seemed really obvious and I was quite annoyed that no-one else had spelled it out as simply as he had. So it ? might very well be a limited vehicle, but it'll do for now, as an additional set of trainer wheels :)

Yes I heard about the Jed Mckenna thing too. I'm sure thats fine too even tho I haven't read them. I like reading about the process from different perspectives so another interpretation is not a problem for me. They all help put the jigsaw pieces together. I just haven't got round to casting my eye over them yet, but I will when I have time. I'm wading through Rumi at the moment instead :)

Paul Garrigan said...

I find that the right teacher usually comes into my life at the right time. Adyashanti does seem to have a way of offering the teachings from a fresh viewpoint. His views on free floating awareness during meditation makes a lot of sense. I found that the whole Jed McKenna thing though was taking me in a direction that I didn't really want to go. Maybe my path will lead me back to Adyashanti in the future - who knows.

I wonder if you have heard of Shinzen Young?
He is another teacher who explains things without too much jargon.

An Irish Friend of Bill said...

Ah Thanks PG
Shinzen Young isn't a name that's come up, but I could ask to see if anyone rates him or not.
I just had a quick look at his amazon material and youtube posts and he doesn't appear ? attractive. But then I am a jaundiced cynic at the best of times so perhaps if I persevered I might start liking him.
On the face of it he looks a bit like a Kabat Zinn type.
I find some of his his youtubes unclear and muddled, but that could just be bad editing. too many dissolves..

He looks like he is ? thinking when he speaks as opposed to being in a 'process'. like he is referring back to mental references, as opposed to being in the moment and speaking from there. I'm sure he's a nice guy and fairly harmless, but I'm not attracted by first glance at his youtube material. People who look like they are in thought, or thinking do not generally appeal to me.
I have copies of Kabat Zinn meditation material but its more as a basic startup than a long haul viewpoint.
But it's difficult to tell as it takes me a while before I take to people generally. Except the likes of the Dalai Lama and TNH, which are in a league of their own.
I have a backlog of stuff to be getting on with, so I'll be wading through that for the time being, but I'll see if anyone has heard of this guy and thinks he is any good when I get the chance.
But thanks for the name as I will ask around and see what comes back.

I rate Tibetan Buddhist nun Ven. Tenzin Palmo but I haven't got round to looking at her stuff.
Also Bhikkhu Bodhi. Lama Zopa. and Sujato
http://santifm.org/santipada/
http://sujato.wordpress.com/

all of which I haven't had time to look at in much detail at all but I plan on getting to know better at some point, so there is already a logjam of stuff to be getting on with :)
Too many things to do!
Plus I will check out the Jed McKenna at some point just to see what I make of it.
!
Anyway Id better be off as I am late again for a meeting in town :) Have a ! great Monday over there in Thailand. :)

Paul Garrigan said...

I know of Bhikkhu Bodhi, but I'll have to look into the rest. Like you there are a lot of teachers I'd like to find out more about. There are also many great teachers here in Thailand, but it is just finding time. My wife is worried that I might run off with the monks one day :-) Have a nice day you too

Texaco said...

I just wanted to thank you. I am so grateful to know you.

Unknown said...

Thanks - I'll definitely check out these links. I need all the help I can get :)