Saturday, June 21, 1:00 - 3:30 p.m. CT
The encounter with sensory experiences can lead to insight and calm, or reactivity and suffering. How do you guard your mind in the midst of a daily barrage of sensory input? How do you protect your mind so that tranquility and wisdom will be well established? The Buddha encouraged restraint of the senses, but this restraint does not require avoidance of sensory contacts or control of the external environment. In this talk, Shaila Catherine will describe how mindfulness allows us to meet the experiences of sensory contact — of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and thinking with a mind free of reactivity. Mindfulness protects the mind so that it does not come under the sway of defilements. Mindfulness is a special quality of attention that is balanced in the moment of observing experience. Before looking, before reaching, before speaking, before any activity, we can establish the intention of mindfully meeting the experience without giving rise to anger, irritation, lust, fear, or any defilement. The practice of sensory restraint leads to a life of happiness and joy, and lays the foundation for experiences of deep concentration and awakening.
Registrants will receive on-demand access to recording(s) that can be viewed for two weeks following the conclusion of the program.
TS members $40 • Nonmembers $45
Shaila Catherine is a Buddhist author and the founder of Bodhi Courses, an online Dhamma classroom, and Insight Meditation South Bay, a center for mindfulness, compassion, and wisdom in Silicon Valley, California. She has taught insight meditation since 1996 throughout the world. Shaila draws inspiration from the Discourses of the Buddha and is known for her expertise in guiding practitioners to cultivate concentration and the deep absorption states of jhāna. She has written three books:The Jhanas: A Practical Guide to Deep Meditative States; Wisdom Wide and Deep: A Practical Handbook for Mastering Jhāna and Vipassanā; and Beyond Distraction: Five Practical Ways to Focus the Mind.
Program Format
This is a live interactive online program that will also be recorded. Registrants will receive on-demand access to recording(s) that can be viewed for two weeks following the conclusion of the program.
Join online via a Zoom link that will be emailed upon your registration. Please download Zoom for free at zoom.us/download and test your connection at zoom.us/test. For further information, check out www.theosophical.org/FAQ or email webinars@theosophical.org.