Short Intro

Introduce yourself to others at Dhamma Wheel.
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Clayton
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:29 pm

Short Intro

Post by Clayton »

Hey all,

Just found this site yesterday. Lets see, I have been interested in the Dhamma since reading the Dharmapada about three years ago. Having been raised a fundamentalist Christian something about the Dhamma resonates deep within me. I am a recovering alkie and drug addict with 6 months clean. I go to AA and like the support--but I know that it is the spiritual path I find in Buddhism that will help me overcome this suffering. If anyone else has any experience in this area I would love to hear about it. I am going on a 10 day S.N. Goenka retreat next week--I have heard from some staunch buddhist that his emphasis on pain as a meditation object is skewed... Nonetheless I look forward to getting some time away to seriously pursue my practice... Hope everyone has a blessed day

Metta,

Clayton
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zavk
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Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:04 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Short Intro

Post by zavk »

Hi Clayton

Welcome! I'm glad Buddhism resonates with you. I (along with a few others here) have attended Goenka courses. I'd suggest that you let go (as much as possible) whatever preconceptions you have about the course--I have found it most productive that way. In any case, Goenka doesn't emphasize pain as such. What he does emphasize is the need to investigate our habitual reaction to pain.

Pain in this sense is not something to be sought after nor is it to be avoided when it does arise. It has no value in and of itself. But if the aim is to understand our habitual reaction to pain, then, as and when pain arises it becomes a useful opportunity to investigate our habitual reaction--we do not actively induce pain as such.
With metta,
zavk
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DNS
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Re: Short Intro

Post by DNS »

Clayton wrote:
I am going on a 10 day S.N. Goenka retreat next week--I have heard from some staunch buddhist that his emphasis on pain as a meditation object is skewed... Nonetheless I look forward to getting some time away to seriously pursue my practice... Hope everyone has a blessed day
:hello:

Welcome to Dhamma Wheel!

The only thing skewed is that person's interpretation of the Goenka retreats!

Congrat's on the recovery and going to that retreat!
Clayton
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:29 pm

Re: Short Intro

Post by Clayton »

Thanks Zavk and David for the quick responses. It certainly clarifies some things about the retreat. It seems like solid advice, i'll try to just go without expectation. Looking forward to more dhamma fellowship from this site

:smile:
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Ben
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Location: kanamaluka

Re: Short Intro

Post by Ben »

Hi Clayton and welcome to Dhamma Wheel!

I'm also going on a ten-day Goenka retreat next week! I've been practicing under Mr Goenka's instruction since 1985 and have done many 10-day retreats and numerous other retreats including shorter and long courses for 'experienced' practitioners - and I keep going back very regularly to sit or serve on courses.

What Zavk said is very true. For the vast majority of newcomers to Mr Goenka's courses, pain is the predominant sensation, and the sensation, whether it is painful, pleasant or neutral, is just an aid to develop insight. As someone recovering from substance abuse, you may actually find the ten-day course of profound benefit to you, as many others have before you. As Zavk says, drop any preconceptions you might have before attending.

If you have any questions regarding your upcoming ten-day course, please feel free to ask, privately if you want to, and I will try and answer any questions or allay any concerns you may have. All the very best with your retreat and I look forward to reading your contributions here.
metta

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

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BlackBird
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Re: Short Intro

Post by BlackBird »

Welcome friend, best of luck on your retreat.
:anjali:
"For a disciple who has conviction in the Teacher's message & lives to penetrate it, what accords with the Dhamma is this:
'The Blessed One is the Teacher, I am a disciple. He is the one who knows, not I." - MN. 70 Kitagiri Sutta

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retrofuturist
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Re: Short Intro

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings Clayton,

Welcome to Dhamma Wheel.

:buddha1:

Metta,
Retro. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
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Cittasanto
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Re: Short Intro

Post by Cittasanto »

Welcome to dhammawheel! :anjali:

Please read the four noble truths by venerable Ajahn Sumedho, a quick search will find it!
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
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