Wednesday Night Talks - Livestream

In the 28-day retreat currently on at BMIMC we have three teachers who each bring their own perspective to the practice of vipassana, insight meditation . Robyn Gibson’s teaching emphasises the role of ānāpānasati, mindfulness with breathing, in establishing a foundation of serenity sufficient to enable insight practice. Emma Pittaway’s teaching emphasises the role of natural awareness in cultivating insight, an approach that centres on the role of cittanupassanā, awareness of heart/mind and of awareness itself, in any posture. Patrick Kearney will be exploring how the framework provided by Mahāsi Sayādaw applies to our practice today.

The talks will be recorded and made available at the end of each week.

A synopsis of each talk will be sent out at the start of each week.

There is no charge to register but donations are greatly appreciated

Talk 01: The Optimism of Mahasi Sayadaw  – Patrick Kearney (Wednesday 21 January) 

Mahāsi Sayādaw developed an approach to suddha vipassanā, pure insight, which bypasses any preliminary cultivation of samatha, serenity, to prepare for insight. Rather, the practitioner embarks directly on insight itself. But does this approach work for mid-21st century Australian practitioners the same way it did for mid-20th century Myanmar practitioners? This talk looks at Mahāsi Sayādaw’s life and teaching to explore this issue and examine its implication for contemporary insight practice.

Talk 02: Joyous Effort – Robyn Gibson (Wednesday 27 January) 

Meditation practitioners know this is not an easy undertaking: it’s a project that requires effort and commitment. Which means we sometimes bring a ‘hard task-master’ approach to practice, whipping ourselves towards the finish line. Or sometimes, the opposite is true – we keep turning up, but we bring a lazy, ‘meh!’ attitude to practice. So what is appropriate in terms of effort? When is it counterproductive? When is it not enough? And when is it ‘just right’? This talk considers the example of the meditator and musician, Sona, and the advice the Buddha gives him in order to find ‘right effort’ in practice, so that, just as when you’re playing a musical instrument, it sings – with resonance and harmony.

Talk 03: Entering Insight – Patrick Kearney (Wednesday 4 February) 

The Buddha says, “whatever we imagine, turns out to be something else (Snp 3.12 Dvayatānupassanā Sutta Contemplating dyads).” If that is the case, how can we discover what is really going on? The insight meditation method of Mahāsi Sayādaw is designed to enable us to do just that. In this talk we will examine how Mahāsi Sayādaw outlines a practice that is designed to take us from here to understanding. At the centre of his approach is his encouragement of a clear seeing of the dyad that characterises all experience – that of awareing-&-the-awared. When we penetrate into that dyad we enter into insight.

Talk 04: Anatta (Not Self) –  Emma Pittaway (Wednesday 11 February) 

This talk explores the third universal characteristic of existence: not-self. Because not-self seems so counter-intuitive, it is a topic of endless fascination. In this talk we use the Buddha’s preferred framework of the five aggregates of clinging to explore how can we cultivate a sensitivity to not-self in the practice.