2021-06-14 The Dharmic Life (1 of 5) The Body as Your Monastery

Insight Meditation Center12min

Gil Fronsdal

00:03

As we begin this week, the theme I had in mind is practicing in our lives. You could say that all of Buddhism is about practicing in our daily lives. So many of the teachings are completely connected and relevant to how we go about living our lives. But the orientation for the talks this week is for people who would like to live a more Dharmic life. Sometimes they consider that it would be nice to go live in a retreat center or in a monastery for a while, or find some way to live more fully in the Dharma. Maybe it's not so easy to do in daily life, where there's work and family and busyness and things to do.

Gil Fronsdal

01:07

So what is it we can do to receive some of the benefits from a life absorbed in a contemplative life, a renunciant life, a monastic life? How could we have some of those benefits in ordinary lay life?

Gil Fronsdal

01:32

So for that purpose, I want to talk about five different ways we can bring more practice into our lives or live more in the Dharma. I would like to believe these are available to all of us, and if you were to really pick these five areas up, you'd find tremendous benefit. Not only would you find the Dharma, the Dharma would find you. And you would allow yourself to be a receptive vessel for the Dharma, and it might fill you in a wonderful way.

Gil Fronsdal

02:12

The first of these five is to be more connected to your body – to practice mindfulness of the body, to center yourself in your body. One of the things that I – delightfully and surprisingly – discovered while practicing in different Buddhist traditions, was that one way or the other, the traditions I practiced seemed to all emphasize being grounded and connected to your body. Sometimes it was not explicit, but it was clear you had to bring the body along and practice with your body.

Gil Fronsdal

02:56

When I was practicing Zen, I don't know if there was really an active discussion about mindfulness of the body. But so much of the practice was embodied. You sat in a particular posture that really required you to be embodied. If you were eating, you did it in a way that was embodied. We ate formally in Zen practice. We would walk in ways that encouraged more embodiment and connection to our body. When we were working, we were instructed to really put ourselves fully into it – to be connected, involved, and absorbed in the work in such a way that our body was really there for it. There was a strong emphasis on being in your body.

Gil Fronsdal

03:50

I learned so much about being embodied by working in the monastic kitchen when I was a Zen student – really being present with my whole body as best I could. It wasn't always easy. I tried to be connected to whatever physical work I was doing in the kitchen. It was all physical work. We did it with both hands – the full body – really connected to our work and absorbed in the physicality of it. I did this for a whole year. The way we practiced did wonderful things for me by teaching me how to be in the world in an embodied, engaged way.

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