"Moving Toward Simplicity, Rather than Complexity" this Sunday with Benjamin Hohl

Dear Community,

Sunday 10am Community Practice & Discussion

This Sunday morning Benjamin Hohl will lead an exploration of the theme "moving toward simplicity, rather than complexity" from Ajahn Sumedho's book Intuitive Awareness (freely available as a PDF here). Below is an excerpt from the book (page 148). All are welcome! Registration and Zoom information available here.

"What I encourage is a moving toward simplicity, rather than complexity. We’re already complicated personalities. Our cultural and social conditioning is usually very complicated. We’re educated and literate, which means that we know a lot and have a lot of experience. This means that we are no longer simple. We’ve lost the simplicity that we had as children and have become rather complicated characters…

What is most simple is to wake up — Buddha means ‘awake’, it’s as simple as that. The most profound teaching is the phrase “wake up”. Hearing this, one then asks, “what am I supposed to do next?” We complicate it again because we’re not used to being really awake and fully present. We’re used to thinking about things and analyzing them; trying to get something or get rid of something; achieving and attaining…

We see ourselves through complicated memories and perceptions. My personality is very complicated: likes and dislikes; it feels happy and sad, it is so changeable that it can alter in just the snap of a finger. My emotions can be triggered off into anger in a moment just by somebody saying something that irritates me. When the conditions arise then the consequent state comes to be: anger, happiness, elation, etc. But with sati-sampajanna [translations: intuitive awareness or mindfulness and clear comprehension] we’re learning to sustain an awareness that transcends these emotions."

With metta (loving-kindness),
Minneapolis Insight