Untrain Your Parrot And Other No-nonsense Instructions on the Path of Zen

by HAMILTON, ELIZABETH

• ISBN13: 9781590303634
• ISBN10: 1590303636
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-08-28
• Publisher: Shambhala

Summary

This book offers exercises, instructions, jokes, stories, pithy quotes, andmost of allencouragement to anyone interested in exploring Zen but who may find traditional presentations severe or intimidating. Hamilton writes with an easygoing, friendly style that invites readers of all backgrounds to sit down and give meditation a try. But don't be fooled by her puns and checkliststhis is serious Zen. Drawing on three decades of experience as a Zen practitioner and teacher, Hamilton explains how to meditate and how to maintain an ongoing practice. From there, in her clear, lighthearted, and humorous style, she moves right to the heart of Zen, showing us how we could move beyond our concepts, expectations, and emotional reactivity to touch the reality of our lived experience with openness and simplicity, thereby finding freedom.Untrain Your Parrot includes simple instructions to clarify and elucidate the basics: how to establish a beginning meditation practice how to develop physical, mental, and emotional awareness how to experience "open" awarenessobserving one's practice while allowing for a sense of spaciousness with whatever occurs For more information on the author, Elizabeth Hamilton, go to www.zencentersandiego.org.

Author Biography

Elizabeth Hamilton teaches and lives at the Zen Center of San Diego with her husband and practice partner, Ezra Bayda. She leads retreats and Zen programs throughout the United States and Hawaii, Australia, and Canada, including leading a retreat with Pema Chödrön and Ezra Bayda at Gampo Abbey in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. She has published numerous articles and dharma teachings under the pen name M.T. Head.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xi
Preface	p. xiii
The Approach
What's Most Important?	p. 1
The Five Dimensions of Heartmind	p. 10
The Seeds of Awakening Heartmind: Nurturing the Field of Inherent Capacities	p. 18
Comprehensive Zen Practice: Applied Awareness in the Five Dimensions of Heartmind	p. 27
The Physical Dimension of Heartmind
The Body: Identity, or Instrument of Awakening?	p. 39
Still, Silent Sitting: A Meditation	p. 52
Mindfulness in Activity	p. 57
The Open Awareness Dimension of Heartmind
Being-Awareness	p. 65
The Mental Dimension of Heartmind
Untrain Your Parrot	p. 75
Fingers Pointing at the Moon: Mindful Activity Labeling	p. 85
Identity: A Subset of the Mental Dimension of Heartmind
The Many Me's of Identity: From Ego to Instrument of Awakening	p. 95
The Default Setting: Concocting the Same Old "Self"	p. 108
Loving-Kindness: Awakening the Seeds of Heartmind
Loving-Kindness: A Meditation	p. 115
The Emotional Dimension of Heartmind
The Emotional Dimension Meets Meditation	p. 121
Anger and Fear	p. 132
Disheartenment: Gray Days and Dark Nights	p. 142
Core Pain	p. 151
The Full-Empty Dimension of Heartmind
Reconciliation, Atonement, Forgiveness: The Temple Guardians at the Gates of the Full-Empty Dimension	p. 165
Living As One	p. 177
Service Practice: Unifying Self and Others	p. 185
Delusion Is Enlightenment	p. 195
Acknowledgments	p. 201
Index of Exercises and Checklists	p. 205
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.