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yesterday we completed our taming the mind class with an all day meditation. amy and melinda and i co-taught this overview of the hinayana path. i was quite nervous at the first of five weekend nights; this was my first formal teaching experience with a buddhist curriculum. but i settled in and loved it. it helped that the class was well attended, students expressed their appreciation, and i really enjoyed reviewing all of the material again.
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i don’t know much about scientology honestly, but found myself reading a few papers about it published by outsiders recently. i’m generally interested in parallels between contemplative systems. scientology appears to me to be primarily a form of regressive therapy designed to clear emotional blockages. it includes meditative practices, electronic devices to help detect emotional blockages, and introspection. reliving past memories in contemplation to “clear” them is the primary initial practice.
what i was most surprised to learn though was that they have a monastic tradition, called the sea org, who forms the core of the organization. sea org members also wear navy styled military uniforms. i guess this is similar to the salvation army, various military forms in freemasonry, and even the dorje kasung in my own buddhist tradition.
i should, in full disclosure, point anyone interested in scientology to some of their most secret documents released through federal court proceedings. including this one where hubbard claims to be the very lucifer described in revelations. he seems to have been influenced by numerous views including freud, the vedas, buddhism, and more modern philosophy though later in life disavowing any lineage.
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since helping to restart a meditation center in silicon valley last year, i’ve had a hard time wrapping my head around the finances of it all. in some sense it’s easy, we have membership based funding and some classes have fees that cover cost. certain programs are even marginally profitable. regular expenses are primarily paid for by membership dues, with some subsidy by those profitable programs. i estimated the number of members that we could support in different rental properties to build a financial model based on cost per square foot of space.
things are going well, in just under a year we now have more than 20 dues paying members and we’re operating a class every other month aside from regular sitting. currently dues are covering 75% of our recurring expenses, and we have cash reserves that will keep us going until we grow to a self sufficient rate. that greatly exceeds my expectations.
but even though that was relatively simple, the underlying assumptions about the model are weird. how do we trade off program fees and membership dues? what kind of discounts do you offer to members? in a for profit business, it’s relatively easy to measure and maximize your business, but without profit or growth as a metric, how do you manage the “business”?
this article by clara miller was really enlightening, both by presenting distinctions that articulate these questions so well, as well as providing a more general overview of non-profits than i have ever considered. she offers suggestions for how to improve things, i’m still mulling them over. but just reading this article has me thinking about financial planning for our meditation center in a new way.
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i’m leaving in just a few weeks for another meditation retreat. this one will continue to mix study and practice, including maybe a 150 hours of meditation plus tons of reading and lectures. it’s happening in the foothills of the rocky mountains; i’m really looking forward to the fresh air and immersion in dharma. but in the mean time it feels like there is a ton to do.
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I was just pointed to an interesting commentary on the tension between mysticism and religion by the Christian monk David Steindl-Rast; perhaps the best commentaries I’ve read contrasting a more personal, yogic approach to spiritual practice and what he calls the inevitable process of building a religion. (thanks bob!)
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monks score well on optical illusion tests in recent findings. you would think that optical illusions would just be consistent across test subjects, that they wouldn’t be effected by unrelated mental training right? i would guess that they would just relate to how the visual cortex works. but apparently shamatha meditation changes how we relate to optical illusions.
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i’ve mentioned the four reminders before, a common contemplation in tibetan buddhist lineages, but i heard an interesting distinction i’d like to share about the fourth reminder this morning - while listening to a lecture on CD from buddhist scholar dr. reggie ray.
here’s my favorite translation of the fourth:
the homes, friends, wealth, and comforts of samsara
are the constant torment of the three sufferings,
just like a feast before the executioner leads you to your death
i must cut desire and attachment and attain enlightenment through exertion.
first some terms… Read more »
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i don’t know much about 12 steps, but there is a component to it that requires belief in a larger power it seems. since buddhism is atheistic(*), it’s interesting to see how that might apply to a buddhist view. the shambhala web site now has a copy of their 12 step manual posted as a copyleft document here. you can obtain and redistribute it unaltered. the group who compiled this calls themselves sarpashana, which is sanskrit for poison eater, though the reference is to a legend about peacocks who would eat poisonous plants to create their colorful plumage. Read more »
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i woke up slightly agitated and wondered why. then i realized our cat was pacing on the hardwood floor, back and forth, waiting for me to wake up so she could have breakfast. i have been wondering each morning lately how we wake up on one side of the bed or the other, if dreams affect how we start each day, and just how feeling work in general. so it was really interesting that in my haze i was confusing my own feeling of agitation with the cats. now i’m wondering if we mistake our own feelings for other’s feelings all the time! Read more »
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for last weekend pema and acharya simmer-brown recommended a few books for those wishing to study chapter 9 (the wisdom chapter) of the way of the bodhisattva in more depth. they were… Read more »
sitting monkey is place where