Ajahn Nisabho discussed  how meditation can bring  happiness to life.
Photos by: Steve Wilhelm

Three dharma teachers, from completely unrelated  lineages, taught at Seattle University Oct. 27 in a unique  and  even historic  event.

The  event  was unusual  because  Seattle  University is a  Jesuit  Catholic  school, not usually devoted to Buddhist  dharma teachings. Also it was unusual because this was part of  a  three-year series, with a third set of  talks planned for 2024.

“This is the second year we’re offering a dharma talk series. Last year our social media recorded thousands of people who were interested in learning more,” said Michael Trice, director of the Center for Ecumenical and Interreligious Engagement at Seattle University.

The center is coordinating the talks, at Trice’s initiative, to meet a need on-campus and  off-campus.

“Where we are in the pandemic is people are yearning for more substance in their lives,” he said. “They need teaching that is directed toward them, that is addressing truthfully and honestly the kinds  of  suffering  they see  in the world.”

The Oct. 27 event featured three nationally and even globally-known Buddhist teachers. They taught in three-one hour segments, before an audience of about 50 people at Seattle University. The three segments were  video  recorded, to be released on the  internet  over the  year.

“We decided that  a second year of dharma talks, this time bringing respected  teachers into one room in one day, and sharing this all across the year in video form,” Trice said, “was the best way of meeting that need.”

The first speaker was Ajahn Nisabho, a Western-born Theravada monk, who is co-abbot of Clear  Mountain Monastery  in Seattle. The title of his 10 a.m. talk was “How Dharma Practice Brings Inner Peace and Wisdom.”

Next was Bonnie Duran, a Buddhist teacher of Native American and Black descent, who also is a retired tenured professor from the University of Washington School of Social Work. Her talk was entitled “Burnout and Trauma.”

Last was Ven.  Thubten Chodron, abbot of Sravasti Abbey in Newport, Washington, north of Spokane. Her 1 p.m.  talk was  entitled “Karma and Rebirth,” and she offered her  talk just  before boarding a  flight for Singapore, to teach there.

The proceedings were recorded  by  a professional film crew, with some  very  complex camera gear. The  center provided lunch during the noon break.

All three  talks were  focused on the needs  of real 21st century people, and all of them sparked lively questions from the audience.

Ajahn Nisabho, in his talk about inner peace, articulated a way for people in the  world to  tap into the deep  equanimity of a  monastic, pointing out the unsatisfactoriness of doing otherwise.

“We know what a paltry existence middle class existence can be,” he said. “All beings feed, are constantly feeding, a losing game. The fundamental shift for any practitioner is the shift from feeding to not-grasping.”

The opposite of this entrapment can be the freedom that comes with meditation practice, which he said should be “playful.”

“The mind because it’s happy can see clearly, with less need to feed off those around us,” he said. “There’s a place for incorporating the wisdom the ancients used, with a light touch.”

In her talk on trauma, Bonnie Duran explored how we’re traumatized by living in this world, by simply being born.

“When we’re traumatized, we get stuck in flight or fight,” she said, adding that this is accentuated by humans’ inherent negativity bias.

An antidote to staying stuck in trauma is cultivating mindfulness, which brings insight into the nature of things.

“The key to meditation is learning to stay” she said. “Mindfulness is more important for mental issues, than anything else.”

She ended by discussing the parallels between meditation practice and her traditional Native American practices.

Ven. Thubten Chodron used her talk on rebirth and karma to explain the Buddhist idea that mind is more than an emergent quality of our physical bodies.

Rebirth gives a way of seeing life that is very expansive,” she said. “Life is when body and mind are associated. Death is when they’re no longer associated.”

Current views of most scientists are limited, she said.

“Mind is not matter, it didn’t come from matter, doesn’t go to matter,” she said. “Every moment of mind comes from a previous moment of mind.”

Ven. Chodron used  this  discussion as a way to encourage  people to  live with clean and positive thoughts.

How do we live our lives? Are we only centered around me, mine, my?” she said. “We have potential to develop impartial love and compassion, but it’s hard to do.”

But while it’s hard to make these changes, the alternative is worse.

“What is it that makes our life miserable, it’s our minds that make life miserable,” she  said. “Being born and dying is like being on a merry-go-round. The greatest benefit is to bring others to awakening.”