Mini Mindfulness Break for December 14, 2020

Dear *[FNAME]*:

Buddhism is not a fixed body of dogma (like perhaps some other
religions). It has always been transformed by its interactions with
those cultures into which it has moved; at the same time, those
cultures have been transformed by their interaction with Buddhism. So
the style of the teaching reflects Buddhism’s creative capacity to
interact with a culture in a way that makes it available to that
culture, but at the same time it remains true to its own principles
and its own pattern. Stephen Batchelor

The art of dharma practice requires commitment, technical
accomplishment, and imagination. As with all arts, we will fail to
realize its full potential if any of these three are lacking. The raw
material of dharma practice is ourself and our world, which are to be
understood and transformed according to the vision and values of the
dharma itself. This is not a process of self- or world- transcendence,
but one of self- and world- creation. The denial of “self” challenges
only the notion of a static self independent of body and mind–not the
ordinary sense of ourself as a person distinct from everyone else. The
notion of a static self is the primary obstruction to the realization
of our unique potential as an individual being. By dissolving this
fiction through a centered vision of the transiency, ambiguity, and
contingency of experience, we are freed to create ourself anew.

– Stephen Batchelor, Buddhism Without Beliefs

Mini Mindfulness Break for December 14, 2020

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