Dharma Contemplation Practice Phases
In Dharma Contemplation, we immerse ourselves in a short excerpt of text and allow it to transform us. First, we hear the text, then read it repeatedly so that it comes to saturate our minds. Layer after layer, we deepen our experience of the teachings. Throughout this process, we remain intimate with the text rather than engaged in conversation about the text.
Silence
The practice begins with silence, calming the mind and helping us to be fully present to experience, to the words of the text, and to each other.
Words
After a period of silent practice, one participant reads the text aloud; after a pause, another reads the same text. We then keep the printed text before us, gently reading and rereading, ruminating. Words and phrases find a home in memory. When the resonance of individual words and phrases is strong, we speak them into the silence. We speak just the words and phrases of the text, without commentary. The silence is lightly patterned, dotted with the words and phrases that touch us.
Felt Responses
From the beginning, the mind has been responding to the text with images, and sensations. In the Felt Responses phase, we attend to these currents. Where in the body does a word resonate? What is our felt response to a teaching that challenges our comfort or values? What inspires us, and what does inspiration feel like? When a feeling or image endures or has poignancy, we may speak it aloud to the group. We listen mindfully as others speak the felt responses they notice.
Meaning
Now we begin to explore the meaning of the text. We question things we do not understand, out loud or internally. Are we missing technical meanings? Could something in the excerpt’s structure unlock new understanding? What is the cultural basis of an image or concept? The mind is on the lookout for its limiting assumptions, open to multiple interpretations of the text, sensitive to nuance. Unabashed and energetic application of the intellect coexists with a commitment to calm concentration. Silence surrounds and supports our inquiry.
Essence
The inquiry into meaning shifts into a deeper mode in this phase. We listen beneath the words of the text for its principles or truths, its underlying message. Mindful and concentrated, our contemplation at the threshold between worlds and the wordless makes it possible to discern the natural laws, the essential teachings, this text reveals. Insights are voiced and listened to.
Dialogue
The text has entered our minds through the doors of hearing and sight, intellect and emotion. Now we stop reading and contemplate how its teaching touches life as we actually live it. In this very moment of practice, what is revealed about the human experience, and about our specific experience? We turn from the text to experience at the moment. With mindfulness and tranquility, we open to thoughts and feelings as they arise.
We give full attention to listening deeply to the words and silences of others and speak the truth of this moment.
Closing Silence
The heart-mind rests in silence. Whatever has been stirred is released. Diligent practice and the text’s message have conditioned this moment. Silence invites us into stillness. There are no questions now, no seeking. The fruits of our contemplation settle as they may, ready to rise up when evoked by life’s conditions.
