The Buddha encouraged us to develop our meditation practice in order to reduce our own personal suffering, potentially leading one day to the end of our suffering altogether. He described potential difficulties we might face along the way and methods for working with those difficulties. He also taught that certain mental phenomena will not only hinder our practice, but will outright block our practice from progressing past certain points.
In this session, we will explore five of these blockers, which he called the Five Barriers.
What exactly are the Five Barriers?
What are they blocking our meditation from?
How do we work with them to transcend them?
Do we actually even need to transcend them?
Together, we will examine these questions, and others, so that we may develop our own understandings of these Five Barriers. There will be an instructional talk along with periods of meditation, discussion, and Q&A.
This program is suitable for first-time meditators and experienced practitioners alike.
Max Johnson has been practicing Dhamma since 2014. He is particularly interested in Early Buddhism, and the similarities and differences it has with modern Buddhism. Max has studied under various Thai, Lao, Burmese, and Sri Lankan monks, and is also qualified by Brown University to teach Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). Learn more about Max at the teacher page of Wenham Insight Meditation Center.
Fee: Please pay at the highest level that is comfortable for you – paying at a higher level helps us support those who need to pay at a lower level.
Supported: $35
Base: $45
Benefactor: $55
NSIMC members should feel free to pay at the lowest level; become a member here. If you would rather pay at the door (cash, check, or Venmo), send an email to northshoreimc@gmail.com to register.