After the bliss and emptiness we might be lucky enough to experience along our spiritual path, what's left are the karmic knots of conditioning that still need to be undone if we are going to be of any genuine help to anybody. Untying them is the work of spiritual warriors: that is, all of us. The seven factors of enlightenment are a means to loosen these knots, all the while keeping us upright in our efforts. The seven factors include mindfulness, investigation of phenomena, energetic effort, ease, joy, concentration, and equanimity. In Close to the Ground, longtime Buddhist teacher Geri Larkin tells stories from her own life to illuminate some of the gifts that these factors bring. Because she refuses to be anything special, Larkin's stories are all of our stories her humor, all of our humor, her heartbreaks, all of our heartbreaks. In reading this book, you may discover that you have many more tools that can help with this work of life and death than you thought.
Close to the Ground Reflections on the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, Geri Larkin, Shambhala Publications, Paperback, 2020, 177 Pages, $17.95
P'arang Geri Larkin, born Geraldine Kapp Willis, is founder and former head teacher of Still Point Zen Buddhist Temple, a Korean Chogye center in Detroit, Michigan.[1] The name Geri Larkin is a pen name. She graduated from Barnard College in 1973.[2] Larkin, daughter of a wealthy IBM executive, left her successful business life as a management consultant to enter a Buddhist seminary for three years, where she was ordained. When she left she sold her material possessions and bought a brick duplex in downtown Detroit which, with the help of local residents she cleaned up and turned into Still Point. Larkin's articulation of the concept of "right livelihood" was highly influential on Ann Perrault and Jackie Victor, two of her students who founded Avalon International Breads in Detroit in 1997.[3] She has been a longtime columnist for Spirituality & Health magazine.[4]
She currently resides in Eugene, Oregon.
Introduction
1 Mindfulness
Beau Explores a Ladybug
Fear as a Best Friend
The Fire of Attention
Unitasking
Loving What Is
Retreat Meals
2 Investigation of Phenomena
Where Did I Come From?
Seeing Through the Lens Affectionately Known as Me
Everybody Suffers
Where Does Mexico Start?
Pain Explored
Channeling Morandi
3 Energetic Effort
Who Is a Brahmin?
Racing to the Door
Cleaning the House Every Day
Nonstop Hundred-Foot Poles
Good Friends
The Rhinoceros Club
4 Ease
Having Kissed My Ass Goodbye
No Opinions, No Problem
Resistance Free
Goodbye, Flattery and Deception
No Doubt Again
I See Bodhisattvas
5 Joy
A Day Safe From Asteroids
The Lotus Sutra's Formula for a Happy Life
Without Haste
No Place for the Timid
The End of Searching
Gentleness
6 Concentration
Buddha Is Grass Shoes
Orange Walnut Salad
Gilgamesh's Car
Hello, Wisdom
The Power of Perseverance
Moving Past Bliss
7 Equanimity
Buddha and His Good Friend Drunk Elephant
Nothing Gets Rewarded
Not Running Away
Not Running Away, Part 2
Melodrama Withdrawal
How to Be a Seamless Monument
Conclusion
|
