Victor von der Heyde is an Australian dharma teacher. His main influence in the dharma world was Rob Burbea. Victor was co-founder of Sydney Insight Meditators and the Bodhgaya Development Association.
He writes: These days my passions in teaching - and practice - include exploring the various responses to climate breakdown, the way we treat others on the planet, and the ways that we often get stuck with particular concepts of self and world. And stuck with particular meditation practices. My intention is to open up freeing and soulful possibilities for people.
At times our world feels fresh and beautiful, other times when we take in some of what's happening in the wider world (genocide on our watch, climate breakdown, a fraying of the global rules based order) the outlook appears bleak. The talk touches on the frameworks of collective numbness, moral deterioration and moral injury. It explores helpful ways might we see our actions when the outlook appears bleak.
Sometimes the potency of emotions make it hard to stay focused with a simple instruction of paying attention to emotional states. Other times we might only have a general idea of the mix of the emotional strands that is happening at a given time. This talks gives ways of working with moods and emotions, what one can look out for, what one’s relationship is to particular mind states, what one can do to not be overwhelmed.
This meditation uses any personal images people might have from considering what might constitute a beautiful life for them, and considering Naikan questions (in this case what one has received from the world, what one has given, what problems or difficulties one thinks one has caused), and tuning in to the impact these images have on the energy body. The later part of the meditation focusses on putting images aside. It’s partly a practice to develop appreciation, to see the felt impact of one’s actions, and partly - towards the end - an exercise in letting go of images.
A brief overview of the cultivation of unselfish joy and an introduction to Naikan practice. There was about 25 minutes of Q and A taken out from the Naikan section, but what's left still gives a fair overview.
