The pitch for this minimally edited February 16, 2023 Insight Timer live event:
I invite participants and expats to share travel wisdom while I share what I’ve noticed about Denmark so far comparing and contrasting with the United States where I’ve lived my whole life. Then using all this to explore how to leverage such external noticing to meditation practice
At this time I’ve only been in Denmark a month and haven’t been to Copenhagen yet other than leaving the airport. I haven’t been to other parts of Europe other than Iceland.
These are little details; not representative of whole. I welcome corrections.
Some of this stuff will likely seem bigger in the beginning then more common as time goes on
Note: I’ve added stuff since the talk
| Noticings about Denmark | Mediation applications | |
| Roads | some with no middle line; one side walk and bikeway; (dividing) sidewalk brickwork; some city steps include small bike ramp on edges | various types, styles, techniques, practices and approaches of meditation |
| Land | public/private mixing — example of sharing a private lane; three large nature parks; lots of farm ground close to houses; similar to US eastern woodland, Western aspen areas and old growth forests (sections of northern US?); clean; minimal street/road lighting (in my neighborhood) | solo/group practice; internal terrain: what’s coming up |
| Language | [too soon to say much]; Swedish chef; English/German/Swedish; most speak English; some signs only in Danish | Pali/Sanskrit/Tibetan practice words; Talking with meditation teachers and friends; labeling practice |
| Weather | consistent in temperature and dampness (in winter at least) | conditions (what’s required and what’s more of (clinging to) preferences |
| People | kind; reserve; polite; quiet; low population density; unified; (more graffiti sprayed on trains seemed out of place with everything else though) | meditation teachers and friends; meditative stereotypes; boldness vs conformity in practice, groups and relationships |
| (Grocery) Stores | smaller; Euro club music; roll baskets; lots of coffee without origins; food preference types; non-GMO; 25% tax built-in to prices; black cloth with velcro hide cigs behind the checkout | Four nutriments; what’s needed from what’s available and how to go about it (via communication and behavior) |
| Recycling | very big; several types of bins: drink cartons, paper, glass, metal, plastic, etc; food waste burned for country wide hot water; | Byproducts: become a teacher(?); containment; right sharing; what’s left to heal; what does and doesn’t need to be brought up again |
| Design | Scandinavian; IKEA; sink drain in cardioid / torus flow; door handles; 2 metal clasps on jars; fridge off when open; removable air and oven trays instead of grates/racks; loop on hand towels to hang them; some same windows hinge out from top and from side; TP sections may be slightly longer | Form and function: fits what’s needs addressing in various ways depending on conditions, e.g. compassion, samatha |
| Architecture | [assessment premature]; very old “eco” roofs; Scandinavian, similar to Iceland but distinctly different; large plain church; more natural, less cut gravestones shrine-like surrounded by hedges | classification and grouping of practices: e.g., six-fold mindfulness of the body; samatha; vipassana |
| —— | —— | —— |
| Culture: | Danish Culture and Tidbits: | Honoring origins of practices |
| Bikes | safety; trust; ease | |
| No consumer culture | very few strip malls, ads and convenience stores | less distractions |
| Movies and products | before internet fewer American movies and products | stick to meditation object |
| Laundry Day | Word Saturday includes Danish word for laundry | learn specialized, original terminology before translations |
| Spouse visa | prove 18 months together; financial requirement | relationship(s) to meditation object, to practice and beyond |
| Cozy culture | maybe due to colder, damper conditions and a distinction from Germany? | capitalize on conducive conditions, not get lazy or put off |
Audio: Travel And Moving To Expand Perception And Awareness
A few translations of an excerpt from the Kasi Bharadvaja Sutta: To the Plowing Bharadvaja
Some images and links below about ancient ploughs to get the beauty of the antiquated language here. This is just the nuts and bolts crux of the sutta; please read in its brief entirety for the story and context which is quite heartwarming.
[The Buddha replies:]
Faith is the seed, practice the rain,
And wisdom is my yoke and plow.
Modesty’s the pole, mind the strap,
Mindfulness my plowshare and goad.
Body and speech are guarded well,
And food and drink have been restrained.
Truthfulness I use for weeding,
And gentleness urges me on.
Effort is my beast of burden,
Pulling me onward to safety.
On it goes without returning,
Where, having gone, one does not grieve.
This is how I plow my plowing —
The crop it yields is deathlessness!
And when one has plowed this plowing,
One is released from all suffering.
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/snp/snp.1.04.olen.html
Goad
noun
1. a spiked stick used for driving cattle.
[The Buddha:]
Conviction is my seed,
austerity my rain,
discernment my yoke & plow,
conscience my pole,
mind my yoke-tie,
mindfulness my plowshare & goad.
Guarded in body,
guarded in speech,
restrained in terms of belly & food,
I make truth a weeding-hook,
and composure my unyoking.
Persistence, my beast of burden,
bearing me toward rest from the yoke,
takes me, without turning back,
to where, having gone,
one doesn’t grieve.
That’s how my plowing is plowed.
It has
as its fruit
the deathless.
Having plowed this plowing
one is unyoked
from all suffering
& stress.
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/StNp/StNp1_4.html
Another translation:
Conviction (śraddhā) is the seed,
Austerity (tapas) the rain,
Wisdom (prajñā) my yoke and plow,
Shame (hrī) the pole, mind (manas) the strap,Mindfulness (smrti) my plowshare and goad.
Guarding the body, guarding the speech,Restrained in food and belly,
Truthfully (satyam) I dig out weeds,And gently, I cast them away.
Heroic effort (vīrya) is the ox carrying the yoke,Pulling to Absolute Wellbeing (yogakṣema),
Going without turning back.Having gone, there is no grief.
Thus I plough.The harvest is deathlessness. Having farmed,
– the Buddha in Kasībhāradvāja-sutta (The sutra instructing the farmer Bharadvaja)
There is the release from all suffering!
Last one:
[The Buddha:]
2. “Faith is my seed, austerity the rain, wisdom my yoke and plow, modesty is the pole, mind the strap, mindfulness is my plowshare and goad.
3. “Controlled in speech and conduct, guarded in deed and speech, abstemious in food,[1] I make truth my weed cutter; arahantship, my deliverance complete.
4. “Exertion, my team in yoke, draws me to Nibbana’s security, and on it goes without stopping, wither gone one does not suffer.
5. “Thuswise is this plowing plowed which bears the fruit of Deathlessness; having plowed this plowing one is freed from every ill.”
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn07/sn07.011.piya.html
Integrating Presence 