Teachings

Introduction to Practical Buddhism

Clint teaches Buddhist philosophy and Vipassana meditation at Namgyal Monastery in Ithaca NY, and similar programs for youth at Padma Sambhava Buddhist Center in the western Catskills of New York, and Ewam International in western Montana. 

These programs serve to introduce and provide an overview of the profoundly complex and sometimes arcane world of Tibetan Buddhism and its practices. As the most mystical, esoteric, and philosophically prolific of all the schools of Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism is at once the most powerful and challenging. His approach addresses this challenge by first introducing the basic and foundational philosophical frameworks so the participant can navigate and explore the different aspects further on their own. It then introduces Shamata Vipassana meditation as the foundation for the myriad practices found in Tibetan Buddhism and helps bring them to life. 

Clint found that people who begin in the Tibetan tradition without such a foundation often become lost, confused, and discouraged by their inability to access, let alone master, its complex visualization and yogic practices. He also found that short one-hour introductions to meditation simply do not ground beginners enough in the experience to truly taste the benefits. Therefore, his program includes intensive practice sessions coupled with instruction and advice for bringing forth awareness, compassion, and creativity into all aspects of life.

His latest book, Vipassana Meditation and Ayahuasca: Skillful Means for Spiritual Opening and Renewal is based in part on his teaching experience and addresses these topics directly.

Shamata (Calm Abiding) and Vipassana (Insight) Meditation

In teaching meditation, Clint draws on both his personal and professional life experiences in offering guided instruction on the calm abiding and insight aspects of meditation known as Shamata and Vipassana.

  • Samatha or calm abiding, steadies, composes, unifies, and concentrates the mind, and

  • Vipassanā, or insight, gives one perspective into the true nature of our existence, and how things really are. 

This practice is ideal for helping with the stresses of life, important for awakening a more heartfelt presence in daily activity, perfect for those who are new to meditation and interested in learning and developing a regular practice, and essential as a foundation for accessing the more complex practices of Tibetan Buddhism. It is based on original teachings of the Buddha to support personal transformation through self-observation and exploration. The practice starts with Shamata, or mindfulness, for calming the mind, and then moves on to Vipassana or insight for investigating perception, impermanence, mind, and mind’s nature. 

What makes Shamata Vipassana special?

This practice goes beyond the widely popular mindfulness training program which itself was derived from Shamata Vipassana. Whereas mindfulness focuses on finding relief from whatever level of negative stress we are experiencing, Shamata Vipassana focuses on the root of all forms of positive and negative stress caused by our constant pursuit of the next best thing and avoidance those things unwanted. Always concerned with looking good and not looking bad, we are caught in an endless and often mindless search for ways to satisfy our needs, but are never, ever satisfied for long. In learning to work with our world from more from a vantage point of equanimity, we observe both attraction and aversion as just movements of the mind, and that simple recognition gradually diminishes their grip. In not to following them heedlessly, we find freedom, become happier and more adaptive, and open to beginning a genuine spiritual journey. 

It also goes beyond simply being aware, to encompass how we are being aware. A common reaction to meditation is, “I am a terrible meditator, I can’t do it, I try so hard, and every time I just get more scrambled and can’t ever settle. This must be for more spiritual folks, or calmer minds, and not me.” That reaction comes from a place of impatience, judgment, frustration and striving, the very kinds of things that cause stress in the first place. So, in Shamata Vipassana we focus not only on what is observed but also the observer. We nurture not only awareness, but also awareness of awareness and its primary attribute compassion. Shamata Vipassana is a compassionate awareness where instead of being angry with our mind when it wanders, we infuse our attention, our awareness with an interest, an openness, and a caring like a parent is with a child. Understanding this connection is essential to fruitful growth and even personal transformation in meditation. The result is that as we learn to open and care for our self, we also learn to care for others too. 

In the end then, the practice becomes a self-exploratory journey of personal growth.

Program Instruction

Clint’s eight-week online program offered through Namgyal Monastery in Ithaca explores a new topic, practices meditation, and discusses any questions participants may have. Every other week, he introduces a new Shamata-Vipassana technique that progresses gradually from a structured to a more formless meditation practice.  In between sessions, participants are asked to commit to two twenty-minute meditation sessions per day. A topical outline follows. 

  1. Day One

    1. How Shamata Vipassana meditation works

    2. Introduction to Shamata – developing simple awareness 

    3. Preparing a container for practice

  2. Day Two

    1. The Five Supports for meditation practice

    2. The Five Stages of practice

    3. Further Shamata instructions

  3. Day Three

    1. This Hungry Spirit – our incessant urges and its consequences

    2. Introduction to Vipassana I – the sweeping technique

    3. Insight and awareness, the impermanence of thoughts and sensations, and  the implication of emptiness

    4. The Three Allies of practice

  4. Day Four

    1. More on awareness and insight into impermanence and emptiness

    2. What Makes You a Buddhist

    3. The nature of our inherent nature – awareness and compassion

  5. Day Five

    1. Introduction to Vipassana II – the six senses technique

    2. The compassionate aspect of our inherent nature

    3. The Six Perfections

  6. Day Six

    1. Cause and effect 

    2. Compassion and karma

    3. Becoming an Awakened Warrior – Bodhisattva 

  7. Day Seven

    1. Introduction to Vipassana III – the open space technique

    2. Two edges of the sword slicing ego – awareness and compassion

    3. Analytic reflection on emptiness of mind

    4. Walking meditation

  8. Day Eight

    1. Review progression in technique

    2. A complete integrated package of view, meditation, and conduct

    3. Working with bliss, dullness, and agitation