| | hey sam,
Rob Burbea's Soulmaking Dharma comes from his later years (he died in May of this year, after living with pancreatic cancer for years), and is accessible right now almost entirely through his recorded talks, although there is a devoted project of transcribing the talks in progress. His best known work is presented in his book Seeing That Frees, which is an exploration of "emptiness," very strong dharma and very lucid. So he begins from there: a strong "foundation" in emptiness. I see the later stuff in terms of the Zen ox-herding cycle: there is the nothing step, the zero, and emptiness, the blank page; and then there is "returning to the city with bliss-bestowing hands." I think Burbea is working on articulating a vocabulary for that return, seeking a way to talk about bliss and bestowing, giving, offering, and the hands involved in that: metta in action. His talks on the Soulmakining presuppose "some understanding of and working familiarity with practices of emptiness, samatha, metta, the emotional/energy body, and the imaginal, as well as basic mindfulness practice." The "imaginal" is one of his new concepts, but you will probably be familiar enough with the other practices.
He talks very slowly, gently, and thoughtfully, so the time and patience commitment to listening to his talks is substantial. I sort of like the music of him, this dying man talking like he has all the time on the world. He is very lovable. He's moving toward manifestation from emptiness, toward compassionate, loving, creative activity, as I understand it. He's working on a vocabulary for Bodhisattvas, maybe, a way of talking about creative metta, fully engaged "in the city." But he's coming from emptiness every step of the way. |
