The Boundless Universe of Presence

From the point of view of Tibetan Buddhist psychology, presence can be seen as a gateway into the virtual entirety of the dharma teachings. Understanding and cultivating mindfulness practice within this understanding is a pathway to deepened therapeutic presence and clinical impact with clients. As with similar constructs, it is useful to think of presence in stages. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end--a ground, a path, and a fruition. The ground is comprised principally of four groups of qualities:

1. Kindness, gentleness, and straightforwardness
2. Discipline and joy
3. Freedom from hope and fear
4. Unpredictability or inscrutability

The ground alone, while vast, is not enough. In psychotherapy, it exists as a vehicle for very personal communication. This is where the path comes in. The path becomes operative through the content of what is being communicated or taught-in this case, some aspect of the psychotherapeutic process. Finally, with the passage of time, one often forgets a great deal of what one has heard. What one remembers instead is how one felt at the time of the communication and how the other person seemed to be--the element of connection. This is the fruitional element of presence, which is a kind of transmission, and it goes far beyond the written or the spoken word.

Objectives

1. Determine how presence represents a gateway into the discipline of mindfulness meditation altogether.

Outline

1. From Tibetan Point of View, Presence provides a holographic view of the Dharma.
2. There is a Ground, a Path, and a Fruition.
   1. Ground:
      1. kindness, gentleness, straightforwardness
      2. discipline and joy
      3. freedom from hope and fear
      4. unpredictability or inscrutability
   2. Path: What is being communicated or taught
   3. Fruition: Transmission, which goes beyond the written or the spoken word.

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