Finding peace in the present

UC IRVINE — Irvine resident Jon Pardoe has always felt an underlying connection with Buddhism.

When he was 4 years old and living in his native England, he remembers being surrounded by Buddhist monks in orange robes because of his parents’ belief systems. His two middle names are even Buddhist.

Pardoe is a software engineer, and the constant pressures of his job were creating a hectic lifestyle for him. So when he saw an ad for an “Introduction to Zen Meditation” course at UC Irvine, he knew he had to stop thinking about it and do it.

The class is offered through the university’s extension and is part of the Yoga and Buddhism Studies program. The class is intimate, with less than 10 people in attendance Saturday. The seven-week course began Jan. 13 and ends Feb. 24, but the extension plans on continuing the class in its next sessions.

Senior Dharma teacher Algernon D’Ammassa, whose Buddhist name is MuMun, led the class Saturday in meditation and helped them understand what it means to be Zen.

Zen is a trendy keyword for being in a calm and peaceful state. But the philosophy is more about self-awareness and helping others.

“The word’s been used to market everything from music players to soap, but the word literally means meditation,” D’Ammassa said. “The philosophy behind it … is about being present in your own life.”

In Buddhism’s early days, believers were trying to reach Nirvana. That is, through meditation they wanted to seek enlightenment, and when they reached Nirvana, they essentially were able to “check out,” D’Ammassa said.

Zen came around about 1,000 years after Buddhism. D’Ammassa said Buddhists realized “actually the point is to be completely here.”Zen meditation trains the mind to be quiet, Yoga and Buddhism Studies program director Molly Schneider said.

“We tend to live so much in our heads…. And in our neurosis we get stuck in patterns and belief systems …. The only way to get beneath these patterns is to still the mind and be able to observe the process of the mind so that you understand that it is the mind, and you start to look at the actual process of those thoughts being created,” Schneider said.

“In focusing on that, you’re training your mind to not attach to that process and to become still, and in the stillness you experience the actual reality.”

In the class, D’Ammassa teaches his students about meditation and about the philosophies behind it.

“I hope [the students] find something useful here and hope it really helps them,” D’Ammassa said after class. “Many times people are looking for self improvement because they believe they are lacking somehow, but now they learn that everything they need to live is right in front of them. Whatever it is you choose to do, you can do. If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you can’t.”

D’Ammassa said he prefers teaching the course in an adult education atmosphere.

“They want something practical they can use in their life,” he said.

For Pardoe, the practice has helped him be more relaxed during his hectic schedule. It’s helped him realize that he needs to take time for himself, which will help him around others, including his wife and kids.

“It’s about trying to make a point in your life to take time to yourself, which we can’t seem to do,” he said. “We’re talking about meditating for 10 minutes, and we can find every excuse, and I don’t know why that is…. I think it helps you solve problems rather than just letting them fluster you. It’s a gradual shift, but little by little, hopefully it’ll help me and those around me.”

The big message is doing, rather than thinking or talking about it.

“If you’re hungry, eat. If I’m hungry, give me some food,” D’Ammassa said as a basic example.

Dennis and Diane Hayes of Huntington Beach have been coming to classes in the program for a few years and haven’t yet found one they didn’t like or a teacher that didn’t fascinate them. They believe the meditation has even made their marriage better.

“As you age, you get more perspective on life, you realize there’s a lot more to it…. There’s been a profound change in the way I feel inside,” Dennis Hayes told the class Saturday. “There’s a calmness, happiness.”

For more information about the program or the Zen meditation class, call (949) 824-5592 or visit the UC Irvine Extension website at unex.uci.edu.