Dear Friends, In the Entering the Path lecture on contemplation of feelings, Bhikkhu Anālayo describes the “function” of these feelings we’ve been considering these past few days… Imagine a prehistoric human is walking through the forest when something comes up in front of them: that human had to quickly decide: is this something to hunt and kill, or… Read More »
Dear Friends, Welcome to the beginning of our third week together! As you recommit to your intention for practice, here are some helpful words just posted on Tara Brach’s Facebook page: It is helpful to start your meditation with a reflection on what matters to you. Some meditation students bring to mind an all-encompassing aspiration, while others focus… Read More »
Dear Friends, Over the past two weeks, we’ve built up our muscle of mindfulness, and in the process, we have turned to see the way things are. Things change. We are interconnected. We are not helpless victims, but we are also not fully in control. And we have these beautiful hearts than can hold all this. So let’s strengthen… Read More »
Dear Friends, I’ll start with this quote, often attributed to Viktor Frankl: Between stimulus and response lies a space. In that space lie our freedom and power to choose a response. In our response lies our growth and our happiness. Yesterday, I invited you to turn your attention to the “flavor” of an experience – to notice whether… Read More »
Dear Friends, We’ve spent 10 days looking at the first way of establishing mindfulness – mindfulness of the body – including mindfulness of breathing, body postures, actions of body, speech and mind, body parts, elemental qualities, and the changing, impermanent nature of our bodies. The second foundation of mindfulness is often called mindfulness of feelings. In English, the… Read More »
Dear Friends, I enjoy taking online classes related to mindfulness, meditation, and Buddhism. This fall, I took a course based on Guy Armstrong’s book Emptiness: A Practical Guide for Meditators. In the book and course, Guy talks about his experience of observing autopsies, which he did while a monk in Thailand. After the autopsies were finished, he was waiting… Read More »
Dear Friends, As we pay attention to our breath, we can start to notice that each breath has a beginning, middle, and end. As we pay attention to sensations in the body, we can also notice how they too have a beginning, middle, and end. Thoughts, emotions, difficulties, pleasantness – have a beginning, middle, and end. Your favorite tea… Read More »
Dear Friends, Another way to pay attention to the body is by its elements. Earth, water, fire, and air were the traditional elements. Of course, if you’ve studied any chemistry or physics, you might want to protest… there are all sorts of molecules, and those are made up of atoms, and those are made up of protons, neutrons,… Read More »
Dear Friends, A poem by Kabir: The small ruby everyone wants has fallen out on the road. Some think it is east of us, others west of us. Some say, “among primitive earth rocks,” others, “in the deep waters.” Kabir’s instinct told him it was inside, and what it was worth, And he wrapped it up carefully in… Read More »
Dear Friends, For this month, I’m dedicating Sundays to practices of the heart. As Jeanne often explains, our practice has two wings – the wing of mindfulness, and the wing of kindness. So we’ll use Sundays to strengthen our kindness muscle. On Saturday, I needed to flex the “kindness to self” muscle… I had run some batch jobs… Read More »
Dear Friends, Gil Fronsdal’s translation of the opening two stanzas of the first verse of the Dhammapada is: All experience is preceded by mind, Led by mind, Made by mind. Speak or act with a corrupted mind, And suffering follows As the wagon wheel follows the hoof of the ox. All experience is preceded by mind, Led by… Read More »
Dear Friends, After January 1’s post on Intention, Rod commented that actions are needed to make intentions meaningful. I think Rod’s comments align with this sentiment from Thich Nhat Hanh: Chapter 3 of The Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English looks at clear comprehension, a way of seeing precisely what is happening in this moment and using that to… Read More »
Dear Friends, In The Now Effect, Elisha Goldstein writes: Stepping int the now doesn’t happen only when we stop and pause our bodies; we can enter into a space simply by acknowledging what we’re doing. … why not allow the movements of our lives to be the entry points into the now? One of the most frequent movements that… Read More »
Dear Friends, In Chapter 2 of The Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English, Bhante Gunaratana discusses various postures in which one can meditate: sitting, standing, walking, and lying down.Even experienced meditators can benefit from reviewing their posture on occasion, so I invite you to really pay attention to your body, no matter what position you are in. Today,… Read More »
Dear Friends, I was quite moved by Bhante Gunaratana’s description of how mindfulness of breathing can connect us to all beings: But all living beings breath. Breathing does not differentiate among Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Jews, Muslims, and Zoroastraians. Nor does it distinguish between rich and poor, capitalists and socialists, or conservatives and liberals for that matter. When… Read More »
