Dear Friends, To close our month, a poem from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, who gives us six words to consider our path going forward: Thank you for being part of this month-long exploration of the eightfold path. I enjoyed this opportunity to study, reflect, and practice with you, and I hope you found it of benefit as well. Special… Read More »
Dear Friends, Over the course of the month, we have dipped our toes into the eightfold path. The analogy of a path is useful in some respects. A path implies that someone has gone this way before, and now we can follow this path too. Stephen Batchelor writes, A path is something that connects us to a human… Read More »
Dear Friends, As we cultivate wise samadhi in conjunction with the other path factors, we begin to develop a stability of mind and heart. Wisdom develops, as we see things as they are. The heart can meet the conditions of the world with balance, perspective, with equanimity, upekkha. One way of describing equanimity is “to stand in the… Read More »
Dear Friends, Here is a meditation from Chas DiCapua with instructions with an intention to cultivate tranquility, calm, and concentration:Samadhi and its Role in Cultivating the Eight-Fold Path – Meditation (29 minutes)https://www.dharmaseed.org/talks/61042/ With good wishes,Andrea
Dear Friends, In his book, A Whole-Life Path, Gregory Kramer outlines six tenets for crafting a whole life path, and for me, one of them is particularly relevant when it comes to wise samadhi (concentration), which is “Find each teaching in the here and now.” On this tenet, Gregory says, “Nearly all of the Buddha’s teachings, even those… Read More »
Dear Friends, The eighth factor of the eightfold path is right or wise samadhi. Samadhi is often translated as “concentration”, but as Ajahn Sucitto writes: Let’s look at the idea of concentration, or samādhi. When you hear those four little syllables con-cen-tra-tion, what do they imply to you? … You probably get a sense of doing something, working… Read More »
Dear Friends, This guided meditation from Andrea Fella brings in a phrase from the Satipatthana Sutta: “Mindfulness that ‘there is a body’ is established in one to the extent necessary for bare knowledge and continuous mindfulness.” (MN 10) Guided Meditation: Supports for Establishing Mindfulness, by Andrea Fella (19 minutes – no ending bell):https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11650 With good wishes,Andrea
Dear Friends, In Gregory Kramer’s book, A Whole-Life Path, he says he refers five questions to define sati, the word we translate as mindfulness. Why am I cultivating awareness?What am I aware of?How am I cultivating awareness?Where am I aware?When am I aware? Page 255 He suggests finding a time for undisturbed reflective practice – alone or with… Read More »
Dear Friends, The seventh factor is right (or wise) mindfulness. Mindfulness is a buzzword nowadays. If you use your favorite internet search engine for “mindful ___”, where you fill the blank with practically any subject, you’ll probably find an array of articles related to it. But what is right mindfulness? In one of the discourses, Sariputta describes it… Read More »
Dear Friends, With wise effort, we want to abandon unhelpful states and cultivate helpful ones. There are many ways to cultivate these beneficial states, including the Brahma Vihara practices of metta (kindness), karuna (compassion), mudita (appreciative joy), and upekkha (equanimity). Today, we’ll focus on mudita! Mudita is the capacity to feel happiness or gladness, to delight in someone’s… Read More »
Dear Friends, In the Buddha’s instruction to Sona (AN 6.55), he compares effort to the tuning of a stringed instrument. A guitar string that’s too tight doesn’t sound right, and neither does one that’s too loose. We are to apply our effort to find a balance. As you practice, notice when you are “too tight” or “too loose”.… Read More »
Dear Friends, Today, I will share one of the reflection questions from the eightfold path class I took through BCIMS a couple of years ago: As a person who over-efforts on many occasions, I find this poem a reminder to balance the efforting with space, so that what’s most important has the opportunity to emerge. Clearing Do not… Read More »
Dear Friends, The sixth factor of the eightfold path is right or wise effort. Gil Fronsdal describes this factor succinctly as follows: Right Effort involves four different ways we can apply ourselves. When it comes to our inner thoughts, feelings, and states, we can (1) prevent, (2) overcome, (3) arouse, or (4) maintain these inner experiences. Far from… Read More »
Dear Friends, There’s a reason sila is a practice rather than a set of rules – it’s a way we can explore where we can grow and cultivate. When you reflect on sila, maybe you’re like me – I tend to notice many of the ways I fall short. To counteract this negativity bias, it’s also important to… Read More »
Dear Friends, In a course on the eightfold path I took with BCIMS a couple years ago, the reflection document included this reminder: “the practice of Right Livelihood is not an effort to live up to an externally imposed set of rules in order to not be shamed, but an ongoing inquiry into how to better align with… Read More »
