Dear Friends, Mary Oliver’s poem The Journey offers a reflection on the courage and persistence needed to step away from old habits and toward freedom. As we explore the cycle of effort and energy in our practice, her words complement Joseph Goldstein’s teachings that we contemplated yesterday. Joseph reminds us that effort itself generates energy. Even when we… Read More »
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, Gil is building the progression of effort in practice. The initiating effort gets us going, perhaps again and again. Then we can make choices where we will put the effort – to something helpful or not helpful. Then we develop some level of relaxed persistence, some continuity of practice. Gil describes these as “what we offer”… Read More »
Dear Friends, Chapter three of Christina Feldman’s Boundless Heart delves into the heart quality of joy. She explains that joy can be cultivated, that joy can be a place where our heart rests. One master of describing joy was Mary Oliver, a poet who managed to capture in words the beauty and wonder of this world. In honor of… Read More »
Dear Friends, When the Buddha was giving instructions to his son, Rahula, one of the teachings was “Develop the meditation of appreciation. For when you are developing the meditation of appreciation, resentment will be abandoned.” This is the heart quality of muditā. In her book, Lovingkindness, Sharon Salzberg tells us that this practice of muditā is a way… 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, In Seeking the Heart of Wisdom, Jack Kornfield explains the first hindrance of desire as follows: The first hindrance is desire for sense pleasure: pleasant sights, sounds, smells, tastes, bodily sensations, and mind states. What’s the problem with desire–what’s wrong with it? Nothing, really. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying pleasant experiences. … But they fool us.… Read More »
