Posted in anapanasati on March 30, 2008 | No Comments »
Before describing the structured approach to anapanasati which I learned in Thailand and Sri Lanka, please take some time and read or review chapter 14 of the indispensable book Mindfulness in Plain English by Ven. Henepola Gunaratana (pages 149 to 156) entitled Mindfulness versus concentration. This chapter is an excellent overview of vipassana meditation and [...]
Posted in five hindrances on March 30, 2008 | No Comments »
Traditionally this group of hindrances has been called “sloth and torpor.” While greed, aversion and restlessness are rather loud visitors, this group tends to slip in when no one is watching. Everyone experiences these mental states in one form or another-guaranteed. The problem with this group is that if their presence is not recognized in [...]
Posted in five hindrances on March 22, 2008 | 1 Comment »
The practice this week has been to see how these five categories of forces within the mind keep us spellbound in their narrative. The key to working with the hindrances is the simple understanding that a hindrance is only a hindrance when we are caught by it, when we believe the story the story-teller is [...]
Posted in five hindrances on March 16, 2008 | No Comments »
Working with the hindrances–week two.
“You are going to run into problems in your meditation. Everybody does. Problems come in all shapes and sizes, and the only thing you can be absolutely certain about is that you will have some… Difficulties are an integral part of your practice. They aren’t something to be avoided… They provide [...]
Posted in mindfulness in daily life on March 9, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Excerpted from: Beginning mindfulness: Learning the way of awareness, by Andrew Weiss.
Here are some possible ways to reinforce mindfulness in your daily life. During your first week of practice, please pick one or two and give them your wholehearted attention. You can use conscious breathing - awareness of breath - as a foundation to encourage daily-life [...]
Posted in five hindrances on March 9, 2008 | No Comments »
Supplemental readings and listening for the Five Hindrances topic
CD: The Five Hindrances, a talk by Eugene Cash available at the weekly meetings.
Reading: The following chapters from Mindfulness in Plain English:
Chapter 10 –Dealing with Problems.
Chapters 11 and 12 –Dealing with Distractions,
Introduction to the Five Hindrances
The five hindrances are an important topic. I chose it as [...]
Posted in anger on March 6, 2008 | No Comments »
This says all you need to know about working with anger.
“The Buddhist attitude is to take care of anger. We don’t suppress it. We don’t run away from it. We just breathe and hold our anger in our arms with utmost tenderness. Becoming angry at your anger only doubles it and makes you suffer more.
The [...]
Posted in meditation basics on March 4, 2008 | No Comments »
What happens when we sit down to meditate? We begin to see the movements of mind. Many of the movements are away from the perceived objects of our experience. Let’s call this the movement of rejection.
There’s an itch, or a jarring sound, or an sudden upheaval of thoughts, and if we look carefully there is [...]
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