I’ve recently been contemplating a brief discourse in the Numerical Discourses of the Buddha (A. 4.170) on four combinations of tranquility and insight. This subject arose as part of an on-line course led by Venerable Analayo that I am auditing. The discourse presents four combinations of tranquility and insight: 1) the development of insight preceded [...]
In what ways do you offer less than 100 percent dedication to awakening? Learn what drains and diminishes your effort. Notice the effect of daily habits and entertainments on your meditation. Observe the effects that watching TV, engaging in gossip, or surfing the Web might have on your concentration. If you discover that an activity [...]
The plum tree near my driveway has a nest of robins--the eggs hatched a couple of days ago. The bird box that I hung on the eucalyptus tree outside our kitchen last year now is home to a family of small blue birds. Spring is a time when many creatures are diligently nurturing their young. [...]
Perhaps the most obvious similarity between the representatives of the world religions at this interfaith symposium is their sweet devotion to their practices, faith, and gods. I must say that I feel a bit like the odd person in this group in this regard, because my relationship to the Buddha is not obviously one of [...]
One of the most obvious element of meditation that Buddhism brings to the table at the interfaith symposium is the practice of insight meditation (vipassana). At this interfaith symposium, each mystical tradition offered meditative practices, but most seemed to be within the category of practices that Buddhism would define as concentration training. When we use [...]
The term Bodhi, in the language of ancient Buddhist scriptures, is usually rendered into English as enlightenment, awakening, lofty or liberating knowledge. Awakening implies a waking up from being lost in distorting perceptions and unknowing, to see and know experience exactly as it is actually occurring. The term awakening is quite appropriate, given how much [...]