3 haikus

By | 8/10/2022

Perfectly present,
In sync with a metronome—
it’s time to let go.

Cause and effect rules:
All actions are subject to
concentric circles.

A spawn of nature
thrusted into existence,
hence the momentum.

Therikā’s Meditations on a Ruined Meal

By | 8/10/2022
Consider one of the more obscure disciples of the Buddha described in the Pāli canon and its commentaries. Her name may have been Therikā, but it is impossible to be sure. A poet, she left only a single four-line verse that has survived to modern times. Yet by following several different threads in the ancient sources it may be possible to understand something of her life and accomplishments, both literary and spiritual.

Refuge

By | 7/18/2022
10 days at sea, 
adrift I float,
Secure and serene in my 
Dhamma boat.

Though the waves tower high,
Though the wind does whip,
Nothing can disturb me 
In my unsinkable ship.

Mountains as Mountains, Rivers as Rivers

By | 7/18/2022
Mountains as Mountains, Rivers as Rivers

"Before I had studied the Dharma for thirty years, I saw mountains as mountains, and rivers as rivers. When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to the point where I saw that mountains are not mountains, and rivers are not rivers. But now that I have got its very substance I am at rest. For it's just that I see mountains once again as mountains, and rivers once again as rivers."
― Qingyuan Weixin, 9th Century

Right Understanding

By | 7/18/2022

Right understanding has to illuminate every single part of the practice of Vipassana.

The Buddha called it sammā-diṭṭhi. In Pāli, diṭṭhi literally meant a view, or a philosophy. Then as now, there were many different kinds of philosophies in currency. But sammā-diṭṭhi, right understanding, has nothing to do any philosophy or intellectual position. Even with great devotion, an absolute and total conviction in every single word of the Buddha, will not liberate anybody. It merely becomes a belief-system like any other, and so it becomes a trap. The Buddha carefully used the word sammā meaning “right”, and sammā-diṭṭhi only becomes sammā when it is practiced. This is the critical difference, and this is what purifies the individual: the practice.

Dhamma Service

By | 6/22/2022
Dhamma Service
Andrée François

Gong

By | 6/22/2022
Day Zero. My hand shoots up ‘enthusiastically and emphatically’ (the centre manager’s words) when the request for an old student to sound the first gong is asked for. In the lead up, I have tried not to let thoughts roll around in my head of ’do I really want to’, or ‘will anyone else want to’. I am happy to give way — especially if another student has never gonged before. This time I am the only female volunteer. I request an additional alarm clock.

Let’s Talk About Mettā and Service

By | 6/22/2022

During a recent committee meeting at my local Dhamma center, we discussed alternative ways to encourage service because our meditation center, like many other Dhamma centers, is working through server shortages. This essay is my attempt to dive deeper into mettā and service and how they are essential for a complete practice.

Kindness

By | 6/4/2022
Kindness
Andrée François

Citta

By | 6/4/2022

This mind 

waits to enlight,

to befriend.


Simply remains still

holding close,

for a moment of awareness from within.

The Big Umbrella

By | 6/4/2022

Elaborating on the assertion that all beings seek happiness, the Buddha declared it impossible for anyone to be truly happy if he or she does not refrain from whatever harms the peace and harmony of others.

Since his teaching entered my life, I have recognized in my quest for personal happiness a social responsibility: my duty to be happy for the welfare of others. After all, no-one is interested in the hurtful things that I sometimes say about them, in enduring my blame and annoyance, in witnessing my worries and anxiety attacks, or in my insistence that things go my way.


Nirodha

By | 5/23/2022
Nirodha

The title is “Nirodha”. The seal in the upper right says: “Buddhist doctrine teaches: take all things as Impermanent and Imaginary”

Busted, Adjusted

By | 5/23/2022
In 1980, after the hot season from April to June, few Westerners remained at Dhamma Giri. And during the rainy season that followed there were fewer still. Most of the Indian servers too had departed. Goenkaji himself had gone to conduct courses in Europe and North America. During the monsoon Dhamma Giri is a magical place enswirled by leaden clouds and buffeted by pounding rain that abruptly gives way to dazzling sunlight. The parched hills turn emerald green with fresh grass and newborn waterfalls cascade off the surrounding mesas. How to dry your clothes and keep them from becoming mouldy, however, was an enduring problem.

Reflections on the Noble Eightfold Path in Practice and Daily Life, Part 4 of 4

By | 5/23/2022
The final installment of the essay on the Noble Eightfold path concerns the cluster of factors that address the cultivation of wisdom, or paññā. In the Buddha’s teaching, with a strong base of sīla, one is well-grounded to more easily tamp down the hindrances, which leads one to more easily develop strong samādhi. And with the sharpened mind, one can penetrate into the laws that govern existence, and uproot the tendency towards experiencing dukkha at the deepest level of the mind. Paññā is also called “insight.”

A Buddha for All Colours

By | 5/9/2022
A Buddha for All Colours
Mosami

Re-Awakened Reality - Day 11

By | 5/9/2022
I handed the instructions for the location over to the chosen driver and we started making our way to the destination. I closed my eyes for a few minutes in the back of the taxi and the meditation process started spontaneously despite all the sounds outside and the bright sunlight. I was delighted to note that I was able to meditate in an unusual setting like a car ride. Taxis and flights were a big part of my work week so it was comforting to know that I could meditate in such environments.

Finding Joy in the Practice of Insight

By | 5/9/2022
From the viewpoint of cultivating liberating insight, a central distinction to be made is that between avoiding the types of joy that lead to attachment while at the same time recognizing that there are commendable forms of joy. These are in particular the wholesome types of joy that come from deepening insight and learning to let go of clinging and attachments. Finding joy in such letting go can provide an important inspiration for dedicating ourselves wholeheartedly to the continuity of practice and for this reason should not be underestimated.

Ashoka: An Ideal Ruler

By | 5/9/2022
For centuries Ashoka and his reign were forgotten in the mists of time and history, his name hardly known, his monuments broken, burnt and buried. It was only in the 19th Century, as India opened up to the West that a series of scholars, epigraphers, and archaeologists began to reassemble and understand his achievements and his message.

Boatman

By | 4/24/2022
Boatman
Ke Ton

Faces

By | 4/24/2022
On the mind's screen
Faces unknown are seen
Strangers from the past nameless to my conscious mind
Strangers from the future whom I might meet sometime
Or just random images in meditation time.

Tearful Liberation - Day 10

By | 4/24/2022
The New Year’s Eve party across from our campsite continued well into the early hours of the morning and the sounds of the live band and the revelers were intermingled with the chants in the courtyard. This was probably the first New Year celebration I had spent alone and in a quiet manner. I reflected on the relevance of “the party’s over when the music stops” to my condition coming into the camp having lived for all these years in ignorance, reveling in the party of my unaware and indulgent consciousness.

Reflections on the Noble Eightfold Path in Practice and Daily Life, Part 3 of 4

By | 4/24/2022
This third installment of my four-part essay on the Noble Eightfold Path explores the cluster of factors that fall under the umbrella of samādhi. Samādhi is commonly understood in this tradition as collecting and calming the mind so that it can be focused on the observation of reality for the purpose of cultivating wisdom/insight. However, it can more broadly be defined as the calm abiding of mind and body.

Reflections on the Noble Eightfold Path in Practice and Daily Life, Part 2 of 4

By | 4/8/2022
Sīla is not merely about moral and ethical considerations; it is also spiritual in nature, the very foundation on which any strong practice is built. It is interesting to note that the tenets of sīla are not intended as commandments. Rather, sīla is undertaken as a “training.” The Buddha seems very clear about the importance of sīla, which comprises three of the eight steps of the Noble Eightfold Path. So in conformity with that teaching, our tradition gives great importance to maintaining sīla in our lives.

Equanimous Mind - Day 9

By | 4/8/2022
At this stage, I was now completely convinced that hard as it may be, I would continue to put in every effort humanly possible to maintain the practice of Vipassana meditation when I resumed my regular life. The significant changes in my energy level, concentration power, attention span, creativity, mind-body coordination, temperament, and numerous other faculties I had experienced through the use of this technique were palpable, especially when I didn’t even know that such a big delta was even available as headroom for potential improvement.
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