Description
Description
This is an audiobook of Wheel Publications No. 194 A Guide to the Perplexed: The Satipa h na Sutta by Donald K. Swearer, narrated by Jim Swift. This Wheel is included in the BPS Collected Wheels Volume XIII as well as a free eBook download on the BPS website.
Insight meditation has been summed up by the phrase, Be mindful! or Be mindful of your own mind. Two crucial assumptions are made in this definition: that genuine awareness or mindfulness will lead to enlightenment or an understanding of things as they really are; and that one s ontic condition or state of being depends upon the mind. Mind harbors all: the world of suffering and its origin, and also it s final cessation and the path to it. Buddhist meditation, then, offers the hope of insight not only in the sense of new knowledge but of new being. The promise is the oft heard phrase, Know the truth and the truth will make you free. Knowledge and freedom presuppose each other, indeed, are necessary to each other, for the very reason that enlightenment and new being are two sides of the same coin.
The heart of Buddhist meditation is the development of mindfulness or awareness. The program of training in mindfulness is not arbitrary, but is based on one of the most popular texts in the Theravada or Pali canon known as the Satipa h na Sutta, or the text on the foundation, arousing or setting up of mindfulness. Because of the significance of this text for all forms of Buddhist meditation, this essay is an attempt to interpret some of its more salient aspects. Several English translations of the Satipa h na Sutta are readily available, and those unfamiliar with the text may wish to consult one of them.
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VIPASSANA PRODUCTS
Vipassana, which means to see things as they really are, is one of India's most ancient techniques of meditation. More information about Vipassana as taught by S.N. Goenka is available at www.dhamma.org.
The tag Vipassana identifies products that are directly related to this tradition and differentiates them from other Theravada resources available on our site. While the main emphasis in Vipassana meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka is on actual practice, this product may provide inspiration and guidance to a Vipassana meditator.
We also carry titles from the Theravada tradition, as we feel that by exploring the wider world of the Theravada texts, which include the Buddha’s discourses, commentaries, and scholarly articles and treatises, meditators have an opportunity to deepen their understanding of the Dhamma and thereby enrich their meditation practice. This kind of intellectual exploration also helps a meditator to gain an understanding of the evolution and historical context of their meditation tradition. This understanding in turn deepens their practice and understanding of the Dhamma.
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