“So the Three Characteristics in and of themselves are not the content of Buddhist wisdom, Buddhist discernment. They have to be placed in context, the context of the question of skillfulness: “What are you doing? What are your intentions? …”
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Tag Archives: insight
The Skill in Looking at Emptiness as a Mode of Perception Rather Than a Worldview
2012/01/18 
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Few words in Buddhism are more well-known, and more debated historically among Buddhists, than the word “emptiness.” What do we find about “emptiness” in the Pali canon, the oldest records we have of the Buddha‘s teachings? In this essay Buddhist monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu explains how Theravadan Buddhists understand the word in terms of these earliest […]
Continue reading The Unconscious Motivations for Meditation Practice
2011/12/09 2 Comments
These remarks are excerpted from a day-long program given by Jack Engler at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies (BCBS) on November 1, l997. Jack has had a long association with Dharma study and practice. He studied Pali language and Abhidhamma at the Post-Graduate Institute of Buddhist Studies in Nalanda, Bihar, and practiced meditation for […]
Continue reading Why Working with Suffering is Essential to Our Awakening
2011/09/14 1 Comment
The following is an excerpt from an interview with Ajahn Sundara, a French-born ordained monastic in the Buddhist Thai Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah. She has been teaching and leading retreats in Europe and North America for 20 and currently resides at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in southeast England. May this sharing inspire you to discover […]
Continue reading Does a Buddha say to himself “I have obtained Perfect Enlightenment?”
2011/09/04 2 Comments
Buddha then asked, “What do you think, Subhuti, does one who has entered the stream which flows to Enlightenment, say ‘I have entered the stream’?” “No, Buddha,” Subhuti replied. “A true disciple entering the stream would not think of themselves as a separate person that could be entering anything. Only that disciple who does not […]
Continue reading Thich Nhat Hanh – A Simple Teaching on Bringing Mindfulness to What Arises
2011/09/03 11 Comments
“There are some practitioners who want to bend and twist their breathing the way they think it ought to be. The Buddha said that is not the correct way. You only be aware of your breath and do not try to intervene. You don’t need to do anything, just know. You just observe, you do […]
Continue reading Letting Go and Picking Up in Buddhism (with music of Chris Smither)
2011/06/15 1 Comment
The following excerpt if from Living Meditation, Living Insight: The Path of Mindfulness in Daily Life by Dr. Thynn Thynn. Dr. Thynn Thynn is a Burmese born retired physician and Dhamma teacher. She is mother of two and is the resident yogi at the Sae Taw Win II Dhamma Center in Northern California. She is […]
Continue reading The Importance of Alertness and Attention in Developing Concentration
2011/05/05 3 Comments
As I have grown in my meditation practice, I have been able to develop deeper and deeper levels of concentration and corresponding insight. And yet, when I’ve read about some of the various deeper levels of jhana (deep concentration, or samatha) I’ve sometimes wondered about my progress and whether I’m going “deep” enough. This great […]
Continue reading Ajahn Chah on the relationship of Concentration and Wisdom in Meditation
2011/05/03 1 Comment
Ajahn Chah A Taste of Freedom “On Meditation” “When the mind is peaceful and established firmly in mindfulness and self-awareness, there will be no doubt concerning the various phenomena which we encounter. The mind will truly be beyond the hindrances. We will clearly know as it is everything which arises in the mind. We do […]
Continue reading The Unshakable Peace of a Mind that Can Let Go
2010/10/22 4 Comments
The following in an excerpt from a dhamma talk by Ajahn Chah titled Unshakable Peace. It is a wonderful and deep teaching explaining how to practice the mind that lets go—the mind of liberation and peace. The Buddha did not teach about the mind and its psychological factors so that we’d get attached to the […]
Continue reading Are things bothering you or are you bothering things?
2010/09/20 1 Comment
Here are some great insights from Thai Forest teacher Ajahn Chah about how to deal skillfully with distractions in our meditation and in our lives. Learning Concentration Ajahn Chah “In our practice, we think that noises, cars, voices, sights are distractions that come and bother us when we want to be quiet. But who is […]
Continue reading Goodwill-not a pink cloud of cotton candy covering the world
2010/07/18 4 Comments
“As a mother would risk her life to protect her child, her only child, even so should one cultivate a limitless heart with regard to all beings. So with a boundless heart should one cherish all living beings; radiating kindness over the entire world.” The Buddha, Sutta Nipata I, 8 The Challenge of Making Goodwill […]
Continue readingThe Buddha’s Self Check-How Are You Doing?
2010/05/28 10 Comments
The passage below from the Samyutta Nikaya is one of my favorites from the Buddha, because every time I enter deep concentration in meditation, the truth of what he says is demonstrated to me again and again. Every time you see that any form, feeling, perception, fabrication, even consciousness itself, is not yours—is not who […]
Continue reading Four Steps to Better Meditation Practice
2010/05/14 3 Comments
If you are learning to meditate, this is a terrific “short course” in the basics of mindfulness. If you’re an experienced meditator, this dharma talk by Ajahn Chah is a great refresher. (This is a revision of an earlier post called “How Confident Are You About Your Meditation Practice?”) This excerpt come from “The Teachings […]
Continue reading How To Become a Loving Presence in the World
2010/03/15 5 Comments
Practicing loving-kindness, like mindfulness, isn’t just for our private meditation time or prayers. With practice, loving-kindness can actually become a way of being, a spirit of love that animates all our actions. If we open up our eyes and our hearts, we can find countless ways during the day to practice acts of loving-kindness. Indeed, […]
Continue reading Groundhog Day and the serious problem of impermanence
2010/01/31 5 Comments
One of the most basic teachings of the Buddha, so far as I understand it, is that all conditioned things, all contingent things, all fabricated things, all things that arise, and thus all things that pass away, are inherently impermanent, and thus are intrinsically dukkha—suffering and unsatisfactoriness. Further, the Buddha, or Buddhism, teaches that our […]
Continue reading Buddhist Forgiveness-When We Have Hurt Another-Part 2
2010/01/14 7 Comments
When we hurt others, and our conscience is awake, we suffer. While having a conscience is good, the Buddha is all about the ending of suffering, right? So, what do we do? Bhante Bodhidhamma is a vipassana (insight meditation) teacher of over 20 years experience. He offers some very helpful insight practices to help us […]
Continue readingThanksgiving Thought-Gratitude for an Orange
2009/11/25 2 Comments
“When we enjoy eating an orange, we might feel grateful to the orange tree, which has spent a lot of time making a beautiful orange for us. So by thinking of giving and receiving, we can establish a deeper sense of relationship to the orange tree. We know that the orange tree also receives a […]
Continue readingMay All Beings Be Happy
- Looking at the Ninth Zen Precept-I Do Not Indulge In Anger
- True God, True Buddha
- The Difference Between Compassion and “Idiot Compassion”
- Ajahn Brahmavamso teaches Loving-kindness Meditation
- Now-and-Zen-Are you still carrying her?
- A Buddhist Mantra based on the Prayer of St. Francis
- Mindfulness of Breathing-The Anapanasati Sutta
- Buddhist Forgiveness-When We Have Hurt Another-Part 3
- Healing the Body with Mindfulness of Breathing
- Practicing the Middle Way-not too much, not too little
- Look at the Three Characteristics in Terms of Actions
- Thich Nhat Hanh – Healing Through Resting in the Breath
- How Metta Can Help You When Meditation is Hindered by Overwhelming Feelings
- The Importance of Taking the “Should” out of Spiritual Practice
- Can We “Choose” to Be Happy? No—and Yes!
- Ken Mcleod on how to use Thich Nhat Hanh’s Five-Step Method of Emotional Releasing
- Non-resistance and the Art of Resisting without Resisting!
- Don’t be fooled! There is a Way and We Can Walk It!
- The Importance of Compassion in Assessing Our Dharma Progress
- Jesus and the Buddha on Good Friday
Metta Refuge 