meditation — dharma notes

Practice in dying well

Sat, 13 Aug 2022 14:46:43 +0000

Practice in dying well

No narrative, no worldview

Things arising and passing away

Generosity, giving back

#Dharma #Mindfulnes #Meditation #Breath #Death #Deathless # #Generosity #ThanissaroBhikkhu

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https://youtu.be/bPSuHgzS2MQ

a cluster of feelings we’ve all experienced at one time or another

Thu, 14 Jul 2022 11:56:37 +0000

Samvega was what the young Prince Siddhartha felt on his first exposure to aging, illness, and death. It’s a hard word to translate because it covers such a complex range—at least three clusters of feelings at once: the oppressive sense of shock, dismay, and alienation that come with realizing the futility and meaninglessness of life as it’s normally lived; a chastening sense of our own complacency and foolishness in having let ourselves live so blindly; and an anxious sense of urgency in trying to find a way out of the meaningless cycle. This is a cluster of feelings we’ve all experienced at one time or another in the process of growing up, but I don’t know of a single English term that adequately covers all three. It would be useful to have such a term, and maybe that’s reason enough for simply adopting the word samvega into our language. - Thanissaro Bhikkhu

https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/lost-capitulation/

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who am i?

Mon, 04 Jul 2022 04:09:19 +0000

As for the question, “Who am I?” the Buddha included it in a list of dead-end questions that lead to “a thicket of views, a wilderness of views, a contortion, a writhing, a fetter of views. Bound by a fetter of views, [you] don’t gain freedom from birth, aging, and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, or despair.” In other words, any attempt to answer either of these questions is unskillful karma, blocking the path to true freedom. - Thanissaro Bhikkhu

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Noble Happiness

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 22:34:00 +0000

“Wisdom, as the Buddha says, starts with a question: 'What when I do it will lead to my long-term welfare and happiness?' What’s wise about the question? Well, one, it makes you realize that your actions are going to make the difference. Two, there is long-term happiness. And three, you want a happiness that’s long-term rather than short-term.”

https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/GatherRound/Section0003.html

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aware of the whole body as you breathe

Sat, 25 Jun 2022 20:39:09 +0000

“This leads up to the next step, being sensitive to rapture—or refreshment, which is probably a better translation of the Pali word, piti. Breathe in with a sense of refreshment; breath out with a sense of refreshment. And this is how you get there, by being aware of the whole body, by calming the way the breath comes in, calming the way the breath goes out. This allows for a sense of fullness. It’s almost as if every cell in your body is allowed to have its space and to fill up its space, all the way down to the tips of your toes, all the way down to the tips of your fingers, through all the muscles of your head , through all the muscles at the back of your head, down the back of your neck, all the parts of the body that you tend to ignore. Allow all of them to have their space, so that they are not squeezed with the out-breath, not pressured with the in-breath. The more there’s a sense of connectedness of the breath energy throughout the body, the less pressure you have to apply. It’s almost as if you allow all the pores of your skin to open up, and everybody gets to breathe. Everybody gets to have a part of the breath.” – Thanisarro Bhikkhu

https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/CrossIndexed/Published/ePublish_talks_4/080105theBuddha's16Steps.pdf

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questions and answers

Sat, 25 Jun 2022 01:41:20 +0000

“Simply pose the question in the mind each time you breathe in: 'What kind of breath would feel especially gratifying right now?' See how your body responds.” – Thanissaro Bhikkhu in With Each & Every Breath

“If, before you start meditating, you realize that you’re facing an important decision in life that might interfere with your meditation, tell yourself that you’ll use the meditation period to clear your mind before contemplating the decision. Before meditating, pose whatever questions you want to have answers for, and then drop them. Refuse to pay them any attention if they pop up during the meditation. Focus your attention exclusively on the breath. When you emerge from the meditation, see if an answer presents itself to your awareness. ere’s no guarantee that the answer will be correct, but at least it’s coming from a quiet spot in the mind, and it gives you something to put to the test. If no answer presents itself, your mind is at any rate clearer and sharper than it was before the meditation, putting you in a better position to contemplate the issues you face. But be sure that while you’re meditating you don’t have anything to do with thoughts about those issues at all.” – Thanissaro Bhikkhu in With Each & Every Breath

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