Against The Stream

For a real revolution to take place, our spiritual life and practice have to be so much more than just getting our ass on the meditation cushion for a period of time each day.

Our sitting meditation is only the formal training period in our spiritual life.

This Buddhist Dharma Talk is based on 'Against The Stream: A Buddhist Manual for Spiritual Revolutionaries'. We’re making all of 'Against The Stream' available for free on our blog (one piece at a time). ➣ LINK in episode notes.

Loving kindness, unconditional friendliness: A 15-minute Dharma talk and 30-minute guided meditation.

The four foundations of mindfulness:

• Mindfulness of the breath and body

• Mindfulness of the feeling tone

• Mindfulness of the mind

• Mindfulness of the investigative awareness; we observe and then we start to investigate what we see

I was asked recently about the difference between mindfulness and vipassana. On some level there is no difference between mindfulness and vipassana:

Mindfulness is the technique that we practice in what we call “vipassana”

Vipassana is the term that is translated as meditation that leads to liberating insight.

Mindfulness is not just about formal sitting meditation; it’s about bringing present time awareness into all of our activities.

The Buddha – in the Satipatthana; translated as the word for mindfulness - the four foundations, levels, the four aspects we are mindful of:

- The body

- The feeling tone – pleasant, unpleasant neutral perception of all sensations in the body

- The mind – turning towards our mind

- The truth of your experience and the experience of awakened factors, “Sukha”, the happiness, joy and pleasure that comes from our meditation; the spiritual experiences coming from our own heart and mind

I was asked recently about the difference between mindfulness and vipassana. On some level there is no difference between mindfulness and vipassana:

Mindfulness is the technique that we practice in what we call “vipassana”

Vipassana is the term that is translated as meditation that leads to liberating insight.

Mindfulness is not just about formal sitting meditation; it’s about bringing present time awareness into all of our activities.

The Buddha – in the Satipatthana; translated as the word for mindfulness - the four foundations, levels, the four aspects we are mindful of:

- The body

- The feeling tone – pleasant, unpleasant neutral perception of all sensations in the body

- The mind – turning towards our mind

- The truth of your experience and the experience of awakened factors, “Sukha”, the happiness, joy and pleasure that comes from our meditation; the spiritual experiences coming from our own heart and mind

I was asked recently about the difference between mindfulness and vipassana. On some level there is no difference between mindfulness and vipassana:

Mindfulness is the technique that we practice in what we call “vipassana”

Vipassana is the term that is translated as meditation that leads to liberating insight.

Mindfulness is not just about formal sitting meditation; it’s about bringing present time awareness into all of our activities.

The Buddha – in the Satipatthana; translated as the word for mindfulness - the four foundations, levels, the four aspects we are mindful of:

- The body

- The feeling tone – pleasant, unpleasant neutral perception of all sensations in the body

- The mind – turning towards our mind

- The truth of your experience and the experience of awakened factors, “Sukha”, the happiness, joy and pleasure that comes from our meditation; the spiritual experiences coming from our own heart and mind

Mindfulness can be defined as: Present time, nonjudgmental investigative awareness.

The four foundations of mindfulness:

• Mindfulness of the breath and body

• Mindfulness of the feeling tone

• Mindfulness of the mind

• Mindfulness of the investigative awareness; we observe and then we start to investigate what we see

Obviously we need to learn the practices that will reveal the truth to us—but that is all. A teacher’s role is only to point out the instructions and encourage students to do the work for themselves. A good teacher constantly empowers students to trust themselves, to train their minds, and to uncover their own heart’s wisdom. A good teacher is nothing more than a wise and caring friend who has traveled the terrain on which the students are now treading. The teacher can point out the pitfalls and detours of the path, but we each must do the walking for ourselves.⁠

This Buddhist Dharma Talk is based on 'Against The Stream: A Buddhist Manual for Spiritual Revolutionaries'. We’re making all of 'Against The Stream' available for free on our blog (one piece at a time). ➣ LINK in episode notes.

Obviously we need to learn the practices that will reveal the truth to us—but that is all. A teacher’s role is only to point out the instructions and encourage students to do the work for themselves. A good teacher constantly empowers students to trust themselves, to train their minds, and to uncover their own heart’s wisdom. A good teacher is nothing more than a wise and caring friend who has traveled the terrain on which the students are now treading. The teacher can point out the pitfalls and detours of the path, but we each must do the walking for ourselves.⁠

This Buddhist Dharma Talk is based on 'Against The Stream: A Buddhist Manual for Spiritual Revolutionaries'. We’re making all of 'Against The Stream' available for free on our blog (one piece at a time). ➣ LINK in episode notes.

Obviously we need to learn the practices that will reveal the truth to us—but that is all. A teacher’s role is only to point out the instructions and encourage students to do the work for themselves. A good teacher constantly empowers students to trust themselves, to train their minds, and to uncover their own heart’s wisdom. A good teacher is nothing more than a wise and caring friend who has traveled the terrain on which the students are now treading. The teacher can point out the pitfalls and detours of the path, but we each must do the walking for ourselves.⁠

This Buddhist Dharma Talk is based on 'Against The Stream: A Buddhist Manual for Spiritual Revolutionaries'. We’re making all of 'Against The Stream' available for free on our blog (one piece at a time). ➣ LINK in episode notes.

Reference reading, “The Heart of the Revolution”

Link in episode notes.