“… bringing awareness back to the present moment whenever our minds wander …” “… Here, a person dwells, contemplating the body in the body …” Description: Ongoing series on basic Buddhism. The original sanskrit word smrti, which often gets translated as “mindfulness,” also means “remembering to be aware.” Modern culture offers us many ways to distract […]

“… In our right effort we are developing the capacity to work on the unwholesome …” Description: Ongoing series on basic Buddhism. Right effort in practice, the sixth fold in the Noble Eightfold Path, consists in working to diminish unwholesome states of mind or being. Likewise, the practitioner should work to cultivate states of mind that […]

“… It’s almost as if there’s no point practising unless we attend to how we’re living …” Description: Ongoing series on basic Buddhism. Buddha taught that when following the way of Right Livelihood, we should not engage in occupations that may promote harm. It isn’t always easy in today’s world to advance in a profession that […]

“… Right Action is part of the undertakings that are necessary if we are to pursue the path of awakening …” Description: Ongoing series on basic Buddhism. Right Action in the Noble Eightfold Path was first described by Buddha in terms of abstaining or refraining from causing any harm. We can also consider it in […]

“… we discern how to act morally as we tread between the Oneness that we encounter in meditation and the multifariousness of the world we live in …” “Thank you very much, I have no complaints“ Description: Ongoing series on basic Buddhism. Right Speech means abstaining from uttering falsehoods, from saying malicious or harsh things, […]

“I want to devote my life to the wellbeing of the world“ Description: Ongoing series on basic Buddhism. Do we have free will to act morally, or is our behavior merely a function of our social conditioning? We find that if we orient our behavior correctly, in accordance with the second step in the Noble […]

“There isn’t any phenomenon at all that isn’t teaching or preaching the Dharma“ Description: Ongoing series on basic Buddhism. Buddha taught that in order to cultivate Right Orientation, which is the second step on the Noble Eightfold Path, one must start with an intention toward renunciation, not generating any ill-will, and being a source of […]

“Right View is not so far away“ Description: Ongoing series on basic Buddhism. Setting out on the Noble Eightfold Path, we begin with Right View. By developing an awareness of the roots of wholesomeness and unwholesomeness, we may orient ourselves toward proper conduct, skillful practice, and ultimately the cessation of suffering. The modern Zen practitioner […]

“This precious me. My me. This has been an invention” Description: Ongoing series on basic Buddhism. Continuing the discussion about the cessation of suffering, we examine two approaches toward awakening, the subitist, or sudden approach, and the gradualist one. Many Zen teachers, especially those using koans, assume the subitist approach. From a more gradualist perspective, […]

“Unshakable is the liberation of my mind” ~ Shakyamuni Buddha Description: Ongoing series on basic Buddhism. The Third Noble Truth concerns the cessation of suffering. When Buddha gave his first sermon, he was sparing in his description of this Noble Truth in comparison to the three others, teaching that the cessation of suffering, also known as […]