Perhaps I’ll just talk about the difference between contemplation and belief.  The Buddhist teaching is very well laid out in an intellectual format.  But, ovbiously if you keep the teaching as an intellectual structure, then it just becomes an artifact that everyone agrees upon that doesn’t really liberate the heart.  It’s only when you take a teaching and internalize it–you make it alive within your own situation– that that teaching becomes a means of liberation.… Read the rest

One way that we look is to look at things in order to get something from them – information or whatever. But then, your mind is agitated because you want something. In meditation, we’re really trying to cultivate a way of attention which is not bound by wanting anything out of this particular experience and not trying to get rid of it.… Read the rest

We can make suggestions to ourselves. So, what suggestions come up into consciousness? Are they skillful or unskillful. So, learning to listen, see thought as an object and observe the movements of the mind are very important. We’re trying to witness streams of consciousness right now, we’re not trying to solve the problems of the world.… Read the rest

We can make suggestions to ourselves. So, what suggestions come up into consciousness? Are they skillful or unskillful. So, learning to listen, see thought as an object and observe the movements of the mind are very important. We’re trying to witness streams of consciousness right now, we’re not trying to solve the problems of the world.… Read the rest

Once aspect of consciousness that we usually don’t choose to notice is the aspect of consciousness which isn’t engaged with the objective world.… Read the rest

A good life is important for good meditation. A good life, of course, doesn’t mean a life where everything goes your way, but a life of good intention, good will.… Read the rest

The Sangha receives a letter from Luang Por Sumedho. Luang Por Viradhammo reflects that Luang Por Sumedho took the teaching and didn’t just keep it at an intellectual level – just accumulating information. He took the challenge of his extremely responsible life and used it for practice. … Read the rest

The worldly way of looking at this retreat would be like, ‘what’s the quality of the food?’ But obviously what important in a retreat is whether or not you were able to be mindful. That seems to me what’s important.… Read the rest

It’s good to understand the project of Buddhism because there are all kinds of suggestions. If you don’t understand what the project is then the pieces won’t fit. The Buddha teaches suffering and it’s end. We do have a possibility of realizing peace. It’s good to keep that in mind.… Read the rest

So, what’s the difference between attention and awareness? Say that I’m practicing and there’s prescense- that’s awareness. Then, maybe I notice that there’s a headache, I pay attention to the headache.… Read the rest