Category: Buddhist meditation
knee pain nirvana
If we get uptight about feeling uncomfortabe in meditation, just remember this simple instruction- give careful and kind attention to whatever arises. Do you ever find yourself feeling uncomfortable in meditation after just settling in? If…
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it’s now or never
Mindfulness loosens the “interminable chain of longing” as Robert Frost puts it, so I have half a chance of living this moment now. One of my first meditation teachers, Sharon Salzberg, often talks about her early…
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the most important thing
This meditation is a self-discovery of the treasure of our very own being. Someone once asked Suzuki Roshi, the pioneering Zen teacher from Japan who founded the Zen Center of San Francisco in 1969: “Roshi, what’s…
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do I have to be Buddhist to benefit from mindfulness?
What is mindfulness meditation, and do I have to be a Buddhist to benefit from practicing it? I am frequently asked if someone needs to be a Buddhist to benefit from Buddhist meditation. My answer is…
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present moment happiness
As we soak in the healing waters of the present moment, the chasms between sacred and mundane, bearable and unbearable, dissolve. We live in uncertain times. Putin’s recent cold threat of a nuclear strike against Ukraine,…
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practicing present moment awareness
The practice of present moment awareness shows us that whatever we are dealing with does not define us. Difficult stuff comes up, but it doesn’t diminish our well-being. Maybe right now as you are reading this,…
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Don’t worry about progress
Progress happens when you don’t think about it. I was struck by a poem the other day while reading a new translation of the Therigatha, a small book of verse compiled in the beginning of the…
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do you have to meditate every day?
Do you have to meditate every day? The question really should be can I be happily present with things just as they are, rather than struggling with a goal? I find that newer students don’t ask…
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stillness in meditation
With the gradual deepening of your practice, you will feel a wonderful stillness when you simply rest your awareness on the body. The meditation teacher Gil Fronsdal, in one of his talks, speaks about visiting his…
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the pure delight of samadhi
With samadhi, our simple path of awareness reveals the wonderful secrets hidden in the depth of our being. Meditation has many wonders to reveal, but they remain hidden until we develop samadhi. Many insights into the…
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a moveable monastery
The contemplative life benefits from periodic self-reflection We meditate for many different reasons. Often, our original motivations morph as we move forward on this path. It’s juicy to reflect why we keep this up; and to be…
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focusing the mind
With mindfulness we learn how to single-task, leading to focusing the mind, bringing clarity, ease and contentment in our lives. There is a Zen story and the power of focus told by the Vietnamese monk Thich…
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Buddhist Contemplation: Four Thoughts Cheat Sheet
The text we will be studying and contemplating for the next six months or so is perhaps the most highly regarded one in the entire Mahayana Mind Training tradition on Buddhist contemplation: The Root Text of…
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Mindfulness of thoughts
Mindfulness gives us the skill of seeing our natural thought-mushrooming tendencies, and to gently wake up to the present moment of simply being with what is unfolding freshly, free of proliferation, fear, dread or unbalanced excitement…
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