Dharma Resources
Going with the Flow
12/18/19 Going with the Flow By Kim Weeber, teacher. This is a season where we can really acknowledge change. We are just about at the solstice, where the light will start returning. Days will get longer, and nights will get shorter. Even though we are really entering the season of winter, and snow and cold, we know that it will change and spring will come again. So the solstice gives us an opportunity to celebrate change, and to look forward to something new. And yet, in our lives on a day-to-day basis, we may have some difficulty with the concept
What is Mindfulness?
We hear a lot about mindfulness when we come to a meditation center or read about Buddhism. It is a very important factor in our practice, and I’d like to spend some time going into more depth about what it is and how to create the conditions for its arising.
Loving Friendliness practice
As our practice progresses, attention becomes more stable by using the sensations of the breath, and mindfulness increases with our positive feedback and intention to keep peripheral awareness open. With the elimination of mind wandering and very little forgetting, we start to enter the territory of Stage IV, Continuous Attention. One thing which may happen around this stage is the arising of old conditioning, including emotional material. This purification is necessary, but can also be challenging. While the stability of attention and mindfulness can help to hold these purifications, the specific practices of loving kindness and compassion are useful in
Excerpts about Awareness
Some Excerpts about Awareness, Attention and Intention Culadasa (John Yates); Matthew Immergut; Jeremy Graves. Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Spontaneous introspective awareness is the “aha” moment when you suddenly realize there’s a disconnect between what you wanted to do (watch the breath) and what you’re actually doing. In reality, all we’re “doing” in meditation is forming and holding specific conscious intentions— nothing more. In fact, while it may not be obvious, all our achievements originate from intentions. Intention, provided it is correctly formulated and sustained, is what creates the causes and
Mindfulness
The Magic of Mindfulness Talk given at Insight Meditation Center of Pioneer Valley April 4, 2018 We hear a lot about mindfulness when we come to a meditation center or read about Buddhism. It is a very important factor in our practice, and I’d like to spend some time going into more depth about what it is and how to create the conditions for its arising. When mindfulness arises in the mind, we are present and connected with what is going on in our lives. We are not lost in thoughts about the past, future or present moment. We understand
