Monthly Archives: January 2011

83 – Mental Fabrication and Its Antidote

Posted on January 31, 2011 by

We are usually not awake enough to see how much we add to our actual experience moment to moment. Our minds make up stories, things we want to believe, assumptions built upon past experience and, in effect, we interpret reality … Continue reading →

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82 – Right Livelihood

Posted on January 30, 2011 by

“A lay follower should not engage in five types of business. Which five? Business in weapons, business in living beings, business in meat, business in intoxicants, and business in poison.” AN 5. 177 The Buddha’s instructions for right livelihood for … Continue reading →

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81 – My Four Favorite Practices

Posted on January 29, 2011 by

Next to mindfulness of breath, here are four practices I have found helpful. First, look at the contents of mind. Is suffering present (that is, do I detect a desire for the situation or person to be different than it … Continue reading →

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80 – Teaching Parables

Posted on January 28, 2011 by

One thing many spiritual teachers have in common is the use of parables to illustrate an important point. Here is one of my favorites: There is an old story of a monk who was being chased by a hungry tiger. … Continue reading →

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79 – Access to Insight

Posted on January 27, 2011 by

The Access to Insight website, founded by John T. Bullitt in 1993, is a wonderful, free online resource for dhamma texts. Many of the Pali suttas have been posted there as well as the writings of well known teachers, particularly … Continue reading →

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78 – The Triple Gem and Taking Refuge

Posted on January 25, 2011 by

I like taking the refuges before I sit and will usually do so silently unless I am with a group that is chanting. Although I’m not much interested in rites and rituals, I find that taking the refuges focuses my … Continue reading →

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77 – Facing the Demons

Posted on January 24, 2011 by

One of the costumes stress wears is inordinate busyness, a compulsion towards restlessness. It feels like being the mouse running just as fast as  it can on the wheel and going nowhere. It is a compulsion because if the wheel … Continue reading →

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76 – Dealing with Stress

Posted on January 22, 2011 by

Although there are over a half dozen dictionary definitions of stress, we most often think of it as “physical, mental, or emotional strain or tension.” Stress is dukkha–suffering–and no life is completely immune to some form of it. As I’ve … Continue reading →

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75 – Right Effort

Posted on January 21, 2011 by

Skillful Effort is about maintaining ones balance, making the proper adjustments or corrections as we navigate the course of our lives. By proper, I mean that which is necessary to maintain a steady course on the path to liberation. Have … Continue reading →

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74 – Making Connections

Posted on January 20, 2011 by

There’s a debate in our culture about what really makes us happy, which is summarized by, on the one hand, the book “On the Road” and, on the other, the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The former celebrates the life … Continue reading →

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