"Contentment"? What the Avici is that? Imagine a disposition of mind, a mood, of everything being fulfilled, everything being fine, having enough... The Laws of Attraction and Vibration and One would be so proud we made it. Here we are, at peace. There is a useful opposing force we sometimes cultivate called "a sense of urgency" or samvega. Most of us being lazy, it's probably better to develop enthusiasm and a spiritual quickening. But, actually, too much striving does not help and is counterproductive. It ruins a practice: efforting, manly (virility or viriya) energy, straining. There's a place for it. But it's better to follow the Buddha's "gradual or progressive instruction" (anupubbikathā) to peace: calm (the result of virtue), wakeful stillness (cultivated as the absorptions), and fourfold mindfulness for insight the is the Middle Way that avoids extremes and is the direct path to enlightenment and nirvana.
"Meditators, Kassapa [1] here is content with any old patchwork robe. He praises contentment with any robe, and he commits no offense of rule or etiquette [2] on account of his wardrobe.
"If he has no robe, he worries not; if he has, he enjoys the use of it without clinging or foolish attachment, committing no offense, aware of the danger [of developing attachment and clinging] he wisely avoids it [3].
"Kassapa is content with whatever food offerings he gets... whatever lodgings... whatever medicinal requisites... he enjoys the use of these without clinging or foolish attachment, committing no offense, aware of the danger, he wisely avoids it.
"Therefore, meditators, train yourselves in this way: We will be content with whatever robe... food offerings... lodgings... medicines... that we might get... We will enjoy the use of them without clinging or foolish attachment, committing no offense, aware of the danger, we will wisely avoid it.
"Meditators, I exhort you all using Kassapaas the example, or someone like Kassapa. Exhorted in this way, practice to gain the goal" [4].
NOTES
1. Maha (Great) Kassapa, one of the Buddha's chief disciples who later became the leader of the Monastic Sangha, who convened the First Buddhist Council, organized the Dhamma into a religion after the Buddha's final nirvana, and who was declared by the Buddha as the foremost in the practice of the sane ascetic practices. 2. Unlike, for example, the Buddha's half-brother, the princely monk Nanda (SN 21.8). 3. Nissara napañño: literally, "wise as to liberation." 4. Tathatta: the state of "thusness" or "suchness," nirvana (nibbana). With a different suffix there is the almost equivalent term tathata, found mainly in Mahayana texts, but also occurring in The Path of Purification (VM XVII, 6), etc., where it means "the state of being really so."
Maurice O'Connell Walshe (trans.), Santuttham Sutta: "Discourse on Contentment" (SN 16.1 PTS: S ii 194 CDB i 662), with Pali title based on the PTS (Feer) edition; edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly
QUESTION: When I meditate, which has both the words "me" and "I," I feel so selfish and self-absorbed, like it's all about me. So shouldn't I stop? I would rather be an explorer [astronaut] than a selfish seeker [psychonaut]. You can't argue with my logic, admit it, and let me get off this mat.
We've just scratched the surface in this direction.
Space cadet gets bored with own distractions
ANSWER: Well, Doggone, with logic like that, you really have us in a bind. I mean, we don't want you to be selfish or self-absorbed. In fact, it would be good to be selfless and fully absorbed [in the object of meditation]. With killer logic like you've laid out, we realize that we are wrong, and by "we" we mean all of us -- the Buddha, the sages, the arhats, the sadhus and sadhvis (godmen and godwomen), the rishis (seers), the jinas (pathfinders), the shamans (wandering ascetics or shramanas). We've been doing this all wrong. So what you propose is that we launch our own Asian space program out in Afghanistan or Northwest India, maybe in Mohenjo-Daro or in any case somewhere near Gandhara?
Q: I don't know what those places are.
A: Of course not, yet you're sure of which direction to head, out not in?
Q: Well, no, but...
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, lift off
A: So without knowing even the general direction, you've let your mind talk you into doubt, skepticism, and more discursive thinking?
Q: Discursive?
A: Monkey Mind, going from branch to branch to branch, ceaselessly jumping around.
Q: Oh yeah, that.
A: Yet without knowing, you've never noticed how enlightened scientists are? Everyone who comes back from "space" is awake. Everyone who spends her time drinking coffee, reading data printouts, fashioning explanations is well behaved, serene, in control of their minds, inspiring, happy...
Q: No, they're none of that. They're the opposite!
A: Of course, what else would they be? Neither purifying their own minds nor encouraging others to purify theirs, they strengthen their rational powers and let everything else go to pot. They use the power of a streetlamp the way a drunk does, for support rather than illumination. They debate, they argue, they aggrandize their own theories while belittling others'. What a way to go about in search of wisdom.
Q: Yeah, well.
Calm down, Monkey. - Play with me, Homer!
A: Yeah well, what? They're harried, confused, leading others to confusion, cantankerous, amenable to nothing but argument and besting others in debates, to more and more data, rarely recognizing the biases that secretly guide their (mis-)interpretations of that "data." There is this world. Look around. Loot at it. Your lenses (all three eyes) are covered in dust, but you hope to accurately discern and make sense of what you're seeing. You have no conception of the assumptions you arrive with, like that of a "seer." That you take for granted and leave unquestioned. The suitability of the apparatus (the eye and its focus), that you leave unquestioned, with no access to assessing it.
Q: I'm starting to see.
A: Sit, turn inward, and the next time the mind misleads you to look the other direction, the direction you spent your whole life looking and trying to make sense of, note it and remain with the subject.
Q: What subject?
"Space" like dinosaurs is for kids.
A: Your subject of meditation, like the breath, or if that has been mastered (and it has not), the Elements, or the others laid out in the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Sutra. Trust that the Buddha and the arhats who confirmed his findings had something useful to say about the way to peace and enlightenment. It isn't by thinking, for if it were, all the thinkers would already be there and, by their thinking, would have talked others into seeing things their way. "Thinking" is not the way. We are really going from the ground up (rather than the top down, from experience to knowledge rather than thinking and theorizing to knowledge). It's already been done. Follow the Path.
Q: But how? It doesn't work no matter how I try!
A: Stop "trying." Start doing. Leave expectations and angst behind. The very problem you are running into is efforting, attempting to muscle it. Relax. LET GO. Let it be. You're only task is to watch. Don't think about it. See it. There it is. That is reality. Watch it unfold. What happens to a thought?
Q: It comes.
A: What else?
Q: It makes me think.
A: It makes you think? Isn't it a byproduct of your thinking?
Q: Well, yeah, but...
A: You said, "it comes." Have you ever noticed that "it goes"?
Q: Well, sure, after it hangs out a while.
Oh, this is easy. Now what? What else?
A: So don't welcome it. Simply see it. And you will see that although it comes whenever it wants to, it also goes whenever it wants to. You're not in control. When you're sitting, you're full of thoughts. But when you stand up to make sense of them, where are they? They are hardly dependable or useful. They've ruined your meditation (that is, welcoming them, conversing with them, and following them has ruined it) and then, their job done, they go away. You can't even account for them, find them now, or get back your peaceful meditation. You created this great argument against sitting and did no sitting still. The theory immediately fell apart when you ask about it, yet you cling to it as a "really good thought."
Q: I see now it wasn't.
A: And the next one won't be either. Billions have thought these thoughts, made these assumptions, thoughtlessly followed thought. Stop all that. Let it go. There's something better on the other side of confidence (the faith to believe this is not all for naught). In Zen some say, "Just be." Sort of be like that. Be content in the moment, be with the moment, just be (with it). Stop abandoning yourself. If you need inspiration for sitting, reading the lives of those who previously succeeded is inspiring, although those stories can set up expectations, hopes, and lead to frustration and a sense of futility if magic doesn't happen. Let magic happen, let it not happen, let it be.
Q: So like the Beatles.
Let's make more songs to distract everyone.
A: No, but okay. Like anything. It is. Let it be. Let it be just as it is. Don't fix it. Observe it. Your strength of observation will strengthen. Beyond sitting, there are practices the whole rest of the time to make the next sit more solid. Ever be mindful. Stay with the moment. Stop abandoning this moment and attention to it. Then, when sitting, that can be done much better. Exhale. Let the inhale happen all by itself. Just watch it. Don't "do" it.
Q: I might suffocate!
A: You won't if you relax. Most of "your" breathing is being done without you most of the time. When you notice it at the beginning of the sit, it should occur to you that "you" haven't been breathing yet breathing has been happening just fine, in fact, better than if you had.
Jon Kabat-Zinn teaches mindfulness and meditation | official trailer
(MasterClass) A pioneer of the Western mindfulness movement, Jon Kabat-Zinn has spent more than 40 years studying, teaching, and advocating the benefits of mindfulness.
In his MasterClass, he teaches viewers how to cultivate a mindfulness practice, reduce stress, and soothe thoughts with Buddhist meditation and movement. Kabat-Zinn shares expert tips and guidance that meets practitioners right where they are.
This class helps make the most of being alive. Learn more about Jon Kabat-Zinn’s MasterClass at mstr.cl/3rr55Tg.
Lessons in this online class include:
What Is Mindfulness?
Factors of Mindful Living
What Is Meditation?
Navigating Thoughts While Meditating
Meditation Postures
Guided Meditations
Responding to Stress
Facing Physical Pain
Mindfulness in Movement
Discovering Wholeness
Maintaining a Mindfulness Practice
More from MasterClass: Matthew Walker teaches the science of better sleep: masterclass.com/mw.Emily Morse teaches sex and communication: masterclass.com/em
Who is Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn?
What did the Buddha and Freud understand?
ABOUT: An internationally known scientist, writer, and meditation teacher engaged in bringing mindfulness into the mainstream of society and medicine, Jon Kabat-Zinn has made it his life’s work to normalize the practice of mindfulness and meditation, making it accessible to all. he has more than 50 years of experience in the field and has been instrumental in bringing the practice of mindfulness to mainstream institutions such as hospitals, schools, and prisons. He is the author of 10 books, the creator of the Stress Reduction Clinic, and has a doctoral degree in molecular biology.
ABOUT: MasterClass is the streaming platform where anyone can learn from the world’s best. With an annual membership, subscribers get unlimited access to instructors and classes across a wide range of subjects. Stream thousands of lessons anywhere, anytime, on mobile, desktop, and TV.
(Official Alan Watts Org) "Why Not Now" is a discussion from Alan Watts' Zen & Meditation collection. In it, he discusses how we need silence -- not mere absence of external sound but of the internal compulsive chattering of words and calculations inside our heads. Only by such silence can we get into firm touch with the real world which our languages, signs, symbols, and mathematics represent (somewhat crudely) but are not. Such silencing of head-chatter is known in the orient as yoga, dhyana (jhana, absorption), zen (chan, seon), or the art of meditation, in which we discover by direct experience who or what we really are -- by feeling rather than verbal definition. The reason is simply that too much chattering, not only in the head, but also in listening to radio, reading newspapers, watching TV, and interminable discussion of our various political, social, legal, philosophical, and psychological hangups has put us far out of touch with the real world, which isn't words. #alanwatts#alanwattsspeech#nonduality
Who is Alan Watts? | alanwatts.org/life-of-alan-watts...“Perhaps the foremost interpreter of Eastern disciplines for the contemporary West, Alan Watts had the rare gift of ‘writing beautifully the un-writable.’ Watts begins with scholarship and intellect and proceeds with art and eloquence to the frontiers of the spirit. A fascinating entry into the deepest ways of knowing.” — Los Angeles Times
AlanWatts.org (Something's Happening with Roy of Hollywood, in memoriam, June 9, 2024, Pacifica Free Speech Radio, kpfk.org); Dhr. Seven, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
What is it going to take for meditation (natural levels of absorption) to succeed?
Yes, "there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run, there's still time to change the road you're on," if Robert Plant (the lead in Led Zeppelin) is to be believed.
The stairway to heaven is twofold, calm and insight. Mindfulness (dispassionate, non-investigative, attention and radically-acceptance of the present) helps with both.
I'm ready to start. - You could've started sooner.
But it is better to begin what the Buddha called the "gradual training." That establishes samadhi or coherence (blissful all together mind), on a foundation of virtue (sila).
When these states are cultivated, they become a strong foundation for a more important practice. That is the effort toward enlightenment and liberation, bodhi and nirvana.
That gets underway -- vipassana through systematic satipatthana, i.e., insight via establishing the Four Foundations of Mindfulness). The real secret will be the practice of Dependent Origination (paticca-samupada). But all of that can wait. The mind/heart must first be prepped and purified.
It's nearly effortless now. Allow it.
Stop. Sit still. Or freeze in any of the other three postures (standing, walking, or lying down) and give attention to something that always stays in the moment, in the ever-changing present, such as the ever-present breath. Relax with each exhalation. LET GO of everything. We've been waiting to exhale. This is it.
The Buddha's admonition to give will make sense now as in giving there is a letting go, and it is that letting go, that non-clinging or internal-renunciation that makes all the difference. How could we let go of the bigger things (views, ego, pride, willfulness, opinions, etc.) if we are still clinging to the small and insignificant ones?
The mind will go into the object of attention, which may be a sign (nimitta) brought about by focusing on the breath to the exclusion of everything else.
Communicating with an enlightened (someone attained to at least the first stage of path fruition) nun, we secured these step-by-step instructions for reaching the first meditation.
We'll reserve those for Part II. This article is about the harder thing, getting started. If there's one word to associate with meditation, it's sticktoitiveness. Persistence pays off. Starting and stopping and not building up momentum is exhausting, leads to expectations, and gets going about as well as a fire from rubbing two sticks together. (Try it and vividly experience how much it's about starting and not breaking off until there's smoke and an ember to nurture, like the pleasant zest and enthusiasm one feels for the nimitta once it appears).
How does it feel? - Meditation or this silly cap?
Now let's get kooky and creative: the cap. What will put us on the path and hold us there until lift off? Lift off is deceptive because of beginner's luck or stories one inevitably hears about "naturals" effortlessly sitting, attaining, and progressing very quickly. People like that, just start. This is for people not like that.
A copper wire or band with clear quartz crystal (or amethyst, rose, etc.) will serve for a start. Arrange it over the forehead so the stone rests over the third eye (pineal gland). Then just let it be.
To fall asleep, we have to pretend to already be asleep. Therefore, it follows that to absorb, be as if already absorbed.
Does it have to be a cap, helmet, or headband? Could it be a laurel wreath, woven out of plant-helpers like the vine of the dead, an MAO inhibitor, and the bark of a tree or a mushroom cap feted by datura flower petals, stems, and a creeper?
That might work as the volatile oils, scents, and vibrations begin to do their work by proximity and sympathy. Frequency, vibration, it all seems to be about resonance.
Helmet in lead photo said to stimulate hair growth (irestorelaser.com)
Zazen (sitting Zenmeditation) instructions are available for everyone upon request. Please contact BMZC for details.
To "do" meditation [if such a thing can be "done"] is to set aside time to be the real us. Meditation without any goal helps us see that who we consider our “selves” may not be who we truly are.
All things change.
But the self of our thoughts and feelings cannot always accept change. So we suffer.
Meditation helps us experience things as they really are and ourselves as we are. Through meditation, we can forget the self and free up space to care for others in the world. The 14th Dalai Lama has said that the point of Buddhism is to become kind. We become more joyful as well.
How to Begin
If we want to try sitting by ourselves, we find a place at home where we can sit without being disturbed or distracted. Don’t sit in a very light or very dark room. Pull the shades or close the blinds or leave on a light. Turn off the phone. Light incense if it pleases.
Soto Zen Buddhists generally sit facing the wall. This form began with Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism. We can sit on a chair, on a cushion, or any substitute (such as a small bench made for this purpose). Even a folded blanket works.
If one sits on a chair, sit straight up on the chair.
If one sits on cushions, sit with ankles crossed, under, or to one side.
If it is possible, we can also sit in half lotus or full lotus position.
If one is sick or dizzy, we can meditate lying down.
Rest the left hand on the right hand so that thumbs touch lightly above the fingers, forming an oval shape. (This is called a mudra). Let the hands rest comfortably against the lower area of the abdomen about three inches below the navel.
How to Breathe
We sit upright to breathe fully. Our shoulders should be directly over our hips. Our ears should line up with our shoulders.
Keep the mouth closed and pull the chin in slightly. Look down at a 30-to-45-degree angle. Let the eyes partially close, without focusing on anything.
Relax the neck. Imagine a line running from the bottom of the spine to the top of the head – and on up to the ceiling.
Now inhale deeply through the nose. Breathe all the way in through the nose. Then exhale naturally — slowly and completely — through the nose. Our inhale will take slightly less time than than our exhale. If breathing seems too shallow, put a slight weight on it. As the exhale ends, one will naturally inhale.
Count the breaths. Near the end of the exhale, say silently “one.” Repeat this. When reaching “ten,” start over again with “one.” But if one loses track (which is easy to do), that's fine: Just begin again with “one.” Whether we ever reach “ten” or not is unimportant.
What to Think About
Thoughts and physical sensations may pull at our attention. Don’t focus on them. Don’t try to get rid of them. “Let thoughts come in and go out,” Suzuki Roshi would say. Just “don’t serve them tea.”
We are solely with our body and mind. It may be our first awareness of body and mind completely together.
When to Sit
Any time is a good time for sitting.
Some like to sit in the morning just after rising, or just after getting back from work, or just before going to bed. These are easy times for one to schedule.
The important thing is to decide when to sit. Then stick to it. We mostly belong to our habits. If we don’t make a commitment to meditate a certain number of days a week at the same time (or times), we are much less likely to continue.
How Long to Sit
Starting with five minutes is fine. Eventually we may get up to 30 or 40 minutes. This is the amount one would be sitting if one sat with a group. At first, just sit for the length of time determined. Set a kitchen-timer or something similar to know when the period is over.
Sitting with a Group
Meditating alone is fine. However, sometimes it is better to sit with others. When obstacles appear, it is oftentimes harder to continue regular meditation when we are sitting alone.
It is good to have the help of others when meditating. It is helpful to be able to observe someone who has been sitting for some time. It is important to have people who can answer our questions about Buddhism and encourage us. The example of peers will greatly help us with our practice.
The people we choose to practice with becomes our sangha (spiritual community). Our sangha helps us keep going when things become discouraging.
Find a group near enough to attend at least once a week.
If we are very fortunate, we will find a group with an experienced meditation teacher.
We may have a choice of different groups with different styles of meditation. It is not unusual for someone to study several schools of Buddhism (Theravada, Vajrayana, Mahayana, Pure Land, Esoteric, Mantrayana, Tantra, etc.) before settling on a group that feels comfortable.
No matter where one sits or how one sits, all are always welcome at Beginner’s Mind Zen Center. More
MEDITATOR: I want a regular meditation practice, but I don't know how to start. I don't know how to meditate.
INSTRUCTOR: Don't meditate. Don't try. You don't know how, so what would you be doing or trying to do other than what you think it is? It isn't that.
MEDITATOR: So don't meditate?
INSTRUCTOR: That's right. You can't meditate. You'll never be able to meditate. No one can. No one ever has. And no one will ever be able to.
MEDITATOR: What to do then?
INSTRUCTOR: We're going to set up the circumstances, the causes and conditions, for meditation to happen by itself. Meditation happens. We don't "do" it. No one does.
MEDITATOR: What are those things?
In the sensing, let there be just the sensing.
INSTRUCTOR: Here's an example. Can you grow plants in a garden? No, no you can't. They grow by themselves. What can you do? You can set up the circumstances for them to grow -- give them what they need, remove the hindrances to their growth. Then they grow great all by themselves. What do they need? Seed, soil, water, warmth, some sunlight, some shade. What hinders their growth? Weeds, pests, too much water, too little water, too much sun, too little sun, and so on.
MEDITATOR: But I do garden. I do grow things myself!
INSTRUCTOR: How do you do that?
MEDITATOR: I don't know. I just plant things, and they sort of come up by themselves. I follow the directions on the seed packet.
INSTRUCTOR: So you can't grow things? You don't know how. You don't even know how they do it, but they do do it. THEY do it themselves. You, for your part, just cultivate the causes and conditions for them to do it, right?
MEDITATOR: Yes. I guess I never thought about it that way. I thought I was doing it.
INSTRUCTOR: Yet when you didn't do it, they did grow, sometimes?
MEDITATOR: Yes!
INSTRUCTOR: Meditation is the exact same way. We can't make (create, produce) meditation, we can't force meditation, we can't do meditation. It can happen. It can arise like a magical sprout that grows into a fulsome, fruiting plant that flowers and produces wonders. When does it happen? It happens when we provide what it needs -- attention, silence, persistence, relaxation, removing the Five Hindrances to it, providing the Factors of Absorption. When those are here, it happens all by itself. So don't meditate. Know that you can't, and give up. Do not. Stop trying. Think of Yoda.
"NO! Try not! DO or DO NOT. There is no try." Yoda in Star Wars (eBay.com).
MEDITATOR: I get it! What are the specifics I should do if I want meditation to happen by itself?
INSTRUCTOR: Good question! Sit in a comfortable position, spine straight but not stiff or straining. Relax. Breathe in deeply then let go. Place attention to the breath under the nose, where you know the body is breathing. Attend to the breath without interfering. Mind wanders? Bring it back gently, without scolding or despairing. Gone a million times, return it a million-and-one times. Start again. This will keep one in the present moment, as the mind doesn't know past breaths or future ones. There's only this one. Be with it from beginning to end, the full cycle of inhaling and exhaling, whether breathing in or breathing out. Keep the attention here gently, lightly, happily. There's nothing to do. Be. Be here now, awake, attending, and still.
MEDITATOR: I can do that! But isn't that "meditating"?
INSTRUCTOR: No. Gardening is one thing -- cultivating the soil, -- growing is another. It's a mystery. It happens by itself. It's effortless.
MEDITATOR: I get it. You're distinguishing the form from the, the?
INSTRUCTOR: From the meditation. Meditation (jhana, bhavana, dhyana, zen, kammatthana) is what happens when the causes and conditions for it to happen are present. It meditates. It happens to us. It is a function or result of calm, of persistent attention, of relaxing, as things cohere (come into coherence). Wanting, striving, efforting, thinking, stressing, struggling...all of these things get in the way. They aren't "meditation," but if you think they are, don't meditate. Stop it. Let go.
MEDITATOR: I get it, I think. I keep thinking I get it.
INSTRUCTOR: It might be better to "Go Zen," that is, just sit, shikantaza. It's vital to remember the words of the enlightened Western Theravada Buddhist teacher Ajahn Sumedho (American Robert Karr Jackman), who teaches that there are three kinds of desire. All three get in the way get in the way of meditation and progress in meditation. So let them go. But continue to sit. And don't think that that sitting is meditation. It is not. That's preliminary. When meditation happens, you'll know and see that you were confusing forms with actual meditation, projections with the actual thing, thoughts and ideas about reality with reality.
Look, I did it! I look like a doll. I've achieved total lotus posing. But nothing's happening.
.
Hey, Kids, sit like me. And you'll be a meditator.
MEDITATOR: So what shouldn't I do?
INSTRUCTOR: Don't meditate. Don't "try." Just cultivate the causes and conditions for it to happen by itself, without grasping, struggling, or trying to get something, get rid of something, or become something.
MEDITATOR: It sounds very Zen.
INSTRUCTOR: It sort of is. But don't begin to "stink of Zen." Zen is achievable by trying, by doing, by anything but allowing, accepting, letting go, and persisting in attention (mindfulness of this moment).
MEDITATOR: I get it! I think I really do get it this time! It was semantics that were throwing me off. It's like how you said the Buddha, when he was the Bodhisatta, realized that if he struggled, he exhausted himself, and if he did nothing, he sank. Somewhere between the two, between effort and exhaustion, between nothing and struggling, right?
INSTRUCTOR: Yes. Sitting in a group can also be helpful. There's more energy in a collection of coals than any single one until it gets going. When it gets going, the others may become a hindrance to it. Then having used the group for what it's good for, set it aside, like a raft that took us to the further shore.
(Wiki WQ edit) Zen means jhana. Zazen, considered the heart of Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhist practice, means "sitting." The aim of zazen is "just sitting" (shitankaza), that is, suspending all judgmental thinking and letting words, ideas, images, and thoughts pass by [like little clouds across a clear sky] without getting involved in them. We avoid becoming distracted by distractions this way. Practitioners do not use any specific object of meditation, instead remaining as much as possible in the present moment, aware of and observing what is occurring [such as this breath] and what is passing through the mind. Dogen says, in his Shobogenzo, "Sitting fixedly, think of not thinking. How do you think of not thinking? Non-thinking. This is the art of zazen." More
Beth Upton (bethupton.com, July 2022); edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly
Hello friends, I will be taking some time offline over the coming ten days, teaching at the Buddhafield Festival and road-tripping with friends in my dearly beloved Delphine (pictured above).
Before I sign off, there are a few quick reminders.
First, remember that the fundraiser for Sanditthika Meditation Community is now live. I am delighted to announce that we are already nearly one third of the way to reaching our 30,000 euro target!
Thanks so much to all who have already offered such generous support. It has been an exciting week for me and the whole Sanditthika Team, seeing so many people get behind the vision for the community to grow and thrive.
If you haven't done so already, please consider making a donation. If you are unable to support us financially, you can also support the cause by spreading the word far and wide.
Donate/Share
Out today is my new YouTube video on the Four Right Efforts. I will be recording more of these videos over the summer, so if you have any requests for topics you'd like me to cover, please let me know. Watch
On Tuesday, July 12th, there will be a group interview. These online sessions offer us the chance to ask questions about your own meditation practice and to listen and learn from the questions of others. These group sessions are open to everyone and are also a good option if you are having difficulty booking a one-on-one Zoom appointment with me.
Book your place at the group interviews up to a month in advance here.
Also live from the UK, 8:00-10:00 pm, I will be hosting the next Full Moon Gathering. These gatherings are a great opportunity to come together to deepen our connections to the Dhamma and to each other.
This month's gathering will be on the topic of mobile cell phones -- a topic that seems to influence us all in various powerful ways. Everyone is welcome!
You can book your place at the gathering here.
Although my availability on Zoom is somewhat reduced over the coming months, I will still be making some time available most weekdays.
You can book your regular one-on-one Zoom appointments with me up to two weeks in advance here.
As ever, all of my work is given on a donation basis. For information about some ways in which you can support my work, take a look here.
All materials on this site are submitted by editors and readers. All images, unless otherwise noted, were taken from the Internet and are assumed to be in the public domain.
In the event that there is still a problem, issue, or error with copyrighted material, the break of the copyright is unintentional and noncommercial, and the material will be removed immediately upon presented proof.
Contact us by submitting a comment marked "private."
Do not follow this journal if you are under vinaya or parental restrictions. Secure protection by Sucuri.
Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at creativecommons.org/about/licenses.
.jpg)
.png)
