From over fifteen years of sharing her understanding of Buddhist concepts
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Spring Cleaning
The Buddha is quoted in the Pali Canon as saying that to define yourself in any way is to limit yourself, and that the question, “What am I?” is best ignored. So it’s useful to notice where we get caught up in believing we are this material form, the feelings/moods/preferences we experience, or any other…
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‘Am I defined by my preferences?’
Last week we began an exploration of the Buddha’s Five Aggregates. We explored the First Aggregate, material form. We considered whether the answer to ‘Who am I?’ is my body. We observed how the body by nature is impermanent. It grows, it ages, it dies, and it is subject to illness and injury. We observed…
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‘Who Am I?’
(The Buddha taught the Four Foundations of Mindfulness in a certain order for a reason. If you are reading this without having followed along previous posts in this section, please begin at the beginning with Introduction to Four Foundations of Mindfulness.) We have come to a place in the Buddha’s teachings of the Four Foundations…
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The Hindrances make us go deaf and blind
The Five Hindrances* cause a kind of blindness and deafness. How can that be? You can probably provide your own example. If there is some issue that sets you off when a topic comes up on the news, that’s a perfect time to notice how every time it comes up, there is that same circular…
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How can what is difficult be the easy thing?
Anna Douglas, co-founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center and my dear teacher Pema Chodron says, ‘Move toward difficulty.’ My teacher Anna Douglas, tells me, ‘Do the easy thing.’ What’s a Buddhist student to do?This was the basis of our discussion in class on Thursday. (We are pausing in our study of the Buddha’s Five Hindrances…
STEPHANIE NOBLE 