‘Contact’ is the act of registering experience. Now take the case when we’re intensely focused on reading a book or watching a movie: awareness of our bodies, of the pressure of the chair, and maybe even a minor ache or pain, disappears. The mind’s attention is absorbed in seeing and processing the seen, so the tactile impressions of the chair, and of sitting here, don’t register an internal impre…

So being a good friend is a very skillful practice, one that requires us to make relationship a conscious focus rather than a casual interaction. It also requires us to work on ourselves. We have to let go of the impatience or the judgemental attitudes and work with the understanding that: ‘This is another person, not the same as me, not fitting in with my mind-sets, yet wanting happiness and need…

Get yourself ready to meditate. Sit in a composed way and examine your mind, using your mindfulness and discernment perceptively. Setting the mind in the right direction is something very important. If the mind isn’t set in the right direction, its thoughts and opinions won’t be right. It’s like a tree leaning to one side. When it falls down, it’ll fall in the direction that it’s been leaning. Whe…

The teachers who have most inspired and encouraged me in my own spiritual training have always offered their teachings for reflection rather than as the basis for assuming dogmatic positions. Buddhism has a well-developed doctrine, but when doctrine is merely held as an opinion, it easily becomes the source of a lot of argumentative debate that is not productive. The task of the contemplative is t…

There is no common factor except our humanity. We are all human beings experiencing the same kind of suffering. We all get old, get sick and die. We all experience anguish and despair, grief and sorrow, even though we might speak different languages, look different, eat in different ways and react to things in different ways. So we need to bring the common ground of humanity into our consciousness…

Conscious questioning as a form of meditation is nothing new. Lots of people use it as a way of directing their interest and travelling the inner journey. Asking the right question, your own question, is an important part of practice. There are times when concentrating on a meditation object is a pleasant, agreeable thing to do; but maybe we should see it like Ajahn Thate. He used to tell monks th…

The first stage of working with ill-will is to be clearly mindful of this condition of mind. This is very important, since we are usually very eager to avoid it, change it or in some way get away from it. However, if we don’t clearly understand what ill-will and all its permutations and machinations are, we are not able to work through them with any degree of honesty and true knowing. In the disco…

Two modifications of ill-will which are quite prominent these days are self-hatred and righteous anger. Self-hatred is internalized ill-will, which, while socially less reprehensible, is still not very skilful. Like self-doubt (and its shadow, narcissism), it has gained in prominence with the increase in the promotion of self-image and excessive thinking about self. However, this can be destructiv…

Although there are several useful ways in which to develop meditation, one of the fundamental systems is the recollection of the Triple Gem. This is a method recommended by the Buddha himself, where one brings to mind the qualities of the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. One ponders over them, slowly considering each of them – rather as one uses a mantra or rosary. By taking them into the heart, thought…

There was a point early in the Buddha’s teaching career where over a thousand arahants came to see him. They hadn’t determined beforehand that they would come. They all came spontaneously. And these were people for the most part who had heard one Dhamma talk from the Buddha and gained awakening. But now they were going to go out to teach, so the Buddha gave them a long Dhamma talk that afternoon t…