The Buddhist world has seen its fair share of “gurus” and “masters” who introduced “secret meditation techniques” and found instructions nobody had ever seen before because they “allegedly” got lost or distorted over time – only to be (re-)introduced by…
Can a practice that we undertake which does not purify our mind be truly considered “cultivation of the mind”? Let’s forget our concepts and ideas about “meditation” for a moment and look at some words of the Awakened One on…
What is the difference between right mindfulness and wrong mindfulness? [1] Both of them are part of an electric drill, if you excuse the mundane simile for a moment: It is the direction of the drill that ultimately matters, and…
Practical ideas on anussati, sati and apilapanā. Today I would like to invite you to a short experiment. It is going to be very simple. Here is the experiment: Think of a random number, for instance “1325”. Now close your…
Imagine you being a surfer. Even if you have never actually surfed, just imagine for a moment standing in the ocean, close to the beach, holding your board in both hands, looking out at the sea, watching the waves. Let’s…
This post is based on some of the observations made in this post. It might help to understand this article. One day the Buddha mentioned to his students that his own meditation object with which he realized Nibbana was the…
And I’ll show you how 🙂 Okay, caught your attention (did you see what happened when you read this headline)? Now, let me rephrase a bit: This post is about how a Vipassana opponent turned into a Vipassana proponent. Interested?…
…was Ayya Khema‘s noble intention. Let us all walk in her footsteps. From an email thread: Better I respond now, before letting this lie around too long…so short answers. If not clear enough, give me a call 🙂 I’m glad…
If you drive back from a peaceful mountain region to the busy town, you can reflect on all the milestones and passing sights either while you drive or when you are back home. Now, of course, watching the scenery while…
Can you hear background sounds while in jhana? This canonical analysis draws directly from the Pali Tipitaka to resolve the longstanding debate between two competing views of jhana absorption — and includes a detailed map of states of mind.