Searching for the essence
29 Jan 2025
As to methods, there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. Whoever grasps principles can successfully select their own methods. Those who try methods, ignoring principles, are sure to have trouble.
—Harrington Emerson.
What is the essence of Buddhism? What is the point of it? We could say, "nibbāna", but how do we understand that?
Kindness?
Being present?
Taking care...
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Mindfulness as remembering to apply the teachings
27 Jan 2025
The word sati, which we translate as "mindfulness" can be understood as present-moment recollection. We remember to be in the present, yes, but sati also implies that we remember Buddhist teachings and bring them to bear on our current experience.
Sati means, for example, remembering the teaching on dependent arising to see how our perceptions are constructed, fabricated.
In this view,...
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Healing the mind
22 Jan 2025
What are we trying to do in Buddhist practice?
One way to think about the Buddhist path is of taking care of the heart and mind. Socrates said that he was concerned with taking care of the psyche. Rob Burbea described so much of the practice as being concerned with taking care of the heart. Other traditions might talk about taking care of the soul... how does that phrase sit with you?
In Buddhism...
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Not clinging to anything in the world: understanding the Satipatthana refrain
21 Jan 2025
The Satipatthana Sutta is perhaps the central meditation text in the Insight Meditation tradition. It outlines four domains in which we can be mindful:
body
feeling tone
mind
dhammas / frameworks.
Each of these has subcategories. But today I want to focus on how we interpret and practice the sutta’s instructions, particularly in the refrain. We're asking the question: what is samma...
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Ward Farnsworth's lead-pipe theory of the internet
6 Nov 2024
Ward Farnsworth has a beautiful analogy for how we got to this point in his book, The Socratic Method: A Practitioner's Handbook.
The ancient Romans built elaborate networks of pipes to deliver water where they wanted it to go. The networks were a marvel. But many of the pipes were made of lead, and the water carried the lead along with it. One school of thought regards this as part of the...
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