Category: Meditation

A mind like a child’s

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The quality of mind we are talking about……. is a mind which responds to something with attention and then returns to its own natural state. It doesn’t elaborate on it, doesn’t get caught up in it, doesn’t get excited about it. It just notes that this is what is happening. Every time it happens, it notes it. It doesn’t get blasé. It doesn’t become conditioned. In this way, it is like a child’s mind. When something interesting happens, it will note it and then let it go and move onto the next thing. This is what is meant by a childlike mind. It sees everything as if for the first time. It doesn’t have this whole backlog of preconditioned ideas about things. You see a glass and you see it as it is, rather than seeing all the other glasses you have seen in your life, together with your ideas and theories about glasses and whether you like glasses in this or that shape, or the kind of glass you drank out of yesterday. We are talking about a mind which sees the thing freshly in the moment. That’s the quality we are aiming for. We lose this as we become adults. We are trying to reproduce this fresh mind, which sees things without all this conditioning.

Tenzin Palmo, Reflections on a mountain lake: teachings on practical Buddhism

Supporting your practice: Events coming up in May

Karl Duffy1 Comment

Just some information about some events coming up in May which you may be interested in and which may support your practice.

The last MBSR group I led will have its All Day Session on May 21st. All are welcome to join with them. It will be, as always, in silence, and will include two longer sessions of yoga in the Kripalu tradition.

Patrick, whom many of you know from the Tai Chi Sessions he has done with us, is running a 4 week introduction to Tai Chi starting Thursday May 12 which will build in skills and practice from week to week.  He would run it in his Centre on rue Montbrilliant behind Cornavin each Thursday from 12.15 to 1.30. If any of you are interested please contact Patrick directly at yakushido@gmail.com.

Finally, there is a weekend in French led by the Monks of Plum Village (in the lineage of Thich Nhat Hahn) on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th of May at the Maison de Vessy. You can look at the details here: Week-end PC 28-29 mai 2011

Some figures

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The last post was the 1, 000 written one on the blog, a small milestone, I suppose. The “1,000” things written here have been read 24, 250 times in the ten months since last June. I thank you all for visiting, from the four corners of the globe.  You are always welcome and I hope that some of the things written may give pause for thought or encouragement you on your journey.

Sabbath rest: A meditation to develop peace within ourselves

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Sit comfortably for a few moments, letting your body be at rest. Bring your attention into the present and notice whatever sensations are present in your body. In particular, be aware of any sensation, tensions or pains you may have been fighting. Do not try to change them, simply notice them with an interested and kind attention. In each area of struggle you discover, let your body relax and your heart soften. Open to whatever you experience without fighting.  Breathe quietly and let it be.

Continue to sit quietly. Then cast your attention over all the battles that still exist in your life. Sense them inside yourself. If you have an ongoing struggle with your body, be aware of that. If you have been fighting inner wars with your feelings, being in conflict with your own loneliness, fear, confusion, grief,  anger or addiction, sense the struggle you have been waging. Notice the struggles in your thoughts as well. Be aware of how you have carried on the inner battles. Notice the inner armies, the inner dictators, the inner fortifications. Be aware of all that you have fought within yourself, of how long you have perpetuated the conflict.

Gently, with openness, allow each of these experiences to be present. In each area of struggle, let your body,heart and mind be soft. Open to whatever you experience without fighting. Let it be present just as it is. Let go of the battle. Breathe quietly and let yourself be at rest. Invite all parts of yourself to join you at the peace table in your heart

Jack Kornfield, A Path with Heart

Teens Day 19: Connect with your core

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When your mind is reeling in confusion, breathe deeply into the centre of your chest.

Connecting to the core of your being this way extends loving kindness to yourself , even when there is none in sight.

Ezra Bayda

Do not try to become anything

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Sometime go outside and sit,
In the evening at sunset,
When there’s a slight breeze that touches your body,
And makes the leaves and the trees move gently.
You’re not trying to do anything, really.
You’re simply allowing yourself to be,
Very open from deep within,
Without holding onto anything whatsoever. Don’t bring something back from the past, from a memory.

Tsogni Rinpoche

Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself  into anything.

Do not be a meditator. When you sit, let it be. When you walk, let it be.

Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing.

Ajahn Chah