“Look at the particular emotion that might be driving the proliferation of thoughts. And as you are watching, take some deep breaths. Looking at it, breathe out deeply—looking at it, breathe in deeply. You will see it disappearing. Mindfulness comes to rescue us from getting carried away with runaway thoughts, to offer support to increase wholesome mental states. Mindfulness works in both ways—one is to address negative states that have arisen. The other is to encourage us to direct the mind into more wholesome paths.”
“We don’t meditate to hate our bodies or other bodies. Unsatisfactoriness depends on clinging to impermanent bodies. A mindful meditator should remind himself or herself that an attractive object has triggered sense desire. One should then develop wise reflection or mindful reflection.
“The Buddha gave a very meaningful simile to underscore the meaning of mindful reflection, or yoniso manasikara. Suppose you throw a stick to a dog. The dog runs after the stick and bites on it or brings it back to you. But if you throw a stick to a lion, he does not run after the stick. He runs after you! He wants to know where the stick came from. The lion wants to go to the root.
“Similarly, mindful reflection goes to the root. We have six roots. They are greed, hatred, and ignorance on the unwholesome side. And nongreed, nonhatred, and nondelusion on the wholesome side. When an unwholesome emotional state arises, we should be mindful enough to go to its roots and mindfully reflect that it is impermanent, unsatisfactory, and without self.”
CHECK OUT THE NEW WISDOM EXPERIENCE BOOK “WHAT WHY HOW: Answers to Your Questions About Buddhism, Meditation, and Living Mindfully.” The book compiles Bhante G’s answers to both beginning and advanced questions about meditation practice, mindfulness and Buddhist teachings.
Bhante G, as he is known around the world, is abbot of the Bhavana Society Buddhist retreat center and monastery in the West Virginia hills and is a beloved teacher worldwide. (The book details how one of the leading Buddhist teachers and authors in the Western world ended up in the West Virginia backcountry). Wisdom is now offering a free weekly series of emails featuring Q-and-A’s from the book. Click here for more on that and the book.
Meditation Circle co-coordinator Douglas Imbrogno helped compile the book’s contents, along with other Bhavana lay supporters, from questions Bhante G has answered on the cushion, in interviews and on retreats around the world.
A bird in a secluded grove sings like a flute. Willows sway gracefully with their golden threads. The mountain valley grows the quieter As the clouds return. A breeze brings along the fragrance Of apricot flowers. For a whole day I have sat here Encompassed by peace, Till my mind is cleansed in and out Of all cares and idle thoughts. I wish to tell you how I feel, But words fail me. If you come to this grove, We can compare notes.
“The mind before meditation is like a cup of muddy water. If you hold the cup still, the mud settles and the water clears. Similarly, if you keep quiet, holding your body still and focusing your attention on your object of meditation, your mind will settle down and you will begin to experience the joy of meditation.”
“There are times when the heart is in bad shape. Bad mental qualities get mixed up with it, making it even worse, making us suffer both in body and mind. These bad mental qualities are said to be “unskillful” (akusala). The Buddha teaches us to study these qualities so that we can abandon them.
“There are other times when the heart is in good shape: at ease with a sense of wellbeing. We feel at ease whether we’re sitting or lying down, whether we’re alone or associating with our friends and relatives. When the heart gains a sense of ease in this way, it’s said to be staying with the Dhamma. In other words, skillful (kusala) mental qualities have appeared in the heart. The skillful heart is what gives us happiness. This is why the Buddha taught us to develop these skillful qualities, to give rise to them within ourselves.“
~ Ajahn Suwat
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“Don’t rush. There is no hurry, so take your time. Settle yourself on a cushion and sit as though you have the whole day. Anything really valuable takes time to develop. Patience, patience, patience.”
The Dhammapada is probably the most popular Buddhist literature in the world. It consists of 423 verses — sort of poetry, sort of philosophy, and a useful set of instructions to guide our deepening practice of the Dhamma. There are more than 50 translations from the Pali into English, and many more into other languages. For our reflections, I’ve chosen Gil Fronsdal’s translation because his purpose aligns with my own: to translate the Buddha’s teachings with all possible accuracy and in a way that enables the practitioner to deepen her wisdom in the here and now.
Without further ado, we begin:
All experience is preceded by mind, Led by mind, Made by mind. Speak or act with a corrupted mind, And suffering follows As the wagon wheel follows the hoof of the ox.
All experience is preceded by mind, Led by mind, Made by mind. Speak or act with a peaceful mind, And happiness follows Like a never-departing shadow.
Gil explains in a footnote that “preceded by mind” is sometimes translated as “impelled by mind”, giving the image more force. But our minds don’t compel us to do anything; we decide how to act, whether consciously or subconsciously motivated. If our mind is habitually angry or selfish or confused, our actions are likely to be the same. And if our thoughts tend to be kind, generous, and wise, then our actions are likely to be more in that vein.
“WHEN WE SEE A FLOWER, we think, ‘How pretty. I like looking at this.’ The feeling is one of acceptance. Seeing a cockroach, however, may cause revulsion and rejection. We may experience feelings like ‘I don’t want to see that. It’s disgusting. I wish it would go away.’
“So, who is doing all this accepting and rejecting? The answer, of course, is your own mind. We make these decisions as we see the world around us with our eyes, hear it with our ears, and feel it with our bodies. Acceptance of something gives rise to attachment, rejection to anger. Therefore, we can see that the true source of anger lies in the individual, not in the object. Objects are neutral. A flower has no intention of making us happy; neither does a cockroach intend to cause repulsion. Every individual’s perception is fixed by his or her attitude.
“Let us say that all of us are wearing colored glasses. These glasses are the difference between whether one lives in the light of contentment or in the darkness of dissatisfaction. The Buddha provides instructions to remove the glasses and correct our vision, but the responsibility of actually taking the glasses off falls entirely upon the individual. Please do not wait until a mystical being intervenes. That will never happen.”
The Meditation Circle will gather Tuesday, Dec. 17, and then take a break for the holiday season for two weeks, and will NOT meet on Dec. 24 and 31 at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Charleston WV. The group will commence its gatherings in 2020, starting Tuesday, Jan. 7, at the usual time of 6 to 7 pm.
The Meditation Circle at the Peacetree Center for Wellness in Huntington WV will also take off on Saturday, Dec. 22 and 28 and Jan. 4. The Peacetree Circle resumes Saturday, Jan. 11, at the usual time of 11 am to Noon. NOTE: The same holds true for the Community Yoga sessions on a donation basis, which precede the Saturday meditations from 10 to 11 am.
Beginners; those wishing to restart a meditation practice; or meditators wishing to find a community of fellow practicioners are welcome at both groups. The Meditation Circle is in a circle for a purpose. We are led by co-facilitators, not formal meditation teachers. We practice meditation in the Buddhist tradition of breath and body-centered meditation and are not formally connected with a specific school. We encourage practicioners to seek out teachers and attend formal meditation retreats.
Have a restful season. With metta (loving-friendliness) from The Meditation Circle.
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“A Buddhamas Carol or Ode of a Vipassana Yogi” by Bhante Yogavacara Rahula,
Every year about this time, we like to post what has to be one of the few Buddhist Christmas carols out there. This is one by Bhante Yogavacara Rahula, a Theravadan Buddhist monk. Born 1948 in Southern California as Scott DuPrez, he became a Buddhist monk in 1975 at Gothama Thapovanaya in Kalupaluwawa, Sri Lanka. His colorful life story is told in “One Night’s Shelter: From Home to Homelessness,” which you can download on the book page of his blog at bhanterahula.blogspot.com. He lived at the Bhavana Society, a Buddhist monastery and retreat center in Hampshire County, West Virginia, from 1986 until 2010. He is now the principal teacher at the Lion of Wisdom Meditation Center near Damascus, MD.
Bhante Rahula performs “A Buddhamas Carol or Ode of a Vipassana Yogi” with help from singer-songwriters Casi Null and Douglas John Imbrogno (one of the co-facilitators of The Meditation Circle). Below are the lyrics, which are a Dhamma discourse in themselves:
A Buddhamas CarolorOde of a Vipassana Yogi | by Bhante Yogavacara Rahula)
Silent night, peaceful night. All is calm, stars are bright, Round the hall yogis sitting still. Keeping their backs straight, exerting will. Enduring pain without any ill-will, Pervading metta all throughout space, Wishing good-will to the whole human race.
Silent Mind, Peaceful Mind, Thoughts are few, pain is slight. Focusing mind at the tip of the nose, Knowing each breath as it comes and it goes. Perceiving the light that steadily glows, Feeling the rapture from head to the toes.
Silent mind, tranquil mind, Thoughts are stilled, body is light, All the Five Hindrances have died down, The ego no longer is spinning around, Mind is one-pointed, not moving a bit, Enjoying at long last the Jhanic Bliss. Sitting in rapturous joy, Sitting in rapturous joy.
Silent mind, focused mind, All is calm, mind is bright. The spiritual faculties are prepared, Vipassana-insight has Mara scared, Scanning the body from head to the toes, Anicca, anicca, each moment goes, Anicca, anicca, impermanence shows. The Five Aggregates appear empty as foam, The Truth of No-Self is easily known.
Silent Mind, Wisdom Mind, Awareness is strong, wisdom is fine. The six sense-impingements arise and pass, No desire, no clinging, no ego to grasp. No holding to present, future or past, Mara has vanished he’s took his last gasp. This body-mind house is empty at last. Sitting and walking the whole night through, Greeting the dawn completely anew.
Silent mind, holy mind. Now is the time, Conditions are prime. The Enlightenment Factors are developed well. The Four Noble Truths become clear as a bell, The Eye of Dhamma is opened wide, The three lower fetters are broken in stride.
Tonight the Yogi enters the Stream, Tomorrow Nibbana, no longer a dream.
MORE FROM BHANTE RAHULA: Here is a guided meditation by the monk:
Welcome to the Meditation Circle site. This longtime Buddhist-oriented meditation group based at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 520 Kanawha Boulevard W., in Charleston, West Virginia, will be closing down its meetings for good effective with the end of June 2022, after a good run. See the ‘RESOURCES’ page for tips on setting up or deepening meditation practice. Be well!
