Three functions of the citta
19 Feb 2025
I recently came across some notes I had made on the three functions of the citta, what translators refer to as "the heart-mind". I'm not sure where this teaching comes from, but I suspect it's linked to the Thai Forest tradition. The three main functions of the citta are described as:
Feeling sensory impingement.
Responding to sensory impingement.
Understanding.
Now, the interesting...
↳ Read more
A meditation on the Brahmaviharas
17 Feb 2025
I recently led a meditation on the four Brahmaviharas, tuning into their boundless aspect particularly. This is a style of Brahmavihara meditation that's based on the suttas, in which you don't find the stock phrases about sending metta to various categories of beings.
Radiating the Brahamaviharas in the six directions.
Let's ground ourselves by feeling the contact between our body and the seat,...
↳ Read more
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...
↳ Read more
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,...
↳ Read more
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...
↳ Read more
Older posts »