Samma sati is right mindfulness. Sati is also translated as “bare attention”. It contrasts with the familiar mode of consciousness, which uses impressions as inspiration for its experiential confabulations. Those are the papañca elaborations, or embellishments, which are used as springs for the expression of latent defilements. The Buddha described four foundations of sati...
Bhikku Nyanaponika Thera wrote a short book entitled The Power of Mindfulness, in which he describes four principles which may assist understanding the benefits, aims, and strategies of meditations. These he lists as: The functions of tidying and naming The non-coercive procedure Stopping and slowing-down Directness of vision Thera describes unofficial four powers for meditation, Regarding...
I may lose myself and be lost in the tangles of associations and prompts and distractions and imaginations and judgements and intuitions of the mindless mind. Sati (bare attention, mindfulness) is an exercise in the moment, and a propensity developed with training. The arising and leaving and intending-towards sati increase and decrease with practice. The Pali texts describe sati as a hot pan...
Samma vayama right effort is the 6th of the eightfold path. I shall not give up my efforts until I have attained whatever is attainable by perseverance, energy, and endeavour. We share in four great endeavours: Prevent the arising of unarisen unwholesome states Abandon the unwholesome states that have already arisen Arouse the wholesome states that have not yet arisen Maintain and perfect the...
The middle section of the eightfold path concerns sila (ethics): samma vaca (right speech), samma kammanta (right action), and samma avija (right livelihood). Here are a medley of considerations: Positioning the paths within the path The eightfold path sets off from an acknowledgement of suffering. So too the paths of sila are means towards an eradication of suffering. The logic of the sila is...
The eightfold path is a destination of liberation, a trail to liberation, and an intention to a direction that is to liberation. I have only wet the soles of my feet at the shore of right view, gazing at an ocean whose depths promise suffocation more obviously than freedom. The architecture of right view strains the acrobat inside, casting spotlights on enormous edifices filled with niches to be...
The search for answers is fueled by curiosity, directed by questions, and treads along a pavement of non-delineated possibility. I have turned to Buddhism to learn about meditation. I meditate to unfurl the self, clean the glass darkly, and strengthen the mind. The Buddhists promise only an understanding of suffering and a means to its end, though there are many milestones along this road. I wish...
Right view is a way of knowing what it is that we experience. It is approached by a collaboration of labelling and interpretation. To know samma ditthi (right view) means to know that we exist in a maelstrom of a phenomenon that includes choices and that their relationships and unfolding are manifestations of a calculus of conditioning along a river of time and suffering. Autobiography I read the...
Editorial notes: This post was found in ‘Draft’ mode in the original blog and may be incomplete. It is published here in its original state. It was last updated on 23/01/2016. Perspective of samma ditthi[I] Right view is an achievement of comprehension, regarding the nature of experience. It is the answer to the question, “What is reality”, and also “What is the...
Editorial notes: This post was found in ‘Draft’ mode in the original blog and may be incomplete. It is published here in its original state. It was last updated on 15/01/2016 To motivate oneself consistently to walk the eightfold path it may not be enough to pursue its truths since those truths may not be fully intuited before certain liberations. Tradition recommends that a follower...
