Talks on Wise Practice

37. Gratitude is Awareness
Gratitude is, in fact, very close to awareness. It is one of these states of the heart or the mind, these very wholesome states, where we are acknowledging what has been done to help us, and what we have. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ySOKWSNUNg It can be a very powerful tool to

35. The Escape
These 5 hindrances, whatever they are, they’re just doing the same thing in the mind–– just doing that rumination, And at some point, what I say is, usually that you get tired of that, you get weary of those. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgUMWhOaOsQ&list=PLbFvYEw0YpWB8DXisDVpLNrSDr895Udux At some point you notice

34. Life and Practice in Harmony
And the 5th is: “I am aware while entering it, and aware when emerging from it.” So, this whole process is just very mindful. There is no place where there is a steep cut off, where you just dive into something that is way [different]. No, this whole

33. Seeing Hindrances
And we continue letting go. And whatever arises, whatever arises, it is just a hindrance. Even you thinking: “I can’t do it” Hindrance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9Ak8IvEjf4 Or, “My meditation is bad” Hindrance. It’s all the same. Just see: every time it is going to arise, it is going to make tension.

32. Radiant Calm
To radiate this calmness all around us, we first need to find it within ourselves. [From MN 2] How does one attend to things proper for attention? One attends to the things which make: new outward desires to not arise, and old outward desires to fade away. These are

30. The Practice
Of course, you can use an object if the feeling gets weak… if it goes away. If the mind gets distracted a lot, you can use something to uplift the mind– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eRUiJDZ-wc remembering someone that you love, perhaps a small animal, or perhaps, a good memory, somewhere in nature