Contemplative Studies Program Blog
Riding alone in the back of a songthaew, a pick-up truck taxi, feelings of red hot anger match the vehicle’s color. Righteous indignation flares in my mind; how dare the driver rip me off! Shame burns right alongside; it’s my own fault for getting in – I could have continued to...
Renunciation: Evolutionary Self-Care.
Congratulations on making it to the first milestone on our journey of awakening!
The gradual path is comprised of a series of reflections that step-by-step lead us to three major milestone or realizations:
1) Renunciation, the determination to be free.
2)...
The Defects of Compulsive Life Inspire Disinterest.
It’s not that life is suffering, it’s that the compulsive, mindless, unconscious life called samsara is suffering. In order to prompt our waking up from the long sleep we are asked to take a sobering inventory of just how...
In the first foundation of mindfulness the benefit or the hallmark is achievement of stability and vividness or pliancy. In the second, you have response flexibility. In the third, you have meta cognitive awareness and in the fourth, you have what we're calling meta cognitive insight. You can...
Think about the worldly refuges first. The worldly things that we take as our refuge, as our sources of comfort, our sources of guidance.
The iPhone... food... the doctor... Netflix... friends and family... fishing... leisure activities...
How well a source are they for the ultimate or...
