notes on the Dhamma

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySkqvOHL7qY jump to 9m:30 sec ajahn acalo was having problem with oversleeping on his nap. he thought to himself, "if i was my guardian angel, i'd kick my butt right now." soon after, when he opened the door to kuti, snake came into kuti, crawled up on to his bed, and under the pillow.

  https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/may/15/buddhist-retreat-religion-first-person 'I spent 12 years in a cave' At the age of 21, Tenzin Palmo swapped her job as a London librarian for life as a nun in a monastery in India - but even that wasn't remote enough for her Buddhist nun Tenzin Palmo Tenzin Palmo . .. 'For me, retreat is like inhaling;  it's what I was born to do.'  Photograph:  Sarah Lee/Sarah Lee Interview by Lucy Powell Thu 14 May 2009 19.01 EDT Even as a small child growing up in east London, I felt I was in the wrong place and the wrong body.  I felt my body should be male, so when I heard that your body changes as you get older, I thought maybe I would get a male one.  Now I feel lucky to have stayed female. From my earliest years, though, I wanted to leave England.  Outwardly there was no reason.  My family are lovely, my school was great, I had a wonderful job as a librarian.  Bethnal Green in east London, where I ...

This is probably about a 3 minute read. If you don't have 3 minutes to spare, at least take 30 seconds and read the small section I highlighted.  I got strong jhāna just reading it - That's pamojja and pīti, the classic way to enter first jhāna, being inspired by skillful Dharma and exemplars of skillful Dharma. excerpt from  https://amaravati.org/dhamma-books/the-real-practice/ 1. Giving Yourself up to Things  Like many of you I would imagine I understood that becoming a monk would mean, in effect, becoming a professional meditator.  I believed that I would be able to spend many hours every day meditating, without having to make any compromises with the world around me, and without the pressures of having to support myself financially.  But when I came to Wat Nong Pah Pong, I discovered a whole dimension of monastic life that I hadn’t really conceived of before.  Although I’d spent some time with the Sangha in England, as a pa-kow1 it was really coming her...

  khantī = fem. patience; endurance; tolerance [√kham + tī] √kham = root. √kham･1 a (tolerate, endure) pa·tient - adjective = able to accept or tolerate delays, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious. tol·er·ant = adjective - 1. showing willingness to allow the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with. en·dur·ance = noun - the fact or power of enduring an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way. "she was close to the limit of her endurance" for·bear·ance = noun - patient self-control; restraint and tolerance. "forbearance from taking action" KN Dhp 184: (Sujato, maybe slightly modified) ♦ 184. ♦ khantī paramaṃ tapo titikkhā, Enduring patience is the highest austerity. nibbānaṃ VAR paramaṃ vadanti buddhā. “Nibbana is supreme,” say the Buddhas. ♦ na hi pabbajito parūpaghātī, He is not a true monk who harms another, na VAR samaṇo hoti paraṃ viheṭhayanto. nor a true renunciate who oppresses o...

 Sometimes, such as MN 152, equanimity, as an attitude, is the prominent characteristic we're focusing on. But to translate upekkha as 'equanimity' is hugely problematic. If you ordered a PBJ, a peanut butter and JELLY sandwich, and they gave you a peanut butter sandwich with no jelly, you would be pissed. As you should. You should be even more pissed when translators give you 'equanimity' when you ordered 'equanimous-observation'.  It's the observation, the 'ikkhati' in upekkha, that does the vipassana that realizes nirvana. You ever wondered, looking at the 7 awakening factors, how the 7th one, "equanimity" could actually lead to nirvana? The answer is equanimty can not. Only equanimous-observation, can see the rise and fall of aggregates with the power of 3rd and 4th jhāna, see their true nature, and make the leap to nirvana.  'equanimity' does not observe/see (with right view, right discernment).  If the 7th awakening factor...

  8.1.0 – fundamental principles of correct standing These fundamentals should be done whenever you stand, not just when you’re intentionally doing a meditation in the ‘standing’ posture. 8.1.0.1 – wrong ways of standing * knees, ankles, hips locked – often you see people standing with legs straight, like stilts or crutches. Why is this ‘wrong’ or bad? Because parts of your leg are totally tense to lock everything out into a stilt, and other muscle and tissue that isn’t getting used starts to atrophy. The tension from tightened tissue blocks circulation of qi, blood, and energy leading to further decline of both tense and relaxed parts of the leg. You may not realize how wrong this is when you’re young, but when you get old you’ll definitely know the effects of wrong standing with the pain and injuries you accumulate. ...

  Re: Hindrances increase after strong concentration? Edit Delete Report Quote Post   by  frank k  »  Tue Sep 13, 2022 1:52 am Alex123  wrote:  ↑ Mon Aug 22, 2022 7:58 am Hello all, I have read somewhere that there is a tendency to over-react after one was in deep state of concentration. Is there a reason for that? How to avoid it? Thanks. developing samādhi well gives you power, higher quality in whatever the focus of your attention is, more force (both physical and mental), quicker reflexes. Mind is swifter, sharper. sati is the ability to remember and apply Dharma. It's two different kinds of training. Samādhi you train the mind to focus quickly, strongly, and be undistractible. Sati means you train the mind to always remember ("mindful of") to act and see in accordance with Dharma. If someone with strong samādhi has defilements flare up quickly and powerfully, it's not samādhi that's the problem, it's lack of development in sati (remembering to see...