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    "Teachings on Mindfulness" Paid Member

    By Shakyamuni Buddha
    And how, monks, does a monk abide contemplating the body as body? Here a monk, having gone into the forest, or to the root of a tree, or to an empty place, sits down cross-legged, holding his body erect, having established mindfulness before him. Mindfully he breathes in, mindfully he breathes out. Breathing in a long breath, he knows that he breathes in a long breath, and breathing out a long breath, he knows that he breathes out a long breath. Breathing in a short breath, he knows that he breathes in a short breath, and breathing out a short breath, he knows that he breathes out a short breath.More »
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    Bodhidharma's Teachings Paid Member

    By Bodhidharma
    If you use your mind to study reality, you won't understand either your mind or reality. If you study reality without using your mind, you'll understand both. Those who don't understand, don't understand understanding. And those who understand, understand not understanding. People capable of true vision know that the mind is empty. They transcend both understanding and not understanding. The absence of both understanding and not understanding is true understanding. More »
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    Teachings on the Nature of Mind and Practice Paid Member

    By Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
    Like waves, all the activities of this life have rolled endless on, yet they have left us empty-handed. Myriads of thoughts have run through our minds, but all they have done is increase our confusion and dissatisfaction. Normally we operate under the deluded assumption that everything has some sort of true, substantial reality. But when we look more carefully, we find that the phenomenal world is like a rainbow—vivid and colorful, but without any tangible existence. When a rainbow appears we see many beautiful colors—yet a rainbow is not something we can clothe ourselves with, or wear as an ornament; it simply appears through the conjunction of various conditions. Thoughts arise in the mind in just the same way. They have no tangible reality or intrinsic existence at all. There is therefore no logical reason why thoughts should have so much power over us, nor any reason why we should be enslaved by them. More »
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    Teachings on Mindfulness Paid Member

    By Shakyamuni Buddha, translated by Maurice Walshe
    Again, a monk, when walking, knows that he is walking, when standing, knows that he is standing, when sitting, knows that he is sitting, when lying down, knows that he is lying down. In whatever way his body is disposed, he knows that that is how it is ... Again, a monk, when going forward or back, is clearly a ware of what he is doing, in looking forward or back he is clearly aware of what he is doing, in bending and stretching he is clearly aware of what he is doing, in carrying his inner and outer robe and his bowl he is clearly a ware of what he is doing, in eating, drinking, chewing and savoring he is clearly a ware of what he is doing, in passing excrement or urine he is clearly aware of what he is doing, in walking, standing, sitting, falling asleep and waking up, in speaking or in staying silent, he is clearly aware of what he is doing ... More »
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    Dear Abbey Dharma Winter 2010 Paid Member

    By Sylvia Boorstein
    Dear Abbey Dharma, My doctor has suggested that I try a certain psychiatric medicine, but I want to meditate and I am wavering because I wonder if people can “wake up” or even get enlightened using these medicines. —Wavering Dear Wavering, I’ve interviewed many students on meditation retreats whose practice is insightful, and therefore more personally liberating, who take a psychiatric drug that has been prescribed by their physician. Since there are many medicines that fit into the category of “psychiatric drugs,” there isn’t a simple answer to your question. Here are a few ideas that may help you in making your decision: More »
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    From Spiritual Bypassing Paid Member

    By Robert Augustus Masters
    There isn’t any such thing as a negative emotion. There are negative things that we do with our emotions, but our emotions themselves are neither negative nor positive. They simply are. Consider anger. When we are angry, we might express it as hostility—emitting unmistakable negativity, bristly and mean-spirited, tight and heartless. Yes, we are angry, but we are filtering—and forcing— it through a darkly twisted lens, so that it is expressed not as clean anger (that is, anger free of aggression, blaming, and shaming) but as hostility. Does this mean that anger itself is therefore a negative emotion? No. It means we have handled our anger negatively, putting a mean-spirited spin on it. Our choice. Hostility is not a negative emotion but rather a negative framing and expression of anger. More »