I was pleasantly surprised that I could still enter jhanas in daily life, where there are fewer supportive conditions than the retreat. On days with a mind not too occupied with work or scattered by too much social media, I could shift from access concentration to first jhana, to second,…
A reminder from The Noble Search sutta dropped into my mind as I sat down to meditate. It came from this passage: And what is the noble search? Here someone being himself subject to birth, having understood the danger in what is subject to birth, seeks the unborn supreme security…
This year, I’d like to come back and draw energy from an early aspiration that kept me on the Path. It wasn’t in order to get enlightened (although that would be lovely). It wasn’t in order to get some out-of-body experience or bliss. It wasn’t in order to get approval…
It is a paradox that even though the desire for enlightenment, for happiness, etc. may have inspired our journey on the Path, we eventually need to let go of grasping – for special meditation experiences, happiness, enlightenment itself – as we get closer to the truth. I have heard this…
The bell sounded three times to end the sit. I slowly opened my eyes. My body felt light as air – just moments ago, it had felt no different from air itself, its boundaries dissolving into the empty space of the room. My mind hummed with ease, clarity, and tranquility.…
I’ve had more than a few episodes of sitting with emotional turmoil through my years of meditation practice. This sitting period, though, proved to be different from others. It was the first one where the insight of non-self directly reduced my suffering. I had been struggling with making a decision…
“One breath at a time” I heard this phrase for the first time from Sharon Salzberg in a guided meditation. Instead of striving to be mindful for a certain amount of time, she instructed us to be aware just for one breath – “one breath at a time”. Its simplicity…
I paused for a few seconds in front of the empty space on the condiment table, and drew back my hand which had already reached out in habit. “Strange,” I thought, “it’s always been here for the past week”. I went back and scanned all the condiment containers, once, then…