Ajahn Sumedho's recollection of his early difficulties in meditation reminded me of my own, and I wished I'd come across this passage at the time. Hopefully someone will come across it here and benefit from it. (Link to the entire book is at the bottom, too) ALLOWING THINGS TO ARISE Before you can l...

Greetings, fellow Texan!

This is a great place for questions.

"Awesome" may be an overused word, but not in this case!

I am waiting until tomorrow. The astronomical fullmoon is 11:42 am tomorrow. You can observe both if you like. I'm also observing tomorrow, as that's the full moon day over Austin, Texas. Happy Vesak to all, today or tomorrow! May all beings be free from fear, happy, healthy, and at peace. :buddha2:

Excellent, thanks!

RIP Prince

I listen to a pretty wide variety of music, including classic rock, blues, old Motown, 80's metal, and some classical. As others noted, music is obviously a sensory indulgence, eventually to be let go of. But for laymen who aren't there yet, I think it's relatively harmless and if we're engaged in a...

I'll make his book The Way to the Happiness of Peace my weekend reading.

Sharon Salzberg's book Lovingkindness is a good place to start, imo.

Thanks -- apparently I liked that 7 years ago when I first read it, too.

In the talk "Living In the World With Dhamma", Ajahn Chah said: The Buddha said, "What the Tathagata has laid down should not be discarded, what has not been laid down by the Tathagata should not be added on to the teachings." He 'sealed off' the Teachings. Why did the Buddha sea...

I believe in moment-to-moment rebirth. Does that continue after the death of this body? I think it probably does. And so much of what the Buddha taught is verifiably true that I'll take his word on the parts I don't fully understand (yet).

Buddha taught meditation in four postures: sitting, standing, walking, and lying down. Sitting correctly is important and sitting through some mild discomfort can be a learning experience. But if sitting is genuinely difficult or painful for you and it's distracting from your meditation object, you ...

Thanks!!