“The fool who knows he is a fool
Is that much wiser.
The fool who thinks he is wise
Is a fool indeed.”
The Buddha from the Dhammapada
There was a mighty elephant with a strong trunk and long tusks, trained by a good master, and willing and serviceable. This elephant, led by his trainer, came to the land of the blind. Very soon the rumors went in the land of the blind that an elephant had come to their country. So the wise men and teachers of the blind came up to the elephant and began to investigate him. And when the elephant was gone, they met and discussed the animal among themselves.
There were some who said he was like a great thick snake; others said he was like a snake of medium size. The former had felt the trunk, the latter the tail.
Further, there were some who claimed that his figure was like a high column, others declared he was large and bulky like a big barrel, still others maintained he was smooth and hard but tapering. Some of the blind had taken hold of one of the legs, others had reached the main body, and still others had touched the tusks.
In the end they abused and scolded one another over their disagreements, and finally every one of them swore that everyone else was a liar and was cursed on account of his heresies.
Everyone of these blind men was honest in his contentions, sure of having the truth and relying on his own experience. But the elephant trainer knows that every one of them has a parcel of the truth, that every one is right in his way, but wrong in believing his outlook to be the whole truth.
The master of the elephant was an Enlightened One. He brought the elephant of truth into the land of the blind, and those who listen to him well will understand that all the claimants have parcels of the truth. Those who takes refuge in his doctrine will cease to bicker and quarrel.
Sutta Pitaka – Khuddaka Nikaya
The Buddha taught that every human birth is precious & worthy of gratitude. In one of his well-known analogies, he said that receiving a human birth is more rare than the chance that a blind turtle floating in the ocean would stick its head through a small hoop. He would often instruct a monk to take his ground cloth into the forest, sit at the base of a tree, and begin “gladdening the heart” by reflecting on the series of fortunate circumstances that had given the monk the motivation & ability to seek freedom through understanding the dharma.
Depending on your quality of mind,
stronger & stronger.
At the age of 16, I discovered the Buddha Dharma because of a paper I was required to write in high school on a religion other than Judeo-Christian. As I reflected on what I was reading about Buddhism, I felt like I had found ‘home‘. My heartfelt thought was, “This makes such great sense.”
been & is on the Hermitage staff, and for myself as guiding teacher.
no matter where I am, what I’m engaged in or who I’m with… in any situation, any place in the world.
The beauty of the dharma is worth reflecting on from time to time. It helps to remind us of the power of the practice and where it can take us in any moment. Another way to express this could be “gladdening the mind.”
in the world, because we’re constantly concerned with ourselves. We’re always interested in how much we can get, how well we can perform, how comfortable we can be. The Buddha mentioned in a discourse that “oneself is dearest to oneself.” So with all that, why is it so difficult to actually love oneself?
then one can easily accept these six roots in everybody. No difficulty at all, when one has seen them in oneself. They are the underlying roots of everyone’s behavior. Then we can look at ourselves a little more realistically, namely not blaming ourselves for the unwholesome roots, not patting ourselves on the back for the wholesome ones, but rather accepting their existence within us. We can also accept others more clear-sightedly & have a much easier time relating to them…
For one just starting the practice of meditation, there is often hope for a cure.
strengthen us in all dimensions of our being.
Every now & again we get irritated – just a little bit. It is nothing major, and it does not throw us out of balance. But there is this little contraction when a meditator comes into the meditation hall & is noisier than we think she or he should be. “Can’t you sit down more quietly? Don’t you see that I am deeply meditating?” Then we take a deep breath, realising how silly it is to get upset about this triviality & settle back into our practice. Concentration is getting better & deeper – and then somebody coughs. “How inconsiderate!” the mind comments. Then back to the experience of the breath. Now mindfulness is really picking up, the mind is sharp & clear – and somebody blows the nose. And this blows the mind, “Don’t you know that I was just about to have a really deep experience?!”
ing & insights to happen. With this, we become very selective & exclude many experiences because they do not fit into our idea.
phenomena over which we have no absolute control. The art of vipassana meditation is to deal with all experiences in the same way. One object is not better than another. Mindfulness is not discriminating. A so-called ‘disturbance‘ is mind-made: sound is just sound, pain is just pain, heat is just heat, cold is just cold, smell is just smell, silence is just silence …..
From The Mountain Hermitage editor: Buddhist meditation is described as a training method for purifying mind & heart. This purification process is what leads one towards liberation/Nibbana. The first of Seven Stages of Purification is Purification of Virtue or Sila. Other conditions are also important to undertaking meditation in a retreat setting for wholesome & liberating results to occur. Below, we hear from Sayadaw Vivekananda & Marcia Rose, both teachers of the Summer 2019 Five-week Vipassana retreat, on how to make best use of retreat time by following the Precepts & developing wholesome qualities of heart & mind, before & during practice in a retreat. As Sayadaw emphasizes, “A retreat offers a precious opportunity to develop concentration & intuitive wisdom, and so we need to make good use of our time.”
Outer causes and conditions: 1) the guidance of a qualified teacher. 2) One must be able to practice continuously in a quiet, healthy & pleasant environment, such as at a retreat center, where one’s material needs are easily met. 3) It’s crucial to have good companions whose ethical discipline & views are compatible with one’s own.
for development of concentration and wisdom:
In Buddhist understanding, the mind is not considered to just be the brain. Experiential understanding through our practice of Concentration/Samatha, Vipassana & the Brahma Viharas can show us that mind consciousness emanates from the energy center of the heart. The term ‘heart-mind consciousness’ that is often used stems from this experiential understanding. And each of us knows from our own experience, this heart-mind can make a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven.
Wisdom is not perfected in one whose mind is not steadfast,