- How to Stop Overthinking (An Ancient Buddhist Fix)
How can we escape being caught in our own stories? We'll look at the Buddha's diagnosis of how such stories get spun, then turn to various practices we can use to introduce space, ease, and so quiet down our inner storyteller.
- Obsessions, Compulsions: Mental Proliferation in Buddhism
What does early Buddhism have to tell us about our everyday obsessions and compulsions? We'll look at the centrality of such syndromes in Buddhist dharma, particularly around the idea of "papañca" or "mental proliferation". Note that I…
- Mindfulness of Absence: Buddhist Meditation Practice
Mindfulness is ordinarily a practice of awareness of what is present to us, right now. But one aspect of such meditation involves being mindful of things that are not present. We will look at this aspect with reference to early suttas and…
- Nirvana in a Few Words: the Buddha's Enigmatic Instruction to Bahiya
Is it possible to reach enlightenment with a few words? This is what we find in the story of the Buddha's enigmatic instructions to the wanderer Bāhiya. We'll look at those instructions and then turn elsewhere in the early canon to find…
- Can You Practice Buddhism by Studying It? A New Paper By Analayo
Is there an important difference between study and practice in early Buddhism? We'll look to one recent article by Bhikkhu Anālayo for help in answering this question. He investigates one apparent mistake in oral transmission of a…
- Is Deep Meditative Absorption (Jhana) Necessary for Enlightenment?
Do we need to have achieved the jhānas -- four deep states of meditative absorption -- in order to become enlightened? We'll look at some early texts for clues as to what the Buddha might have thought about this complex and controversial…
- Are You Not Supposed to Think in Meditation?
Are we not supposed to think in meditation? We'll look at that question and see ways that thinking is integral to certain meditative practices, while in others we strive to reduce our thinking in certain ways.