Meditation

Doug examines whether there is any reliable way to know when we are right, tracing how confident certainty has misled even history's greatest thinkers, and asking whether Buddhist meditative insight offers a better standard. Drawing on…

Doug reflects on five key lessons he wishes he had understood earlier in his Buddhist practice: misconceptions about meditation, the importance of testing teachings rather than accepting them on faith, treating the Dhamma as tools rather…

We're often told that meditation means emptying the mind. But the Buddha's own path to enlightenment tells a different story. We explore how Right Intention (sammā saṅkappa) and two famous suttas show that practice isn't about stopping…

Meditation is a great tool to make our lives easier, but is that all it is? We’ll look at the popular notion of meditation as a kind of "life hack" and compare that view to a fuller understanding of meditation’s role in Buddhist practice.

When we think of Buddhist practice, we usually don't think of joy, and yet joy is central to the path. We will consider ways in which practice can be used to cultivate joy, both in formal meditation and in daily life. We will also…

My father recently passed away, so I'm thinking about mortality. I'll discuss its centrality to early Buddhist meditation practice as well as its relation to impermanence generally. Then I'll turn to four ways that contemplating mortality…

Mindfulness isn't only about formal meditation, it's meant to be taken into all aspects of our life, even the most mundane. We'll provide practical tips on how this can be achieved, and discuss the advantages of living more mindfully.

Is meditation dangerous? We'll consider one recent journalistic investigation into the Goenka meditation retreat system, as well as some of the work of Brown University psychologist Willoughby Britton. Then we'll turn to the early texts…

How do we practice Right Concentration in Buddhism? We'll look at various uses of the term "samādhi" (concentration) in early suttas, and then turn to perhaps the main practice of deep meditation that is indicated by Right Concentration.…

One aim of Buddhism is to help us accept our mortality and so come to terms with death. We'll look at how his mortality was the Buddha's concern when he began his search, how coming to terms with mortality functions in various forms of…

I've failed. Many times. I'll look at some of those failures, and how we can work with failure in our lives. Failure can be frustrating and painful, but it can also be a help to us.

Beliefs, views, opinions, and preferences are stressful. We can work to alleviate them with a mental technique suggested by the Thai meditation master Ajahn Chah.

Who was "Tuccho Poṭhila" or "Venerable Empty Scripture"? We'll start with a story by the Thai Buddhist meditation master Ajahn Chah, and take a dive into the story's background and potential origins. It contains lessons for how we should…

Did laypeople practice meditation in the Buddha's day? We'll look to a recent paper by Anālayo to answer the question of whether lay meditation is a recent innovation in Buddhist practice, or a revival of something that went on in early…

Can our understanding of AI chat technology help our meditation practice? I'll answer a viewer question on dealing with internal dialogue by first delving into how large language model AI works, and how its structure may help us to…

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…

Thai meditation master Ajahn Chah had a very simple reframing of the problem of noise that may be helpful to us in dealing with any number of difficult or annoying situations. I'll discuss his advice.

Sometimes we may hear that meditation is just "doing nothing," or that it's "just sitting". We'll consider that approach to practice, whom it may be particularly suited for, and what the Buddha had to say about meditation practice…

What sort of lifestyle is best for dharma practice? The Buddha had a bit to say about the differences between living in the village versus living in the wilderness of the forest or countryside. We'll look at some of what he had to say,…

According to one early sutta, there are many more than the traditional five hindrances to meditation. We'll look at that sutta, where the Buddha recounts his own difficulties with achieving deep meditative states and describes his…

The elements play a key role in early Buddhist meditation practice, but the idea of them didn't originate with the Buddha. I'll look at the history of the elements with a focus on their role in ancient Greek philosophy as well as other…

Popular Buddhist monk Ajahn Brahm recently suggested a new practice to help us foster kindness. I'll look at the history of kindness practice in Buddhism and how Brahm's meditation fits into it. Then I'll go through his practice and…

Exciting news to report! Jon Aaron and I are releasing a new podcast entitled "Diggin' the Dharma". Jon is an Insight meditation teacher of mine, and a good friend. In this video we'll introduce ourselves and discuss our first meeting and…

Ordinarily it's said that there were four states of jhāna in early Buddhist meditation. But not always! Apart from considering some later understandings of the term that include eight, nine, or even more jhānas, we'll look at one early…

Early Buddhism presents us with a conundrum around the practice of the formless attainments of deep meditation. Namely, are they skillful routes to nirvana, or are they not? We will look at evidence from the early suttas that indicates…

We'll look at what may be the deepest meditative attainment in early Buddhism besides nirvana itself. This is known as the state of the cessation of perception and feeling. We'll consider what the state is, how it is supposed to be…

What are the formless attainments of early Buddhist meditation? We'll look at these deep states of absorption. First we'll look at their history, how the Buddha first encountered them and where they appear to have arisen from, then we'll…

How do we come to know the truth of non-self in early Buddhism? Do we come to it through deep meditative insight, or by other means? We'll look at a recent critique of the claim that we come to know non-self through deep meditative insight.

For many of us, meditation involves a practice of counting the breaths. But it wasn't originally practiced that way. We'll look at the development of the practice of counting the breaths through some of its earliest written descriptions.…

Much of Buddhist meditation practice involves a focus on the present moment. We'll look at the history behind such ideas with help from one recent paper by Anālayo that takes a look at mindfulness practices in early Buddhism. Then we'll…

We'll look at one recent article in the Harvard Business Review that claims mindfulness meditation can lead to worse job performance, something that could potentially lose you your job. Why is this and what lessons should we take from it?…

We'll look at three early Buddhist similes used to express the gradual nature of progress along the path. These highlight how we should use patience as part of our approach to meditation and life.

Who was Malunkyaputta and why was he important in early Buddhism? We'll look at his story: how he began as an arrogant monk interested in intellectual matters and learned how to overcome his problems through meditation and wisdom.

What is the practice of self-effacement in early Buddhism? We'll look at one sutta that distinguishes a practice of self-effacement through kindness and non-harming from a separate practice of deep meditative absorption. We'll also…

In a recent video (linked below) I discussed the five hindrances to meditation from early Buddhism. In this video I'll discuss ways we find in one early Buddhist text to diminish them skillfully, as well as some of my own thoughts on the…

The Buddha discussed five tendencies of mind that hinder our progress in meditation and indeed that can get in the way of our living a happy life. They may metaphorically be understood as the "armies of Māra". We'll discuss each of those…

Do you have a meditation practice where you do mindfulness of breathing? We'll go over five tips from a text in the early tradition that outlines five ways we can work to benefit such a practice.

When we begin our meditation practice we often begin with mindfulness of breathing. But it is so much more than an introductory practice. We'll look at its importance in the early suttas with help from a recent book on the topic by…

Do you want to improve your meditation practice? We'll look at ten things you can do to make meditation easier and more productive. We'll also consider a bonus eleventh thing that may change how you view the other ten!

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…

Why is walking meditation important to our practice? We'll take a look at a couple of early suttas that give some insight into some of its potential benefits.

How do we practice walking meditation? There isn't a lot of evidence, but we'll look at an early sutta that gives some indications. I'll then illustrate some key aspects of the practice, and why we might want to include it in our…

There has been a recent disagreement over how deep meditative concentration practice should go, and over how deep the early Buddhist texts claim it was. We will look at that disagreement and help illuminate it by looking at some…

Learning from others in a wise way involves a delicate balance between having a skeptical, critical eye and being charitable and open-minded. We'll discuss that balance in this video, and make use of a story involving the Thai meditation…

Many of us practice with aids to our meditation such as music, incense, or even verbal guidance. Are these things we should be pursuing? Or are there potential pitfalls with them?

In mindfulness meditation it's said we should practice with the internal, the external, and both. But what do these mean? We will take a look at some possible interpretations and how they can aid in mastering our practice.

Is meditation necessary for our practice? Or does avoiding it make us "bad Buddhists" somehow? We'll look at that question and how it is reflected in an early dialogue the Buddha had with a laywoman about lay practice.

Did you know there was an early Buddhist emptiness practice? We'll discuss the deep and subtle meditative practice known as the "liberation of mind by emptiness". We'll look at its stages as well as at a section that seems to have been…

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.

How can we deal with being sleepy during meditation? I'll tackle that question plus a few others that viewers have asked over the past few weeks.

What is the history of Buddhist meditation practice? In this video we'll look at some changes that have taken place in mindfulness practice in particular, following some recent research. We'll also look at some other forms of meditation…

We'll look at the body scan meditation. We'll see that there seem to be two or three different practices that go by that name. Then we'll delve a little into the history of the practice, and see where it might -- or might not -- have come…

We hear lots of different things called "meditative" in daily life. But are they really meditation in the Buddhist sense of the term? We will look at several of these and see how they stack up, and then turn to a passage from the early…

What should you do if you're having trouble finding a local meditation group? It's one of my most asked questions. I have six different things you might consider doing.

How should we go about constructing a daily practice? We will look at several aspects that could go into it, including ethics, meditation, and wisdom infused by regular reflection and sutta readings.

In this video we will look at the meditation practice of equanimity in the Brahmavihāras or so-called abodes of the gods. We will begin with a look at what equanimity means in early Buddhism, and its importance. We will turn to a couple…

The practice of sympathetic joy is the third of the so-called Brahmavihāras or abodes of the gods. We will discuss what it entails, why we should practice it, and look at three different approaches to such a practice in the Buddhist…

Compassion is the second of the four Brahmavihāras, or skillful emotional states. We will consider three forms of compassion meditation practice, from the early and later traditions. We will also look at its history in Buddhism, and…

We'll look at the development of lovingkindness meditation practice beginning with its roots in early Buddhism and then at a couple of later practice techniques. We'll consider how the practices differ, and how they developed over time,…

Today's video looks at the meditation practice of the Brahmavihāras or "abodes of Brahma". This practice is to cultivate four emotions key to a healthy and skillful approach to the world. We will introduce these four emotions, what they…

What is Buddhist meditation? We'll look at the three main types from the early tradition that you may encounter today. This video is intended to be introductory, for those who don't have any prior experience of meditation.

How should we deal with anger when it arises within our meditation practice and within our ordinary lives? I'll give a few techniques from contemporary practice and the early tradition that have worked for me. I'll also give some…

Buddhist compassion practice changed radically over the first few centuries following the Buddha's passing. One way it changed is outlined in a paper by Buddhist scholar Anālayo: compassion practice became more of a practice of empathy.…

Buddhist compassion meditation practices changed dramatically during the millennium from the Buddha's lifetime to the lifetimes of some of his most famous commentators. Using a paper by the gifted scholar Anālayo as a guide, we will look…

Insight or vipassana meditation is a relatively recent form of Buddhist practice, but one with deep roots back into history. We will discuss its characteristics, its history, and distinguish it from other popular forms of Buddhist…

Wow, it's hard to believe a year has already passed since publishing my first video on YouTube! In the interim we've had a busy time going through some of the dharma of early Buddhism, with a focus on contemporary practice and experience.…

Mindfulness of the body is the heart of much contemporary meditation practice. We'll look at it today with a focus on the original texts, which provide a great array of related practices. We will see ways that the older approach is…

Ever thought about meditating, but weren't sure how to begin? This video goes through some of the basics involved in sitting and walking meditation. Just the right thing to get you started!

What are the so-called "formless jhānas" or formless attainments in meditation? That's one of the questions left on the cutting room floor after my video on Right Concentration. We'll also tackle the question of how concentration…

Mindfulness meditation is increasingly popular nowadays, but its roots go back to early Buddhist texts associated with the seventh stage along the Eightfold Path. We will delve a little into these texts and attempt to flesh out the key…

When looking at right livelihood within Buddhism, traditionally there are five prohibited livelihoods. However there is also a great deal of interesting additional material about inappropriate livelihoods for monastics, as well as a…

On this vlog I'll talk about the strange instructions that started me off meditating, and a great podcast I was just on.

The five hindrances get in the way of our meditation, and get in the way of living wisely. Here we will look at them and at methods for dealing with them skillfully, mostly from the early tradition.

What is Loving Kindness (mettā) meditation and how did it develop? Many people today practice a form that probably originated centuries after the Buddha's day. Thanks to Andy Olendzki for his work on the historical roots of mettā…

Early Buddhist practice involves two main kinds of formal meditation, which we will discuss.