Meditations 10
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Cover
Titlepage
Contents
Copyright
Introduction
More than Ordinary Heedfulness
Worry vs. Heedfulness
For Goodness’ Sake
Seeing Danger in Birth
Becoming Capable of Happiness
On Idle Chatter
Understanding Goodwill & Equanimity
The Brahmaviharas Are Not a Complete Practice
Happy for People You Don’t Like
Equanimity as a Skill
The Gatekeeper Doesn’t Just Note
Anupassana
All Three Functions of Mindfulness
Death Without Drama
A Concentration Diet
The Current News
A Rite of Passage
Comfortable as an Outsider
Filling in the Buddha’s Outline
No One Size Fits All
Appreciating Your Practice
Be Precise
The Prison Break
See Your Thoughts as Strange
A Conglomeration of Germs
A Snare of Death Laid Out
Don’t Just Fatten Your Mind
You Can’t Relax Your Way to Awakening
Wise about Pain
Let Pleasure & Pain Fall Off the Plow
The Dead Snake Around Your Neck
Worries & Regrets
Unchanged by Loss
Angry
Dispassion Isn’t Depression
The Thinking Heart
The Safety of Dualities
The Buddha’s Questions
Training Your Desires
The Desire to Be Free from Desire
Choices Now & at Death
Locate Your Craving
See Yourself as Active Verbs
What Am I Becoming?
Willing to Learn
Insight Is a Judgment Call
The Meaning of Insight
Anybody Home?
Unfabricated Happiness
Keep Your Options Open
Glossary
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Introduction
NAVIGATIONBooks/Meditations10/Introduction
The daily schedule at Metta Forest Monastery includes a group interview in the late afternoon and, later in the evening, a chanting session followed by a group meditation period. The Dhamma talks included in this volume were given during the evening meditation sessions, and in many cases covered issues raised at the interviews—either in the questions asked or lurking behind the questions. Often these issues touched on a variety of topics on a variety of different levels in the practice. This explains the range of topics covered in individual talks.
I have edited the talks with an eye to making them readable while at the same time trying to preserve some of the flavor of the spoken word. In a few instances I have added passages or rearranged the talks to make the treatment of specific topics more coherent and complete, but for the most part I have kept the editing to a minimum. Don’t expect polished essays.
The people listening to these talks were familiar with the meditation instructions included in “Method 2” in Keeping the Breath in Mind by Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo; and my own book, With Each & Every Breath. If you are not familiar with these instructions, you might want to read through them before reading the talks in this book. Additional Dhamma talks are available at www.dhammatalks.org.
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As with the previous volumes in this series, I would like to thank Bok Lim Kim for making the recording of these talks possible. She, more than anyone else, is responsible for overcoming my initial reluctance to have the talks recorded. I would also like to thank the following people for transcribing the talks and/or helping to edit the transcriptions: James Babbitt, Deane Cameron, Jeff Colonel, Amala Ghosh, Melissa Graben, Katie Hoody, Andrea Kessler, Linda Knudsen, Virginia Lawrence, Carol McDonald, Addie Onsanit, Elaine Thompson, Isabella Trauttmansdorff, and Antony Woods; Vens. Balaggo Bhikkhu and Vijjakaro Bhikkhu. May they all be happy.
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
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