In these blog posts, I will share key points from books I’m reading. Today I am sharing from “Mindfulness in Plan English” by Bhante Bhante Gunaratana, so that together we can benefit from these noble truths and transform our lives. I’d love to hear from you in the comments section!
- We use breath as our focus. It serves as that vital reference point from which the mind wanders and is drawn back.
- Ancient Pali texts liken meditation to the process of taming a wild elephant. Meditation tames the mind.
- Breathing is a present moment process. We don’t normally live in the present. Mostly we are caught in memories of past or looking ahead to future. When we truly observe the breath, we are automatically placed in the present.
- Watch the delicate interrelation between the breath, the impulse to control the breath, and the impulse to cease controlling the breath. By doing this you learn a major lesson about your own compulsive need to control the universe.
- In the wordless observation of the breath, there are two states to be avoided: thinking and sinking.
