Just So» forgiveness http://www.mikaelaldridge.com Meditations on Enlightenment Wed, 16 May 2012 00:10:32 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 More difficulties http://www.mikaelaldridge.com/zen/more-difficulties/ http://www.mikaelaldridge.com/zen/more-difficulties/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:56:46 +0000 mikael http://www.mikaelaldridge.com/?p=800 Something else I thought of about the benefit of difficult meditations is that by keeping on sitting through them and bringing the mind back to attention of awareness or attention of the breath, you are building an incredibly valuable skill. What you are doing is telling your mind that whatever you are experiencing mindfulness is most important. And back into life the benefits of training your mind give you strength.

This lead me to thinking about what are the qualities other than mindfulness needed to bring the mind to stillness; antidotes if you like. Forgiveness and acceptance are the obvious ones, both of oneself and others. Selflessness because of the snare of desire and the delusion of trying to maintain an identity. And paradoxically faith in oneself, that you’ll get through things. Commitment because we have responsibilities in the world and we can trust ourselves to meet those to the best of our ability, so stop worrying. Mindfulness of connectedness because that’s what makes us whole.

What do you think?

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]]> http://www.mikaelaldridge.com/zen/more-difficulties/feed/ 0 Lessons from the Sopranos http://www.mikaelaldridge.com/zen/lessons-from-the-sopranos/ http://www.mikaelaldridge.com/zen/lessons-from-the-sopranos/#comments Sat, 16 Jun 2007 11:00:00 +0000 mikael Everyday I practise letting go using a forgiveness meditation followed by Metta. It comes from the Insight Meditation Community of Washington. I’ve probably mentioned this before.

Anyway, the Sopranos are a very interesting lesson in not letting go, in not forgiving. It’s curious all the stuff you keep finding that you haven’t let go of.

I was reading some paper I found online the other day which mentioned that Hui Neng’s initial stanza, you know the there is no bodhi tree nor stand of a mirror bright one. The author suggested that the I wipe my mind hour by hour was necessary to establish Hui Neng’s response.

I agree. I haven’t yet established emptiness. So there is a wiping required.

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