(Given on Asalha Puja, commemorating the occasion when the Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths.) A lot of our practice is about squaring up to the first noble truth of suffering rather than wriggling away from it. Mindfulness of body provides a channel to open up to suffering, where it can be experienced in terms of energies rather than thoughts and emotions.

Descriptions for supportive postures and attitudes in walking and sitting meditation. In all postures, body offers the sense of ground and strengthens presence through the pull of stories and feelings.

When the cascade of thoughts and feelings come rushing in, rather than, ‘What am I going to do about it?’ ask, ‘Where am I right now?’ It doesn’t seem relevant, but it brings us out of the scenario and into the body. Steadied in the flow of feeling, we can then learn the particular skill of being with rather than being in them.

Use samatha – that which dispels passion – and vipassana – that which dispels ignorance – as practices that help overcome the hindrances. These themes of calming and inquiry are more than just techniques, they are a way to live all of life.

Meeting and transmuting the hindrances requires appropriate attention, knowing how one is affected. Referring to where body and mind meet as a base for investigation, come to know what starves the hindrances and what feeds the enlightenment factors.

Vinaya isn’t just monastic rules. It is a set of teachings and guidelines that help check our actions so we can live according to our deeply held values – generosity, mutual respect, simplicity of needs. These values act as Path factors, to support the release into freedom.

An invitation to relax, feel welcome, and meet what arises with ongoing interest, curiosity and goodwill.

One of our most important resources in mediation is basic well-being. We get distracted away from it. Mindfulness of body supports us to stay in touch with this sense of goodness.

A certain quality of heroism is called for in this practice. Not just as an act of bravado, but where one comes into their full potential for awakening; and not in a way of becoming anything – it’s overcoming any wish to become anything. Through overcoming this powerful drive, we shake the addiction of becoming.

As we cultivate and come to know citta more, we may find it to be like a drunken Buddha – partly still caught up in unskillful actions, partly with the clear potential for liberation. Using hiri (self respect) ottappa (concern for others) as a frame of reference, citta begins to discern skillful from unskillful. Continue to practice in accordance with Dhamma, and the Path will clear the defilements.