In this talk, Shaila Catherine encourages meditative investigation and curiosity to know the mind well. The teaching is based on AN 6.131, that instructs meditators to know 6 things (sensual desire, feelings, perceptions, taints, kamma/action, suffering) in 6 ways (the phenomena as it appears, causes/origins, diversity, outcome/effects, cessation, and way leading to cessation).

In this brief reflection, Shaila Catherine speaks about the role of patience in meditation practice. We need patience to endure conditions that we cannot control, such as heat and cold, mosquito bites, and unpleasant or wanted perceptions. We need patience to continue to cultivate mindfulness without judging our degree of success. We need patience to trust the spiritual faculties of faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom to gradually mature. We need patience to observe the flow of lived experiences, simply meeting each moment with the interest to know what is being known, and the quality of mind that is knowing it. Patience is worth developing.

In this talk, Shaila Catherine explores right view and addresses the danger of attaching to a position, philosophy, belief, or opinion. Primary sources that inspired this talk include suttas numbered 72 and 74 the Middle Length discourses. By recognizing the problems created by clinging to beliefs and opinions, we choose instead to bring mindfulness to our direct experience and investigate what is actually happening in this present encounter with mind and body. This pragmatic path of mindful investigation leads to liberation.