This foundational talk on mindfulness offers insight into why and how to practice mindfulness, what makes meditation difficult, the qualities of a mindful mind, and the fruits of the practice.
The five indriya are factors that are accessible and take one's attention from the sensory world of circumstance to the citta -heart or mind. The initial indriya is faith, a quality that serves as a wellspring off support through the ups and downs of life.
Right Effort, the 6th step on the Noble Eightfold Path, is not about striving or straining, it is about learning to guide the mind with wisdom and care. In this talk, we reflect on the Four Great Efforts: 1) Preventing the arising of unwholesome states, 2) Abandoning those that have already arisen, 3) Cultivating wholesome qualities, 4) Extending and nourishing wholesome states that are present. These four ways of applying effort, remembered with the acronym PACE.
