This is the 4th talk in a 5-part speaker series titled "Balanced Practice." Shaila Catherine explores the compassion of protecting others and the wisdom of protecting oneself through the practice of mindfulness. Mindfulness guards the mind and protects the mind from sliding into actions based upon unwholesome tendencies. Mindfulness also protects us from the unmindful actions that could easily cause harm. Mindfulness has a capacity of naturally drawing everything into balance, so the mind progresses with a balance of effort and ease, of tranquility and investigation, and of calm concentrated state and engaged state.

16年2月25日，禅修营第一天晚上禅师与大众问与答环节。

16年2月25日早，第一天早上开示。

While the brightness and warmth of our hearts is always here, like the sun when blocked by clouds, our intrinsic love can be obscured. These two talks explore how we become arrested in a confining story of separate self, and how remembering love releases us from this trance. The first talk emphasizes inner pathways of freeing our heart and the second talk explores awakening bodhichitta actively in relating with each other.

This talk is about the similarities and subtle differences of the 3 kinds of intention: Cetana (...intention, purpose, objective, agenda, goal, target, etc.), Sankappa (right thought and intent, avoiding unwholesome mind states, cultivating wholesome, etc.) and Aditthana (decision, resolution, self-determination, will and resolution, etc.) All three types are important resources as we train our heart/minds through intensive practice and in our day to day lives.