The general mode is to change the outside world to please the heart, but this can never satisfy. We practice instead to change the heart, to make it strong enough to withstand the push of ill-will. Refuges include the Triple Gem, brahmavihāras, mindfulness of body and precepts.
This talk provides an overview of the Four Noble Truths, with primary focus on the Noble Truth of Dukkha and the Noble Truth of the Cause of Dukkha. Mindfulness of death is reviewed as a support for practice.
The idea of cultivation (Bhavana) is the key to Buddhism. This talk relates this concept to the development of the four foundations of mindfulness, especially the first.
Mindfulness (Sati in Pali) is a whole-hearted observation of the present moment with a quality of mind free of desire/aversion. It forms the basis for cultivating all the Awakening Factors.
Sometimes we can misunderstand practice as mainly overcoming suffering. The Buddha spoke of cultivating and increasing wholesome states and being mindful of the "gladness of the wholesome."
The Buddha described detailed steps we can take when developing and deepening our practice of mindful breathing. This talk covers steps 1-8 out of 16 classical steps given in discourses on this meditation.
