Training in renunciation helps us know that nothing belongs to us except for kamma. What’s important is knowing what is skillful and unskillful, and to keep setting aside what’s not skillful. Come to know when the mind is coming from purity or confusion. Faith is a support in the midst of confusion and overwhelm.
The practice of lovingkindness makes the heart more sensitive to the joys and sorrows of life. It also reveals a deep sense of connection to all sentient existence that overcomes a painful sense of isolation.
Recollecting the Buddha’s awakening, we also sit, firmly, simply. When the forces of thought and feeling come, we sit peacefully, refusing to fight, run away or get involved. Letting it all move through, where is the stillness? Clarity is the mark of awakened ones, knowing exactly what is arising – naming it, sensing it.
