Ariya B. Baumann left her career as a music and dance teacher in favour of her deep yearing to understand herself and the world. Based on her many years of practice, twenty-one of them as a nun in the Burmese tradition, she now lays a strong emphasis on the practice of loving-kindness (including metta chants) as a basis for the vipassana meditation practice. She has translated a number of Dhamma books from Burmese to English and German, among these are Mahasi Sayadaw’s ‘Manual of Insight’. She is a co-founder and president of ‘Metta In Action’ which supports a variety of social and medical projects throughout Burma, especially nunneries.
The practice of the Dhamma is a powerful protection that comes about by wholeheartedly applying mindfulness, the four protective meditations, restraint, virtue, going for refuge, patience, or the parittas.
Confidence is crucial for any undertaking, also for our spiritual journey. Our confidence in the teaching, the actual practice, and in our ability to do the practice grow and deepen as we move along the way.
Thoughts are a natural manifestation of the mind. We need to understand the nature of thoughts and then use them wisely and skillfully in our meditation practice and life.
Instead of being at the mercy of desire and attachment we need to understand the sticky nature of every form of desire – and then to weaken and abandon it. Besides using mindfulness there are a number of approaches to skilfully deal with desire.
The world (loka) and beyond the world (lokuttara) are distinguished by only one thing: loka is what is constantly disintegrating and disappearing whereas in lokuttara there is peace with no arising and passing away.
What is our relation to death? To our death? Are we prepared for this certain event in our life? The frequent reflection on the inevitability of death sets free the energy to do what is meaningful and beneficial in our life. Our priorities become clear and we do not waste time with trivial things.
Walking meditation is an integral part in the process of purifying the heart & mind. It is as important as sitting meditation and gives rise to the deep and liberating insights into the true nature of all things, culminating in complete liberation.
Mindfulness is an indispensable quality for our practice of vipassana meditation. It is the foundation upon which all the other beautiful and necessary qualities for insight to arise can unfold.
The reflection on death should be frequently practiced by anyone who seeks freedom from suffering. It arouses the necessary urgency and makes us think about our priorities in life.
The protective power of the Dhamma can be experienced through different approaches such as mindfulness, the four protective meditations, restraint, virtue, going for refuge, patience, or the parittas.
The nature of desire and attachment is stickiness. Unless the mind directly experiences and understands this unsatisfactory nature, it is not inclined to let go. Presenting also other approaches to deal with desire and attachment.
The practice of walking meditation is not to underestimate. The benefits are numerous not only on the physical and mental level but also in facilitating deep liberating insights into the three general characteristics and the deathless.
Confidence is crucial for any undertaking, also for our spiritual journey. Our confidence in the teaching, the actual practice, and in our ability to do the practice grow and deepen as we move along the way.
Through understanding the nature of thoughts, we come to understand the nature of the mind. Thoughts are not to be feared or condemned but to be closely looked at and mindfully observed.
When we see our shared humanity and understand that we all seek happiness and do not want suffering, the heart’s response is naturally one of kindness and friendliness.
The reflection on death helps us prepare for this unavoidable fact, makes us look at our priorities, and brings much gratitude, joy, and lightness into our life.
Walking Meditation is an important and integral part of meditation practice with many amazing benefits. It facilitates insights into the four primary elements, conditionality, or the not-self nature of phenomena.
Thoughts are part of our existence as human beings. With the practice of meditation, the nature of the thought processes in particular and the nature of the mind can be understood by closely observing these thoughts whenever they arise.
The latent defilements are the base from which they manifest as either obsessive or transgressive defilements. Their abandoning, temporary or complete, can be acheived by the threefold training in virtue, concentration, and wisdom.
The three trainings in virtue, concentration, and wisdom enable a practitioner to suppress or abandon the different levels of defilements. But only the practice of vipassana mediation is able to completely uproot them.
