A meditation, reflection, and (just the) responses to questions on the theme of breathing and thinking; and what playing with bodily fabrication reveals and opens about experience and freedom.

00:23 Q1 How do we define a real state of meditation? Is it merely focus and concentration? Should we do samatha first or vipassana or both combined? 23:39 Q2 During walking meditation do we still observe breathing at the nostrils or radiating metta? 28:17 Q3 Is it okay to use the mantra Budho for walking meditation and during daily life activities? 29:32 Q4 I have committed some mistakes in the past, one which lost me a dear old friend and another one which causes me huge embarrassment every time I think about it. I feel a huge degree of sense of remorse and given the opportunity I would not do it again. What can I do to overcome this?... [and] During meditation my emotions are triggered. Should I come back to the breath or feel the emotion in the body? 37:22 Q5 How can I note intentions especially during meal time? There are so many of them! 40:27 Q6 What's the rationale behind not reading during a retreat? 42:29 Q7 When a person we love is doing harmful things, not correct practice despite your advice, they don't listen, how do I practice dhamma to avoid disappointment and sadness. 44:19 Q8 When it's in meditation my head naturally tilts upward. At this point the connection between the spine and the neck clicks. How to avoid it?

Short Reflection & Guided Meditation including 'Invocation of Beings of the Three Times' based on Joanna Macy's text | Earthworm Practice for the Anthropocene III | Online Wednesday-Morning

Sometimes people interpret the Buddha's teachings as suggesting giving up all wanting of the pleasant and all not wanting the unpleasant, and that equanimity has no wanting or not wanting; there are some passages in the teachings which seem to suggest this approach. However, the Buddha in a number of ways pointed to what we might call "skillful desire." We explore this in several ways. First, we go back to the teaching on Dependent Origination and the sequence from contact to grasping. We can identify that sequence as illustrating unskillful desire (or wanting) followed by grasping (as well as unskillful aversion). Secondly, we explore the Buddha's teachings on chanda, which could be translated as "skillful desire." Thirdly, we look at the role of experiences of pleasure, joy, and happiness in different practice contexts, and ask more generally about the nature of skillful desire (and some on "skillful aversion") in everyday life. What characterizes desire being unskillful or skillful? The talk is followed by discussion.

We start with settling for about 7-8 minutes followed by about the same time with basic mindfulness practice. Then we explore "moderate" experiences of pleasant or unpleasant when they occur, whether a bodily experience, an emotion, or a thought (or a mix), experiencing pleasant or unpleasant and seeing whether there follows wanting (or not wanting) and grasping (or pushing away). We close with some reflection on what we explored: Was some of the wanting or not wanting skillful? Unskillful. This exploration is related to the talk given a short time later.

This dhamma talk, guided meditation, questions and responses was offered on December 6, 2025 for “How do I apply the Dhamma to THIS!?!” 00:00 - DHAMMA TALK 24:39 - QUESTIONS & RESPONSES 1:03:50 - GUIDED MEDITATION