The heart of things

DOWNLOAD BOOK:
A Tree in a Forest - A colletion of Ajahn Chah's similes.
Compiled and edited by Dharma Garden Translation Group,
www.buddhanet.net (PDF, 1.42 MB)

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In the end, people become neurotic. Why? Because they don't know. They just follow their moods and don't know how to look after their own minds. When themind has no one to look after it, it's like a child without a mother or a father to take care of him. An orphan has no refuge, without a refuge, he is very insecure.

This is a book that goes right to the heart of Buddhism in an absolutely intuitive way. A simple book that explores the essence of Buddhism through a chain of similes and aphorisms and narratives that are profoundly rooted to everyday life.

These similes are culled from the talks and discourses of a noted monk who followed the Thai forest tradition, Ajahn Chah. There are no elaborate references to the Buddhist texts (except in a few instances). They hit the truth in a very direct way, without much of explanation.

For instance, Ajahn Chah says that when you see "things in the world like banana peels that have no great value for you" you get along unscathed. That is as direct as it gets.

Some of the similes cannot be unravelled analytically. "How can you find right understanding? I can answer you simply by using this glass of water I am holding. ... Right understanding is to see this as a broken glass, as if it has already been shattered...," he says.

Others are seemingly easier to understand. Like this one, "In Buddhism we are endlessly hearing about letting go and about not clinging to anything. What does this mean? It means to hold but not to cling. Take this flashlight, for example. We wonder: "What is thig?" So we pick it up: "Oh it's a flashlight. Then we put it down again. We should hold things this way."

So, this is not a book that you read from the first page to the last looking for a structure.What it offers are glimpses, and how profound they are depends on how skilfully you see things. And does not Ajahn Chah himself say, "Read yourself, not books. Truth isn't outside. That's only memory, not wisdom. Memory without wisdom is like an empty thermos bottle - if you don't fill it, it's useless."

Meditation in plain English

DOWNLOAD BOOK:
Mindfulness in Plain English by Ven. Henepola Gunaratana
www.sunnataram.org (PDF, 637KB)



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www.urbandharma.org

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The purpose of Vipassana meditation is nothing less than the radical and permanent transformation of your entire sensory and cognitive experience. It is meant to revolutionize the whole of your life experience. Those periods of seated practice are times set aside for instilling new mental habits. You learn new ways to receive and understand sensation. You develop new methods of dealing with conscious thought, and new modes of attending to the incessant rush of your own emotions.

This is completely a how-to book that tries to get you going in a practical way with Vipassana or insight meditation.

What Ven Gunaratana says about what meditation 'is not' is perhaps, in this context, quite important. The different meditation traditions are discussed and then Vipassana placed in context.

"It is a process of self discovery, a participatory investigation in which you observe your own experiences while participating in them, and as they occur. The practice must be approached with this attitude. " A whole chaper has been devoted to the right attitude to meditation.

The details of exactly what is to be done in the meditation process is explained, including the posture, what to do with your mind and so on. Dealing with distractions is, of course, dealt with in detail.

Because of its constant focus on how to do things, it could be an invaluable reference to the beginner, especially when she is assailed by the kind of innumerable doubts that accompany the practice of something as subjective as meditation. Things such as mindfulness can be very tricky.

Ven. Gunaratana's explanations are exact. "When you first become aware of something, there is a fleeting instant of pure awareness just before you conceptualize the thing, before you identify it. That is a stage of Mindfulness." He goes on to explain what is is, or perhaps come as close to it as possible. The difference between mindfulness and conentration is also explained.

What is in it for you, he asks, towards the end, which is just one of the many questions that underline his earthy approach to the topic of Vipassana meditation. "Once your mind is free from thought, it becomes clearly wakeful and at rest in an utterly simple awareness. This awareness cannot be described adequately. Words are not enough. It can only be experienced."