Qualities and Hindrances to a Good Meditative State

1. Meditation in Action: Check your State Buddhism offers an incredibly large number of tools and ways to approach mindfulness and wisdom. At the recent Visuddhimagga retreat with Doug and Catherine Sensei this January, we practiced mindfulness of breathing (Anapanasati sutta), and explored a few of these 2000+ year old meditative tools and strategies in depth. We developed the four foundations of mindfulness and observed the five aggregates (Skhandas) that make up our sense of ‘selfhood’. We contemplated impermanence and struggle in detail. We looked closely at the relationship between ‘name and form’ or ‘mind and matter’ – which comes first? What triggers what? It was clear at the retreat that meditating for 7-10 hours per day, although a few did more, provided an immense opportunity for deepened awakening experience – day by day, step by step we developed greater levels of calm, concentration and insight. We turned book knowledge into experiential understanding. I think I could safely say that all of us at the retreat tangibly felt the importance and power of meditation retreats for progress on the path of awakening. However, the question was always with us, what happens when we get back to our busy, complex and challenging daily lives? Doug and Catherine Sensei pointed to the importance of ongoing practice in the form of ‘awakening in action’ or karma yoga. We used a lot of stellar tools on the retreat. So, what tools can we bring to karma yoga in the city? Here are two excellent ways to strengthen your awareness in day to day life. They are checklists that can equally be applied while cooking dinner or at the office, as on the meditation cushion – they are five qualities of a good state and the five hindrances that interrupt a good state. Five Qualities of a Good State Calm A feeling of being in Union Internal Dialogue Quietens

2. Bliss Equanimity Read More Source URL: https://www.planetdharma.com/meditation-in-action-check- your-state/