the society, history, context and the character of the individual.
The roots of these types of activities are the most difficult to watch or understand with our rational minds. It takes special meditative effort to break through the veils of these basic habits. It is helpful and important to pay attention while on retreat because they will affect your choices and behaviors. Pay particular attention to hunger, tiredness, pleasantness and/or anxiety/fear. What do they feel like in the body and the mind? How do they affect our thoughts, speech and behaviors? Are they mixed with pleasantness or unpleasantness? The more intimate and familiar we are to such basic human experiences, the stronger the probability of not succumbing to them and reacting out of habit rooted in desire/aversion/ignorance. Hunger or sleepiness might arise but instead of grabbing an apple, having a cup of tea or taking a nap, we continue with our commitment to the schedule.
Right Intention (sammā-sankappa): ‘The Noble Eightfold Path’. Bhikkhu Bodhi. Chapter Three.
Munindraji: 1. Was an Indian lay teacher most often associated in the West as being Joseph Goldstein’s and Dipama’s teacher. His impact on how Theravada Buddhism is understood in the West cannot be overstated. In the book Living This Life Fully: Stories and Teachings of Munindra, 2010, by Mirka Knaster the reader is given a most extraordinary example of how to live a Home Retreat as a layperson. allan cooper.
Vikāla-bhojanā veramanī sikkhāpadam samādhiyāmi’, I undertake the Precept to refrain from eating at the forbidden time (i.e., afternoon till the sun rises the next day). I will eat with an attention towards sustenance with applied mindfulness and clear comprehension during all drinking and eating.
[1] See template in index.
[1] Sati-sampajañña: 1. Sati and sampajañña are two terms combined to mean one thing. Sati is the function of the mind that can bring meditative focus on any conscious object and get to know it without self-referencing or preference. Samapajañña is the wholesome attempt to understand what an object is. Without sampajañña sati is simply a function of the mind without understanding. Sampajañña without sati is speculation. Combined these mental functions can de-condition and reorient the mind towards freedom from unwholesome patterns of mind, speech and action. allan cooper 2. Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta: MN:10.
Sampajañña: Clear Comprehension: 1. Attending to four categories of attention: Purpose, Suitability, Domain, and Reality. allan cooper. 2. ‘The Heart of Buddhist Meditation’, Nyanaponika Thera. 3. Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta. MN:10.
Spiritual friend (kalyānamitta): 1. SN 45:2 Upaddha Sutta. 2. Access to Insight, ‘Admirable Friendship: Kalyanamitta. 3. In common usage ‘a spiritual friend.’ In a traditional sense it means a teacher or a knower of the way. allan cooper
Right View (sammā-ditthi): 1. ‘The Noble Eightfold Path: Way to the End of Suffering,’ Chapter Two. Bhikkhu Bodhi.