Reading Archives (Author)
Equanimity Of Doctor, Hunter, Warrior
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
There are three types of equanimity. First is the equanimity that realizes how even though you may have goodwill for all beings and compassion and empathetic joy, it’s not the case that every...
Learning Not to Be Afraid of Things That Are Real
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Recently I've been looking through a field guide on nature observation. The author, when he was a child, was trained by an old Native American. One day the child asked the old man, "Why is it...
Stay With The Breath
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Put aside your old ways of using your eyes and ears and nose, tongue, body, and mind to focus on issues outside there in the world, to get your knowledge about the world, to figure out how to gain wha...
On Perfection and Priority
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Determination seems to underlie all the perfections [of the mind]. There are four aspects to determination. You use your discernment to decide what you want to accomplish, to see how it best...
Dignity of Restraint
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
A word that tends to disappear from common vocabulary is restraint: foregoing certain pleasures, not because we have to, but because they go against our principles. The opportunity to indulge in...
Reality Poses No Danger
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Things that are real pose no danger to the mind. The real dangers in the mind are our delusions, the things we make up, the things we use to cover up reality, the stories, the preconceived notions we ...
Deciding What You Want to Keep
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Look at your life in the same way you’d look through an attic, deciding what you’re going to keep, what you’re going to throw out. You’re moving from a house with a large attic...
Beyond Being Present
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
All that past and all that future weigh down this one little moment here in the present: No wonder the present buckles under the weight. But if all the present has to support is just this one moment, ...
No Mistake is Fatal
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Our minds are pretty chaotic systems, which is why following the middle way is so difficult. It's so easy for a chaotic system to get knocked out of equilibrium, to veer off to the left, to veer off t...