Mindfulness

Front 1

What is mindfulness?

Back 1

An attuned, intentional relationship with someone, something, some inner or

outer process.

Front 2

With mindfulness what do we do with the present moment?

Back 2

Recollection of the present

moment.

Front 3

What does mindfulness allow us to do with our mind?

Back 3

Resting in a non-reactive mind.

Close contact with our senses.

Holding in mind what we value

Front 4

What vantage Point does mindfulness give us?

Back 4

A vantage point from which we can understand the nature of our minds.

Front 5

What is mindfulness to Stephen bachelor?

Back 5

Mindfulness, to me, is coming to rest in a non-reactive mind.

Front 6

What is the Pali word for mindfulness?

Back 6

The word "mindfulness" is used to translate the ancient Pāli word sati.

Front 7

What does Stephen say is the Result of being mindful?

Back 7

"In some ways, mindfulness is the practice of remembering to be present."

Front 8

Why are similes beneficial in helping us understand mindfulness?

Back 8

"Many similes are used to exemplify mindfulness. They are often much more graspable because they offer us an image."

Front 9

What are the four dimensions of mindfulness?

Back 9

1. Awareness

2. Protective awareness

3. Investigative awareness

4. Cognitive re-framing

Front 10

What is awareness and mindfulness?

Back 10

Awareness – the most basic form of mindfulness: simply becoming aware of what is there in the landscape of the mind

Front 11

What is protective awareness in mindfulness?

Back 11

Protective awareness – pro-actively knowing when your senses might lead you astray, knowing what to let in and what to keep out

Front 12

What is investigative awareness in mindfulness?

Back 12

Investigative awareness – we investigate what is happening in our experience through mind and body—not abstract thought—with the aim of removing unskillful behaviors and habits of mind

Front 13

What is cognitive re-framing and mindfulness?

Back 13

Cognitive re-framing – we hold life situations in a different way, a way that makes us more resilient. For example, sending lovingkindness to a difficult person.

Front 14

What do the similes of Buddhist literature emphasize about mindfulness?

Back 14

When we read the similes for mindfulness in Buddhist literature, we see how they emphasize one or more of these dimensions.

Front 15

What is the simile for an attitude of care, prudence, vigilance, circumspection?

Back 15

A person stuck in a thicket of thorns, moving very carefully so that they don’t hurt themselves.

Front 16

What is the simile for mindfulness as a gatekeeper in the service of economy and efficiency.

Back 16

A gatekeeper (1) awaiting two messengers from afar. When they arrive, unfamiliar with the city, the gatekeeper helps them to deliver their message swiftly to the mayor.

Front 17

What is the simile for mindfulness, guarding the heart, lets wholesome impulses enter and wards off unwholesome ones.

Mindfulness as discerning, inquiring, and protecting.

Back 17

A gatekeeper (2) protecting the city and its people by welcoming acquaintances and warding off strangers.

Front 18

What is the simile for an image that speaks of the aspect of stability, firmness and a willingness to restrain and bear impatience.

Back 18

Mindfulness as a strong post to which the six wild animals of the senses can be tied. After struggling initially, the animals become gentle and peaceful.

Front 19

What is the simile for an image of undivided body awareness and continued vigilant application.

Back 19

A person moving with a bowl full of oil on their head through a crowd, at the risk of losing their life at the first spilled drop. Would this person stop attending to the body and let their attention drift away to other things?

Front 20

What is a simile for the straight furrow: continued clarity of direction. Appropriate pressure: balanced effort.

Back 20

Mindfulness as the ploughman’s goad and ploughshare. The goad encourages the ploughing animal to maintain a straight furrow and the plough, weighted by the foot of the plowman, ensures appropriate pressure so that the ploughshare travels just deep enough. The straight furrow: continued clarity of direction. Appropriate pressure: balanced effort.

Front 21

What is a simile for mindfulness as an attitude of investigation, examining, probing into – even though it may hurt.

Back 21

Mindfulness as the surgeon’s probe – an instrument to aid the removal of a buried arrowhead. The surgeon can’t see the shape, size, and depth of the arrowhead. However, gently inserting the probe into the wound he receives tactile feedback to facilitate the swift removal.

Front 22

Watch is a simile for if needed: "keeping in check" – vigorous, pragmatic intervention.

If not: mindfulness as spacious, calm and detached awareness. Preferable.

Back 22

Minding the cows – (1) the cows are unruly in the last month of the rainy season. They want to run into the neighbor’s ripe field. So the cowherd uses a stick, shouts, and waves her arms to keep the animals out: this is called "keeping in check."

(2) After the monsoon is over, the fields are harvested and the cows are placid on their meadow. The cowherd only raises her head occasionally to look across from her shaded tree to find her cows calm and with no intention to leave. This is called "establishing mindfulness."

Front 23

What is a simile for an attitude of radical benevolence, universal goodwill, and active interest in others' wellbeing.

Back 23

A mother caring for her child. The Metta Sutta describes the practice of mindfulness as cultivating an attitude of affectionate friendliness and suggests cherishing all beings as a mother cherishes her only child.

Front 24

What is a simile for mindfulness as spacious, detached, and panoramic perspective?

Back 24

A person’s vantage point and view after climbing a tower.

Front 25

What is a simile for mindfulness as a circumspect, detached and spacious awareness.

Back 25

A careful charioteer who has a good view of the road, people, and animals.

Front 26

What is a simile for mindfulness as not just observant. It's also a protective, restraining function of mind.

Back 26

Mindfulness as that which keeps streams of water in check. Capable of temporarily con­straining the flow, mindfulness aids the wisdom faculty that consequently succeeds in damming the stream.

(Many images describe mindfulness as supporting or giving rise to wisdom.)

Front 27

What is a simile for Mindfulness as giving full presence to whatever it attends to.

Back 27

An elephant, lacking dexterity in its neck, turns its entire body when looking, thereby giving full presence to its object of attention.

Front 28

What is a simile for Mindfulness as versatile and reinforcing agent in the service of manifesting the inherent characteristic.

Back 28

Just as salt brings out the taste of any food, mindfulness brings about the parti­cularity of each kind of experience.

Front 29

What is a simile for Mindfulness as capable of discerning, recollecting, and bringing back what may have been temporarily lost?

Back 29

Mindfulness as the king’s precious adviser in all things beneficial and unfavorable.

Front 30

What is a simile for Mindfulness as recollection of what is good, worthy, and effective; of what is precious and enables wholesome action?

Mindfulness recalls the presence of wholesome resources.

Back 30

Mindfulness as a royal steward reminding the king of his wealth and power, his elephants, horses, gold, and property.

Front 31

What is a simile for the capacity to sustain presence, keep attentional focus, and not lose the object, event, or process. The direct opposite of forgetting and absentmindedness?

Back 31

Mindfulness as not floating or slipping away, "unlike a gourd thrown into a stream."

Front 32

What is a simile for Mindfulness as seeing clearly and effortlessly, recognizing the evident?

Back 32

Someone with little dust in their eyes.

Front 33

What is a simile for Mind­ful­ness practice is a way of protecting both oneself and others?

Mindfulness is at the hub of Buddhist ethics: acknowledging the intrinsic inter-relatedness of self-care and self-protection with the care and protection of others.

Back 33

Two acrobats working together: one climbing on top of a pole the other is holding. Both look out for themselves and the other at the same time.

Front 34

What are the five parts of mindfulness?

Back 34

In this introduction, we learned that mindfulness is known as sati in the language of early Buddhist literature, and that it can be understood as:

remembering to be present

resting in a non-reactive mind

a vantage point from which we can observe our minds

a willingness to be near events and experiences with discernment, kindness, and insight

an attuned, intentional relationship.

Front 35

What happens if we embrace the experience of dukkha?

Back 35

Embracing our experience of dukkha (suffering, unsatisfactoriness) leads us into another relationship with the situation we're confronted by. We see that experience is transitory and contingent. This opens up new possibilities.

Front 36

What does being mindful of dukkha allow us to do?

Back 36

Our task is therefore to be mindful of what arises within us as we confront a situation. As our mindfulness deepens we become able to catch reactive patterns before they take over.

Front 37

With fear as an example, what is the result of facing that Dukkha?

Back 37

For example, we catch the first stirrings and ripples of fear and we notice it.

Front 38

What do we do with the dukkha fear we just noticed?

Back 38

We simply accept it as what's happening in ourselves in that moment. This is the first step in letting go.

Front 39

Do we let go of the Duke of fear by suppressing it?

Back 39

We don't let go of something by pushing it away, or suppressing it, or pretending that it shouldn't be happening to us.

Front 40

How do we let go of the Dukkha?

Back 40

To let go is to let be—to allow this fear, anxiety, or opinion to be present without reinforcing it by identifying with it. We notice that it has arisen and, like everything that arises, it will pass away.

Front 41

What is our mindfulness task when confronted with Dukkha?

Back 41

Our task is therefore to be mindful of what arises within us as we confront a situation.

Front 42

What is the result of using mindfulness to cope with Dukkha?

Back 42

As our mindfulness deepens we become able to catch reactive patterns before they take over.

Front 43

Are example of fear watch do we actually do about the fear?

Back 43

To let go is to let be—to allow this fear, anxiety, or opinion to be present without reinforcing it by identifying with it. We notice that it has arisen and, like everything that arises, it will pass away.

Front 44

What is one of the purposes of our practice?

Back 44

Our task, then, is to see that suffering can abate.

Front 45

What is the result of applying Mindfulness to deal with suffering?

Back 45

We notice how the activity that causes suffering comes to rest when we're no longer consumed by it. In our minds, bodies, and emotions we taste and feel the stillness, quietness, and clarity that is not driven by our reactive urges. This is the space that mindfulness opens up for us.

Front 46

What is a tool that we use to diminish suffering (tangha)?

Back 46

The fourth noble truth states that the way to realize cessation is to cultivate the eightfold path.

Front 47

Is the eightfold path linear?

Back 47

The path itself is not necessarily linear and each limb can influence and strengthen the others.

Front 48

What are the two means for understanding what should be done in the eightfold path?

Back 48

Buddhist teachings offer guidance as to what might be appropriate or skillful for each limb of the path but our own experimentation and ethical judgments are crucially important.

Front 49

Watch RV, major sections of the eightfold path?

Back 49

One way of understanding the eightfold path is to divide it into three sections: wisdom, ethics, and meditation.

Front 50

What is the wisdom section of the eightfold path concerned with?

Back 50

Concerned with understanding Buddhist teachings and the nature of existence accurately.

Front 51

What is the ethics section of the eightfold path concerned with?

Back 51

This is defined as abstaining from causing harm.

Front 52

What are the five precepts that are in the ethics session of the eightfold path?

Back 52

Not harming living beings

Not taking what is not freely given

Not abusing sexuality

Not lying or indulging in idle speech

Refraining from intoxication

Front 53

What are examples of inappropriate speech?

Back 53

Divisive speech; harsh or abusive speech; and idle chatter, such as gossip are not samma speach.

Front 54

What are examples of inappropriate livelihood?

Back 54

For lay Buddhists this can be understood not earning a living that could be considered in breach of right action. For example, not trading in meat from slaughtered animals.

Front 55

What are examples of right effort?

Back 55

Applying oneself diligently to the cultivation of wholesome states of mind, such as mindfulness, unification of mind, and lovingkindness.

Front 56

What are examples of inappropriate effort?

Back 56

Likewise, we commit ourselves to diminishing unwholesome states of mind such as greed, hatred, and delusion.

Front 57

What are the four areas of mindfulness?

Back 57

The Satipatthana Sutta describes four areas where we establish mindfulness: the body, hedonic tone, the mind, and mental phenomena.

Front 58

Purpose of meditation?

Back 58

The purpose of unification is to prepare the mind for clear seeing into the nature of mind and existence. Also translated as "right concentration."

Front 59

Because there is Dukkha, what do we need to do?

Back 59

This requires mindful attention to both our external experience of people, events, places and the internal reactions we have to these.

Front 60

What do we need to be mindful of because there is a Dukkha?

Back 60

Our task is therefore to be mindful of what arises within us as we confront a situation.

Front 61

What are we able to do as our mindfulness skills increase?

Back 61

As our mindfulness deepens we become able to catch reactive patterns before they take over.

Front 62

What do we do after we acknowledge through mindfulness that Dukkha is occurring?

Back 62

We simply accept it as what's happening in ourselves in that moment. This is the first step in letting go.

Front 63

Do we let go of something I simply pushing it out of our thoughts?

Back 63

We don't let go of something by pushing it away, or suppressing it, or pretending that it shouldn't be happening to us. It's a total, unconditional embrace of our experience.

Front 64

How do we let go?

Back 64

To let go is to let be—to allow this fear, anxiety, or opinion to be present without reinforcing it by identifying with it. We notice that it has arisen and, like everything that arises, it will pass away.

Front 65

What happens when we let go of dukkha to mindfulness?

Back 65

We notice how the activity that causes suffering comes to rest when we're no longer consumed by it. In our minds, bodies, and emotions we taste and feel the stillness, quietness, and clarity that is not driven by our reactive urges. This

Front 66

What is the relationship of the eightfold path to mindfulness?

Back 66

Mindfulness is an integral part of this path and is not a separate mental act that somehow exists by itself.

Front 67

Is the Eightfold Path a linear path?

Back 67

The path itself is not necessarily linear and each limb can influence and strengthen the others.

Front 68

Watch are the two ways to understand the eight fold path?

Back 68

Buddhist teachings offer guidance as to what might be appropriate or skillful for each limb of the path but our own experimentation and ethical judgments are crucially important.

Front 69

What are the three sections of the eight fold path?

Back 69

One way of understanding the eightfold path is to divide it into three sections: wisdom, ethics, and meditation.

Front 70

What is one aspect of right view?

Back 70

Concerned with understanding Buddhist teachings and the nature of existence accurately.

Front 71

What is right intention or perhaps action with regard to the Buddhist teachings?

Back 71

Setting an intention not to cause harm and to put the Buddha's teachings into practice: particularly the four noble truths and the eightfold path.

Front 72

What are the five precepts of right action?

Back 72

Not harming living beings

Not taking what is not freely given

Not abusing sexuality

Not lying or indulging in idle speech

Refraining from intoxication

Front 73

How can you define write speech?

Back 73

A rich area for investigation but more narrowly defined as refraining from lying; divisive speech; harsh or abusive speech; and idle chatter, such as gossip.

Front 74

How can you define right livelihood?

Back 74

For lay Buddhists this can be understood not earning a living that could be considered in breach of right action. For example, not trading in meat from slaughtered animals.

Front 75

How can you define right effort?

Back 75

Applying oneself diligently to the cultivation of wholesome states of mind, such as mindfulness, unification of mind, and lovingkindness. Likewise, we commit ourselves to diminishing unwholesome states of mind such as greed, hatred, and delusion.

Front 76

What are the four areas of right mindfulness?

Back 76

The Satipatthana Sutta describes four areas where we establish mindfulness: the body, hedonic tone, the mind, and mental phenomena

Front 77

What is the purpose of meditation or concentration?

Back 77

The purpose of meditation is to prepare the mind for clear seeing into the nature of mind and existence. Also translated as "right concentration."

Front 78

Does mindfulness get to the point of being automatic?

Back 78

Mindfulness is not automatic. It is a quality that we cultivate. Take some time in your day to commit to cultivating your capacity to be awake inwardly.

Front 79

What happens when we turn our attention to a particular subject during a practice mindfulness?

Back 79

Attention so easily lapses or becomes ensnared. You will find there will be many, many times even within a five-minute period when you have to remind yourself to bear something in mind and begin again.

Front 80

What is the Pali word for mindfulness?

Back 80

In this introduction, we learned that mindfulness is known as sati in the language of early Buddhist literature.

Front 81

What are the five things that describe mindfulness?

Back 81

remembering to be present

resting in a non-reactive mind

a vantage point from which we can observe our minds

a willingness to be near events and experiences with discernment, kindness, and insight

an attuned, intentional relationship.

Front 82

Mindfulness training towards an object?

Back 82

We also learned that mindfulness training involves establishing a continuous, consistent, stable area of attention around an object.

Front 83

Are mindfulness and attention, the same thing?

Back 83

The terms "mindfulness" and "attention" are often used interchangeably. In fact, while attention is the raw material of mindfulness, it is certainly not the same thing as mindfulness. Our teachers discuss the differences between these two terms.

Front 84

What does the four noble truths do for mindfulness?

Back 84

We learned that the four noble truths give meaning and purpose to mindfulness. Mindfulness becomes more than a technique we can use to feel good.

Front 85

What does mindfulness allow us to do besides just feel good?

Back 85

Mindfulness becomes more than a technique we can use to feel good. It enables us to embrace suffering and pain in many forms and to begin to understand and relinquish the causes of this pain and unease.

Front 86

What is the name of the text that the Buddha describes mindfulness in?

Back 86

0ne of the most detailed Buddhist texts on mindfulness: the Satipatthāna Sutta, or The Discourse on the Establishing of Mindfulness.

Front 87

What are the four domains of mindfulness?

Back 87

Four domains:

1. The body

2. Hedonic tone (whether an experience is pleasant, unpleasant, or neither)

3. The mind

4. Mental phenomena.

Front 88

Watch is a hedonic tone?

(this is the one that I consider being mindful of the environment you are in)

Back 88

hedonic tone." This is a broad judgment in which we label an experience as simply pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral.

Front 89

When we become mindful of the hedonic tone, what does that mean we are mindful of?

Back 89

This is a broad judgment in which we label an experience as simply pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral.

Front 90

What is the translation of Satipatthāna Sutta?

Back 90

Satipatthāna Sutta. We can translate this as The Discourse on Establishing Mindfulness.

Front 91

What are the four domains of mindfulness?

Back 91

Mindfulness of body

Mindfulness of hedonic tone

Mindfulness of mind

Mindfulness of Mental phenomena

Front 92

What does mindful of the body include?

Back 92

Breathing, body posture, mindfulness with clear comprehension, the unattractiveness of the body, reflection on the elements, the nine charnel ground contemplations.

Front 93

What does mindfulness of hedonic tone include?

Back 93

Pleasant, unpleasant, neither pleasant or unpleasant.

Front 94

What does mindful of mind include?

Back 94

Lust/without lust

Hate/without hate

Ignorance/without ignorance

Contracted

Distracted

Developed/undeveloped

Surpassable/unsurpassable

Collected/uncollected

Freed/unfreeded

Front 95

What does mindfulness of mental phenomena include?

Back 95

The five hindrances

The seven factors of awakening

The five aggregates

The six Internal and external sense basis

The four noble truths

Front 96

What can you consider each of the four domains to be ?

Back 96

Each of these four ways of establishing mindfulness can be taken as practices in themselves.

Front 97

What is the result of practicing mindfulness?

Back 97

The insights that are developed here have a role in beginning to liberate the mind.

Front 98

What is the effect of practicing mindfulness of the body?

Back 98

We have our lifelong habits of primarily living in our thought world. So this first step of beginning to know the body when standing, sitting, walking, or lying down has the powerful effect of integrating and unifying body, mind, and present moment.

Front 99

Why do we learn about the body from practicing mindfulness?

Back 99

We learn that the body is made up of processes—and we are not in charge. We begin to explore and contemplate the body as it is—not through the eyes of self and "my body."

Front 100

What do we learn about habitual reactivity when we practice mindfulness of the body?

Back 100

We're learning that within the body we can sever the link between sensation and patterns of not wanting this to be happening, or wanting something else to be happening. We can experience the life of the body as it is, and not have a hotline open to reactivity. One of the key lessons of developing mindfulness of the body is learning to step out of habitual reactivity.

Front 101

What do we learn to let go of when practicing mindfulness of the body?

Back 101

We learn to let go. Mindfulness of the body is a experiential training in letting go. Every time we're able to return our attention to the body we are returning from somewhere. Often what we are returning from are the psychological habits of wandering, reactivity and distraction that simply don't serve us well.

Front 102

What do we learn to recognize when practicing mindfulness of the body?

Back 102

We learn to recognize our emotional world and moods within the life of the body. We start to see how false the separation is between mind and body. We begin to know and can approach the body of sadness, fear, or agitation without being lost in the story attached to those moods and emotions, but to know them directly.

Front 103

What is the Satipatthāna Sutta?

Back 103

The title of the Satipatthāna Sutta can be understood as The Discourse on Establishing Mindfulness.

Front 104

What are the four domains that we are to be mindful of?

Back 104

The four domains in which we are to be mindful are the body, hedonic tones, mind, and mental phenomena.

Front 105

What are examples of things to contemplate mindfully about the body?

Back 105

The text goes on to suggest that we can do this through mindfulness of the breath, posture, bodily actions.

Front 106

What does hedonic tone refer to?

Back 106

Hedonic tone. This refers to the simple sensation of pleasantness, unpleasantness or neutrality that occurs in relation to our experience.

Front 107

What are remind full of when we practice mindfulness of the mind?

Back 107

The third satipatthāna invites us to be mindful of our states of mind: our moods, emotions, and thoughts.

Front 108

When being mindful of the mind what do we want to be aware of?

Back 108

Awareness as to whether the mind is affected by lust or not; hate or not; ignorance or not; whether the mind is contracted or not; distracted or not; developed or undeveloped; surpassable or unsurpassable; collected or uncollected; freed or not.

Front 109

How do we be mindful of the dhamma?

Back 109

If we are feeling tranquil, we might mindfully engage with this state and know it as one of the factors of awakening. These states can be understood as mental phenomena that occupy an important place within the wider scheme of the Buddha's teachings.

Front 110

What are the remaining three teachings in the satipatthāna?

Back 110

The remaining three teachings in this satipatthāna are the five aggregates, the six internal and external sense bases, and the four noble truths.

Front 111

What do difficult moods generate?

Back 111

"We learn to develop a kind of inner knowing of the mood of the moment. We notice that difficult moods tend to be great generators of narrative."

Front 112

If the mood of the moment is aversive, what kind of thoughts are you likely to not have?

Back 112

If the mood of the moment is aversive the mind is not likely to be having thoughts of kindness.

Front 113

If the mood of the moment is agitation, what kind of thoughts are you likely to have?

Back 113

If the mood of the moment is agitation, there is likely to be rehearsal thinking, thoughts of anticipation, worrying, planning.

Front 114

With mindfulness of what relationship do we begin to realize?

Back 114

Through this practice, we notice the relationship between mood and thought.

Front 115

What do moods create in the absence of mindfulness?

Back 115

We see that in the absence of mindfulness, moods create a closed feedback loop.

Front 116

What is an example of a loop that a mood creates without mindfulness?

Back 116

For example, an anxious mood will generate thoughts that feed back into and deepen our anxious mood and mind state which then generates even more anxious thoughts.

Front 117

Is mindfulness of mood just about observing the mood?

Back 117

Mindfulness of mood develops certain skills. It's not just about observation.

Front 118

What should we first notice about our moods?

Back 118

The first important step is the willingness to investigate how moods shape our world.

Front 119

What is the purpose of monitoring our mood?

Back 119

We know sadness as sadness, anxiety as anxiety, calmness as calmness, collectedness as collectedness, distractedness as distractedness.

Front 120

What do we learn by being mindful of our moods?

Back 120

We begin to know what is helpful or unhelpful and what leads to distress or to the end of distress.

Front 121

What can we determine by monitoring our moods?

Back 121

When we can discern the moods that are helpful and those that are unhelpful we have a much clearer pathway before us. We can choose what to cultivate and what to calm.

Front 122

What should we ask ourselves when being mindful of our mood?

Back 122

This can prompt us to look back and ask what mood is present.

Front 123

What does a mood rely upon to continue to exist?

Back 123

Moods do not have an independent self-existence. For a difficult mood to linger, to be sustained, or deepen relies upon it being fed and nourished.

Front 124

What is the most direct way to have a mood continue to hang around?

Back 124

The most direct way to make a difficult mood hang around is to keep thinking and entertaining the thoughts that the mood is generating.

Front 125

What is the mindful process to allow us to step out of the mood?

Back 125

This is where mindfulness of the body is so helpful and works in tandem with mindfulness of mood: it allows us to return to the body, to the somatic experience and the impression the mood makes in the body. We step out of the narrative and this takes the nutriment away from the mood, moving into a more experiential mode of being.

Front 126

With mindfulness what are we moving from? And what are we moving towards?

Back 126

All Buddhist traditions are very clear that we need to move from our preoccupation with our discursive stories and come to a continued, attuned relationship to our bodily experience."

Front 127

What are the four areas of mindfulness?

Back 127

The sutta defines four areas in which mindfulness is to be established: body, hedonic tone, mind, and mental phenomena

Front 128

With mindfulness what do we want to move from and what do we want to move towards?

Back 128

Untangling our awareness from personal narratives and resting mindfully in embodied experience is an important part of this practice

Front 129

What is the relationship between moods and thoughts?

Back 129

There is a closed feedback loop in which unhelpful thoughts and difficult moods amplify each other. The way to break this feedback loop is to shift awareness into mindfulness of the body

Front 130

What are two mental phenomena to pay attention to when practicing mindfulness?

Back 130

The fourth satipatthāna gives us two maps of mental phenomena we can look out for and work with: the hindrances and the factors of awakening

Front 131

What are five parts of breathing that we can pay attention to for mindfulness meditation?

Back 131

Depth – how deep does your breath go right now?

Rhythm – how fast is your breathing? Are your in-breath and out-breath even?

Tone – without seeking to control the breath, is your breath alive, springy, vital or tepid, flat, lifeless?

Texture – is your breathing smooth, soft, silky? Or perhaps there is a little jaggedness, a snag, coarseness or roughness.

Resistance – how easily can breath enter into my body? How much effort is needed?

Front 132

What is the purpose of mindfulness?

Back 132

Untangling our awareness from personal narratives and resting mindfully in embodied experience is an important part of this practice.

Front 133

What is contemplation?

Back 133

Contemplation is neither discursive thought nor deep meditation. It is a profound and prolonged observation; an intuitive way of holding something present in the fore of our mind

Front 134

What is required to learn mindfulness?

Back 134

"Mindfulness requires training. It requires discipline. This training occurs over considerable lengths of time."

Front 135

What does mindfulness teach us to do?

Back 135

Mindfulness, too, is a way of dwelling in the world: in one's own body, in one's feelings, in one's mind, in the totality of one's experience. It's another way of grounding oneself and establishing a particular perspective on life as a whole.

Front 136

What does mindfulness teach us?

Back 136

It's learning to appreciate, to enjoy, and to experience a sense of wonder that you're here, breathing, at all. Experience is not reducible simply to "what I like" and "what I don't like." Mindfulness opens you up to the totality of what arises and passes in each moment.

Front 137

How often should you practice mindfulness?

Back 137

It's not just an exercise that you do once or twice a day but becomes built into the fabric of every moment of your life.

Front 138

What is contemplation?

Back 138

Contemplation means to observe in a profound, prolonged way. This is not a thinking process and it is not deep meditation. It is an intuitive way of holding something present in the fore of the mind.

Front 139

What reflective contemplation do we do about the Buddha?

Back 139

The qualities of the Buddha – we dwell upon the nature of an awakened one and, by implication, our innate capacity to wake up

Front 140

What reflective contemplation do we do about the dhhamma?

Back 140

The teachings (dhamma) – we reflect that we are intelligent enough to understand the principles that underpin our experience of reality

Front 141

What reflective contemplation do we do about the Sangha.

Back 141

The nature of the community (sangha) – the possibility of inspiration and companionship on the path—something crucial in a time of loneliness

Front 142

What reflective contemplation do we do about the body?

Back 142

The body – there is much insight to be gained from contemplating bodily processes, for example, through mindfulness of breathing

Front 143

What reflective contemplation do we do about death?

Back 143

death – the process of dying

Front 144

What reflective contemplation do we do about peace?

Back 144

Peace, the peaceful – the contentedness and sweetness of an experience of peace

Front 145

White reflective contemplation we do about deities?

Back 145

deities – in Indian cosmology deities embody levels of subtlety and refinement we would typically experience in other dimensions, such as art

Front 146

What contemplations do we do about our path?

Back 146

This context might be ethics, purpose, or the goals of our path.

Front 147

What contemplations do I do about our purpose?

Back 147

Purpose – what is meaningful in my life? Where should I direct my energies in the short-term, mid-term and long-term?

Front 148

What contemplations do I do about our purpose?

Back 148

Purpose – what is meaningful in my life? Where should I direct my energies in the short-term, mid-term and long-term?

Front 149

What contemplation do we do about appropriateness?

Back 149

Appropriateness – are my actions congruent with my purpose? Will what I'm currently doing lead towards those goals?

Front 150

Watt reflective contemplation do we do about domain?

Back 150

Domain – is my meditative task clear? What are my tools? Can I translate my current situation into one of practice? Perhaps through patience or compassion, for example.

Front 151

What reflective contemplation do we do about non confusion?

Back 151

Non-confusion: – can I allow mistakes and learn from them? Can I recognize that I am training and that I do not need to be perfect?

Front 152

What are the four areas remindful? This is to be established?

Back 152

The sutta defines four areas in which mindfulness is to be established: body, hedonic tone, mind, and mental phenomena

Front 153

What does mindfulness untangle and where do you come to rest?

Back 153

Untangling our awareness from personal narratives and resting mindfully in embodied experience is an important part of this practice.

Front 154

What is contemplation and what is it not?

Back 154

Contemplation is neither discursive thought nor deep meditation. It is a profound and prolonged observation; an intuitive way of holding something present in the fore of our mind.

Front 155

How does mindfulness help us contemplate?

Back 155

Mindfulness is the first quality we need to cultivate in order to contemplate the nature of our experience in a transformative way.

Front 156

What kind of training is mindfulness?

Back 156

We'll see that mindfulness is not just a technique that we apply to get a little ease in our lives. It is a contemplative training: something to be cultivated over time.

Front 157

What is the prerequisite to transformative contemplation?

Back 157

Mindfulness is not simply a technique we apply when it's needed and then forget about. It is the prerequisite for contemplations that can be truly transformative.

Front 158

What does mindfulness require?

Back 158

"Mindfulness requires training. It requires discipline. This training occurs over considerable lengths of time."

Front 159

What is a good practice to do just prior to meditation?

Back 159

At the beginning of a meditation session it's very helpful just to pause and think to yourself, "why am I doing this?" Remind yourself, for example, that you seek to live a life that's more awake, that's less carried away by distraction, and that's more focused. These are values.

Front 160

What does it mean to dwell in mindfulness?

Back 160

It is helpful to reflect on what it means to dwell. It's a metaphor—like dwelling in a house. Mindfulness, too, is a way of dwelling in the world: in one's own body, in one's feelings, in one's mind, in the totality of one's experience. It's another way of grounding oneself and establishing a particular perspective on life as a whole.

Front 161

Why does a Buddha call mindfulness a noble dwelling?

Back 161

The Buddha also describes mindfulness as a noble dwelling. This implies that mindfulness carries with it a certain dignity. The mindful person, the person who lives by these values, also adopts a certain ethical stance to their life as a whole.

Front 162

What do we want mindfulness to develop as in our life?

Back 162

Developing and cultivating mindfulness so it's not just an exercise that you do once or twice a day but becomes built into the fabric of every moment of your life.

Front 163

What is contemplation?

Back 163

Contemplation means to observe in a profound, prolonged way. This is not a thinking process and it is not deep meditation. It is an intuitive way of holding something present in the fore of the mind.

Front 164

What happens in contemplation?

Back 164

"Contemplation is an intuitive way of holding something present in the fore of the mind."

Front 165

What is the first thing at the Buddha announced to his disciples

Back 165

The first thing that the Buddha announced to his first disciples was "I have found a middle way."

Front 166

What is the middle way?

Back 166

This middle way is a central emblem of the Buddha's teachings. It is a life in balance. A life that is centered, focused, and aware of how easily we can veer towards an extreme: for example, a fixed intellectual position, or an excessive form of indulgent behavior.

Front 167

What is a skill that helps us find the middle way?

Back 167

This is a constant balancing act and mindfulness is the skill that enables us to maintain this balance in mind and body so that our life slowly becomes less scattered and more integrated. It's also a way, a path.

Front 168

What should we do about negative areas recognized while monitoring our reactivity?

Back 168

let's use mindfulness as a way of being able to say "Yes. This is the situation my life is in in this moment, and that's OK." It's crucial to cultivate the quality some mindfulness teachers refer to as "radical acceptance." To be able to say "yes" not only to those thoughts, feelings, sensations we enjoy, but also the suffering, the pain, the trauma that might reside deep within us. To have a totally openhearted and accepting relationship to what is happening in this moment.

Front 169

What should we do about negative situations revealed by monitoring reactivity?

Back 169

This doesn't mean that we are passive or resigned to what's going on. (I think we should do something about the negative situation and then let it go. If there’s nothing that can be done, accept the situation, and then move on. Think of it no more.)

Front 170

What kind of training does mindfulness give you?

Back 170

Mindfulness is not just a technique that we apply to experience a little ease in our lives. It is a contemplative training: something to be cultivated over time.

Front 171

What is contemplation?

Back 171

Contemplation is neither discursive thought nor deep meditation. It is a profound and prolonged observation; an intuitive way of holding something present in the fore of our mind.

Front 172

What does mindfulness allow us to do with our experience?

Back 172

Mindfulness enables us to contemplate our experience as it actually is. With radical acceptance, we feel no need to change what's here right now: we can see it clearly and be with it.

Front 173

What is radical acceptance?

Back 173

Radical acceptance – experiment with wholeheartedly allowing your experience to be as it is.

Front 174

What type of observation is mindfulness contemplation?

Back 174

Contemplation is neither discursive thought nor deep meditation. It is a profound and prolonged observation; an intuitive way of holding something present in the fore of our mind.

Front 175

What does mindfulness enable us to do with our experience?

Back 175

Mindfulness enables us to contemplate our experience as it actually is. With radical acceptance, we feel no need to change what's here right now: we can see it clearly and be with it.

Front 176

What does mindfulness teach us to do with our experience?

Back 176

We experimented with radical acceptance: wholeheartedly allowing our experience to be as it is.

Front 177

What does mindfulness teachers to do about reactivity?

Back 177

Mindfulness can undermine reactivity by enabling us to choose how we respond to experiences.

Front 178

Hot is results of developing through mindfulness a monitoring of our reactivity?

Back 178

We will see that mindfulness of pleasant and unpleasant sensations slows down our reactive psychological processes. This enables us to clearly see our responses to sensory contact and make choices about how we then act.

Front 179

With hedonic tone, how do we label our reactivity?

Back 179

Hedonic tone." This is a broad judgment in which we label an experience as simply pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral.

Front 180

What does being mindful of hedonic tone show us?

Back 180

Being mindful of vedanā (hedonic tone) shows us the push and pull of grasping and aversion as we live our lives, and the impermanent nature of these experiences.

Front 181

What does Christina say we can change our minds into is the result of being mindful?

Back 181

"We can change how our minds function and cultivate the conditions inwardly to discover a mind that is truly a friend."

Front 182

What is the result of not practicing mindfulness?

Back 182

We often end up feeling bewildered or in states of obsession, rumination, and scatteredness that are very far from where we wish to be

Front 183

What is the result of practicing mindfulness?

Back 183

In slowing down mental processes, one of the great blessings of mindfulness practice is that it takes this sense of bewilderment out of life. We know how we ended up where we are. We begin to be able to track those processes.

Front 184

As a result of practicing mindfulness what do we become increasingly aware of?

Back 184

As our inner psychological and emotional processes are slowing down, we become increasingly aware of both what the mind is processing and engaged with, and how we are processing what the mind is engaged with.

Front 185

What are we able to discern as a result of practicing mindfulness?

Back 185

One of the first things we do is begin to develop a quality of psychological literacy that is able to discern the thoughts, images, moods, the sensations that draw our attention.

Front 186

What does mindfulness allow

Back 186

We discover—sometimes uncomfortably—how much of our attention is involuntary: simply captured by whatever sensory impression has the loudest voice in any moment.

Front 187

What patterns of thought does mindfulness teach us to be aware of?

Back 187

We become aware of how this involuntary attention leads us to being lost in the very familiar patterns of rumination, obsession, and preoccupation that afflict us.

Front 188

What is the Gate Keeper effect of practicing mindfulness?

Back 188

The other dimension of mindfulness that you probably find yourself engaging with very early on is its protective element. This is evoked by the simile of the gatekeeper guarding the gates of a city.

Front 189

What’s the difference between protective awareness and defensive awareness?

Back 189

Protective awareness is not the same as defensive awareness. We're not pushing things away, suppressing them, or avoiding them.

Front 190

What ability do you learn from practicing mindfulness?

Back 190

The ability to apply and sustain mindfulness on a chosen object: knowing the body as the body, knowing breathing as breathing.

Front 191

What does mindfulness give us the ability to choose?

Back 191

As we develop this skill we discover, suddenly, that we have the capacity to choose where we place our attention.

Front 192

What does mindfulness give us the ability to not choose?

Back 192

This also means that you can choose not to bring your attention into a maelstrom of rumination or obsession. In this moment of choosing, you are freeing the mind from the grip of patterns of rumination, obsession, and distractedness.

Front 193

In practicing mindfulness, where do we choose to place her attention?

Back 193

When we choose to establish our attention in present-moment experience, we are not lost in the thoughts and patterns around past and future.

Front 194

What is discernment and mindfulness?

Back 194

The discerning element of mindfulness is critical. It is to know what leads to distress, and to know what leads to the end of distress. Discernment is the bridge between mindfulness and skillful effort.

Front 195

What happens if we don’t use discernment in mindfulness?

Back 195

Without discernment, we are likely to be a passive spectator of our own disasters.

Front 196

What responses in mindfulness does discernment create?

Back 196

Discernment invites responsiveness: what is helpful in this moment? What is it helpful to cultivate? What is it helpful to release?

Front 197

What do we discover about our mental choices with mindfulness?

Back 197

Discovering that there are choices in how we process mental content is critical.

Front 198

What do we discover about reactivity with mindfulness?

Back 198

Just as we discover that much of our attention is involuntary, we also discover that much of our reactivity is equally involuntary.

Front 199

What do we discover about our reactivity and using mindfulness?

Back 199

We don't choose to be depressed, anxious, or aversive. We don't wake up in the morning and decide that this is a really good day to spend in obsession and rage. We discover that so much of our reactivity is patterned.

Front 200

What do the patterns of our reactivity revealed to us?

Back 200

We begin to probe our patterns of reactivity we discover how much they are rooted in an unconscious insistence that life, that this moment, be different than it actually is. This is the root of our discrepancy thinking, our agitation, our endless endeavors to manipulate conditions to maximize pleasure and minimize the unpleasant.

Front 201

What are our metal patterns influenced by?

Back 201

We are learning to cultivate the attitudinal field of mindfulness: this is key. We see how much our mental patterns and processes are flavored by aversion, fear, resistance and defensiveness.

Front 202

What do we cultivate with mindfulness?

Back 202

What we begin to cultivate—and discover that we can cultivate—is a genuine willingness to care for present-moment experience, including the contents of our own minds.

Front 203

What does mindfulness help us to cultivate?

Back 203

We also learn that just as we cultivate mindfulness we equally cultivate kindness and compassion.

Front 204

What does mindfulness help us reframe?

Back 204

The last dimension we'll reflect on lies in reframing our view of that which we are processing. It's not difficult for us to see the ways in which aversion, fear, despair, blame, and shame are "self-builders." They build a view of who we believe ourselves to be.

Front 205

What is mindfulness enable us to loosen the group of?

Back 205

One of the key steps of mindfulness is to loosen the grip of identification and the self-building process. We see things as they actually are. The most effective way of keeping the difficult around is to identify with it.

Front 206

What is the most effective way of releasing the difficult?

Back 206

The most effective way of releasing the difficult is to loosen that identification. We begin to know our psychology of thoughts and emotions without adding this extra piece of "I am." This is one of the greatest liberating factors in the transformation of the mind.

Front 207

What does a Buddha say our thoughts are?

Back 207

The mind is the forerunner of all things. With our thoughts we make the world and all that we are arises with our thoughts. —The Buddha

Front 208

What is the effect of practicing mindfulness?

Back 208

Mindfulness has a quieting and unifying effect. The mind becomes more stable, calmer and more whole. The mind coalesces, and there is deep peace and pleasantness.

Front 209

How does mindfulness create protective awareness?

Back 209

Discerning what leads to distress and what leads to the end of distress

Front 210

If we are facing something unpleasant, what does mindfulness help us realize?

Back 210

Just because we find something unpleasant does not necessarily mean we must become aversive and try to get rid of it. If we slow this process down, we discover that we have choices.

Front 211

What are our choices when confronted with what mindfulness reveals?

Back 211

Choices: freedom of response, non-reactivity, radical acceptance.

Front 212

What is our behavior if we are not mindful?

Back 212

If we are not mindful, we can launch into behaviors based solely on getting what we want and avoiding what we don't want.

Front 213

If something is unpleasant. Do we need to get rid of it?

Back 213

Then, just because we find something unpleasant does not necessarily mean we must become aversive and try to get rid of it. If we slow this process down, we discover that we have choices.

Front 214

What are our choices after mindfulness reveals unpleasantness or other situations?

Back 214

Choices: freedom of response, non-reactivity, radical acceptance.

Front 215

What does mindfulness allow us to do with reactive, psychological patterns?

Back 215

We can slow down reactive psychological patterns and form new ways of responding that will transform our minds and character over time.

Front 216

What is the hedonic experience?

Back 216

It is the experience of pleasantness and unpleasantness that comes to us in every moment of our experience. It is immediate and direct. It is the taste of our experience. It is not abstract thought about our experience. It is the pleasant feeling of sucking a tasty sweet, or the unpleasant feeling of hearing fingernails scrape a blackboard.

Front 217

What should we do if we start thinking whether or not something is pleasant or unpleasant while practicing mindfulness?

Back 217

If we find ourselves deliberating whether something is pleasant or not pleasant, this is not vedanā—it is thinking. Vedanā—hedonic tone—is immediate. Better to drop the thinking and move on.

Front 218

Why should we not spend time thinking, whether something is pleasant or unpleasant?

Back 218

At this stage, it's best not to spend time examining neither-pleasant-nor-unpleasant hedonic tones. We can spend a lot of time investigating something that is simply not falling into the two polarities of pleasant and unpleasant.

Front 219

What could happen as a result of not being mindful and not practicing hedonic meditation?

Back 219

Consider that we are receiving vedanā all the time. Our lives may be formed by constant reactive patterns of avoidance of unpleasant experiences and dwelling on and craving more of pleasant experiences. If this constant push and pull is unexamined it starts to form our character and behavior.

Front 220

What question Can we ask ourselves when practicing mindfulness hedonic ?

Back 220

When practicing mindfulness of breathing and we are distracted by a sound, we can drop in that little question, "pleasant or unpleasant?

Front 221

What as mindfulness allows us to view our thoughts as?

Back 221

We know our thoughts and emotions impersonally: without believing ourselves to be them.

Front 222

What does mindfulness allow us to do with the experience of the pleasant and unpleasant?

Back 222

Through mindfulness, and hedonic practice, we can experience the pleasant without craving, and the unpleasant without avoidance behaviors.

Front 223

While practicing mindfulness, what should you ask yourself about your activity or your thinking?

Back 223

In formal practice—while sitting or walking—when a distraction occurs, ask yourself, "pleasant or unpleasant?" Also, while thinking .

Front 224

Why do we practice mindfulness of hedonic tone on pleasant and unpleasant experiences?

Back 224

Mindfulness of hedonic tone (vedanā) is a key practice. It enables us to see the breakpoints in our experience so that we can experience the pleasant without craving and the unpleasant without avoiding.

Front 225

What are the three things we reflect on when monitoring pleasant or unpleasant experiences?

Back 225

We explored hedonic tone (vedanā) in practice by:

reflecting on our behaviors to identify whether a pleasant or unpleasant vedanā was present;

asking ourselves whether distractions during formal practice were accompanied by a pleasant or unpleasant hedonic tone;

asking whether those thoughts were pleasant or unpleasant when we return from being lost in thought.

Front 226

What is the desirable effect of mindfulness?

Back 226

Mindfulness has something to do with stilling and calming the mind.

Front 227

How does mindfulness affect those things that we identify with?

Back 227

Mindfulness meditation has to create disidentification: the possibility of stepping back, gaining perspective and moving out.

Front 228

What does Stephen Bachelor tell us about the modern movement of secular Buddhism?

Back 228

"When we talk of secular mindfulness today, it's worth seeing that this is not just an invention of the West. It is very much a continuity within the reform movements of Buddhism that have been going on in Asia and in the West for the last 150 years."

Front 229

What does Akin think is a challenge to modern mindfulness?

Back 229

I see a number of challenges in the secular mindfulness world. So many studies confuse mindfulness and plain attention. Mindfulness is often simplified to a cognitive strategy, and it is often isolated. If mindfulness is isolated, it loses its power. Mindfulness needs to be in the context of its many friends to be effective.

Front 230

What does John Peacock have to say about Buddhism in the west?

Back 230

Yet, we tend to forget that the mindfulness within Western culture is still in its infancy. This is an ensuing dialogue. What is happening is in a sense no different to Buddhism's dissemination into other cultures.

Front 231

What does Christina say we need to make decisions about in our practice?

Back 231

Christina spoke of returning from training in traditional Buddhist cultures and deciding which aspects of that training to keep and which to leave behind.

Front 232

What does mindfulness do for the mind?

Back 232

Mindfulness has something to do with stilling and calming the mind. It begins with self-soothing, and progresses to creating ease, calming, and discerning the factors of mind that are useful and appropriate to bring the mind to unification.

Front 233

What is disidentification in mindfulness?

Back 233

Mindfulness meditation has to create disidentification: the possibility of stepping back, gaining perspective and moving out.

Front 234

What does disidentification give us the ability to do?

Back 234

This investigation or examination is the ability to courageously and soberly meet the parts that make up our psychology and seems to be an indispensable part of meditation. There are no spiritual shortcuts through psychological terrain. We have to do our psychological homework.

Front 235

How can secular Buddhism influence traditional Buddhism?

Back 235

Secular Buddhism can not only restore and revitalize the Buddhist tradition but also perhaps take us beyond the dichotomies of monastic and lay. I feel we may be moving into a Buddhist culture, a dharma culture, that leaves behind some of these organizational forms."

Front 236

What are the five hindrances?

Back 236

The hindrances are:

sense desire

aversion

lethargy

restlessness and agitation

doubt

Front 237

Why is it important to recognize the five hindrances?

Back 237

It's important that you recognize these hindrances and see what underlies your experience. "Is this desire thinking?" "Is this aversion thinking?"

Front 238

What is an example of recognizing lethargy?

Back 238

If you recognize that your peacefulness has fuzzy edges that disqualify it as genuine peacefulness, know that what you're experiencing is drowsiness or lethargy.

Front 239

What is an example of recognizing agitation?

Back 239

That obsessive thought pattern that haunts you may be something about your history but it is also the hindrance of agitation.

Front 240

What is an example of recognizing hindrance of doubt?

Back 240

The unwillingness to be with the discomfort or disquiet of an uncertainty may not just be an uncertainty that needs to be fixed: it may also be the hindrance of doubt.

Front 241

What else do the hindrances effect besides our practice?

Back 241

These hindrances are not just hindrances in our formal practice, they're hindrances in our lives. You will find that much of your thinking is preoccupied with seeking gratification, avoiding discomfort, and pushing away what is uncomfortable.

Front 242

Where should we be aware of the hindrances in our life?

Back 242

The invitation for your practice now is to recognize the hindrances in both formal practice and daily life.

Front 243

What should we notice in our daily life?

Back 243

Notice the hindrances in daily life—periodically stop to notice if a hindrance is driving your thoughts and behavior.

Front 244

What should we notice in our daily life?

Back 244

Notice the hindrances in daily life—periodically stop to notice if a hindrance is driving your thoughts and behavior.

Front 245

Is mindfulness and ethics related?

Back 245

Mindfulness is more than a present-moment awareness: it involves recalling our values. This is an ethical activity.

Front 246

Mindfulness depend on?

Back 246

Mindfulness depends on the cultivation of wholesome mind states.

Front 247

Ethical behavior require of us?

Back 247

Likewise, ethical behavior requires us to be aware of our inner and outer mind states, and the situational context, so that we can act appropriately. Mindfulness and ethical responsibility therefore reinforce each other.

Front 248

What are the five ethical precepts?

Back 248

The five ethical precepts: guidelines recommended for all Buddhist practitioners.

Front 249

Watch do we do with the five ethical precepts?

Back 249

These precepts are an active area of inquiry to be lived and explored dynamically.

Front 250

What else is mindfulness besides just bringing attention to the moment?

Back 250

Mindfulness is more than paying attention to one's present-moment bodily and mental experience—it begins with thinking about and recalling what matters most to you.

Front 251

Does mindfulness include reflection?

Back 251

In other words, mindfulness includes reflection: thinking about what matters for you.

Front 252

What is one way to reflect on ethnics with mindfulness?

Back 252

Commentators on Shantideva's text define mindfulness as a recollection of everything that one intends to let go of and realize. This is a way of recalling the four noble tasks we introduced at the beginning of this course.

Front 253

What is situational awareness with mindfulness?

Back 253

Situational awareness, on the other hand, is understood as knowing how to let go of reactivity, knowing how to embrace life, and knowing how to cultivate a way of life. It is developing the psychological, cognitive, and particularly the ethical skills to learn how to live appropriately, fully, and mindfully in response to the world.

Front 254

What is the psychological understanding of mindfulness?

Back 254

Mindfulness is often presented—for very good reason—as a psychological understanding of how our minds work, and how they cause us unnecessary grief and distress.

Front 255

What do we contemplate and mindfulness?

Back 255

We also need to recognize that mindfulness is being mindful of what we value: our goals and purposes. It's here that mindfulness becomes an explicit part of our ethical practice.

Front 256

What does mindfulness prepare us for?

Back 256

Mindfulness prepares us for life and for responding to the moral and ethical situations we find ourselves in.

Front 257

How does mindfulness help us?

Back 257

It has to do with quieting our fears and reactivity—not as an end in itself that leads us to Nirvana, but rather by clearing an ethical space in which the virtues can then be activated, acted on, and lived out in response to the actual the world in which we live.

Front 258

What are two areas of mindfulness protects us from?

Back 258

Mindfulness is there to prevent the arising of negative states. It's also about guarding a space in which we can see ourselves, other people, and the world with such clarity that we can respond in ways that are not driven by compulsive, reactive behavior.

Front 259

What do I do if mindfulness shows me that my mind is taking me where I don’t want to go?

Back 259

We notice what's going on and let it go if it's leading us toward places we don't wish to go.

Front 260

Why do we include ethics and our practice?

Back 260

Ethics is to be understood as a responsive, skillful way of being in relationship to our own lives and the lives of others.

Front 261

Does a Buddha speak in terms of good or bad?

Back 261

This is not to say that the Buddha does not speak of good and bad, but he uses these terms much more rarely than you would find within a lot of other traditions. For example, rather than "being bad," we are acting unskillfully.

Front 262

What problem does mindfulness help us deal with?

Back 262

Part of the problem is that we are often reacting to situations rather than responding.

Front 263

What are the five precepts?

Back 263

1. Non-harming 2. Not taking what is not freely given 3. Not abusing sexuality and sensuality 4. Refraining from lying, devisive, idle and harsh speech.

5. Refraining from intoxication.

Front 264

What else do we cultivate besides just our capacity for mindfulness?

Back 264

Just as we cultivate our capacity for mindfulness and attention, so too we cultivate our capacity to live in this world ethically.

Front 265

What are two ways that we look at our ethics?

Back 265

One powerful way ethics is spoken of in early Buddhist texts is as a recollection of our thoughts, words, and acts of kindness. Another way ethics is spoken about is in terms of the intentions that guide our thoughts, words, and acts.

Front 266

What should we base our intentions on?

Back 266

These are intentions of:

kindness

compassion

renunciation

When we look at these intentions we might consider: "what do our thoughts, words, and actions look like that are born of these intentions?"

Front 267

How do we turn ethical commitments to training?

Back 267

It's valuable to recognize the ethical commitments as trainings. In this light, we can turn ethical commitments into investigations and practices.

Front 268

How do you turn non-harming into a practice?

Back 268

You can turn this into a practice—you can make it an intention as you start your day. With mindfulness, ask yourself, "is this word, thought, or act really contributing to the wellbeing of another?"

Front 269

How do you turn into practice taking only that which is freely offered?

Back 269

It's not just about material things, it could be about our needs for attention, or approval. Or perhaps we appropriate others' time and energy without them being freely offered.

Front 270

What is wise speech?

Back 270

This guideline encourages us to refrain from harsh speech, lying, idle chatter, and divisive speech. What does skillful speech look like to you? It can be words of kindness, support, appreciation or acknowledgement.

Front 271

What is refraining from sexual and sensual misconduct?

Back 271

This guideline is not only about being sensitive to how we use our sexuality—whether in the service of greed or love—it's also about sensory care. It's about not using our sense doors to service appetites, greed, or aversion.

Front 272

Is not taking substances that cloud the mind only referring to alcohol?

Back 272

Consider how you consume technology or information. Beyond the misuse of alcohol or drugs, consider the way we feel that we always need to have our minds filled, engaged, or entertained.

Front 273

What else is mindfulness besides just directing our attention?

Back 273

Mindfulness is more than a present-moment awareness: it involves recalling our values. This is an ethical activity.

Front 274

What is the relationship between mindfulness and ethics?

Back 274

Christina led an exploration of the five precepts as an ethical mindfulness training.