I once asked my teacher, Anagarika Munindra-ji, ’’What is the dharma?” He said, very simply, “Dharma is living life fully. ” When we practice mindfulness meditation, many things arise in awareness. We typically turn our attention to each thing in turn—different thoughts, feelings, body sensations, states of mind. We often don’t turn our attention to that which is doing the observing, that which seems to be doing the thinking, that which is aware. This is what I want to do today—to actually … [Read more...]
Jack Engler
Practicing for Awakening Part 2
The following remarks continue the excerpt of a daylong workshop given by Jack Engler at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies on November l, 1997. Jack is on the study center board of directors, teaches at Harvard Medical School and practices psychotherapy in Cambridge. ASPIRATION AND AMBIVALENCE I was fortunate in having a teacher who talked about awakening as though it were the most natural thing in the world. Munindra-ji assumed practice would lead to enlightenment. He had no illusions … [Read more...]
Practicing for Awakening
These remarks have been excerpted from a day-long program given by Jack Engler at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies on November 1, 1997. Jack has had a long association with Dharma study and practice. He studied Pali language and Abhidhamma at the Post-Graduate Institute of Buddhist Studies in Nalanda, Bihar, and practiced meditation for several years in India with Anagarika Munindraji and Dipa Ma. He also studied with the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw in Burma. He is co-author of Transformations of … [Read more...]
