In this article, I study one of the methods for countering the influxes in relation to mindful eating. Instructions on proper partaking of food lead me to argue that the employment of mindfulness in contemporary healthcare settings to improve physical and mental health has an antecedent in early Buddhism. The Influxes In previous articles in this journal, I studied the three types of feeling (vedanā) and their relation to the under­lying tendencies (anusaya). In what follows, I take up the … [Read more...]

(Note: These reflections emerged out of a group reading of Stephen Batchelor’s After Buddhism, among other texts, as part of the year-long Nalanda program’s continuation module at the end of May 2018). Stephen Batchelor begins After Buddhism by expressing his discomfort with the Geluk [Tibetan Buddhist] teaching that a positive description of emptiness is not to be given.  He then provides an account of what he has learned from the teaching and his practice, in effect describing emptiness in … [Read more...]

In this article, I study the concept of the underlying tendencies and their relation to the three types of feeling in particular. Based on this I explore how meditation practice can help to counter the influence of the three underlying tendencies that trigger unwholesome reactions to the three type of feelings. The Underlying Tendencies In three previous articles in this journal, I referred to the relationship drawn in the Shorter Discourse with Questions and Answers, … [Read more...]

This is the last of three articles following up topics discussed in the course of the Vedanā Symposium convened by Martine Batchelor and held at BCBS from 13 to 16 July 2017. In two previous issues of the Insight Journal I studied aspects of neutral and pleasant feelings; in what follows I turn to painful feelings. Wishing for Liberation For an appreciation of the challenge posed by painful feelings, the Shorter Discourse with Questions and Answers, the Cūḷavedalla-sutta (MN 44), offers … [Read more...]

My entry point into Buddhist practice was its teachings on anatta, the illusory nature of self.  As a teenager, I intuitively felt that the problem was the self, and here was a tradition that said as much, and even offered a method by which to be done with it.  Or so I thought. Enlightenment, I imagined, was deep and irreversible insight into the emptiness of self that destroyed it once and for all. Sign me up. Of course, this was a grave misunderstanding.  The Buddha taught that self is a … [Read more...]