The Buddha's Path of Peace - A Step-by-Step Guide - Geoffrey Hunt
10. Right Mindfulness: Insight
The Buddha's Path of Peace - A Step-by-Step Guide - Geoffrey Hunt
Geoffrey Hunt [+]
University of Surrey
He has taught meditation in schools, in a prison, a village for the elderly, and an alcohol rehabilitation centre. He has served the Dhamma in hospices, funerals and interfaith events. He has worked in Japan, Nigeria and Lesotho and is a writer and international speaker on ethical issues of health, science and advanced technology. He has published several books in the field of professional ethics. He is married to Rev. Beverley Hunt, an Anglican minister.
Description
We now run through the first three ‘Foundations of Mindfulness’ with some simple exercises. (We shall return to the fourth foundation in Chapter 17). By a ‘foundation’ of mindfulness is meant a category of those things we can be mindful of. In this chapter there is a quick description of the four: 1. the bodily experience (e.g. skin sensations), 2. the pleasure/pain experience (e.g. an insect bite, a delicious morsel), 3. the meditational quality of the mind (e.g. whether it is concentrated or not), 4. a reflexive evaluation of one’s meditational journey and its landmarks (e.g. the struggle with hindrances and the cultivation of good will). Instructions are hen given for Walking Meditation, Standing Meditation and for the keeping of ‘states of mind’ diary. These lead to a recognition of the crucial breakthrough to ‘three marks of existence’: anxiety or suffering, impermanence, and not-self (insubstantiality).