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Theravada Buddhist Meditation and the Pali Canon


I am not a Pali or Buddhist scholar, and so these are just my opinions and thoughts. If I have made any errors of fact, feel free to contact me.




Buddhist Scriptures - The Pali Canon
I look at what part of the Theravada Buddhist Scriptures - the Pali Canon - are appealing and relevant to me.

Concentration and Insight
In Pali these are called jhana and vipassana, and these terms are used a lot in Buddhist practice. This is my understanding of them.

Meditation with the Anapanasati Sutta
The previous article, Concentration and Insight, was about the skill of concentrating or remaining attentive in meditation. This leads naturally to the question: What do you pay attention to?

Meditation as a Bootstrap model
Self-reliance is one of the defining characteristics of what the Buddha taught - being able to learn about yourself, and doing so only using yourself and what you find in your yourself. Help from the outside is of course welcome, whether other people or divine beings, but the primary resource for a Buddhist meditator is him or herself. This article explores this, and particularly how my self-awareness or self-reflection can 'bootstrap' me into a deeper and more perceptive mode of seeing.

The Self and Anatta
Much has been written about the Theravada Buddhist concept of anatta, literally 'not self'. Here is my take on the concepts of 'spirit', 'Self' (or 'self') and anatta.

Love, metta and the Brahma Viharas
I think the English word 'love', in its most expansive and inclusive meaning, is best defined by the four Brahma Viharas as a group, rather than just by the one of them that is best known - metta (goodwill, loving kindness).

Am I a Buddhist? Buddhism in a Nutshell
I make a distinction between Buddhism, the religion, and what the Buddha seems to have taught.

Meditation and Self - The Four Noble Truths
This is a later essy than the others above, incorporating David Brazier's interpretation of the Four Noble Truths.


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