Theravada; step 1 and step 2

I've written elsewhere about what to read if starting/exploring Buddhism.

In this post, I want to specifically touch on two awesome resources for Theravada Buddhism. Both are free to download.

Step 1: 

The Buddha's teachings, an introduction

https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/Ebooks/TheBuddhasTeachings_181215.pdf

This booklet (about 30 pages) covers the main tools an ideas with enough breadth and variation that it isn't reductionist. Other intros will focus too much only on the 8fold path or only on suffering or only on metta.

A reader of this introduction should get the impression: "Buddhism has a lot of different aspects that point toward calming the mind. And the mind is tricky, so there are a lot of skills to learn."

If the reader has innate curiosity, this can inspire a good sense of adventure, and a desire to explore.

Other intros (some of which have been very useful to me) can have too much of a "feed me" orientation. Buddhism is ultimately very active and methodical, not passive/check the boxes.

Step 2: 

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/thate/stepsalong.html

This short booklet, by Ajahn Thate, covers 11 points about meditation and how to start. It was "co-written" by a Jewish man who spent 6 months with Ajahn Thate learning to meditate.

Why I love it? It's very pragmatic without getting too far into jargon. And, unlike other manuals, it doesn't stop at concentration. It makes the subtle point that:

* Concentration, when developed, can be used for many different purposes.

* Using concentration solely for pleasure is not the path. At some point, it needs to be a tool to develop insight and wisdom.

(Another book I think is excellent, Bhante G's manual(s) on meditation.)

What is Step 3? Go and try it out.

How many steps are there?

Somewhere between 3 and 100000000001. (Wink, grin)

Metta Lyrics: Peaceful Easy Feeling (Eagles, 1970s)

Sitting in Panera in KS. And heard this nice metta "calling".

--

… 'Cause I get a peaceful easy feelin' (1)

And I know you won't let me down (2)

'Cause I'm already standin'

I'm already standin'

Yes, I'm already standin'

On the ground (3)

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Jack Tempchin

Band: The Eagles

--

Annotations

1. Metta is a peaceful easy feeling. Also, see the idea of piti and sukkha in the 1st Jhana.

2. Consider the 7 qualities in the "Mitta Sutta" on friendship. "you won't let me down" sounds like a grasping to friendship. (In attachment theory, maybe anxious attachment.) But the knowledge of the other person not letting us down (is) can be more about metta. If the metta is strong, it doesn't require constant verbal validation. In an inner, spiritual way: we can be brothers and sisters, on the same team, pulling together, rooting for each other. Even though externally we may not lift a finger or even say a word. (One teacher of mine has never answered a question of mine directly or definitively, yet I have been helped more than if they spoonfed me the answer.) You won't let me down is more about heedfulness than about pandering.

3. Consider the famous sayings of the Buddha about "be an island to oneself" or "be a light unto oneself". It makes us grounded, stable, like a pillar 16 spans deep. If we are on the ground ourselves, we don't need to feed. And when we don't need to feed, we are able not to be blown around by praise and blame and the other winds or the 8 world's winds.

UUDR

quote: lust burns

Pain hurts, just as greed intoxicates and lust burns.

From Neil Gaiman, American Gods

Excess ain't rebellion

Excess aint rebellion. But to my younger self, aiming and worshipping the older "bad kids", the "rad kids", the rebels...

Excess feels the closest in my outside universe to rebellion. So that's what we copy. Paste. Repeat.

But not, seeing more clearly, renunciation is closer to the rebellion I seek. Heedfulness is the rebellion I seek.

Excess ain't rebellion. It is lusting after escape. Running away. Trying. Failing.

SHORTY: ease

be

ill at ease, but as ease

and not

at ease, but ill at ease

-

Hat tip to Joy Williams's shirt story Dimmer, in Paris Review anthology titled Object Lessons.

In Lawrence, KS