February 15, 2013

Meditation and the Nine Ways to Rest the Mind


Not Too Tight, Not Too Loose
At the start of this dharma talk, Pema says,  "Today we talk about how to find balance in life."
 We all have a different middle way in meditation (as in program).  You may need a strict practice, where I need a relaxed one. Each of us learn for ourselves how to find a practice that is not too tight nor too loose. In this way, we discover how to relax when we have become too rigid, and how to be more restrained when we have been too exuberant.
Besides the practice of mindfulness practice, Buddhism teaches nine ways of resting the mind. 

Can you believe there are nine ways to rest the mind? I find it amazing that they not linear, nor is not necessary for them to be done in any particular order. Ah well, my experience taught me that the suggested Steps of our program can also be studied "out of order" when needed.

Perhaps healing, like resting, is an organic process, that humans can learn to impose less order on. 

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