Returning

Before the sun rises in the sky, golden and silver rays must first appear.

Likewise, before the dawn of the noble path, virtue (sila) must first appear.

To refrain from all evil;

To cultivate good;

To purify the mind:

This is the teachings of all the Buddhas.

I made a choice to only stay the five days in retreat. I am boxed in by my visa and prior commitments.  I will return in the fall for 21 days. I have done retreats in the past, it many ways it was often how can I do the least and get the most.  This time was no different.  I often did not sit on the chair or walk as long or as often, but something happened to me despite myself.  

The Vipassana as taught at Chom Tong and as found in Maha Satipatthana Sutta focuses on the four foundations body (kaya), feelings (vedana), mind (citta) and mind-objects (dhamma). In summary, the practice of the foundations of mindfulness is just using mindfulness to consider and note knowing at every moment what we are doing as we are doing it, or what we are feeling or thinking. In all cases, we consider only the present moment, not even one second into the past or the future.

I know I will take nothing from life to an afterlife, but my actions, thoughts, and deeds are my responsibility. How mindful I am regarding how I use my time, how I move in the world, how I show my compassion and loving kindness to others, the earth, the smallest and the great, that is my path and responsibility. 

By staying aware of me and mine and not that of those about me in person, in authority, in my community, I am tending to my current life

There are many trees in the forest.  Some tall, short, with fruit, with hollow trunks, with bugs and beetles… they all make the forest.  To try to make them all the same, which would you pick.. the tall ones, the short ones?  Then it is not the forest just a stand of same trees.   I am responsible for me in the forest of life that has friends and foes and folks doing things that I think makes life dangerous and pleasant.   It is just a forest and I am avoiding doing my job, knowing myself and acting with compassion when I spend a nanosecond trying to change what I have cannot.  

Which flower would you change to make the flower patch perfect?

 When I enlarge the picture, there is something not "perfect" with each one. They do not know that, nor do they know they are just one of a bunch... so.. be yourself - it is perfect.

So it is Maddow or Meditate…..mmmmm