How wonderful you are in your being!
I delight that you are here!
I take joy in your good fortune!
May your happiness continue and increase!
(From a Sinhalese Ms of the 19th century. Monks' and nuns‘ practice upon receiving alms).
Saddhā - trust or confidence - is a fundamental quality that we need on our path. Why can it be difficult to trust? What is actually trustworthy? How does it manifest in our mind and in our actions?
Relationship of different instructions to each other. Many spices, but we don't cook with all of them at once.
Orientation: how to find out and recognize what's going in your mind. (Using the satipaṭṭhāna map)
Relationship: a) getting reliably in touch with and b) learning to relate skillfully to the states.
Shifting attention away from habits.
Mindfulness does not mean 'no discernment' – it is quite capable on discerning what is wholesome and unwholesome.
The interplay of three functions of the mind in helping the contemplative practice.
Appamada – an attitude of care
Sati - a relationship: mindfulness as creating presence
Sampajañña – a value context
The overstretching of the visual metaphor for mindfulness ('observe, witness, get in perspective, look at' can leave us with the (erroneaous) impression that mindfulness can only 'observe' and wait.
Let's not turn mindfulness in the John Silver's parrot on our shoulder.
