Exploring the interface between Buddhist teachings, meditation techniques, academic Buddhist Studies, and the practical application of them into our lives as lay Buddhists
Last week’s blog about comparing papañca and imagination brought up an aspect of Buddhist theory that I admit I haven’t paid a lot of attention to, which is the issue of conceit. Once I went looking for evidence of conceit, I found it everywhere much to my initial chagrin and surprise; none of us want … Continue reading More Than, Less Than, Same
Last week’s fascinating exploration of the role of imagination and creativity in Buddhist practice left me with a niggling question about papañca (the process whereby the mind gets lost in its own thoughts and ideas) and its connection to imagination, as the process of papañca seems to often be described as using imagination. Papañca is … Continue reading Imagination or Just Papañca?
Last week’s post about dreaming and awakening lead me to wonder if there was much evidence of the use of imagination in Buddhist practice. This might seem like a curious proposition, given that the general idea that many people have about Buddhism is that it is as far removed from imagination as possible. This is … Continue reading Buddhism and Imagination
I don’t often stop to give much thought to the fact that the word Buddha means ‘awakened one’, which obviously gives us the term awakening and the recurrent theme in Buddhist practice of waking up. We can take this to imply that perhaps we are otherwise dreaming. What is it that we are dreaming about though? … Continue reading Dreaming and Waking Up
Kalyana Mitta 