This Buddhist Reference Sheet by the Numbers comes from an article I posted on a previous blog some ten years back, in May of 2016. I have found the sheer number of lists and numbers that exist in the Buddhist teachings to be one of the things that attracted me to them early on. I know some folks found it helpful back then so I’m bringing it back in hopes that it might be of benefit.
When we first start meditating, the mind is like a young kitten—scampering off, chasing butterflies, getting distracted, tipping over, getting hungry, bumping into walls. And each time it wanders, we hold it gently, and kindly invite it back into our lap.
Some days I find myself suspended between feeling too much and not wanting to feel anything at all. Buddhist philosophy points to a middle way between these two extremes.
For the coyote in the Warner Brothers’ cartoons, hitting the ground usually meant he was about to get crushed by a boulder and mocked by his quarry, the roadrunner. “Meep meep!”
What does it mean for us?