Latest posts
-
The Need to Escape: Understanding the Buddhist Roots of Distraction
Key Takeaways 1. Introduction Distraction has become a defining feature of modern life. Many people find themselves reaching for their phones dozens of times each day, losing hours to scrolling through social media, or struggling to complete simple tasks without their attention wandering elsewhere. While technology has certainly made distraction more accessible, the underlying tendency…
-
The Buddhist Way of Dealing with Regret: Transforming the Past into a Peaceful Present
Key Takeaways 1. Introduction Regret can be a heavy feeling. It is the mental discomfort we experience when we look back at our past and believe we made a wrong choice. “I should have been kinder,” “I wish I hadn’t said that,” or “If only I had taken that opportunity.” These thoughts can replay in…
-
Setting Intentions with the Buddhist Mindset
Key Takeaways 1. Introduction: Why Intention Matters Every morning, before we have even opened our eyes, the mind is already stirring with inclinations, tendencies, and impulses. Some are subtle, a vague sense of what the day might hold. Others are more pronounced – a specific plan, a worry, a hope. In Buddhist teaching, these movements…
-
Abhidhamma Explained Simply: A Guide to the Buddhist Psychology of Experience
Key Takeaways 1. Introduction to the Higher Teaching The word Abhidhamma translates as “Higher Teaching” or “Higher Doctrine” [Abhidhamma]. While the Buddha’s general discourses, collected in the Sutta Piṭaka, often used stories, parables, and everyday examples to point toward inner peace, this third collection of texts takes a markedly more analytical and systematic approach. If…
-
112 Contemplations for Buddhist Psychology
A modern synthesis drawn from the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, Theravāda Abhidhamma, and Mahayana mind‑training texts. These contemplations aim to be faithful in spirit to their source traditions while offering a practical, psychologically accessible curriculum for contemporary readers. They are offered as humble tools for direct investigation, not as absolute dogma. 1–12: Establishing Mindfulness 1. Mindfulness of…
-
Buddhist Psychology: Understanding the Mind’s Patterns
Key Takeaways Introduction Buddhist psychology offers a profound and practical framework for understanding the mind’s patterns, especially how mental habits contribute to suffering and how they can be transformed. Unlike many Western psychological approaches that separate intellect from emotion or treat symptoms in isolation, Buddhist psychology views the mind as an interconnected whole where thoughts,…