MORALITY – THE FIRST AND LAST TRAINING… and embodies all steps in between. Training in morality has as its domain all the physical, verbal, and mental behaviors belonging to every single aspect of life that is not explicitly meditative. These are all trainings in morality: To life a good life. Improving our physical health. Exercising. […]
1 – The Three Trainings that are Essential to One’s Path to Liberation Read More »
The three characteristics of Impermanence, Dissatisfactoriness, and No-self are so central to the Buddha’s teachings. Every single time I say, “Understand the true nature of things,” what I mean is, “Directly perceive the three characteristics.” To perceive them thoroughly and directly is to be Awakened. The big message here is: drop the stories. Find a
2 – The Three Characteristics – Impermanence, Dissatisfactoriness, and No-self Read More »
The five spiritual faculties are said to be like a cart with four wheels and a driver. If any of the four wheels is too small, wobbly, or not in balance with the others, then the going on the spiritual road will be rough. The four wheels symbolize faith, wisdom, energy, and concentration. If the
5 – THE FIVE SPIRITUAL FACULTIES Read More »
The seven factors of awakening are: 1) mindfulness 2) investigation 3) energy 4) rapture 5) tranquility 6) concentration 7) equanimity We have three concepts from the five spiritual faculties (mindfulness, energy, and concentration) and four that seem new but have already been touched on to some degree. The order here is closely related to the
6 – THE SEVEN FACTORS OF AWAKENING Read More »
The scopes of the three trainings of Impermanence, dissatisfaction, and Anatta – No self HAPPINESS First, I will consider happiness in the context of the scopes of the three trainings. Since training in morality is such a vast subject, the ways we can find happiness is also a vast subject, and becomes interesting primarily in
7 – The Scopes of the Three Trainings Read More »
THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS there is: 1) Suffering or dis-satisfactoriness 2) The cause of suffering 3) The end of suffering 4) The path that leads to the end of suffering. The fourth noble truth is The Buddha’s Noble Eight-fold Path that leads to suffering’s cessation: 1. Right view 2. Right intention 3. Right speech 4.
8 – THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS Read More »
While our practice generally has some aspects of insight and concentration mixed together, in this section I will mostly talk more about what practice may look like when we try to stay towards the concentration side of things, that of the smooth, flowing, pleasant, more apparently stable states that concentration practice can produce. ~~~ Regardless
11 – THE CONCENTRATION STATES (SHAMATHA JHANAS) Read More »
The second shamatha jhana is like the first, a seemingly solidified mind state. With the dropping of almost all applied and sustained effort, the rapture and happiness/joy factors created by concentration can really predominate. Thus, whereas the first jhana requires you to make effort to pay attention to maintain it, the second jhana has much
12 – THE SECOND SHAMATHA JHANA Read More »
If the meditator decides to go on to the third shamatha jhana, this can be achieved by just cultivating the second jhana more deeply and eventually noticing that the rapture or emotional “wow factor” of that state eventually becomes annoying, distasteful, agitating, or even boring. and what is left is a more cool “bodily” bliss
13 – THE THIRD SHAMATHA JHANA Read More »
If practitioners wish to go on to the fourth shamatha jhana, they cultivate the third jhana and begin to pay attention to the fact that even the cool bodily bliss is somewhat irritating or noisy, and that the mind is still not as spacious and evenly balanced across the field of experience as it could
14 – THE FOURTH SHAMATHA JHANA Read More »
Maui Marrying Man – Making Dreams Come True on Maui’s Romantic Beaches.
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Our business was doing great, but we still couldn’t afford to buy a house or a condo. Renting in Maui for another 30 years was not an option we wanted to take. Then, Bobbie Jo suggested we buy a sailboat that is comfortable to cruise and live in. By the end of January, we started looking for our new home.
After a long search, we found our dream boat in Mazatlan, Mexico. COVID-19 was not yet a concern when our boat hunt began, but masks were starting to appear at airports by the time we flew to Mazatlan. Originally, we had planned to get the boat ready as fast as possible to cover a full calendar for the busy wedding season. However, it was apparent our business was going to tank amid the pandemic, and the struggle went on until the end of the year.
Luckily, we scored an awesome condo for only $19 a day at Mazatlan. On the 10th day of our stay, we received the news that all harbors will be closed the next Monday morning. We thought we’d be stuck in Mexico longer, but another sailor advised us to leave before sunrise.
We felt the adrenalin of escaping the Mexican harbor master just before the sun rose that faithful day. The seas were rough as waves were building up in the tight channel that led us to the open ocean. We ended up anchored off an adorable little isle just a mile offshore. We enjoyed cruising to many spectacular anchorages and cute villages on our way to Puerto Vallarta, where we would depart for Maui on May 7. On May 30, 2020, we completed our 24-day passage from Mexico to Maui.
