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Pebble Meditation: Discovering the Buddha Within and the Beauty of the Present Moment
This title has been reviewed for accuracy.
Discovering the Buddha Within: Mindfulness in Every Moment
Thay begins this talk by describing the process of recognizing the Buddha within all of us. Our flowerness, our solidity, our peace, and our freedom are all aspects of the Buddha within. The practice of silence creates in us a mindfulness that allows us to be aware when we’re not in the present moment. When we write down questions that arise while in silence, we find that, in a few days, we have answered most of them ourselves. We listen to Dharma talks not like we listen to a teacher in a classroom—with our intellect. When we listen without thinking, the Dharma talk is like rain falling upon the garden of our consciousness and causes the wholesome seeds there to sprout. The key to sitting in meditation is to relax totally. Any discomfort can be addressed by breathing and adjusting the body mindfully to be more comfortable. To meditate means to produce our true presence. Practicing mindfulness is practicing love. To be truly present is the greatest gift we can give to our beloved. Solitude gives us time to nourish the Buddha within. Small, everyday activities provide opportunities for training in mindfulness. The conditions of our happiness, in each moment, are many.
This is the second talk in a series of five given during the To Be, To Be Free, To Be Happy retreat in the year 1997. Thay offered this talk at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, Rhinebeck, New York, in the United States.
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