Jhana: The Buddhist Search For Focused Equanimity.

‘The physical material of the universal itself is not necessarily morally corrupt as it exists, but rather is made so by a mind projecting a distorted meaning onto, and into it. However, as the karmic fruits of an individual actually ‘pull’ a physical world into place, even morally inert matter is designed, through circumstance, to create experiences relevant to the karmic root actions themselves. Early Buddhism envisages 31 such states of existence that are only transcended through the experience of enlightenment at the point of the death of the last karmically inspired physical existence. Until that time, the mind appears to ‘burn’ with sensation and obsessive thought patterns that inspire actions that inevitably lead to further effects. This mechanism that sees the mind fabric intimately entwined with the physical world, has to be prevent from functioning in an unquestioned manner. The power of habit moves in one perpetuating direction, as like a piece of metal drawn to a strong magnet. Habitual tendencies appear ‘normal’ because they are familiar. Delusion is a comfortable state that ‘hurts’ those residing within it. The pain of delusion is never associated with the ‘delusion’ itself. The human will (cetana) is the Buddha’s key to suffering and its over-coming.’

Anapanasati: Breath-Mindfulness.

‘Bare attention contains the breath in the cultivated stage. In the uncultivated, ordinary stage, the breath appears as a separate object outside of the awareness itself. Awareness and breath in the latter stage are not obviously connected or entwined in any usable sense. The two entities happen to exist in a single body, with no integrated common aim. Breath meditation is the means to unite these aspects and focus them toward the goal of mind development.’

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