Sooner or later we come to realize that perhaps the most fundamental, and most fundamentally important, fact about any experience is that it depends on the way of looking. That is to say, it is

This mode of approach, of actively cultivating a range of skilful ways of looking, is premised, then, on the understanding that we are always and inevitably engaged in some way of looking at or relating to experience anyway. But we are not usually aware of this fact. Nor are we usually aware of how we … Continued

We could say that the way of looking in any moment is constructed from the total mix of assumptions, conceptions, reactions, and inclinations, gross and subtle, conscious and unconscious, that are present at that time.

Insight meditation, indeed perhaps even the whole of the Dharma, could be conceived, very broadly, as the cultivation of ways of looking that lessen dukkha, that liberate.

Although it will be better understood as the various practices are unfolded, it is perhaps important to make something clear about such an approach right now. What is being suggested here involves much more than an intellectual assertion of the relativity of all perception, and a concomitant inability to uncover any more ultimate truth of … Continued

It may not be obvious for quite a while but any state of samādhi is to some degree a state of letting go, of reduced craving. And the deeper the samādhi, the deeper and more comprehensive the letting go that it involves. As we shall come to see through the insight practices, less craving results … Continued

And when there is a state of agitation or anxiety, we can play with ways of breathing or practising the mettā, and also ways of sensing the breath or mettā, that feel as if they soothe the subtle body and smooth out its energies. Delicately tuning into the felt experience of these qualities of soothing … Continued

keen investigation, reflection, and a pondering of the relationship it has with letting go suggest that it may be more accurate to understand samādhi as a spectrum of states that involve progressively less fabrication than a more ‘ordinary’ state of consciousness involves.

It is the balance of samādhi and insight work that is important and so potentially powerful. Too much samādhi relative to insight practice, and the mind may lose its desire then to contemplate or analyse or shift ways of looking. Too much insight practice relative to samādhi usually tends to enervate the mind and the … Continued

To a degree proportional to its strength, the push and pull of craving pushes and pulls the attention. It thus agitates the mind and makes it restless; or saps its energy and makes it dull. Relaxing craving through insight will therefore allow the mind to settle more naturally and easefully into stillness and a steadiness … Continued

insight is any way of looking that releases craving.

If there is tension, or even pain, in one area of the body, rather than always conceiving of it in anatomical or physiological terms, it can sometimes be more helpful to conceive of and perceive that area in energetic terms, and to play with the perception of lines of energy in order to support a … Continued

Likewise, one may experiment with imagining various luminous lines of energy in the body – for example, between the perineum and the crown of the head, or from the lower belly out through the legs – and sense how any such line of energy supports the whole body to feel upright, open, and energized. The … Continued

The imagination, too, can be skilfully employed in order to gently encourage this sense of pleasure or well-being in the subtle body. While simultaneously pervading the whole body space with an awareness sensitive to the texture and tone of the energy of that whole field, it is possible, for example, to imagine the subtle body … Continued

It is also possible to use the breath or the mettā to help elicit and support the pervasion of this sense of well-being. Simply sensitizing to, and enjoying, the way we feel the energetic resonances of the mettā or the breath throughout the whole space of the body – opening to and finding delight in … Continued

perspectives, and you feel that the power of your insight generally outweighs that of the hindrances. If you feel that this is not yet the case, however, repeated, careful observation of the processes involved can contribute to making it so. The following exercise may therefore be helpful. Practice: Investigating what is being fabricated through the … Continued