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The Sagacious Buddhist Blog.
practical dharma teachings. questions|answers. essays.

answering your questions and teaching on buddhism, dharma, and enlightenment

- new teachings posted every 4 to 16 weeks, please subscribe to receive notifications -

UPDATE: everything's done - I'm becoming a buddhist monk and teacher

In the Spring of 2021, I resigned and gave away all of my worldly possessions and left for Southeast Asia to renounce and ordain as an ascetic forest monk, scholar, and teacher with a special emphasis on Early Buddhist doctrine and discourse (a.k.a., Pre-sectarian Buddhism).

Summer 2021 Update: unfortunately, I was forced to leave Asia and my ordination is temporarily on-hold due to the uncontrolled nature of the COVID19 situation in SE Asia. I am currently taking on new students until I can resume my path. My teachings are donation-based.

Second chances don't come by often; contact me today.

(for those wishing to contribute for the purposes of food, clothing, shelter, or medical care.)

Analytical Meditation: What is it and how to do it - Buddhism Explained (Q&A Part Two)

4/21/2020

5 Comments

A very powerful, yet simple-to-understand practice.

Hi Michael, it's nice to see you again too. Thank you so much for the help. Let me see if I understand it clearly: what I usually end up doing is re-wording the meaning of the text, mainly so I can work with it in my head using my native language. So should I also meditate on the words longer in order to burn the meaning into my core? Would that would be the right thing to do if I don't need to know the exact words?

- Nadia V.

Hi Nadia,

Thank you for your question to clarify your understanding.

We want to move away from recitations and start down the path of analytical meditation to help you get around your short-term memory issues; and rote memorisation does little for our understanding and insight, memory issues or not.

So how do you meditate analytically? While there is a reason entire books and courses are written on this single topic, here is a simple process that you can use to start doing it today.

First of all, what is "analytical meditation" and how is it used?

5 Comments

Dharma: How to Correctly Practice & Study It

4/18/2020

0 Comments

Proper Mindfulness and Meditation Practices

I have a problem with my ability to meditate, in 2015 something happened to me and my short-term memory has been affected ever since, so now I have a really hard time memorising the texts. So, I decided to just keep the texts with me (in-hand) and read them, but it feels so artificial. I had the exact same problem during a recent retreat and I don’t know how to handle it. Should I just make an extra effort until I memorize it all, allowing myself to just "be peaceful" and read, or should I skip the recitation part entirely?

- N. V.

Hi N.,

So nice to see you again.

I can understand how it can be frustrating or feel limiting to have your short-term memory affect your ability to meditate or memorise the buddhadharma. I have good news: it doesn't have to be! May I offer an alternative to "artificially reading" the texts or skipping the recitation part entirely?

The purpose of the Dharma is neither memorisation nor recitation; at least not in its true sense. However, we can use

0 Comments

Row, Row, Row Your (Dharma) Boat...

4/13/2020

4 Comments

a simple sing-along or chant that can be used as a teaching tool or a reminder practice.

This may seem silly and frivolous, but in these challenging times, it's nice to have more fodder for positive thoughts than negative ones, and I know many people are ruminating a lot on what they see as a pretty negative future-state. :(

I was asked by a student to write a short mantra that she could remember to use with her children (and herself) as she saw fit, so I took a ubiquitous and popular children's song and I tweaked and reinterpreted it with deeper Buddhist meanings.

4 Comments

Forgiveness: it's about our relationship with ourself.

4/6/2020

1 Comment

Forgive others, not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace.

Forgiveness is really not about someone else’s harmful behavior; it’s about our relationship with our own past. When we begin to work on forgiveness, it's firstly a self-care practice for ourselves.

Forgiveness and patience are critical to being able to cultivate your ability to develop inner peace-of-mind and happiness.

1 Comment

Author.

Mike Turner Photo Buddhist Analytical Meditation Trainer

Hi! My name is Mike Turner. I'm a Buddhist Ariyapuggala and I've spent over 25 years learning and cultivating what I do, and what I do goes far beyond meditation and dharma.

I work with dedicated Buddhist practitioners to help them attain measurable spiritual progress. This kind of one-on-one training isn't readily available to lay practitioners and I hope to do my part as I prepare to enter into full-time Buddhist monastic life.

My teachings are donation-based and I'm available for serious and dedicated practitioners of meditation-and-dharma to help them overcome the challenges and problems of their daily lives that hold them back from making progress along the path toward Buddhist enlightenment. This isn't hocus-pocus, this is practical- and applied-Buddhism, and your progress will be the result of dedication and effort.

It is worth noting that what is on-offer here is very special. I am a skilled Buddhist Ariyapuggala and I am becoming a full-time Buddhist monk, scholar, and teacher. There are few people outside of authentic Buddhist monasteries who can genuinely offer this kind of applied guidance and advanced coaching to lay practitioners.

Please visit my home page and my about me to learn more about my style and my applied-dharma life coaching.

"The only thing that prevents people from attaining Enlightenment and experiencing Nirvana directly is insufficient instruction and/or practice."

The Sagacious Buddhist Blog.
practical dharma teachings. questions|answers. essays.

Analytical Meditation: What is it and how to do it - Buddhism Explained (Q&A Part Two)

Dharma: How to Correctly Practice & Study It

Row, Row, Row Your (Dharma) Boat...

Forgiveness: it's about our relationship with ourself.

Subscribe.

Categories.
(Spring 2020 and newer only.)

Archives.
(Spring 2020 and newer only.)

Author.

The Sagacious Buddhist Blog.practical dharma teachings. questions|answers. essays.

Analytical Meditation: What is it and how to do it - Buddhism Explained (Q&A Part Two)

Dharma: How to Correctly Practice & Study It

Row, Row, Row Your (Dharma) Boat...

Forgiveness: it's about our relationship with ourself.

Subscribe.

Categories.(Spring 2020 and newer only.)

Archives.(Spring 2020 and newer only.)

Author.

The Sagacious Buddhist Blog.
practical dharma teachings. questions|answers. essays.

Categories.
(Spring 2020 and newer only.)

Archives.
(Spring 2020 and newer only.)