Buddhism On the Go

🔥 WAD Practice 02: The Fire of Attention (AI GENERATED) A contemplative craft for transforming distraction into luminous presence 📍 Context If trust and doubt are the thread of practice, then attention is the fire that shapes it. Early Buddhist teachings often liken sammā-sati (right mindfulness) to a fire that watches, refines, and burns away delusion. Not with violence—but with unwavering warmth. This practice invites you to work with the inner fire — that which sees without clinging, feels without being consumed, and transforms ordinary moments into clear presence. ✨ Materials (Optional but Symbolic) A candle or small flame (real or visualized) A bowl of water (for contrast) Paper and pencil, or any craft surface A space where you can observe light without distraction 🔥 Practice: The Fire of Attention Enter with Stillness Sit quietly. Light your candle (or imagine a small flame). Let your breath become ...

🧵 WAD Practice 01: Threading Trust and Doubt A quiet practice for subtle insight 📍 Context In Wild Artisan Dialectics, we begin not with fixed beliefs but with the tension that lives in every seeker’s heart: trust and doubt. These are not enemies—they are threads of the same inquiry. Trust pulls us forward. Doubt holds us still. But between them—reflection begins. This first practice invites you to hold both threads gently , without forcing resolution. ✨ Materials (Optional but Symbolic) A simple piece of thread, twine, or string A needle (or use your fingers if preferred) Two small objects to anchor either end: a stone, a leaf, a paper tag A quiet place and 15 minutes of undisturbed time 🪡 Practice: The Threading Settle Yourself Sit quietly. Let the body soften. Close the eyes for a few breaths, listening to what is present in the heart. Name Your Threads Take one end of the thread. W...

The Middle Way Revisited Subtitle A close reading of two essential discourses that illuminate the Middle Way through the dynamics of arising and cessation. What truly defines the Middle Way in Early Buddhism? This post explores two profound discourses from the Early Buddhist canon—one by Ven. S ā riputta and one by Ven. Mah ā kacc ā na — that illuminate the Middle Way through the interdependent processes of origination ( upp ā da ) and cessation ( nirodha ). Far from metaphysical speculation or mere ethical moderation, this Middle Way reveals a radical vision of causality, impermanence, and liberation. With special attention to the doctrine of pa ṭ iccasamupp ā da ( dependent arising) and its cessation, we uncover how these teachings point beyond both eternalism and annihilationism, opening the path to awakening. The Two Discourses: Context and Contrast The teachings of Ven. S ā riputta and Ven. Mah ā kacc ā na each offer a window into how the Middle Way unfolds in lived...

Living Cessation There’s a candle on the altar. Its flame dances—not in protest, but in revelation. In Early Buddhist thought, this image holds a subtle yet profound distinction: cessation is not annihilation. To cease is not to be destroyed. A flame, when extinguished with mindfulness, leaves no smoke, no scatter—just the absence of heat and hunger. Annihilation, on the other hand, is rupture: the smashing of form, the shattering of continuity. One is relinquishment, the other eradication. So often we think freedom comes through conquest—through silencing, deleting, ending. But the Buddha’s path suggests another way: stepwise dissolution, like snow disappearing under morning light. Suffering ends not with a bang, but with a letting go so complete that even the desire to let go evaporates. This is not a denial of life. It is its fulfillment—where nothing needs to be carried anymore.  

Whell of Inner Cultivation Let’s unfold how the Four Bh ā van ā interweave with the Iriy ā patha Pabba (the section on the four postures), especially within the K ā y ā nupassan ā of the Mah ā satipa ṭṭ h ā na Sutta . Here’s a way they can be integrated as both practice and mandalic symbolism: 1. K ā ya Bh ā van ā × Iriy ā patha Pabba This is the most direct convergence. The Buddha instructs practitioners to be aware while walking, standing, sitting, or lying down —not just during formal meditation, but throughout movement and rest. Bh ā van ā View : K ā ya Bh ā van ā becomes the cultivation of continuity—noticing the transitions between postures as the body expresses impermanence ( anicca ), non-ownership ( anatt ā ), and the absence of enduring identity. Symbolic Layer : Each posture embodies an entry point : Standing : alert receptivity Walking : momentum and unfolding Sitting : settled awareness Lying down : surrender and death-practice 2. S ī la ...

The Whell of Inner Cultivation In a world fraying at the edges—where minds are overextended and souls undernourished—there is a gentler architecture waiting. Not a self-help formula or a mental hack, but a path of cultivation. The P ā li word is bh ā van ā , often translated as “development,” but more evocatively: the art of making something become. It is a practice of tending—of heart, of conduct, of insight, of breath. Four limbs of inner stewardship: k ā ya, s ī la, citta, paññ ā . Together, they form a mandala of renewal. K ā ya Bh ā van ā – The Body Remembered The body is not a container or a machine. It is weather, rhythm, memory. In Kāya Bhāvanā, we return to this sensing terrain—not to master it, but to dwell within it skillfully. Breath becomes a gate. Posture becomes language. We begin to feel the subtle field of tensions, holding, softening. It’s not therapy, yet it is therapeutic. Walking meditation soothes dissociation. Sitting brings clarity to chaos. In the Sati...