Quotes from Joseph Goldstein

Actions of the Mind The last three unskillful actions the Buddha pointed out are actions of mind. These are subtler than actions of body or speech and take keen investigation to explore and understand. The first of them is covetousness, the wanting mind, the feeling that we never have enough.

There is a revealing phrase in English regarding this mind state: we say someone is "plagued by doubt." Doubt is like a plague that weakens us. When doubt is strong, instead of making the experiment, whether in meditation or anything else, and engaging fully in the experience so that we can see for ourselves whether it is beneficial or not, the mind simply gets lost in endless speculation.

In short, the five aggregates of clinging are dukkha.

Whenever we are mindful of a physical sensation — hardness, softness, pressure, vibration, heat, cold, lightness, heaviness — we are contemplating the first aggregate.

The fourth of his insights that allowed him to triumph in his situation was the understanding that hatred, anger, and ill will never cease if we react with the same kind of feelings.

Whatever has the nature to arise will also pass away.

In this very straightforward teaching, the Buddha helps us understand the practice of freedom with a mature and long-ranging vision. Freedom is not simply doing what we want when we want it. That is addiction. Freedom is the wisdom to choose wisely.

BALANCING THE SPIRITUAL FACULTIES Mindfulness also works to balance what the Buddha called "the five spiritual faculties": faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom.

We are each going to die alone. It is necessary to come to terms with our basic aloneness, to become comfortable with it. The mind can become strong and peaceful in that understanding, making possible a beautiful communion with others. When we understand ourselves, then relationships become easy and meaningful

When the mind is silent, relaxed and attentive, pain is experienced not as a solid mass but as a flow, arising and vanishing moment to moment.

THE FOUR REFLECTIONS Precious Human Birth The first of the mind-changing reflections contemplates the preciousness of our human birth.

Courage is energized by challenges; it is inspired by difficult tasks and even seeks them out. When courage is present, we rise to meet different challenges for the sake of what we want to accomplish, and we're not discouraged by thought of hardship or by the length of the undertaking.

For a long time in my meditation practice I felt embarrassed and ashamed when I saw unwholesome states in my own mind, states like pride or jealousy, ill will or selfishness; and instead of examining them and working free of them, I would judge myself and dig the hole I was in even deeper.

WE MOVE FROM THE FIRST OF THE TEACHINGS OF ALL THE Buddhas, doing no harm, to the second: acting for the good. This principle of One Dharma, common to all traditions, highlights the positive actions we undertake both for our own welfare and for the benefit and well-being of others.

Defects of Samsara The fourth reflection that turns our minds toward the Dharma is the reflection on the defects of samsara. Samsara is a Pali and Sanskrit word that means "perpetual wandering," or the wandering through the endless cycles of existence.

An interviewer once asked Mother Teresa what she says to God when she prays. "I don't say anything," she replied. "I just listen." Then the interviewer asked her what God says to her. "He doesn't say anything," said Mother Teresa. "He just listens. And if you don't understand that, I can't explain it to you."1

The Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa, expressed it well: Live, you say, in the present; Live only in the present. But I don't want the present. I want reality; . . . I only want reality, things without time present.3 And the Buddha

SIX SKILLFUL ACTIONS Generosity heads almost every list of actions for the good. For many people it is the easiest one to appreciate and develop because it brings such immediate delight to our lives. Generosity enacts the quality of nongreed; it is a willingness to give, to share, to let go. It may be the giving of time, energy, resources, love, and even, in rare cases, one's own life for the benefit and welfare of others.

Mindfulness in this aspect is the quality of bare attention, of noninterfering awareness, which we're familiar with from our enjoyment of music. When we're listening to the music, our minds are open and attentive, not attempting to control what comes next, not reflecting on the notes just past. There is a great power when we learn how to listen; it is this quality of receptivity that allows intuitive wisdom to arise. An

Hearing the Dharma and sharing it with others is the fifth skillful action. Words have power, and many people have become enlightened simply by attentive listening to the teachings. Listening itself is an art.

When we see something pleasant, we want to hold on, not understanding the impermanence of it all. As soon as we become mindful, paying attention to what's happening, seeing how everything is arising and passing away, the grasping and greed decreases. There's nothing to hold onto. It's all bubbles. And the experience of impermanence, the dissolving of the solidity of everything, brings about the letting go, the state of non-attachment.

The second skillful action is morality (sila in Pali). In his praise of Ghatikara above, the Buddha Kassapa reiterates the five basic precepts of nonharming: refraining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and taking intoxicants.

When sila is strong, we are saying with our actions that no one need fear us. This is one of the greatest contributions we can give to the world, for our nonharming offers the gift of safety and trust to all those around us. And last, morality brings us the peace of nonremorse.

One of the oldest recitations of faith in Buddhism is taking refuge in what is called the Triple Gem: the Buddha himself, that person who awakened under the Bodhi Tree twenty-five hundred years ago; the Dharma, the truth, the law, and the body of teachings; and the Sangha, which means, in particular, the order of monks and nuns and, more generally, the community of wise beings. "I take refuge in the Buddha, I take refuge in the Dharma, I take refuge in the Sangha.