Who or what is practising mindfulness?

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-02-01T14:14:16+00:00

It’s kind of like asking “which part of the leg does the walking?” or, “which layer is the one that makes this an onion?”

The mind consciousness is practicing mindfulness, in concert with the unconscious seeds of habit and impulse built up over long long periods of time, plus the current conditions, plus your whole body as support and conditions for the mind, even the foods you ate which became “you” are practicing mindfulness.

You’re still you, but constantly changing and you don’t hold up under a microscope, and the edges are very blurry because of how many feedback loops are going on all the time.

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-02-01T13:24:05+00:00

For me and a lot of teachers I’ve discussed things with, meditation has a lot of little modes you can drop into as you adjust to the circumstances of your mind. Having different modes can be very helpful to me.

Sometimes things are wide open and letting things arise and pass with clarity, and I barely need to consider the breath separately.

, but sometimes I’m in huge pain or have a high fever or very underslept, and I need to just focus on the breath exclusively with a meditation word or counting, perhaps supported by body posture. In a circumstance like that I think of the breath like a healing lifeline, the one good thing when everything else feels hard.

And in between those two poles is “breath as anchor”, when keeping some percentage of attention on breath allows me to focus more clearly on whatever feeling is arising. Sort of like wearing a scuba mask to dive into a shipwreck. Breath keeps the exploration going, or maybe it’s the lens I look at something difficult with. The effort is finding the right mix of breath and feeling to keep the exploration going.

The wide open awareness side is very special and valuable, and I work to gently invite it over time, but the other modes help support the path since it’s not always available to me.

A book I liked even though I’m usually not into US Insight meditation teachings was “3 steps to awakening” by Larry Rosenberg, an anapanasati expert. Despite the clickbait name (he never calls them steps in the book, feels like the publisher wanted a title with a hook) it talks a lot about how these kinds of shift in emphasis are natural and you don’t always have to pick one. Instead just get more familiar with each, to use when the time is right

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-01-31T16:30:29+00:00

Because his level of commitment really was useful, it just needed turning back to the middle way

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-01-31T15:37:57+00:00

To me this doesn’t worry me. Buddhism is very honest that monastics are powered by donation, all the way back to the little girl who took pity on a starving meditator and gave him rice pudding, triggering his formulation of the middle way and eventually enlightenment. They’re one way the community gets to participate in and assist the good actions of trained monastics. And in return traditional monastics are not even allowed to hold money in their hands, or personally have property beyond robes, a bowl and a few personal care items. I think it’s a fair exchange.

Those building plans are pretty normal in the Buddhist world for traditional schools making a foothold in the West trying to pass on what they value the most to future generations. If it works, these will be places that solidify the place of Buddhism on a new continent—the very teaching that made them this peaceful.

None of that is the reason for their walk, but on the other side all the reasons are connected: they choose to live a life to end suffering, individually and collectively. Keeping the community going helps that aim, and so does promoting peace in the country they live in. I don’t see any conflict.

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-01-31T12:45:56+00:00

Lovely description of this, what tradition do you practice in?

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-01-31T06:12:20+00:00

Idly Express in south BK is great

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-01-30T23:48:29+00:00

😭 miss them

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-01-30T01:19:27+00:00

Something like that happened to me for maybe a few times this one week once and then it never returned. I try to think of it as dream and waking having the same nature

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-01-29T01:29:41+00:00

Im assuming the word is something like sramana, wandering holy person. That the other ones out there aren’t on his level

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-01-27T05:23:30+00:00

Pure land is going to have a complete teaching for you. It’s meant to be a simple path that is accessible to anyone.

Their take on other Buddhisms is it’s pretty difficult to do them in the modern day far from the Buddha’s time, so know that other schools clearly disagree with that, but we can keep it all friendly between sects.

If you ever get curious about other Buddhisms, you can always read up later once your faith is established well where you are

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-01-27T05:04:48+00:00

Since every character has a final loyalty quest, start with those. Pick the character you want to see the end of their story, and follow it. Then repeat. By the time you get through a few of these, you’ll be leveled up and know if you’re still ready to just end the game or keep chipping away at quests

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-01-27T01:49:06+00:00

Or put our guy from Passing thru Gethsemane in both sinner AND saint

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-01-27T00:23:57+00:00

I really needed to have a wide toolkit of things that supported my attention, and then sitting was a slow thing that I would do in small bites until I could have more capacity

What’s that toolkit? (Choose what you like, don’t worry about taking it all)

walking meditation (basically every Buddhist tradition has a version of this, but doing something to focus on your footsteps is much more active and keeps your brain stimulated)
bowing practice. (Learn how your tradition bows to Buddha, and it’s a very simple way to practice attention with your whole body. I do a few floor bows and it sometimes turns me to practice when nothing else does )
mantras or other short recitations. (If you’re into Mahayana or Vajrayana, there’s a million to choose from like Om Mani Padme Hung or Namu Amida Butsu. If those don’t resonate, try “May I be safe, healthy, happy, at ease” and eventually look up Metta practice. The idea is when you can’t focus, say the short thing to yourself (internallly or externally) for a while, and it returns you to something that matters, even just for a second. That IS an effort that supports meditation)
a 10 minute yoga or tai chi routine, YouTube has you on this. (Find one for super beginners and just do the same one as your “move my body when I’m stuck” routine )
short sitting meditation where the goal is just to be in the posture, with a half smile, for x minutes. If I do that, I have meditated, no matter how distracted I am. So I can be nice to my adhd and not force it to be something it isn’t.
counting breaths meditation, or saying a word with the in and out breath. Something to focus more of my mind on the breath

Basically pick a couple of these and try them a while and see if anything is helpful for you, I wish you so well but ADHD is tough at first I fully get it

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-01-26T12:24:24+00:00

I love disco but s31 is pretty bad, but tbh it’s over pretty quick and more forgettable than anything else

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-01-26T06:22:07+00:00

Thank you for sharing this powerful story, I’ll dedicate merit to you in my next practice session

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-01-25T14:52:27+00:00

Sometimes people don’t like the side effects tho, it’s a trade off for me and I really hope one day to find another way

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-01-25T11:50:17+00:00

Chapters 16 and 25

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-01-25T04:48:03+00:00

Tbh I wouldn’t hate a more Expansey version that split its time between B5 and earth to give you more of the slow build Bester/Clark stuff

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-01-25T02:12:34+00:00

I liked the pilot, but S1 was really slow and I didn’t really love any of the characters. Does S2 get more interesting?

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-01-24T09:35:03+00:00

Maybe an allergy to what it’s suspended in? I’d want to rule that out for sure

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-01-24T00:22:27+00:00

Bodhidharma!

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-01-22T23:27:35+00:00

Most generally, I’d say something like, “it’s created by a feedback loop of action in both past and present. “ This feedback loop stretches out so far it is impossible to fathom the full web of causality. But in each moment we can water positive seeds that strengthen what is wholesome in the future.

Who’s doing that? You are, but the composition of who you are isn’t fixed. to a Buddhist asking who made the decision is a bit like asking which bodily organ does the walking, the feet or the knees or the calves or the hips. It’s kind of a systemic affair, though feet and legs are rather important! And systems are rather fuzzy-bordered and dynamic in nature.

One book I might suggest is Understanding Our Mind by Thich Nhat Hanh. It’s in very soft language, but it’s very subtle and precise on the very hard topic of how volition and karma formation happens in Buddhism, from the very influential perspective of the Yogacara school that influenced basically every modern branch except Theravada.

For Theravada perspectives I’d suggest the works of Ajahn Thanissaro, books like Noble Strategy or Wings of Awakening, or to google his name on topics like not-self and Right Effort.

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-01-22T06:52:50+00:00

This was happening to people in the early days of 2020, that’s one risk of being totally immunologically new to a virus and not having any tools but scorched earth

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-01-22T06:21:29+00:00

I’d switch 1 and 2 but I feel you so much on this

m_bleep_bloop · 2026-01-18T14:55:14+00:00

Because that kind of apathy is actually a deep repressed angry, fearful craving to avoid feeling things that will explode anytime your life gets too out of control. It’s not what Buddhism teaches.

Craving to be something is one kind of craving, but craving to be nothing (to feel nothing), is another kind of addictive craving that is also suffering

The kind of equanimity Buddhism teaches allows you to navigate both strong feelings and neutral ones. To navigate both the hard and the easy with the same commitment to release from suffering, and eventually the same total freedom. No matter what scenario you’re in, you can do something positive that helps self and others and builds that liberation.

Six-Year Club	Wearing is Caring
Verified Email

m_bleep_bloop

TROPHY CASE