Bodhipaksa
Apr 22, 2011
Om tweet om
This photograph was taken on a recent retreat.
I love the tenderness of the little bird sitting in the Buddha’s left hand as he meditates. It says something about the gentle kind of effort that’s required in meditation. An image I used to use in my teaching — but which I had forgotten about until this moment — was that the quality of effort we use in meditation aims toward the kind of effort we’d make in holding a baby bird. We don’t want to hold our attention so firmly that we crush our sensitivity, but we also don’t want to hold our attention so gently that the object of meditation flies away.
KindleAbout Bodhipaksa
Bodhipaksa is a Buddhist practitioner, writer, and teacher, and is also the founder of Wildmind. His most recent book, Living as a River, was published by Sounds True in October, 2010.
Bodhipaksa teaches at Aryaloka Buddhist Center in Newmarket, New Hampshire. He muses, rants, and shares random aspects of his life on his blog at bodhipaksa.com. You can follow Bodhipaksa on Twitter, join him on Facebook, or hang out with him on the super-cool Google+.
Bodhipaksa has published many guided meditation CDs and many guided meditation MP3s. Read more articles by Bodhipaksa.
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