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Five Steps Before Enlightenment: Part 4 – Volitional/Mental Formations (Sankhāra)
Today we are diving even deeper in our mental world. Volitional or mental formations are subtler than the previous aggregates, making them harder to notice without meditation experience. Once we’ve felt something and labeled it, a mental impulse arises, driving us toward action. This entire process can occur in less than a second. For example,…
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Five Steps Before Enlightenment: Part 3 – Perceptions (Sañña)
After feelings, we get to a more refined process, that is a little harder to observe with a mind not trained. Perceptions are the recognition and identification of objects, sounds, sensations, or mental impressions based on prior experiences. Simply put perceptions are our interpretations, judgments, and labels we place on our experiences, shaped by our…
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Five Steps Before Enlightenment: Part 2 – Feelings (Vedana)
Yesterday, we explored how attachment to the body (rupa) manifests and how practice can help transcend this attachment. Today, we will apply the same approach to the second type of attachment: feelings, or Vedana in Pali. Feelings refer to the felt quality of our experiences—sensations that arise as we interact with the world. We often…
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Five Steps Before Enlightenment: Part 1 – Rupa (Body)
What is enlightenment?Enlightenment means freedom from suffering, attachment, and ignorance. It’s the liberation that comes when we stop clinging to things—both physical and mental—that cause pain and confusion. Suffering exists because we ignorantly chase after fleeting pleasures where no lasting joy can be found. Along the way, we get attached. But when most people think…
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6 reasons why your mindfulness practice does not work
Intro Mindfulness—this beautiful practice of being in the present moment! Have you heard about mindfulness and meditation, tried it and figured out that it is not as easy as it may have been portrayed? Or you are a long time practitioner, but you feel stuck? Let’s try to explore reasons why! Prologue Let’s set an…
The Courage to Break Free
What If the Truth You Cling to Is Holding You Back? Three Stages of Understanding: To Learn, To Break Free, and To Transform Introduction: Is Your Path a Stepping Stone or a Cage? What if the truth you hold so tightly—the teachings, the methods, the philosophy—has become the very thing keeping you stuck? Many people…
Discover the Light within 