u/Prudent_Pattern_1824

EDIT: Thank you to ALL of you that have responded. I appreciate the time, effort, consideration and compassion that I have seen in your responses. My apologies for not being clear on my experience to begin with. I am going to try to get in touch with Wat Metta tonight and hear their thoughts on the matter- as per some responders' suggestion. To all who were confused by the post, if you have any recommendations on how I can be clearer so that when I call them, I don't sound like a crazy person, your input would be greatly appreciated either in the comments or in a DM. Again, thank you all so much.

Hello All! I was wondering if anyone may have some advice or wisdom in regard to a rather distracting phenomenon during my breath meditation. I have scoured Thanissaro Bhikkhu's book With Each and Every Breath and read his advice on this particular issue multiple times, but I just can't seem to implement it.

Here is the context and issue: Every morning I go out to a field under a beautiful live oak tree and practice breath meditation. After about 4 months of doing this consistently, I feel like I am finally starting to really get the hang of it. My breath stays within the confines of the body and I can focus on breathing with the body in and of itself within about 20 minutes. The past couple weeks this focus has been accompanied by my arms raising slowly into the air. It feels very, very good at first to be honest, but I made sure not to focus this particular aspect and stayed with the breath. Tried my best to ignore it and let the feeling just sort of do its thing. However, the tension after a few minutes in my arms is extremely distracting. My arms, as I type this, are still shaking. The other day it felt as though they were literally going to explode. Like an overfull balloon. Today, my body felt like it just completely disappeared with the exception of my lower arms and hands, which were shaking very hard. I don't like this. Partially because I have epilepsy and the shaking is uncomfortable but also because I am trying to reach a state of "oneness" with the body. I feel as though I am on the precipice of being able to do this but how am I supposed to do that when my actual body seems to disappear into the ethos except for my lower arms and hands? I do know that these things are perceptions, but they are perceptions that are extremely hard to shake off.

Is there anyone here that has any experience with this particular issue and has been able to implement a practice to sort of overcome it? I am not sure I can progress further in my meditation practice until I can resolve this is some way.

Thank you!

Peace and Metta,

Samantha

Hello All! I have come to realize a large hindrance to my practice, and I was hoping to see if the community had some advice. Maybe someone has been through the same thing and has overcome it. Or can view the situation objectively and see how I might be able to improve.

I am an adaptable social person. In many cases, one would argue that this is a good thing. But for me, it means becoming what the situation needs and, often times, that means things like idle chatter and unnecessary conversation. Before Buddhism, I was pretty proud of this. I knew instinctively exactly what a situation needed in order for it to run smoothly and I could harmonize through improvisation. Depending on where I was and who I was with I could be an introspective listener, a mediator, a devil's advocate, a comedian, a long winded intellectual (my personal favorite) etc.

The problem that I am having is that now I have a couple consistent social circles (that are necessary in my personal daily life), and these traits are sort of expected of me at this point. And since it is instinctual to me to fill in the social gaps, I sort of automatically fall into the role, rather than be heedful of what I say. In fact, as soon as I start thinking about what I will say, I can ruin social momentum in 2 seconds flat. I do not gossip or speak ill of others ever. But I am a chatter box with these two particular groups of people. And they notice when I am not openly. For example, I had an excellent meditation session a couple of days ago that brought me a lot of peace. I didn't feel the need to speak at all and when I did, it was calmly and quietly. And every person asked if I was sick or upset or something similar. The continual awkwardness of the whole thing made me feel obliged to let go of my inner peace so as to keep the outer peace.

Has anyone ever encountered this particular problem before and, if so, how did you fight against it? Or does anyone know anybody like this and how did you feel about them? Were they annoying to you? If I thought I was annoying to others, that might help lol.

Thank you!

Hello All!

I was wondering if anyone in this group has studied Pali to a very high level and, if so, are there any textbook recommendations for further study. I am currently working through "A New Course in Reading Pali: Entering the Word of the Buddha" but once I am finished with it, I am not sure where to go from that point. I believe, once I am finished, I should be at an intermediate level in my ability to actually read the Pali language, but with huge gaps in vocabulary. I have a large Pali-English dictionary to prepare for this aspect.

I am just wondering if I should simply start getting Pali texts and translating them, learning vocabulary while doing so? Or are there other actual textbooks that people have used and would recommend for the next step in this amazing journey?

Metta,

Samantha

UPDATE: All books have been requested. However, I hope to continue to do this once a month, assuming there are more books to give. Thank you all!

Hello All! I am back with another book drop for the month of July. Again, these are absolutely free- no shipping costs, no nothing. Books are in great condition. I simply have gotten everything I can out of them. Last time I did this, people had trouble DMing me on the platform. So, my email is sam.faith425@gmail.comThere are four books up for grabs. They are as follows:

"In the Buddha's Words" by Bhikkhu Bodhi- Great book for if you are just getting into Buddhism and want to learn the basics via the suttas. Excellent standard anthology. This was my very first Buddhist book and I very much enjoyed it.

"Buddhist Romanticism" by Thanissaro Bhikkhu- Anyone can read this; however, I think history nerds with a slight conspiratorial bend will appreciate this most. It is an in-depth analysis of how the ideology of Romanticism somehow got mingled together with Buddhism, basically muddying the waters of Buddhist teachings- especially in the West. Thanissaro does a great job of delving into the history of Romanticism, specifically its founders and its teachings. I hadn't even heard of most of the historical figures except for Schiller, I believe. He then goes on to compare and contrast the two different ideologies. It's an interesting read that covers a topic you don't normally hear about.

"Undaunted" by Thanissaro Bhikkhu- A great work that talks about the Buddha's teachings on illness, aging and death. I found the chapters that covered giving care, grief and how to deal with pain/illness to be very helpful in my particular situation. **Now Unavailable**

"Into the Stream" by Thanissaro Bhikkhu- A basic study guide on the first stage of awakening- stream entry. I found this book very useful in that it was a good reminder to me of what was important to focus on. Sometimes I would get caught up in different theories or semantics or something to that effect and really sort of forget the goal or what I should actually be DOING to further the practice. Then I would pick up this book randomly, flip through it and think, "Oh yeah... this is what I am supposed to be focused on...." lol It's been very helpful

Send me an email if you are interested and we can work something out!

Peace and metta,

Samantha

UPDATE: I have found takers for the books. I will have more books available come next month as well.

Morning All!

I have numerous books that I would like to give away to someone who is interested in studying Buddhism. The vast majority of these were given to me by Metta Forest Monastery as a book request. These particular ones are simply ones I have read through, and I have gotten all out of them that I could. Some books have slight wear (you can tell it's been read and opened often because the cover may be slightly bent) but are otherwise in excellent condition.

"On The Path- An Anthology on the Noble Eightfold Path Drawn from the Pali Canon" by Thanissaro Bhikkhu~ I can't recommend this book enough, especially if you are new to Buddhism. The title says it all and it's a great reference book as well. Very well organized and easy to look up suttas on specific topics. Highly recommend

I also have a couple of biographies by Ajaan Dick Silaratano. The first is "Uncommon Wisdom- Life and Teachings of Ajaan Pannavaddho" which I found to be very insightful. The second is "Mae Chee Kaew- Her Journey to Spiritual Awakening and Enlightenment" which I found to be inspiring and relatable.

I have two books of Essays by Thanissaro Bhikkhu- "Purity of Heart" and "Noble Strategy"

I have one book of teachings from Upasika Kee Nanayon called "An Unentangled Knowing- The Teachings of a Thai Buddhist Lay Woman" This book was translated from Thai by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

Lastly, I have a hardcopy edition of the Pali Primer by Lily de Silva/The Vipassana Research Institute. It does not include the answer key, but that is easily accessible online. This book looks the most worn of all of them, even though I didn't get very far. I, personally, wasn't able to learn much from this intro course because my learning style doesn't suit it, though many others have lots of praise for it. The style just didn't stick with me personally. I have gotten way further in my Pali studies simply by diving right into "A New Course in Learning Pali".

Send me a DM if you are interested in any or all of the books. I will, of course, send them for free. That is without question. Though I am not sure about sending overseas- I am located in the US and have never done that before, though I can try to figure it out. Feel free to cross post this as well.

-Samantha