Buddha Meditations: The Art of Letting Go

By Lisa T.E. Sonne

In an easy-to-understand and succinct style, this accessible guide presents gems of Buddhist wisdom that have helped people of various faiths find greater peace and happiness. Now Buddha’s teachings can help you discover your best path in life and let go of what’s causing you to feel dissatisfied.

The first part of this book introduces six Buddhist principles and paths, as well as familiarizes you with a variety of tools for letting go. Learn how your own breathing can help you relax, start a meditation practice, and develop mindfulness, a key aspect of meditation as well as a useful means for anyone to better interact with their daily life. You’ll also find clear information on meditational art exercises, from floral arranging to Chinese brush-stroke painting, from making a rock garden to writing haiku poems. The parables included at the end of this section are offered as prompts for self-discovery.

The second part consists of a selection of Buddhist wisdom and advice, collected by various people, from The Dhammapada—the ancient Buddhist masterpiece—and from revered figures of the past, evolved leaders in Buddhism today, and Western contemporaries who practice Buddhism.

Let Buddha Meditations help you access the answers and happiness inside you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fall River Press
• Release date: Jul 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781435155862

Book preview

Introduction

There are gems of wisdom in this book that have survived ­thousands of years and helped millions of people of various faiths and doubts have happier, more peaceful, loving lives. More than 2,500 years ago, a man named Siddhartha Gautama meditated until he became a Buddha: the Enlightened and Awakened One. He then shared a plan for how anyone could overcome suffering in the world.

When you see statues of the Buddha, he often looks so serene, calm, and happy; sometimes there is a slight smile as if he knows something we want to know. What’s the secret?

The Buddha did not mean to keep it a secret. He taught for almost five decades so others could continue the teachings through time with messages about how each of us has access to answers and happiness in us. He taught to rich and poor, male and female, educated and ignorant alike—at a time when teaching to women and the lower Hindu castes of untouchables was considered radical.

Long before modern science, he taught the mind-body connection that humans can develop to help recognize and control their thoughts, feelings, and behavior. He taught that everything alive in the world is interconnected and any one creature’s actions can affect the others for harm or benefit. He taught that life is impermanent and ever changing; that we should live in the Now.

From his own experiences, he suggested The Middle Way. He had not found contentment in the luxurious, princely life of his first decades, nor did he find peace during his seven years exploring the various ascetic spiritual systems of his times, including self-mortification. Instead, he found the answers by meditating.

To find peace, kindness, wisdom, and a liberating path from suffering, he taught that we need to see how life really is, and then let go of the unneeded attachments—the greed, jealousy, hate, pride, anger, and regret that cause pain—and live mindfully with compassion. From the muddy muck of life, he promised, lotus flowers grow.

Buddha did not intend to be a deity or an institution, but over time in different parts of the world, the Buddha’s teachings were adapted by people who adopted them, as they combined his lessons with other systems and needs. Now, there are a huge number of varieties of Buddhism as a religion, philosophy, form of government, and, in the West, a part of psychology.

His teachings spread through the centuries from India to the south (Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar/Burma, and Sri Lanka). There, a branch of Buddhism called Theravada developed. The Buddha’s teachings were orally transmitted, then later recorded in a phonetic version of the Buddha’s language of Pali.

Disciples who disagreed with the Theravada interpretations of the Buddha’s teachings developed Mahayana Buddhism that spread through India and other Himalayan nations, as well as north to China, Japan, Tibet, and Korea. Mahayana Buddhism intermingled with the older Taoism, Confucianism, and Shintoism philosophies. Mahayana texts and commentaries of the Buddha’s teachings were written in Sanskrit.

Today, there is a dynamic evolution going on, as the Buddhist ­vehicles of meditation and mindfulness are being adapted in western secular and spiritual life. There are hundreds of Buddhist websites, apps, and podcasts. The American military, corporations like General Mills, Ivy League business schools, celebrities including Oprah and Richard Gere, and major hospitals are incorporating aspects of Buddhist meditation and mindfulness into their own brands of well-being and health.

Parts of Buddhism once marginalized in the West or reserved for monasteries in the East are now mainstream.

The vitality and variety of Buddhism are thriving—from monks living secluded in caves to some of the most dynamic leaders for peaceful change who are active Buddhists.

Both Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar/Burma and His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet have received Nobel Peace Prizes.

The Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh was nominated for the Peace Prize for his work in Vietnam and writes popular books about engaged Buddhism, in which he describes how meditation and mindfulness can make the world better.

From the start, the Buddha was interested in practical ways to end the world’s suffering, so people would be able to let go of the ignorance and illusion that caused them pain.

When some of his followers debated about theological issues and doctrine, the Buddha asked them a hypothetical question about a poisoned arrow. If you had a poisoned arrow in you, he asked, would you insist on knowing who made the arrow, what kind of tree the arrow was made of, or if the arrow’s feathers were from a peacock? Would you let the poison take its horrible effect while you seek details about the stature and upbringing of the doctor who could pull the arrow out? Or would you want the arrow pulled out immediately so you could live and heal, be happy, and help others?

The Buddha offered ways to pull out our poison arrows, to make the lotus blossom, and to have a good and great life.

This book contains some golden pieces of the Buddha’s wisdom. The pages in your hands include a blend of Buddhist principles, quotes, parables, meditational art exercises, and even a look at how your own breathing can help you relax. Real Buddhism is not in a book, though, but in the practice. Activating the vehicles of meditation and mindfulness with the Buddha’s wisdom and discipline can help you see clearly and let go of your causes of discontent.

Like any aspect of life, if you focus on what this book does not have, you can be unhappy. It’s not comprehensive, a quick fix, or a history. It is not scholarly, and it is not perfect. If you delve into what these pages do have, however, and combine it with what you have, you could change your life and the world for the better.

Or you could put it down and