Dharma Treasure Community

Dear all,
I’d like to add my personal perspective to this interesting topic. I’m coming from the other side to a certain degree: I was a Zen practitioner for several years. I ended up switching to TMI not because I was unsatisfied with Zen practice, but because my practice had fallen asleep and when I moved, there wasn’t a Sangha or teacher in my…[Read more]

Dear Matt,

thank you so much for your precious observations – they are profound and very helpful! Yes, the fact that the Hara is still is why I was having trouble using it for watching the breath. I decided that this creates more complications than are necessary. I’m sure to come back to it and to your great incentives later down the road, when I…[Read more]

Hey Ward,
yes, I believe that my motivation is similar. I decided to go with your suggestion. I’ll report in in a few weeks, but I believe that I’m just gonna stick with that. And reserve Hara related things for alternative practices further down the road, when I have established a solid Vipassana practice.

Dear Matt, Dear Darlene,
thank you both for your replies. The provide interesting input!

Matt: I skimmed both your texts, and found them very interesting. They are certainly very good instruction. If I got it right: the bottom line is to use various points in the body as the focal points, leading breath energy and feeling the breath in various…[Read more]