Once we have accepted the fact that we cannot control the dharma, our practice opens up to the full catastrophe of living. We open first by backing away from our egoic demands and then by infusing our actions with the wisdom of the body.
Movement integrates our insights into living reality rather than theoretical assumptions. When the insights become part of the living tissue of our body, a natural spontaneity arises.
We continually misrepresent the body by forcing it to be governed, controlled, and defined by the mind. When we set the body free from imposed boundaries we find a natural and intelligent life energy that knows its way.
The body is a residing stranger to most of us. We think we know what it is, but we have not given ourselves to it thoroughly so that it reveals its secrets.
Mindfulness is at the heart of the Buddha's teaching, but few people understand how it evolves from the simple practice of being mindful into a mature, full-embodied awareness.
It is important to learn the meditation technique, but to adhere too strictly to the form of the practice can mask self-doubt. Risking doing it wrong begins the "art" of practice, and insight develops within the art of quiet observation free from the pressure of failure.
Guiding the application of the teaching from the sense of self and not the true principle of selflessness is the single greatest mistake made in Buddhist practice and distorts all the revelations.
Let the application of the teaching be informed by the root principle of selflessness and each mindful exercise manifest that selflessness through bare attention and total acceptance.
The Satipatthana Sutta is the application of the Buddha's teaching. After the view has been offered and an intention has been aroused, it answers the question, "What do I do now?"
