Sit With Ariadne: My Current Recommendations

My Current Recommendations

Take what you can use, and apply it. I love this set of lists here.

I feel the core of path is kindness, kindness, kindness, kindness.

The tradition I follow most closely is Thai Forest Buddhism. I’m into jhanas bramaviharas, and self-compassion. I also do somatic stuff.

The one book I’d recommend without reservation or context is Kindfulness, by Ajahn Brahm.

Ajahn Brahm is the abbot of Bodhinyana monastery and is featured in videos recorded by the Buddhist Society Western Australia. They practice Thai Forest Buddhism, which includes jhana and bramavihara work.

I’ve had previous experience with Zen. I don’t follow Zen because I feel it deviates too far from what Siddhārtha Gautama intended, 2500 years ago. Jhanas don’t get a lot of mention there, or the bramaviharas. Zen is an excellent path for those who just want to practice (zazen is just sitting) and not get caught up in books or texts.

I enjoy reading the root texts, which can be found here – a lot of which are the actual words of the Buddha. The Buddha had strong ideas about what would happen to the religion he founded, as described in the simile The Peg.

I have previous experience with Pragmatic Dharma. My feelings are, this enlightenment stuff, it all comes from this one guy (the Buddha), and anything outside of that waters it down. I get a lot of folxs aren’t into stuff like Karma or Reincarnation or Making Merit, you don’t have to be. Buddhism is meant to be a hands-on, limited faith tradition, with optional cool mystical things related to personal experience. There are meditations to see previous lives. I need to be honest here and say I came into this from pragmatic dharma – I got stream entry from reading both MCTB and TMI; however I recommend them in a very limited way now. I don’t actively recommend them anymore because they place too much emphasis on striving and not enough emphasis on ease, kindness, jhanas or bramaviharas. Pragmatic dharma is really good for those who struggle with trust – I know I did.

If you are into the pragmatic stuff, don’t let me stop you, my opinion is Theravada based on the core texts is closer to the truth. I know when I started I was in the group that was allergic to reading suttas and allergic to all the mystical stuff. My own blog entry would not have helped me :) That’s how this stuff goes.

Why the emphasis on jhana and bramaviharas anyway? Well, the short answer is, they are nibbana now. Nibbana means quenching, like a fire getting cold by pouring water on it. Learning a degree of mental mastery via concentration practices allows us to step out of conditions now. The Buddha was all about relieving suffering, right now.

The bramaviharas are mental states, cultivated sublimes: Loving Acceptance, Loving Action, Loving Connection, and Loving Celebration. They are love, love, love, wonderful places to be, free from suffering. Of course, you lose access sometimes, but via cultivation they become Home.

I’d recommend practicing with other people. Finding a local group really helped me, and I’m active on Meditation Mind, a pretty big Discord server. It’s lovely to have folxs to share the path with.

Sit With Ariadne

Tabs

Search This Blog

My Current Recommendations

Additional Resources

Bramaviharas

Jhanas

Trauma Aware

Self Compassion

Elder Texts