Pariyatti

Story 29 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . When the venerable Thai teacher, Ajahn Chah,was asked what technique of meditation he taught, he replied frankly, “I teach frustration.” Doing non-doing can be in itself frustrating, but in the hands of a meditation master it can be nuclear. narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 4 minutes 31 seconds Listen to Streaming Audio Your browser does not...

Story 28 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . In India they trap monkeys with a bamboo cage. The cage has a small opening just large enough for the monkey's hand to slip through. They slide a banana through the hole and wait. The monkey smells the banana and twists his hand through the hole and grabs the banana. Success. Or so he thinks, until... narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 4 minute...

Story 27 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . My father fought in WW2. This entailed sleeping in drafty and cold English castles on camp cots, followed by living in bivouacs as the regiment made its way from Normandy up the coast to Arnhem in Holland. He suffered from chronic back pain the rest of his life. He had his throat slit by an enemy agent in London,... narrated by Ian McCrori...

Story 26 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Trauma can exact a pernicious hold on our mind. Victims often seek help in the form of group therapy or individual counseling. Members of Alcoholics Anonymous admit to feeling helpless in the face of their inability to overcome their addictions. They speak of themselves as survivors. They are to be commended for facing their trauma, seeing...

Story 25 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Mindfulness is very popular these days. Not long ago it made the cover of Time magazine. Library of Congress lists 4,063 titles that contain the word “mindful,” including Mindful Golf and Mindfulness and Murder. And therein lies the rub. The word has been commodified and monetized to such an extent as to obliterate its original meaning. na...

Story 24 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . As a child, I did not seek out thrills or danger of any kind. I did not enjoy games or contests or practical jokes. I hated costume parties. I’d rather go for a walk with my friends or sit and talk and have tea. Even today, I really don’t need fun. narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 3 minutes 13 seconds Listen to Streaming Audio Your browser do...

Story 23 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . “We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Arabia.” So wrote Richard Dawkins in Unweaving the Rainbow . narrated by I...

Story 22 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . To repeat, all man’s problems stem from an inability to sit alone in a room in silence. However, Pascal omitted to say that sitting alone in silence in such a room is not easy. It can be so difficult, in fact, that it unbalances the mind. narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 6 minutes 19 seconds Listen to Streaming Audio Your browser does not sup...

Story 21 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Marcus Aurelius, the great Stoic philosopher, makes it clear how important it is to be present: “The longest and shortest lives amount to the same, for the present moment is equal to everyone.” Just one mindful moment is all you need to stand firm against the habitual temptations to engage, to follow, to blindly react to greed, hatred, and...

Story 20 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . A few years after living as a monk in West Virginia, I stayed a while at Wat Pah Nanachat near the Mekong River in Ubon in Thailand. This was the real deal. A forest monastery with dhuthanga monks who adopted thirteen additional vows, including taking only one meal a day and practicing... narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 5 minutes 34 seconds...

Story 19 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . I am waiting for Thich Nhat Hanh to write a follow-up book, How to Listen , to address the proliferation of PMPs (personal music players). Many young people walk everywhere, earbudded to all the music ever created, oblivious to the sounds around them and within them. They drown out... narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 3 minutes 59 seconds List...

Story 18 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Be here now. Just three words. Be here now. The oft-heard teaching is eminently simple but absolutely profound. Happiness can only be found in this moment, in the here and now. Living in the past will inevitably... narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 3 minutes 33 seconds Listen to Streaming Audio Your browser does not support the audio element....

Story 17 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . This story is from Toni Packer, the late, much-venerated Zen teacher. A student asks a Zen master for some principles of the highest wisdom. The master replies, “Attention.” “Is that it?” asks the student. “Nothing to add?” The teacher says,... narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 3 minutes 25 seconds Listen to Streaming Audio Your browser does n...

Story 16 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Watch a baby for a while and you can't help but see how hard they are working. They are looking out on the world, trying to make sense of it all. They focus on this and then they focus on that. They react, sometimes with tears, ofttimes with a smile, indications that they have assessed the situation and found it wanting or fulfilling. When...

Story 15 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . The Pirahã natives live in the upper Amazon rainforest. Daniel Everett is one of only three linguists who can speak their language. He lived with them for many years and discovered through their language that they appear to be the only people on Earth who live in the here and now. They are fully... narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 3 minutes 3...

Story 14 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Many of us are busy with the business of being busy, and Knausgaard was no exception. His writing explores the busyness of his mind, especially with how he deals with his family. He explores the conditioned mind with objective honesty. Being busy can often be an affirmation of our status... narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 3 minutes 38 second...

Story 13 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgaard wrote in "My Struggle" of a time when he was very sick. He couldn't move, and he lay on the sofa the whole day feeling miserable. His inability to move meant... narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 3 minutes 49 seconds Listen to Streaming Audio Your browser does not support the audio element. Download Audio (2...

This series is inspired by a book we first published over a decade ago, entitled Realizing Change: Vipassana Meditation in Action (by Ian Hetherington). In Realizing Change we are given access to voices from around the world, who share in-depth accounts of their apprehensions before undertaking a ten-day course in Vipassana, their experiences during the course, and the subtle, yet profound, experi...

Story 12 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . A man walked into his doctor's office and told him he was not doing well. He was in pain all over. “Everywhere I touch, it hurts,” he said. The good doctor gave him a battery of tests,... narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 5 minutes 44 seconds Listen to Streaming Audio Your browser does not support the audio element. Download Audio (2.9MB) Audi...

Story 11 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . If dukkha , “suffering” or “unsatisfactoriness,” is the first noble truth, wherein lies its cause? The Buddha discovered that the root of suffering lies in the human tendency to involve ourselves in... narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 2 minutes 51 seconds Listen to Streaming Audio Your browser does not support the audio element. Download Audi...

In the Spirit of the Buddha an interview with Paul R. and Susan K. Fleischman. Vipasana teachers in the tradition of S.N. Goenka, Susan K. And Paul R. Fleischman have been walking on the path of Dhamma for many decades. Paul has published various titles relating to the teachings of the Buddha and Vipassana meditation. Paul's work often bridges his experience as a seeker and meditator and his profe...

Story 10 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . The yin-yang symbol is a graphic illustration of the human condition. Light represents happiness, gain, good health, etc., and darkness represents unhappiness, loss, poor health, etc.... narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 3 minutes 04 seconds Listen to Streaming Audio Your browser does not support the audio element. Download Audio (1.6MB) Audio...

Story 9 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Two and a half thousand years ago, the Buddha summed up his discovery as “mind matters most.” Buddha , meaning “the awakened one,” is an honorific for Siddhartha Gautama,... narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 4 minutes 44 seconds Listen to Streaming Audio Your browser does not support the audio element. Download Audio (2.4MB) Audio copyright, 20...

Story 8 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . So that’s it. It is really that simple. Sit alone in a room quietly. Keeping the spine as straight as possible will help to keep lethargy at bay. At first it is normal to feel somewhat self-conscious,... narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 5 minutes 12 seconds Listen to Streaming Audio Your browser does not support the audio element. Download Aud...

Story 7 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . If it is not already clear, it cannot be emphasized often enough that non-doing is not lethargy. Nor is it apathy, sloth, or laziness. It is not complacency or inactivity. It is not relaxation or spacing out. It is, however,... narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 3 minutes 26 seconds Listen to Streaming Audio Your browser does not support the aud...