Lessons In Practical Buddhism - Sirimangalo.Org

are negative, they are objectively so, and it can only be out
of ignorance that we cling to them. They more clearly we
understand them for what they are, the less we will be
inclined towards them, until it becomes impossible for our
minds to give rise to them because we understand them to
be of no benefit whatsoever.
When we remind ourselves of the reality of our experience
and cease judging, we change the habitual cycle of the mind.
We transform the mind’s programmed reactivity, its
tendency to respond to experiences with immediate desire or
aversion, into a new sort of interaction based on impartiality
and acceptance, just by accepting things: “they are what
they are.” When we are angry, we say to ourselves: “angry,
angry…”. When we want something, “wanting, wanting…”.
When we feel depressed, etc., “depressed, depressed…”,
“stressed, stressed…”, “worried, worried…”, “confused,
confused…”, “doubting, doubting…”, and so on.
This moment-to-moment clarifying of each individual
experience has a corresponding moment-to-moment effect
on the addiction cycles that occur in the brain, and thus a
verifiable and profound impact on one’s life. This is the work
that we undertake as Buddhist meditators; it is a very
simple, rational and non-dogmatic method to create true and
lasting understanding and clarity of mind; it is the work that
all beings must undertake to become free from suffering. It
the practice, in regards to which, we use the word
“mindfulness”.
According to the Abhidhamma:
What is sati? Whatever remembrance follows after –
re-remembrance, an act of remembrance, memorization,
non-shifting, non-floating, non-forgetting, the faculty of
remembrance, the power of remembrance, right
remembrance – this is called satindrīya (the faculty of sati).
It is called “sati” because of the meaning of “remembrance”
– this word gives the intrinsic nature of sati.
It is called “remembrance following after” because of the
meaning to remember often or remember in the present.
The condition of remembering is called the act of
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