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Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

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Enlightenment sooner than myself!"<br />

"Just as," Bhante said, "the Bodhisattva<br />

Never-Despise looked upon everyone in the Lotus<br />

(Saddharma Pundarika) Sutra."<br />

d. Ignorance. For the sorrow of ignorance, practice the<br />

meditation on causation (conditioned co-production or<br />

pratitya-samutpada). During one's practice of this, one's<br />

sensitivity increases, <strong>and</strong> the mind tends to hold on<br />

tightly to good deeds <strong>and</strong> to be very distressed or angry<br />

about unskillful ones. Suppose one wants to burn<br />

incense but the servant does not bring it in time—this<br />

might easily upset one. Also, after the commission of<br />

evil, one experiences great pain. Whether good or bad<br />

deeds, the mind is not quiet. In such a case, treat<br />

everything as void; do not love it too much nor arouse<br />

much hatred. Do not enjoy good dreams too much, nor<br />

hate bad dreams.<br />

e. Breath. Breathing meditations cure doubts <strong>and</strong><br />

distractions. Not only is the mind hard to control, but<br />

the breath is very difficult as well. It is a very common<br />

condition for a man not to be aware of his breathing <strong>and</strong><br />

just to carry on with his usual activities without a<br />

thought given to the breath. After one has tried to<br />

control it, one will agree that it is difficult work.<br />

Sometimes the breath is too quick, so at this time count<br />

the breaths slowly. At other times, it is very short; to<br />

correct this, inhalations should be made longer than<br />

556

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