ISBN 978-967-2855-02-6

IJ229/22

Size: 5.5” x 8.25”

Pages: 138 pages

In this book, Patrick Kearney explores the nature of mindfulness (sati) as revealed in the Nikāyas, the early “collections” of the Buddha’s teaching. We begin with the origins of the modern insight movement in 19th century Burma and its spread throughout the world. We show how this matured into a movement within contemporary Theravāda Buddhism where we base our practice on our direct encounter with the historical Buddha. We explore the metaphors used by the Buddha to explain mindfulness and its practice, such as mindfulness as a strong pillar or as a frontier guard, as well as stories like that of the quail and the hawk. These combine give us a guide to how we might ground our awareness on the felt flow of direct experience without becoming entangled in the conceptual world, a guide that is relevant to our contemporary situation while remaining true to the Buddha’s teaching.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Patrick has practised mindfulness meditation (satipaṭṭhāna vipassanā) since 1977. At that time there was little or no Buddhist meditation training available in Australia, so he spent years travelling in Asia and the USA working with teachers from different Buddhist traditions to learn the craft of meditation practice. Most of his training has been in the insight meditation lineage of Mahāsī Sayādaw of Myanmar, which included several years as a Buddhist monk, and he has also trained in the Diamond Sangha lineage of Zen.

Patrick has been a full-time teacher of mindfulness meditation for over 20 years. He conducts residential and online retreats, workshops and seminars. He has studied early Buddhism at post-graduate levels and has a particular interest in the original teachings of the Buddha, before the invention of “Buddhism.” This allows him to bring the radical insights of the Buddha to our contemporary situation while bypassing unnecessary cultural baggage. He sees meditation as a physical practice that reconnects us with the felt world of our senses, allowing us to live our lives directly rather than through the cling-wrap of our habitual thinking.