Cattāri Brahmavihārā

Yesterday was spent almost entirely in transit as my family and I attempted to make our way from frigid NYC to balmy Florida. After a cancelled flight from LaGuardia we ended up traveling to Newark to take a flight which got us into Ft. Lauderdale at 10pm-almost 12 hours after our first flight was due to take off. And, then I rented a car to drive two hours north to where are staying. All of which is to say that I have a good excuse for not posting yesterday.

But the real point of my post today is more or less an acknowledgement of my own fears of flying and the power of vipassana to lay it bare. You seee, over the years I have not practiced overmuch with the methods of the popular vipassana schools (i.e., he Mahasi or Goenka methods) and my reasons for this have to do only with my ow weakness, not any idea that they are ineffective. In fact, the method of constant mentl noting of all phenomena is a practice that I admire greatly and to which I would aspire but ne that I have believed is best practiced (if only initially) in retreat. Still, it may be a long while until I have such an opportunity and last night’s incredibly turbulent flight brought home to me the fact that we need to strive while we can. And, strive I did to be aware and note the fear, the absence of fear, the anger, the sleepiness, etc. Now, I obviously did not reach any great depths of insight but even the meager amont of concentration I was able to muster was salve enough to unburden my heart and free the mind. That said, I think the methods of the vipassana acariyas and Sayadaws deserve another, closer look. Sabbe satta sukhitaa hontu!