Posted by: Michael Rickicki | 06/24/2018

The Fruit of Practice

Image result for worn hammer handle

Today’s formal morning sessions of buddho with the breath, buddho while walking and buddho repetition weren’t great in terms of concentration but I was able to attenuate my determination and stick with it, especially through the walking mediattion. As I sat down to write this I recalled a passage in the Nava Sutta that aptly describes my perception of today’s practice. I’ll include it below because it inspires me to keep it up and I hope it may do the same for you:

“Just as when a carpenter or carpenter’s apprentice sees the marks of his fingers or thumb on the handle of his adze but does not know, ‘Today my adze handle wore down this much, or yesterday it wore down that much, or the day before yesterday it wore down this much,’ still he knows it is worn through when it is worn through. In the same way, when a monk dwells devoting himself to development, he does not know, ‘Today my effluents wore down this much, or yesterday they wore down that much, or the day before yesterday they wore down this much,’ still he knows they are worn through when they are worn through.”

https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/SN/SN22_101.html


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Shillelagh Studies

A hub for the music, culture, knowledge, and practice of Irish stick-fighting, past and present.