When Meditation is Not Enough

After several years of teaching and practicing meditation, many of us have found that meditation on its own is not enough.  While we may enjoy our times of silence, we find our times off the cushion, “in real life” are challenging and often painful.  We might reflect, “What else can I do? What’s missing?”  The Buddha’s approach to alleviating suffering begins with mindfulness of conduct, and this component of our practice is generally ignored by most meditators.  There is a tendency in the West to dismiss virtue as simple Sunday-school type rules which no longer apply to our modern sensibilities. Yet the Five Training Precepts are part of a fundamental course of therapy for wounded minds. In particular, they are aimed at curing two ailments that underlie low self-esteem: regret and denial.  We will discuss how to make the Five Training Precepts an integrated, and perhaps primary focus of our practice.