Seeking the Heart of Wisdom: The Path of Insight Meditation (Shambhala Classics)

Zen Doctrine of No Mind,

Hero with a Thousand Faces (New York: World Publishing Co., 1971), Joseph Campbell,

Meditation has to do with opening what is closed in us, balancing what is reactive, and exploring and investigating what is hidden. That is the why of practice. We practice to open, to balance, and to explore.

abhidharma, the Buddhist system of psychology.

We attain wisdom not by creating ideals but by learning to see things clearly, as they are.

Ryokan,

the four foundations of mindfulness: awareness of the body, awareness of feelings, awareness of mental phenomena, and awareness of truths, of the laws of experience.

Traditionally, this understanding grows through the development of three aspects of our being: a ground of conscious conduct, a steadiness of the heart and mind, and a clarity of vision or wisdom.

are, it is possible to arouse this quality of awareness. In the Satipatthana Sutta, which is the discourse the Buddha gave on the four foundations of mindfulness, four fields or areas of mindfulness are described.