The Basic Pattern
June 27, 2006
The passage in the Canon where the Buddha is teaching his seven year old son is one that bears frequent reading, frequent reflection, because it contains a lot of the really basic principles of the practice. Basic not in the sense of Buddhism for Dummies; basic in the sense of containing the essential pattern of all the teachings. You can look at these instructions as the Buddha’s introduction to meditation practice, because meditation doesn’t start on this cushion, it starts in your daily life. The Pali word for meditation, bhavana, means “to develop”—to develop good qualities in the mind.