Dr Dosti Regmi Blog

It's not about running away from the crisis and suffering. It's running towards mystery. There are two kinds of ignorance. The one that knows is ignorant and is curious and corrects itself and learns. The other type does not know about its ignorance and never improves itself. There is drama in the world and also drama in the temple. People are either running away from something or running towards something. We are responsible for our karma. Rituals is the foolishness of trying to delegate it and outsource it. There is a man in Kumbha printing pictures of people and dipping them in gangs to suggest  snan.  Cf A Brahmin who killed a cow and said it was the hand of Indra. The basic human problem is fear of survival and loneliness since the caveman. He also wanted security and wanted to have companions and few people around him(tribe). But having food for today was fine. Tomorrow will take care of itself. Today also the basic problem is the same. But all the technologies have comp...

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)  is one of the most widely used evidence-based psychotherapies for treating various mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, PTSD, and OCD. CBT operates on the principle that  thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are interconnected , and by changing maladaptive thought patterns, individuals can influence their emotions and behaviors positively. A core technique of CBT is  cognitive restructuring , which involves identifying and challenging irrational or unhelpful thoughts and replacing them with more balanced perspectives.   Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) , though related to CBT, takes a different approach by  focusing on acceptance rather than changing thoughts . Developed within the framework of mindfulness-based interventions, ACT teaches individuals to detach from unhelpful thoughts and emotions rather than struggling to eliminate them. Through six core processes: 1. Acceptance – Allowing emotions...

  Mindfulness (Sati): Mindfulness is bringing in a separate attitude to what is happening. It brings the Samatha = tranquility.  We are not caught by distractions and mental travel using the sensation of the here-now, breathing as an anchor. We are aware of the quality of our awareness  (meta-awareness) and meeting the present moment with that fresh, calm, open, kind, compassionate, curious, and undistracted attitude.   After all sensation and experience only happen in present moment. Wisdom (prajna): Mindfulness teaches us to pay attention to our thoughts, feelings, and sensations without judgment, allowing us to gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us. The mindfulness leads us to insight, wisdom = vipassana .  Thought of strawberries can bring bodily reactions and our mouths can water. But in the time being when we think of it as just as a thought of strawberry as a thought of strawberry, the bodily sensation fades away. Seeing thought...

The chains of  pratitya-samutpada  dependent co-arising:   Ignorance    Mental formations    Consciousness    Name and form    The senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste, and mind    Contact    Feeling    Craving    Clinging    Becoming    Birth   Aging and death. Whoever sees Dependent Origination sees the Dhamma; whoever sees the Dhamma sees Dependent Origination. When this exists, that comes to be; with the arising of this, that arises. When this does not exist, that does not come to be; with the cessation of this, that ceases.   Avijjā Paccayā Sutta: It starts with ignorance and ends with aging, suffering, and death. Aging, suffering, and death is preceded by birth preceded by existence preceded by clinging. Clinging: The Buddhist suttas list four kinds of clinging. There is clinging to sensuality, to views (doctrine), to practices (rituals), and to a se...

  Pure Land Buddhism adds mystical elements to the basic Buddhist teachings which make those teachings easier (and more comforting) to work with., especially for the layman. Pure Land Buddhism offers a way to enlighten people who can't handle the subtleties of meditation, endure long rituals, or just live especially good lives. The essential practice in Pure Land Buddhism includes faith and trust and a personal relationship with Amitabha Buddhais, trusting that one will be reborn in the  Sukhavati - The Pure Land ,. Bhavachakra (The wheel of life) is a common mandala seen in the monasteries. At the center are the figures of a pig rooster, and a snake representing ignorance, clinging, and aversion, the three poisons described in Buddhism. There is a circle representing the sex realms of gods, demons, animals, hell, hungry ghosts, humans, and gods. The gods and the demons also depict degrees of happiness and suffering. Because the Tree of Life has its trunk in the demi-gods re...

In Buddhism, there is a famous image known as the Wheel of Life that represents the universe, or more precisely, existence itself. This wheel places desire, anger, and delusion right at its center, represented by a snake, a rooster, and a pig, respectively. The snake and rooster are shown as arising from the mouth of a pig, which indicates that the destructive nature of desire and anger arises due to delusion (ignorance). They're known as the three poisons and are considered the root of all suffering. But these ideas aren't unique to Buddhism. In Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis, Eros and Thanatos represent the same concepts as the snake and rooster in Buddhism. In fact, desire, symbolized by the snake, and anger, symbolized by the rooster, were among the first forces recognized by psychoanalysis. Freud said that while Eros and Thanatos are innate to all humans, we repress them. He argued that it was this repression that formed the primary source of psychological suffering. I...

  Ajahn Chah (1918–1992), a renowned Thai Buddhist monk and meditation teacher, emphasized simplicity, mindfulness, and wisdom in daily life. His teachings are grounded in Theravāda Buddhism and focus on cultivating inner peace through mindfulness, meditation, and understanding the nature of reality.   "Anything which is troubling you, anything which is irritating you, THAT is your teacher." ~ Ajahn Chah "There are two kinds of suffering. There is the suffering you run away from, which follows you everywhere. And there is the suffering you face directly, and so become free." ~ Ajahn Chah "If you want a chicken to be a duck, and a duck to be a chicken, you will suffer." ~ Ajahn Chah "Try to be mindful, and let things take their natural course. Then your mind will become still in any surroundings, like a clear forest pool. All kinds of wonderful, rare animals will come to drink at the pool, and you will clearly see the nature of all things. You will see...

Śālistamba Sūtra (The Rice Seedling Sutra) The  Śālistamba Sūtra  (The Rice Seedling Sutra) is a Mahayana Buddhist text that presents a concise and profound explanation of dependent origination ( pratītyasamutpāda ), a core teaching of Buddhism. This sutra is known for bridging early Buddhist doctrines and later Mahayana interpretations, emphasizing the interdependent nature of all phenomena and the path to liberation. The sutra begins with a simile comparing the growth of a rice seedling to the principle of dependent origination. Just as a seed requires soil, water, sunlight, and proper conditions to sprout, all phenomena arise due to specific causes and conditions. This analogy illustrates the interconnectedness of all things and the impermanent, non-self nature of existence. The sutra elaborates on the twelve links of dependent origination ( dvādaśāṅga-pratītyasamutpāda ), showing how ignorance ( avidyā ) leads to a cycle of birth, suffering, and death. T hese links in...

Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta ( The setting of the wheel of Dharma) The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta , or “Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion,” is regarded as the Buddha’s first discourse following his enlightenment. Delivered at the Deer Park in Isipatana (modern Sarnath) to the group of five ascetics who were his former companions, it lays the foundational framework of Buddhist teachings. In this sermon, the Buddha introduces the core principles that would shape his doctrine, emphasizing the path to liberation from suffering. The sutta begins by rejecting the two extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification, advocating instead for the Middle Way . This balanced approach, neither excessively ascetic nor indulgent, leads to insight, wisdom, and ultimately liberation. The Buddha then expounds the Four Noble Truths , the cornerstone of Buddhist philosophy: the truth of suffering (dukkha), the cause of suffering (samudaya), the cessation of suffering (nirodha), and the path leading ...

The brain keeps the mind's score: Whenever I tried to practice meditation, I was not interested when the gurus talked about concentration in breathing. "I know that. Tell me more," was my attitude.  I was not interested when the gurus talked about posture. "I know that. Tell me more," was my attitude.  I always wanted to know what exactly we know or realize when we meditate. Tell me that and I want to follow that thought and philosophy. Please paraphrase what you realized. My focus was not on the process but on the outcome. That was the mistake. The peace and bliss from meditation are not earned overnight. Initially, the peaceful gap between thoughts can be perceived as unpleasant and boring by the mind, so the mind does everything possible to avoid and escape that state. Following the in and outflow of the breath can be boring. Maintaining the posture can be boring. I even thought I could do it by lying down on the bed. Just tell me what you realized and I will...

Human Body: The beauty of pain, sickness, aging, and death: Everything in our body and mind serves a purpose for our survival. Even the unpleasant ones. Pain alerts us to injury or potential harm, encouraging us to take immediate action to prevent further damage. For example, the pain of touching something hot prompts us to withdraw quickly, avoiding a more severe burn. In diabetic neuropathy, patients lose the pain in their feet. And because the wounds there do not hurt, patients care less, and it is one of the reasons why small wounds turn into gangrenes. Sickness encourages us to take rest and care for ourselves, allowing the body time to heal properly. When we are down with a fever, we are more aware of the vulnerability and fragility of our lives. If humans were to have a life expectancy of 1000 years, humans would have been even more egoist and arrogant and would be less interested in health, harmony, kindness, and humanity. The fleeting nature of life is the very cause that make...

I was contemplating the springboard that catapulted Buddha into his undertakings. It was the sight of sickness, aging, and death. The suffering inherent with life. And lastly the sight of the ascetic. The ascetic must have been a promise that one can overcome or deal with life's inherent suffering, obviously by detachment. So what he started with was the physical dimensions of the suffering. In his 49-day-long meditation, he must have mused upon a lot of things. One thought leads to another into monotonous addition and leads to no conclusion. So is life. As Albert Camus said, we try to search for meaning and life does not seem to care. Buddha takes reference to his own life and that is the most fail-safe and authentic reference. He remembered when he was a child and there was a farm plowing, he had sat under a tree and had been absorbed into a deep meditation and he was oblivious of the time and at that time he was just conscious of the coming in and going out of breath. He impleme...