Buddhism

The things I  have learnt from Tim Ward's 'What the Buddha Never Taught'

• Buddhism is the teaching of enlightenment. The Buddha did not teach the things he had realized through enlightenment, instead he taught others how to experience enlightenment for themselves. He did not want his words to be accepted, but wanted them to be practised and belief to come only from what had been revealed through personal experience.
• Anapana - Sati (mindfulness) in breathing 
• In breathing there is no self, no I, no ego.
• The aim of meditation is to control the craziness in our minds, and then to be free of it. Creating a balance between the left and right sides of the brain, balance between the linear and non-linear thoughts.
• When there is peace, there is happiness.
• The virtue of universal friendliness

"For the footless my love, 

My love for the bipeds,

For the four-footed my love,

My love for those with many feet.

Let not the footless do me harm,

Nor those that have two feet,

Let not the four-footed ones harm me,

Nor those with many feet.

All creatures, all breathers,

All beings and everything-

May they all see luck,

May none come to evil."

• The act of shaving your head is done to show that you are capable of detachment.
• Suffering is caused by desire
• 5 hindrances of meditation - desire, aversion, restlessness, inertia and and doubt. These hindrances are not something that should be avoided, but should be embraced so we can learn from them.
• When lustful desire arises you should concentrate on the aversion which arise when the repulsive aspects of the human body are considered. Lust is neutralized by disgust.
• "Take for example  the five outer elements of the body, the hair of the head, the hair of the body, skin, teeth and nails. This is all that we see. Often we find these elements quite attractive. Long black hair brushed back over the shoulder, light golden hair on the arms, smooth warm skin, delicate white teeth and little pink painted toenails. Al this is quite attractive. But now imagine all these attractive elements if they are just sitting in five piles in front of us. This pile for hair of the head, next one for body hair, third, a bag of skin, this small one for teeth, and there all the little pink painted toe and fingernails. It's not very attractive any more, is it? So we must ask ourselves where was desire if it doesn't lie in any of these five piles."
• The Buddha taught that all views are held in ignorance. 
• "Do not seek the Truth, only cease to cherish opinions."
• Diligence will lead to mindfulness.
• Establish the rules in your heart and follow them with mindfulness.
• Mindfulness is staying in the moment. Not thinking of past or future.
• Stay in the present

Let not a man trace back the past

Or wonder what the future holds:

The past is but the left-behind,

The future but the yet-unreached.

In the present let him see

With insight each and every instant

Invincibly, unshakably,

That can be pierced by practising.