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Story 96 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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My teacher in India eventually attracted so many students that he began to appoint assistants to lead retreats on their own. I began assisting him in 1996 and soon was made a senior assistant teacher. I led ten-day retreats throughout Canada, the United States, England, Myanmar, and India. I especially enjoyed addressing the many issues my students faced, most of whom were dealing with the daily shock of seeing into the skittishness of their minds for the first time. I was on a mission to spread the teachings, I had status and prestige within the community of meditators, and my personal practice was strong. How my life had changed!...

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2023
5 minutes 54 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2023 Pariyatti

'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' as a book and eBook can be found at https://store.pariyatti.org/a-lifetime-doing-nothing.

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Story 95 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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Doing non-doing is a long path and is not always straightforward. To understand what you need to do and why and how is relatively easy, and in this regard I hope this little book has been a help. However, old habit patterns, especially latent tendencies, are pernicious. You may continue to be sidetracked by their beguiling beckoning to react. You may succumb from time to time. You may find the process hopeless. You may get frustrated. These reactions are also old habit patterns. It is as if you are at a masked ball, dancing with many different partners, all of whom keep exchanging their masks with each other. Still, do not give up. Have faith....

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2023
5 minutes 54 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2023 Pariyatti

'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' as a book and eBook can be found at https://store.pariyatti.org/a-lifetime-doing-nothing.

More by Ian McCrorie.

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Story 94 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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With the death of a loved one, a grieving period is important, as is understanding how the mind works and how doing nothing with clear comprehension does not eliminate the grief. Once again, grieving is a natural condition of the mind. It is neither good nor bad. Some may be tempted to put on a happy face to demonstrate the powers of meditation. They can keep up the façade for a while. In time the effort to remain calm peters out. The suppressed grief returns in a myriad of ways later in life, when perhaps you cannot see a direct correlation between what you are presently dealing with and the death of someone close some months or even years before....

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2023
3 minutes 30 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2023 Pariyatti

'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' as a book and eBook can be found at https://store.pariyatti.org/a-lifetime-doing-nothing.

More by Ian McCrorie.

View more books and audio resources available in the Pariyatti bookstore.

Story 93 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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According to Thoreau, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” I think when people read this, they focus on the word “quiet” as the problematic one in the sentence. Echoing Pascal, quiet isn't the problem, it is the inability to accept the quiet that leads to the desperation. We don't need to change our environs as much as change ourselves, because as Anaïs Nin wrote, “We see things not as they are, but as we are.”...

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2023
3 minutes 10 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2023 Pariyatti

'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' as a book and eBook can be found at https://store.pariyatti.org/a-lifetime-doing-nothing.

More by Ian McCrorie.

View more books and audio resources available in the Pariyatti bookstore.

Story 92 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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In the center of Igatpuri village is a street market. Vendors sit at stalls and sell their produce. Because every vendor sits in the same location, everyone knows what they sell. So all they need announce is the price. They don’t try to out shout one another. They take turns. This creates a sort of chant, a back and forth. Except for the Hindi, it’s a revival meeting in rural Alabama. At the main corner of the market are the banana sellers. First time there, I thought “do rupee” was the Hindi word for banana....

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2023
2 minutes 56 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2023 Pariyatti

'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' as a book and eBook can be found at https://store.pariyatti.org/a-lifetime-doing-nothing.

More by Ian McCrorie.

View more books and audio resources available in the Pariyatti bookstore.

Story 91 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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We needn't pause to figure out our next step in life. Life, real life, is there in the pause, in the quagmire of conflicting choices. We then choose one route and look for signs that this is the correct way to go. No doubt. “I have a good feeling about this” is more a sense of relief about finally choosing one route than a certainty that this route has been swept clean and is devoid of IEDs. Even the best choices cough up hairballs of unforeseen consequences.

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2023
4 minutes 04 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2023 Pariyatti

'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' as a book and eBook can be found at https://store.pariyatti.org/a-lifetime-doing-nothing.

More by Ian McCrorie.

View more books and audio resources available in the Pariyatti bookstore.

Story 90 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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Most everyone is possessed by their possessions. I know people who are owned by their pets. I know others who build heated garages for their prized automobiles. My aunt bequeathed me an old rocking chair to which she added the caveat that I never change its mauve covering. In those years, I moved almost every year and carried that rocker to each apartment until its springs went and you couldn't sit in it without receiving a full rectal examination. And if you think about it almost everyone carries within themselves their own version of the mauve rocker,...

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2023
4 minutes 32 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2023 Pariyatti

'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' as a book and eBook can be found at https://store.pariyatti.org/a-lifetime-doing-nothing.

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Story 89 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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I remember a Sayadaw (respected teacher) who lived in a remote monastery in upper Burma in the vicinity of Sagaing Hills. He was elderly and blind and very much loved. I visited him, excited to both meet a living legend and pay my respects. I was told to wait until he went for his evening walk when he would be with his attendant who could serve as a translator....

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2023
5 minutes 43 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2023 Pariyatti

'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' as a book and eBook can be found at https://store.pariyatti.org/a-lifetime-doing-nothing.

More by Ian McCrorie.

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Story 88 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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I volunteered with Mother Theresa at her Sisters of Charity palliative care hostel in Calcutta. My service was to help with the lunch meal as well as a certain undefined “nursing.” The hostel was smaller than I had expected and the number of volunteers fewer than I had hoped. I thought a larger cohort would allow me a few days to get my bearings. That was not to be the case....

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2023
5 minutes 09 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2023 Pariyatti

'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' as a book and eBook can be found at https://store.pariyatti.org/a-lifetime-doing-nothing.

More by Ian McCrorie.

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Story 87 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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Two more salient points about mettā. Mettā must be tempered by wisdom. There is a parable from India of a kind man who came upon a frog in the middle of a busy road. Concerned that the frog might be crushed under the wheels of a bullock cart and feeling uncomfortable leaving him to his fate, he gently picked him up and transferred him safely to the side of the road from whence he had come....

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2023
3 minutes 32 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2023 Pariyatti

'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' as a book and eBook can be found at https://store.pariyatti.org/a-lifetime-doing-nothing.

More by Ian McCrorie.

View more books and audio resources available in the Pariyatti bookstore.