It's hard to hate when this could be your last breath

In theh Mahasatipatthana Sutta the Buddha says "Monks, this is the one and only way for the purification of the minds of beings, for overcoming sorrow and lamentation for the cessation of physical and mental pain, for attainment of the Noble paths; and for the realization of Nibbana. That only way is the four satipatthanas. What are these four?, Here in this teaching, monks a monk dwells perceiving again and again the body as just the body...feeling as just feeling...mind as just the mind...mental objects as just mental objects (not mine, not I, not a self, but just a phenomenon)"

This sutra then goes on in great detail how one is to practice understanding these four areas. This month I have been practicing the awareness of the body which the Buddha addresses in six categories. 1. Awareness of breathing 2. Body postures, 3.Clear understanding, 4. impurities of the body, 5. elements of the body, 6. the nine stages of a corpse.

I began this month reading and meditation on the first of the four satipatthanas which his the awareness of the body. So far this has been a powerful experience. It is difficult to become angry or upset by petty things when I am aware that this body is impermanent, not a permanent self but only a combination of various events. That not only my body but others body as well. We all share the same make up and the same eventual fate of death. It's hard, dare I say impossible to have ill feelings for either myself or others when I am aware of this fact.

The thing I find so powerful about this is that you do not experiecne this through someone else. You can't grasp this through blind faith it must be experienced first hand through practice and experience. This practice is truly one of those, "you'll have to see for yourself" experiences.

More on this later