Prefer watching on YouTube? View it here → MTCSD Essay 1: What is Practice?
Overview
In this introductory video essay, I open the conversation about contemplative practice as I view and experience it, centering attention/awareness and the role of the breath as foundational for developing greater agency over our attention and lives.
Sources & Further Reading*
1:30 “Practitioners, I know not one single thing more intractable and harmful than an untrained mind.”
AN 1.31-40, accesstoinsight.org
AN 1.31-40, buddha-vacana.org
3:15 Monoculture, Wikipedia
3:30 Sādhanā, Wikipedia
4:20 Three Gates, wisdomlib.org
5:10 Neuroplasticity, Wikipedia
6:55 Samsāra, Wikipedia
9:15 Avidyā, Wikipedia
10:00 MN 19, Dvedhavitakka Sutta, accesstoinsight.org
12:45 Mindfulness, Wikipedia
15:45 Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism, kagyuoffice.org
17:25 Perfection Pāramitā, Shambhala
18:30 Wisdom & Compassion, mindworks.org
24:10 Upaya, Wikipedia
26:20 Upanishads, translated by Eknath Easwaran, Thrift Books
36:35 Ānāpānasati, Meditation on Breathing, accesstoinsight.org
*I support the democratization and crowdsourcing of knowledge, and I regard platforms such as Wikipedia as valid and valuable repositories of human knowledge that help balance academic gatekeeping of epistemic authority. I also value rigorous fact-checking and common sense.
Disclaimer: I use AI to assist with research, learning, and systems design. All ideas, writing, music, editing, and creative choices are my own. I believe these technologies should support and enhance our creativity, not replace it.
