Question

Please could you give more systems for doing the Dukkha reflection?

Answer

We do give quite a few suggestions on the old students handout. The alphabet system, anything that has to do with the alphabet can work. For example anything to do with occupations, think of a bit of Dukkha with every occupation, using the alphabet. Airplane pilots, barbers, cooks and so on. Your body parts, what kind of Dukkha can you get in your body? Start down at your toes, go through your feet - it's going to be more than one or two hours of practice if you look clearly at every part of your body. Ages from 0 to 100, what's common Dukkha that little babies have, what are common Dukkhas one year olds have, two year olds and so on. Any kind of basic system, following on what we've presented on the paper, any of them can be used,

You can use the alphabet system for mental Dukkha, anger, boredom and so on. And you can combine some, mix and match. Broong dang is a Thai term that is used in cooking. It means to make the meal really sweet, delicious, tasty by mixing things. Put in the salt, put in the sugar, put in the chili all at once. Delicious. Use your own imagination with this and you serve up a delicious meal. In a reflection-type meditation practice you can "broong dang", you can mix and match.

Here's a mix of systems. Take mental Dukkha and mix it with ages five years apart. Take anger. What does a five year old do when they're angry? What does a ten year old do, what does a fifteen year old do, what does a twenty year old do... so you can combine some. Mix and match and get your imagination going in any way possible.

Our apologies if there are any errors in the above text. If anything seems to be wrong or confusing in any way, please feel free to contact the teachers for further clarification.