Awareness and Feelings:
Teaching in Virginia Beach in 2016, Ven. Chuc Thanh told the sangha “Awareness is all of the time. Feelings come and go.”
This is a short and simple teaching. Or, is it? How do awareness and feelings factor in to your daily practice of Buddhism? Do you spend time developing and fine-tuning awareness? What do you do with your good feelings? With your bad feelings?
One definition of feelings is “an emotional state or reaction.” One definition of awareness is “knowledge or perception of a situation or fact.” Take some time to delve more deeply into what feelings and awareness are then think about this teaching again. Is Chuc Thanh correct with his observation?
(Venerable Thich Chuc Thanh is the Dharma Master at Dong Hung Temple. These quotations were collected from 2015 through 2018 as he taught in Virginia Beach, VA and Southern Shores, NC. The quotation titles and commentary are by temple member Mark Palamara.)