Knowing the Mind

Yau Yan Wong, Ph.D. (2022), Kasetsart University, is Head of the Well-being Development Program at an international school in Thailand. For over a decade, Wong has researched and published journals on mindfulness and emotional intelligence development in schools.

Preface: Finding an Alternative Way of Living
 Yau Yan Wong
Acknowledgements
List of Figures and Tables

1 Why Mindfulness?
 1 Reuniting with an Old Friend
 2 What Is Mindfulness?
 3 Why Mindfulness?
 4 First Awakening Experience
 5 An Overview of This Book

2 What Is Mindfulness?
 1 Waking Up from Thoughts
 2 Thai Plum Village Monastery
 3 Jesus and Buddha as Brothers
 4 Understanding Mindfulness
 5 A Different Kind of Faith
 6 A Day of Mindfulness
 7 Waking Up
 8 Mindfulness in Daily Life
 9 Teaching Mindfulness to Children
 10 Mindfulness Practice and Emotional Intelligence

3 A Simpler Form of Happiness
 1 Question about Renunciation
 2 First Vipassanā Retreat at Chom Tong Temple
 3 Many Teachers, Many Learners
 4 Concentration vs. Mindfulness
 5 Meeting Luang Phu Tong
 6 Lessons Learned from the First Retreat
 7 The Importance of Early Intervention

4 Becoming an Observer
 1 Solving Problems with Mindfulness
 2 Meeting Venerable Suksan
 3 Roadblock to Meditation – Trying Too Hard
 4 Letting Go
 5 The Problem with Bullying
 6 Cultivating Wisdom
 7 Cultivating Compassion
 8 Transforming Anger
 9 Mindful Parenting
 10 Transformations in the Classroom
 11 Mindful Listening
 12 Mindfulness and the Five Faculties
 13 Ten Perfections
 14 Knowledge and Practice
 15 Problem with Laziness

5 Another Level of Consciousness
 1 Exploring the Meaning of Success
 2 The Second Retreat
 3 Help Yourself First before Helping Others
 4 Dealing with Pain
 5 Balancing Five Strengths
 6 The Observer Is a Non-Self
 7 Separating Body and Mind
 8 Paradox of Jedi
 9 How to Deal with Physical Pain
 10 About Afterlife
 11 Special Phenomenon
 12 Suffering from Impermanence
 13 Attachment to Happiness
 14 Levels of Merit-Giving
 15 Meeting My Deceased Relatives
 16 Beginning of the Exam
 17 The Hardest Three Hours
 18 Defining Self
 19 Three Prerequisites of Practice
 20 Strategies to Survive
 21 The Power of Concentration
 22 Albert Einstein Was Right
 23 Four Kinds of Wealth
 24 The Final Assignment
 25 The Best Gifts
 26 Forgiveness
 27 The Final Challenge
 28 After the Retreat
 29 Combining Zen Buddhism and Theravada Buddhism

6 Practicing Mindfulness in Parenting
 1 Embracing Imperfection
 2 Becoming a Parent
 3 Practicing Mindfulness in Delivery
 4 Mindfulness Practice for Busy Moms
 5 Transforming My Teaching Practice Again
 6 Teachers’ Discussions about Students’ Well-Being
 7 Does Learning Have to Be Painful?
 8 Mindfulness for Families
 9 A Few Shots of Mindful Parenting

7 Nurturing a Mindful School Community
 1 The Secular Approach to Mindfulness
 2 Mindfulness Curriculum for Children
 3 Mindfulness Sessions for Teachers
 4 Mindfulness Professional Learning Community
 5 Mindful Living
 6 Hurrying Energy
 7 Working Meditation
 8 Nowhere to Go, Nothing to Do
 9 Not So Lazy Monday
 10 Walk with Me
 11 Hugging Meditation
 12 Combining Buddhist and Secular Mindfulness Practices
 13 Scaffolding Mindfulness Education

8 Just Know So
 1 Sustained Attention vs. Mindfulness
 2 Meeting Luangpu Pramote
 3 A Boundless Mind
 4 International Vipassanā Retreat
 5 First Dhamma Talk
 6 It Is Okay to Feel Not Okay
 7 Be a Turtle, Not a Hare
 8 About Enlightenment
 9 Desire and the Five Precepts
 10 The Beginning of Wisdom Development
 11 Automatic Knower
 12 Mindfulness for Insight
 13 Free the Mind

9 Understand Mindfulness through Science
 1 Developing a Stable Mind
 2 Mindfulness and Sustainable Development
 3 Mindfulness Defined by Psychologists
 4 Authentic Inquiry
 5 The Brain and the Mind
 6 The Purpose of Mindfulness Practice
 7 Understanding Non-Self
 8 Reorientation of Research

10 Transcending Happiness and Suffering
 1 The Puppy Mind
 2 Dhamma Discussion with Monk Koffman
 3 The Nature of the Mind
 4 The Nature of Thoughts
 5 The Observation of Craving
 6 Finding a Temporary Home Base for the Mind
 7 Vipassanā and Samatha Practices
 8 Application of Mindfulness
 9 Suffering Is Our Teacher

11 How to Cultivate a Stable Mind
 1 Find a Home for the Mind
 2 Venerable Nimmalo’s Story
 3 Beginning His Monastic Life
 4 Use Samatha to Lead Mindfulness
 5 Right Samādhi
 6 One Pointedness and a Stable Mind
 7 Mindfulness and Well-Being
 8 Mindfulness in Education
 9 The Story of Sariputta
 10 Can the Mind Be Measured?
 11 Separating the Five Aggregates
 12 Observing the Impermanence of a Phenomenon
 13 Imagine an Alternative Way of Teaching and Learning

12 How to Cultivate an Equanimous Mind
 1 No Mud, No Lotus
 2 Ajahn Malee’s Story
 3 Joining Silent Retreats
 4 Using Her Home as the Temple
 5 First Awakening Moment
 6 Seeing the Dhamma
 7 Becoming a Dhamma Teacher
 8 Practitioners vs. Non-Practitioners
 9 Facing Crises with Mindfulness
 10 Observe Ourselves with Equanimity
 11 Experience of Vipassanā Moment

13 Mindfulness in Daily Life Heuristics
 1 The Separation between the Body and the Mind
 2 The Basic Principles
 3 An Overview of Case Studies
 4 Reflection on the MiDL Program

14 Facing Crises with Equanimity Forum
 1 Begin with the Idea of Sharing
 2 Online Informal Science Education for the Global Community
 3 Sharing in a Circle
 4 Managing Stress
 5 Ameliorating Intense Emotions
 6 Practicing Mindfulness in the Middle Way
 7 Anger Management
 8 The Path of Surrender
 9 Surrendering vs. Blind Faith

15 Now, Present and Future
 1 Learning to Let Go
 2 Ongoing Projects
 3 Less Is More

16 Developing a Mindful Lifestyle
 1 Mindfulness Is for Everyone
 2 Upholding the Five Precepts
 3 Find a Temporary Home
 4 Daily Meditation
 5 Metta Meditation
 6 Cultivating Wisdom in Daily Life
 7 Useful Links

Glossary

Index

All interested in enhancing overall well-being and mindfulness in daily life, teachers who wish to improve psychological resilience at work, parents who wish to raise emotionally intelligent children.