The Hindrance Of Sense Desire

During this talk, Susan Baxter continues the review by our teachers of the Satipatthana Sutta, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse.  After reviewing the overall structure of the Sutta, she focuses on the first of the Five Hindrances, Sense Desire, which investigates the distress and confusion associated with craving pleasant feelings.  She then describes how skillful attention and letting go can effectively set aside the untrained mind’s strong desire for pleasant experience to be controlled.  Part of the discussion focuses on how the over-activation of parts of the brain associated with feelings can lead to addiction, along with how mindfulness of breathing meditation and other wholesome mental conditions can effectively set aside sense desire.