Via Daily Dharma: Changing the World

To become a different kind of person is to experience the world in a different way. When your mind changes, the world changes. And when you respond differently to the world, the world usually responds differently to you.

David Loy, “The Dharma of the Rings”

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Via Lion’s Roar // Dharma for Times of Global Trauma

 

Dharma for Times of Global Trauma Psychologist and Buddhist teacher Tara Brach shares the importance of training mindfulness teachers and practitioners to nourish a sense of our collective belonging in our increasingly traumatized world.

via Daily Dharma: Find Nourishment in Connection

 Each of us has a deep yearning for connection. That’s one of the reasons why loneliness kills. And if that’s true, then the opposite of loneliness—our feeling of connection with others—has to be good for us.

Interview with Thupten Jinpa by the Mind & Life Institute, “The Power of Awareness and Compassion to Transform Our World”

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from Malicious Speech

 

RIGHT SPEECH Refraining from Malicious Speech Malicious speech is unhealthy. Refraining from malicious speech is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning malicious speech, one refrains from malicious speech. One does not repeat there what one has heard here to the detriment of these, or repeat here what he has heard there to the detriment of those. One unites those who are divided, is a promoter of friendships, and speaks words that promote concord. (DN 1) One practices thus: “Others may speak maliciously, but I shall abstain from malicious speech." (MN 8) When others address you, their speech may be with a mind of lovingkindness or with inner hate … One is to train thus: “My mind will be unaffected, and I shall utter no bad words; I shall abide compassionate for their welfare, with a mind of lovingkindness, without inner hate.” (MN 21)

Reflection Words are one thing, and the emotion or intention behind them is another. What matters more than the content of what is said is how it is said, the quality of mind behind the words. You can say, “I hope you have a nice day” with benevolent good will, or you can say the exact same thing with a voice that is dripping with sarcasm and venom. We all know the difference when on the receiving end of such speech. Daily Practice It is an advanced practice to receive malicious speech—words uttered with some degree of hatred—and not return the same emotion. It is an even more challenging practice to respond with kindness, yet it can be done. Practice this today, all day. Even if someone addresses you maliciously, make a point of not letting it evoke malice from you. See if everything you say today can be said with the underlying emotion of kindness. Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Verbal Action One week from today: Refraining from Harsh Speech Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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Via Tricycle // he Buddhism and Ecology Summit

The ecological crisis isn’t a future threat. It is our present reality.  For thousands of years, Buddhist teachings have provided tools for awakening to the reality of what is—including life’s inherent impermanence, uncertainty, and suffering. How can the dharma help us to better understand and address the predicament we currently find ourselves in? What do Buddhist teachings and practices have to offer for helping us to live harmoniously—and be effective agents of change—in the face of catastrophe?  In honor of Earth Day 2022, Tricycle is bringing together leading Buddhist teachers, writers, and environmentalists for a donation-based weeklong virtual event series from April 18–22 exploring what the dharma has to offer in a time of environmental crisis. This week’s events will explore three dimensions of the ecological crisis: the spiritual and psychological roots of the crisis, dealing with the difficult emotions that arise, and taking meaningful action.  This is a donation-based event. Receive a complimentary Tricycle ebook when you give the suggested donation of $30 or more!

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Compassion

 

RIGHT INTENTION
Cultivating Compassion

Whatever you intend, whatever you plan, and whatever you have a tendency toward, that will become the basis on which your mind is established. (SN 12.40) Develop meditation on compassion, for when you develop meditation on compassion, any cruelty will be abandoned. (MN 62) The proximate cause of compassion is seeing helplessness in those overwhelmed by suffering. (Vm 9.94)

Reflection

While lovingkindness is an emotional attitude that flows indiscriminately to all beings in all directions, compassion is the form it takes when it encounters the awareness of suffering. When someone who cares sees another being suffering, “the heart trembles” and the wish for the suffering to end arises. Compassion is an expression of caring for others and as such is an inherently healthy state of mind that should be cultivated.

Daily Practice

Take some time to look at suffering rather than avoid it by looking elsewhere. There are opportunities for doing this all around you, as both small and large examples of suffering abound. Pay close attention to the quality of mind that occurs when you are giving sustained attention to the suffering of another. It is not about getting lost in pity or sorrow but about allowing the mind to feel the pain with an attitude of caring.

Tomorrow: Refraining from Malicious Speech
One week from today: Cultivating Appreciative Joy

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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Daily Dharma: Hone Your Blade

 Building concentration is like sharpening the sword that cuts off the head of delusion. On its own, concentration doesn’t get you anywhere. But concentration can make any meditation practice easier, sharper, and more effective.

Dr. Jay Michaelson, “Jhana: The Spice Your Meditation Has Been Missing”

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Via Them // The KBJ Hearings Proved Republicans Are Obsessed With LGBTQ+ People

 

The KBJ Hearings Proved Republicans Are Obsessed With LGBTQ+ People

The GOP officially has nothing left in the playbook besides racism and transmisogyny.

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right View: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering

 

RIGHT VIEW
Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering

What is the origin of suffering? It is craving, which brings renewal of being, is accompanied by delight and lust, and delights in this and that; that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for being, and craving for non-being. (MN 9) When one does not know and see bodily sensations as they actually are, then one is attached to bodily sensations. When one is attached, one becomes infatuated, and one’s craving increases. One’s bodily and mental troubles increase, and one experiences bodily and mental suffering. (MN 149)

Reflection

The fifth of the six sense modalities is the range of bodily sensations that are discernable through the body as a sense organ. Like all the other sense organs, the body is an instrument for both the arising of suffering and the cessation of suffering. When craving is present, either for a pleasant sensation or for the cessation of a painful sensation, a micro-moment of suffering is produced. You can experience this happening in your body again and again.

Daily Practice

Whether sitting or walking or engaging in any of your other normal activities, pay close attention to the sensations of the body as they naturally arise and pass away. Notice how some are favored (the ones that feel good) and some are resented and resisted (the ones that feel bad). Notice how that subtle attachment or aversion, called infatuation in this text, is the starting point for all kinds of discontent and suffering.

Tomorrow: Cultivating Compassion
One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering

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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Daily Dharma: From Silence Sprouts Wonder

 Be in harmony with each breath, each moment, and know that in giving yourself this time to develop awareness and a steadiness of attention you are nourishing spirit, head and heart. Let it be an adventure, and in the silence and the stillness that comes with practice you’ll discover wonders here for you, now.

Elana Rosenbaum, “Guided Meditation: Awareness of Breathing”

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Via Daily Dharma: Paint Your Own Future

 Past karma shapes your experience of the world. It exists; there is not much you can do about it. Yet, you are also constantly creating new karma, and that gives you a golden opportunity. With your reaction to each experience, you create the karma that will color your future.

Trungram Gyalwa Rinpoche, “The Power of the Third Moment”

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Via Lion's Roar // The Spring Prayer

 

The Spring Prayer

Shozan Jack Haubner presents a prayer for the chaotic awakening of nature that is spring.

Spring is when the mountain comes alive. If there’s been a lot of snow, and suddenly there’s tons of sun, things start crawling out of the earth, stirred to life by the contrasts in their surroundings. The hills basically go nuts. You’re walking down the gravel driveway under a canopy of chirping treetops and suddenly a pair of chipmunks falls on top of you. “Sorry dude,” their little scampering body language says. “But something’s goin’ down on this mountain and we’re just part of it!”

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Mindfulness and Concentration: Establishing Mindfulness of Body and the First Jhāna

RIGHT MINDFULNESS
Establishing Mindfulness of Body

A person goes to the forest or to the root of a tree or to an empty place and sits down. Having crossed the legs, one sets the body erect. One establishes the presence of mindfulness. (MN 10) One is aware: "Ardent, fully aware, mindful, I am content." (SN 47.10)   When walking, one is aware: "I am walking."… One is just aware, just mindful: "There is a body." And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)

Reflection

As we gain the ability to be mindful of the body while breathing in and out, experiencing the entire body and stilling its activities, it becomes natural to extend this capacity for awareness to other normal activities. One of these is walking, and the point is not to get somewhere but to be entirely attentive to what it feels like to walk. Every step is an exercise in non-attachment, in not clinging to anything in the world.

Daily Practice

Spend some time in formal walking meditation. You can go for a walk and practice heightened awareness to the experience, but in formal walking meditation you walk slowly back and forth for 10 or 15 paces in each direction. This frees you from any concern about navigation, obstacles, or distractions, allowing the mind to focus entirely on the flow of physical sensations that come with slowly lifting, moving, and placing the foot with each step.

RIGHT CONCENTRATION Approaching and Abiding in the First Phase of Absorption (1st Jhāna)

Having abandoned the five hindrances, imperfections of the mind that weaken wisdom, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, one enters and abides in the first phase of absorption, which is accompanied by applied thought and sustained thought, with joy and the pleasure born of seclusion. (MN 4) When one sees oneself purified of all these unhealthy states and thus liberated from them, gladness is born. When one is glad, joy is born; in one who is joyful, the body becomes tranquil; one whose body is tranquil feels pleasure; in one who feels pleasure, the mind becomes concentrated. (MN 40)

Reflection

The English word concentration conjures up a sense of deliberate effort, wherein you force yourself to pay attention or to concentrate. While the appropriate application of energy is required, the Buddhist texts talk about concentration as something you relax into naturally, rather than something you force yourself to do through discipline. This sets a very different tone, and makes the practice of concentration more appealing.

Daily Practice

We are used to noticing when we are vexed or afflicted in some way, and are less likely to notice when we are free from distress and feeling good. Try to reverse this today, and notice the times when the mind is free, if only for a moment, from any uncomfortable mental or emotional states. In short, feel good about feeling good when you feel good, and allow yourself to be glad when the mind is clear.

Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering
One week from today:  Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling and Abiding in the Second Jhāna

Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media
#DhammaWheel

Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.