Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: Restraining Unarisen Unhealthy States

RIGHT EFFORT
Restraining Unarisen Unhealthy States

Whatever a person frequently thinks and ponders, that will become the inclination of their mind. If one frequently thinks about and ponders unhealthy states, one has abandoned healthy states to cultivate unhealthy states, and then one’s mind inclines to unhealthy states. (MN 19) Here a person rouses the will, makes an effort, stirs up energy, exerts the mind, and strives to restrain the arising of unarisen unhealthy mental states. One restrains the arising of the unarisen hindrance of restlessness. (MN 141)

Reflection

It should not surprise us to hear that a person gradually becomes what they practice being. If you complain a lot about all the things you are discontented with, you will become a more discontented person and more inclined to further discontent. This works in a positive direction also, allowing us to develop healthy mental habits, but this passage focuses on protecting ourselves from our own toxic qualities of mind.

Daily Practice

This passage begins the process of walking us through the five hindrances, qualities of mind that inhibit mental clarity and contribute to suffering. The first of these is restlessness, a quality of mind that is active in some moments and dormant in others. Here we are told to practice the states of mind, primarily calm and tranquility, that prevent restlessness from arising. A calm mind is a healthy mind; practice calming the mind often.

Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Body and Abiding in the First Jhāna
One week from today: Abandoning Arisen Unhealthy States

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Via Daily Dharma: A Caring Foundation

 We can’t live ethically without caring about ourselves as well as others. And we can’t be mindful without caring about what is happening here and now. Care underpins the radical attention that dharma practice accentuates.

Winton Higgins, “Treading the Path with Care”

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Via Listen to this week’s podcasts from the Be Here Now Network

  Ram Dass – Here and Now – Ep. 194 – Pitfalls and Providence
February 24, 2022 In this Q&A session from his legendary 1974 Naropa University course, Ram Dass answers questions about the Bhagavad Gita, the pitfalls of meditation, dealing...

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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)   Breathing in and out, tranquilizing bodily activities … one is just aware, just mindful: "There is a body." And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)

Reflection

Sunday is a good day to get in the habit of spending some time in mindful meditation. When the quality of mind called mindfulness is nurtured and developed, the mind inclines toward contentment, as this passage points out. This might even be a good definition of mindfulness: feeling content with whatever is happening by not wanting it to be anything other than it is.

Daily Practice

The text that teaches meditation begins with learning to breathe in and out, long and short, mindfully, but here it shifts with a more intentional directive. The instruction is to "tranquilize"—calm or relax—the breathing and all bodily activity. In other words, we are now not simply being aware of what is happening but also trying to direct our experience toward deeper and deeper states of calm. With each breath, relax.

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)

Reflection

We dedicate Sundays to practicing mindfulness and concentration. Concentration practice involves focusing the mind on a single object, such as the breath, and returning attention to this focal point whenever it wanders off (which it will surely do often). All forms of meditation involve some level of concentration, so it is a good thing to practice.

Daily Practice

Formal concentration practice, involving absorption (Pali: jhāna) in four defined stages, requires more time and sustained effort than occasional practice generally allows and would benefit from careful instruction by a qualified teacher. You may begin on your own, however, simply by practicing to abandon the five hindrances, since jhāna practice only really begins when these temporarily cease to arise.

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

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Via Daily Dharma: The Dance of Reciprocity

 Reciprocity is a dance like life itself. The air we breathe, the food we eat, the wounds we carry, and the love we share are all given and received. . . . When we give without differentiating self from other, and when we receive without differentiating it from the giving, then we can find the gift of dana everywhere.

Melina Bondy, “The Dance of Reciprocity”

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I call upon the ancient Ukranian goddess Berehynia

I call upon the Forest Grandmother Baba Yaha

I call upon the Mother Goddess Mokosh

I call upon the Mother Bear who protects Her cubs

I call upon Maty Zemlya Mother Earth, Mother of all

I call upon all spirit mothers

Peace and protection for the people of Ukraine

Peace and protection for the people of Ukraine

Peace and protection for the people of Ukraine

 

--Madame Pamita

 

ARTIST is THALIA TOOK. (https://www.deviantart.com/thaliatook/art/Mokosh-627007118)

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