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Via Tricycle

 

Creative Engagement in an Imperfect World
By Gavin Milne

As we respond to the crises of today’s world, embracing imperfection—and cultivating compassion—can help us chart a path forward.

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Via Daily Dharma: Settling the Snow Globe Mind

Learning to drop what we’re doing, however momentarily, and to genuinely pay attention in the present moment, without attachment or bias, helps us become clear, just as a snow globe becomes clear when we stop shaking it and its flakes settle.

Lama Surya Das, “The Heart-Essence of Buddhist Meditation”

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from Frivolous Speech

 

RIGHT SPEECH
Refraining from Frivolous  Speech

Frivolous speech is unhealthy. Refraining from frivolous speech is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning frivolous speech, one refrains from frivolous speech. One speaks at the right time, speaks only what is fact, and speaks about what is good. One speaks what is worthy of being overheard, words that are reasonable, moderate, and beneficial. (DN 1) One practices thus: "Others may speak frivolously, but I shall abstain from frivolous speech." (MN 8) When a person commits an offense of some kind, one should not hurry to reprove them but rather should consider whether or not to speak. If you will be troubled, the other person will be hurt, and you can help them emerge from what is unhealthy and establish them in what is healthy, then it is proper to speak. It is a trifle that you will be troubled and they will be hurt compared with the value of helping establish them in what is healthy. (MN 103)

Reflection

The teachings on right speech are encouraging us to take the matter of communication more seriously than we often do. Often a lot of chattering is not conveying anything important, and it has a tendency to be distracting, making us less attentive. Speaking carefully about what is true and good brings greater value to our speech and renders it more worthy of being overheard.

Daily Practice

The example offered in this passage suggests that we should not jump to reprimand someone when they have committed some small offense. Pausing to consider whether to speak up breaks the momentum of a quick, reflexive reaction. It may turn out to be appropriate to speak, but the key issue is whether it would be helpful to do so. Note that whether speaking up would be troublesome or might hurt the other person is a trifle in comparison to the benefit of “helping establish them in what is healthy.”

Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Social Action
One week from today: Refraining from False Speech

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - March 16, 2022 💌

 
 

The technique of the witness is to merely sit with the fear and be aware of it before it becomes so consuming that there’s no space left. The image I usually use is that of a picture frame and a painting of a gray cloud against a blue sky. But the picture frame is a little too small. So you bend the canvas around to frame it. But in doing so you lost all the blue sky. So you end up with just a framed gray cloud. It fills the entire frame.

So when you say 'I'm afraid' or 'I'm depressed', if you enlarged the frame so that just a little blue space shows, you would say ‘ah, a cloud.’ That is what the witness is. The witness is that tiny little blue over in the corner that leads you to say, ‘ah, fear.’ 

- Ram Dass

Via Lion's Roar // Rest In Your Buddhanature

 

Rest In Your Buddhanature

Your true nature is like the sky, says Mingyur Rinpoche, its love and wisdom unaffected by the clouds of life. You can access it with this awareness meditation.