Via SBMG //

 

Upcoming Retreat

Online: Half-Day Meditation Retreat, “Entering the Path of Chan”, with Guo Gu (Chan)

June 11 @ 9:30 am - 12:30 pm $20 – $100   GuoGu will be with us online via zoom. This half-day retreat extends his May 22 dharma talk (available on SBMG’s website Audio section) and builds upon the Silent Illumination approach to practice. Click here to register via Eventbrite. Registrants will receive the zoom link by email two days before the retreat with reminder and details about the day. Guo Gu (Dr. Jimmy Yu) is the founder of the Tallahassee Chan Center, the founder of the socially engaged intra-denominational Buddhist organization, Dharma Relief, and a professor of Buddhism and East Asian religions at Florida State University. He was a monk for nine years and one of the late Master Sheng Yen’s senior and closest disciples. He is the author of Silent Illumination (2021), The Essence of Chan (2020), and Passing Through the Gateless Barrier (2016). To connect with Guo Gu, visit....READ MORE

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IMS Book Club: A Queer Dharma | Jacoby Ballard — June 16 at 7PM ET

After gay Pride flag flap, N.J. school fills windows with rainbow banners

 

Happy Pride 2022!

 

Via Daily Dharma: A Vast Improve Collective

 Once we see that we are not solo improv stand-up players but rather members of a vast improv collective, we can recognize that the only way that I can succeed is if we succeed. 

Jay Garfield, “Learning to Live Without a Self”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Action: Reflecting upon Mental Action

 

RIGHT ACTION
Reflecting Upon Mental Action

However the seed is planted, in that way the fruit is gathered. Good things come from doing good deeds, bad things come from doing bad deeds. (SN 11.10) What is the purpose of a mirror? For the purpose of reflection. So too mental action is to be done with repeated reflection. (MN 61) When you wish to do an action with the mind, reflect upon that same mental action thus: “Would this action I wish to do with the mind lead to both my own affliction and the affliction of another?” If, upon reflection, you know that it would, then do not do it; if you know that it would not, then proceed. (MN 61)

Reflection

It may seem odd to us that we could be aware of our intention to think thoughts before actually doing so. Thinking before you speak is one thing, but thinking before you think? And yet in the Buddhist model of mind and body, actions of the mind are not so different from actions of body and speech. We can learn to be aware of them before, during, and after undertaking all forms of action.

Daily Practice

Identify some of your thought patterns that are familiar to you: the stories you tell yourself over and over, the episodes from the past you ruminate over. Now make the decision not to go there yet again. Some of this introspection can be helpful, but if it becomes repetitive and involuntary it can “lead to your own affliction.” There are ways to take more control over your mental action, and not ruminating is one of those ways.

Tomorrow: Abstaining from Misbehaving Among Sensual Pleasures
One week from today: Reflecting upon Social Action

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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.