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Via Tricycle /// How Mindfulness Works Even When It Doesn’t

How Mindfulness Works Even When It Doesn’t By Gil Fronsdal

When attention to the breath proves to be no match for our racing thoughts, how can we instead consciously turn our awareness to the tensions that occupy our mind?

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Via Tricycle // Beats and Buddhas

 

“Beats and Buddhas”: A New Exhibit Features Art from Allen Ginsberg and Gonkar Gyatso
By Alison Spiegel

Photographs by the legendary beat poet and colorful collages by Tibetan artist Gonkar Gyatsu are drawn together by an unlikely thread of humor and spirituality.

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Via Tricycle /// The Kindness of Joe Pera

 

The Kindness of Joe Pera
By Mike Gillis

This sitcom about a New York comedian challenges us to see everything as being worthy of our attention.

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Via Daily Dharma: Learning When to Pause Practice

 An important part of any practice involves learning when to just stop practicing altogether. Stopping gives you more space, which allows you to accept the ups and downs, the possible turbulence of the experience that may be generated by your practice.

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, “The Aim of Attention”

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: Restraining Unarisen Unhealthy States

 

RIGHT EFFORT
Restraining Unarisen Unhealthy States

Whatever a person frequently thinks about 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

We all have the capacity for restlessness, especially as inhabitants of a culture that seems to thrive on it. We are so often encouraged to multitask, to spread our awareness so widely that, like spilled water, it gets increasingly thin. This tendency can be resisted by exercising some restraint. It requires not giving in to the forces that seek to pull us off center and preserving the experience of inner calm and composure.

Daily Practice

Resist the arising of restlessness by cultivating a more focused and peaceful way of inhabiting your world. Don’t jump at everything that demands your attention, don’t allow your awareness to be hijacked by random events, and protect your mindfulness as a sentry might guard a gate. It takes effort to preserve a sense of inner serenity—not the kind of effort that tries harder but that stays centered and is not pulled off balance.

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

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