Gay Buddhist Fellowship - San Francisco

 

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation \\ Words of Wisdom - November 27, 2022 💌

 
 

Most of us primarily have to get our psychological and life games in order before we are ready for the higher spiritual practices. Often we want more than we are ready to have. We take on practices that could bring you to God, or to enlightenment. But because we are so caught in psychological stuff, in ego trips, we merely take them and convert them to things around our ego.

Really, there are very few people who have their psychological scene so cooled out. Who are no longer needing to prove themselves. Who have eaten their own unworthiness. They can begin to hear these higher motives for spiritual work.

- Ram Dass -


From Here & Now Podcast - Ep. 147 – Motives for Spiritual Practice

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Mindfulness and Concentration: Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects and the Fourth Jhāna

 

RIGHT MINDFULNESS Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects 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)

Reflection The fourth foundation of mindfulness involves looking at various aspects of our experience as episodes of phenomena arising and passing away in the stream of consciousness. Unhelpful habits of mind, acting as hindrances to inner clarity, come and go along with helpful mental factors, such as those guiding us to awakening. We learn to observe these changing states with calm and focused equanimity, without grasping. Daily Practice Sit quietly on a regular basis and take an interest in watching what goes on in your mind. The challenge is to observe it all without latching on to the content of your thoughts but simply noting them as events arising and passing away. Become mindful of mental objects rather than becoming entangled in them. If you can do this with ardent energy, fully aware and mindful, you will likely find yourself very content. RIGHT CONCENTRATION Approaching and Abiding in the Fourth Phase of Absorption (4th Jhāna) With the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous disappearance of joy and grief, one enters upon and abides in the fourth phase of absorption, which has neither-pain-nor-pleasure and purity of mindfulness as a result of equanimity. The concentrated mind is thus purified, bright, unblemished, rid of imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability. (MN 4) Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of Suffering One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Body and Abiding in the First Jhāna Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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Via Daily Dharma: The Gate of Gratitude

 The gate of gratitude is the threshold of a spiritual life. Being liberated from the need to achieve goodness, we flow naturally toward harmony. 

Rev. Dr. Kenji Akahoshi, “Finding Spirit in the Ordinary”

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