Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from Frivolous Speech

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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) An authentic person is one who, even when asked, does not reveal their own praiseworthy qualities—still less so when not asked. When asked, however, and obliged to reply to questions, one speaks of their own praiseworthy qualities hesitatingly and not in detail. (AN 4.73)

Reflection This passage describes a situation of humility, not dissembling. It is right speech because it does not unnecessarily embellish your own story by exaggerating your good qualities, which can be considered a form of frivolous or unnecessary speech. Notice that it is still important to tell the truth, so if asked directly it is okay to be accurate in noting your own virtues, as long as you do it with an attitude of humility. Daily Practice Pay attention to the speech patterns of the people you encounter and notice just how much of what they say involves praising themselves either overtly or indirectly. It is remarkable how much of our speech is given to this project. Now turn your gaze on your own words and see to what degree you are doing this yourself. Try removing self-praise from your language for a while and see how difficult it is to do. Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Social Action One week from today: Refraining from False Speech 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: Practice Is Love

 

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Practice Is Love The feeling of wanting to practice is love. Being with whatever is coming, being with your body is awareness.                   Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, “Self-Transformation Through Tonglen” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

‘The Teachings Are Alive in Us’ By Valerie Brown Reflections on Plum Village’s twentieth anniversary BIPOC retreat.  Read more » Khata: Purity or Poison? Directed by Huatse Gyal July’s film is still available! Khata: Purity or Poison?, directed by Huatse Gyal, explores the paradoxical relationship between the meaning of the Khata, a sacred scarf used in much of the Tibetan Buddhist world, and its materiality, between purity and poison, to raise awareness of the unintended consequences of our good intentions. Watch now »

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - July 31, 2024 💌

 

If you were to take your consciousness and bring it out of your senses and out of your thinking mind and bring it down into awareness, what then? Who would you then be? Well, what you would be at that point is awareness. Just awareness or consciousness. …What I’m saying is that there are ways of subjectively being in the universe so that things are available to you, or in you, that would otherwise only be knowable to you by collecting them through your senses and through your thinking mind.

 - Ram Dass

Via White Crane Institute // WALTER ARLEN (né Aptowitzer)

	Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989
This Day in Gay History
July 31 Born 1920 - WALTER ARLEN (né Aptowitzer) ; born on this date, is an Austrian-born American composer, specializing mainly in voice and piano scores, having published around 65 works. He is also a music critic for the Los Angeles Times. Arlen was born in Vienna. His parents ran a department store until it was taken from them by the Germans in 1938. His father was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp and his mother committed suicide after a breakdown. Walter lost his first love, Budapest native Fülöp “Lumpi” Loránt, during the war — the latter starved to death while at a heinous labor camp at the age of 24 or 25. After the war, Walter relocated to Chicago. While living there, Aptowitzer changed his name to Walter Arlen. (He is not related to "Over the Rainbow" composer Harold Arlen.) He staved off depression by writing music. He won a prize in a song cycle contest and became an assistant to the American composer Roy Harris. Because of that, he  had a chance encounter with Schubert composer, Otto Erich Deutsch, and having promise was encouraged to compose, he records for Decca Records, with many of his works only discovered recently, having trained at the University of California, Los Angeles under Leo Sowerby and Roy Harris. His assistance and knowledge has been fundamental in tracking down other artists from the period whose works where lost or forgotten due to the Nazi Regime.  Whilst working as a journalist, he founded the music department at Loyola University Chicago. Arlen established friendships with numerous other German and Austrian emigrees, including Stravinsky, Milhaud, Villa-Lobos and Chavez.  Arlen pursued his musical studies at UCLA, worked as a driver for Igor Stravinsky and, before long, was hired as a classical critic for the Los Angeles Times. I also write for the LA Times, but had never heard of Arlen until I was introduced to him by Michael Haas — a musical historian who arranged for Arlen's work to be recorded along with many other Jewish composers. For decades, Arlen's music remained in his desk drawer. Among the recently recorded work is an oratorio, "The Song of Songs," based on the ancient Jewish love poem and composed by Arlen in the early 1950s. Walter Arlen has been happily married to his partner of 65 years Howard Myers since July 2, 2013. They are featured in the 2023 Netflix documentary Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate.    |8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8| Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute "With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989! www.whitecraneinstitute.org |8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|

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Via Tricycle // Sounds of Enlightenment

 

Via Tricycle / What goes through the Bardo?

 

Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Equanimity

 

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RIGHT INTENTION Cultivating Equanimity Whatever you intend, whatever you plan, and whatever you have a tendency toward, that will become the basis upon which your mind is established. (SN 12.40) Develop meditation on equanimity, for when you develop meditation on equanimity, all aversion is abandoned. (MN 62)  The far enemies of equanimity are attachment and aversion. (Vm 9.101) When a person smelling an odor with the nose is not attached to pleasing odors and not repelled by unpleasing odors, they have established mindfulness and dwell with an unlimited mind. For a person whose mindfulness is developed and practiced, the nose does not struggle to reach pleasing odors, and unpleasing odors are not considered repulsive. (SN 35.274)

Reflection Buddhist teachings are not abstract but always point us to the front lines of lived experience. Cycling through each of the six senses, we come to exploring the quality of equanimity even in the smelling of odors. Equanimity is the midpoint between favoring and opposing, between wanting what feels good and not wanting what feels bad. It is not indifference but a more refined attitude of understanding and acknowledging. Daily Practice See if you can find and then inhabit that middle emotional ground in which you are acutely aware of a sensation—in this case a smell coming through the nose—but are not reacting to it, either for or against. All sensory experience is just what it is; we need not make it good or bad by our emotional response. Learning to do this with a sense like smell will help you apply equanimity to other, more complex situations as needed.  Tomorrow: Refraining from Frivolous Speech One week from today: Cultivating Lovingkindness Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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