Monday, December 2, 2024

Via Daily Dharma: Loosen Your Convictions

 

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Loosen Your Convictions

We must be willing to not be so sure about who we are, what we’re here to do, and why. And we have to let go of the belief that what we can see and touch and name is more real and more relevant than what’s not visible.

Vanessa Zuisei Goddard, “Signs of the Unseen”


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By the Numbers: Thailand
By the Editors
How many temples are there in Thailand? How high is the tallest temple? Take a look at our latest "Buddhism by the Numbers," this one set in the Land of Smiles.
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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right View: The Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering

 


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RIGHT VIEW
Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering
What is the origin of suffering? It is craving, which brings renewal of being, is accompanied by delight and lust, and delights in this and that: that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for being, and craving for non-being. (MN 9)

When one does not know and see visual forms as they actually are, then one is attached to visual forms. When one is attached, one becomes infatuated, and one’s craving increases. One’s bodily and mental troubles increase, and one experiences bodily and mental suffering. (MN 149)
Reflection
Once you have recognized an aspect of suffering in your own lived experience, the next step is to come to understand that it has a specific origin. All suffering is rooted in some form of craving or attachment, some wanting for things to be different than they are. The senses are not entirely passive, but "reach out" in some way to pursue the objects (in this case sights) that it favors and avoid those with which it is not comfortable.

Daily Practice
The Buddhist approach to suffering is not theoretical or conceptual but profoundly experiential. We will explore the origin of suffering by reviewing each of the senses in turn, looking for a particular cause of a particular instance of suffering. We easily become attached to and infatuated with visual forms and yearn to see some things and not others. Look in your own experience for the tendency to favor some sights over others. 

Tomorrow: Cultivating Compassion
One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering

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