Via LGBTQ Nation

 

Via GBF: Latest Podcast Episode available: Kevin Griffin on Perception

Sangha Members,

A recording of Kevin Griffin's recent talk to GBF, "Perception" is now available on your favorite podcast engine, or by going to our website at:

 

https://gaybuddhist.org/podcast/kevin-griffin-2/

Via Bodhipaksa @ Wildmind

 

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Mindfulness and Concentration: Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling and the Second Jhāna

 

TRICYCLE      COURSE CATALOG      SUPPORT      DONATE

RIGHT MINDFULNESS Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling 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)   When feeling a neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling, one is aware: "Feeling a neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling" … one is just aware, just mindful: "There is feeling." And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)

Reflection Pleasant and painful feelings are apparent enough, but the third kind of feeling, one that is neither pleasant nor painful but neutral, can be harder to detect. Some say most feeling is neutral, and only a few feelings are obviously pleasant or painful. Others say that most feelings are either pleasant or painful, only appearing neutral with insufficient attention, and that with greater discernment they will resolve into pleasant or painful. Try out both points of view and decide for yourself. Daily Practice Feeling tone is a component of every mind moment. While breathing in and out, notice the changing textures of feeling throughout the body. Feelings are fleeting, numerous, and varied. It is against the backdrop of pleasant and painful feelings that you can begin to notice feelings like tingling, perhaps, that don't register as obviously pleasant or unpleasant yet still make up the strands of experience.  RIGHT CONCENTRATION Approaching and Abiding in the Second Phase of Absorption (2nd Jhāna) With the stilling of applied and sustained thought, one enters upon and abides in the second phase of absorption, which has inner clarity and singleness of mind, without applied thought and sustained thought, with joy and the pleasure born of concentration. (MN 4) Reflection Trying to attain these stages as some form of accomplishment is actually antithetical to the states of mind accessed by jhāna. One of the reasons the jhānas have not been emphasized in western meditation circles until recently is precisely because of the danger inherent in the striving or comparing mind. Never mind stage one, two, three, or four—just sit quietly and allow the contentment of the tranquil mind to formlessly arise.  Daily Practice As you sit quietly and your mind becomes increasingly calm and stable, it is natural for the pleasant sensations that arise from the mind being free of the hindrances to gradually morph into the pleasant sensations that come simply from the mind being focused. This unified tranquility is actually a natural state for the mind, which is much more at home in serenity than it is in our hectic, multitasking life. Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Cessation of  Suffering One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Mind and Abiding in the Third Jhāna Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Tricycle is a nonprofit and relies on your support to keep its wheels turning. Donate »

© 2025 Tricycle Foundation 89 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003

Via Daily Dharma: The Ship of Karma

 

Support Tricycle with a donation »

The Ship of Karma While delusions compel us to separate ourselves from each other and from the truth of our interdependence, our connectedness endures. The sufferings felt by those we disparage and harm return to us on the ship of karma. Kamilah Majied, PhD, “The Dharma and Kwanzaa” CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

In Search of “True” Buddhism By Seth Zuiho Segall Authentic practice means staying faithful to both tradition and ourselves. Read more »

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation ///Words of Wisdom - February 2, 2025 💠

 

"The moment of awakening, which is the beginning of the process, is the moment when you recognize that what you thought was real isn’t. That there is a reality that lies behind the reality that you were entrapped by. It’s as if you were in a room you have been in all your life. And suddenly a window is opened, and you are aware that there is a vast vista of which this is a tiny part. You have been building your entire universe within this tiny reality which is made up of psychology and body and drama and birth and death and all that stuff. You suddenly see that that is just a little sequence within something very vast. The quality of that moment is that it is not unfamiliar to you even though your adult thinking mind hasn’t experienced it."

>> Want to dive deeper with Ram Dass? Click Here to Receive a Daily Wisdom Text from Ram Dass & Friends.