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

 

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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)   When the energy-awakening factor is internally present, one is aware: “Energy is present for me.” When energy is not present, one is aware: “Energy is not present for me.” When the arising of unarisen energy occurs, one  is aware of that. And when the development and fulfillment of the arisen energy-awakening factor occurs, one is aware of that . . . One is just aware, just mindful: “There is a mental object.” And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)

Reflection Energy is a mental factor, like so many others, that arises and passes away in the mind from one moment to another. We all know what it feels like to have too little energy and to give it a boost to accomplish a task, and what it feels like to have too much energy and to try to calm down using relaxation exercises. One way of practicing mindfulness of mental objects is to learn to look at and develop this awakening factor. Daily Practice See if you can gain an intuitive understanding of what the energy factor feels like in your own direct experience. Do this by noticing when it is present and when it is absent. Like isolating a muscle in the body for strengthening exercises, see if you can identify and strengthen the means of deliberately increasing or decreasing mental energy. This is an awakening factor because it is a crucial tool for developing the mind toward awakening. 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 due to equanimity. The concentrated mind is thus purified, bright, unblemished, rid of imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability. (MN 4) One practices: “I shall breathe in tranquilizing mental formations;” one practices: “I shall breathe out tranquilizing mental formations.” This is how concentration by mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated  so that it is of great fruit and great benefit. (SN 54.8) 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: Our Relationship in This Moment

 

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Our Relationship in This Moment We’re not anyone in particular. Every moment, in response to the conditions in front of us, another person, the sky, the flowers, we are created again. That’s who we are: our relationship in this moment. Norman Fischer, “We Are Our Relationships” CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

The Eight Worldly Winds: Praise and Blame By Vanessa Zuisei Goddard In the latest installment of our series on the eight worldly winds, Vanessa Zuisei Goddard explains how praise and blame can compound our ignorance. Read more »

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The root of fear is the feeling of separateness within the model one has of oneself. Once that feeling of separation exists, then you process everything from that model. It then keeps reinforcing the sense of vulnerability, because there are incredibly powerful forces moving both inside and outside of you. The transformative process of spiritual work is reawakening to the innocence of going behind that model of separation that one has, that cuts you off, that made you a tiny little fragile somebody. A lot of the power comes from a freeing of our fragility.

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Via Dan Piraro

 

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If you’re like me, you’ve had enough of bad news and despair lately. Our country’s “birthday” a few days ago only served to remind me that everything dies. Death is a necessary element of life, making way for the next generations. New life often follows death, and that’s what I hope for America.

So today, instead of expounding on the systemic ills of the nation, I’d like to recommend what has been to me a consistent source of joy, reflection, and inspiration that I’ve benefited from for quite a few years now—a website called The Marginalian by Maria Popova. 

Many of you Jazz Pickles are likely already regular readers, but if not, consider giving it a try. It’s a free, donation-based site, and Popova is a remarkable genius. 

As a subscriber, you’ll get a couple of emails each week with two or three short articles on something fascinating from the worlds of literature, philosophy, art, or science. These are sometimes reports of interesting new books, but more typically, they are about deep musings on the beauty of the world, the universe, and the human soul by exceptional people throughout history. Popova’s commentary is always thoughtful and deep, and her prose is gorgeous, on par with any of the classic literary minds and philosophers she references.

In my humble opinion, her mind is among the best our species has to offer. For me, her posts have been a consistent lifeline to sanity in dark times and have inspired me to be joyful and creative, even in the toughest of times. 

Her insights into literature and her talent with the English language are humblingly impressive, all the more so because she was raised in Bulgaria and English is not her mother tongue. While I strive year after year to become a better writer, compared to Popova’s simplest posts, I feel like an adolescent wielding a pair of nunchucks against an expert ninja; I only end up knocking myself unconscious.

A recent post she titled “A Defense of Joy” was just what I needed this morning. Along with examples of the sentiment from time-honored writers, she adds these thoughts of her own:

“One of the most important things to have learned in life is that choosing joy in a world rife with reasons for despair is a countercultural act of courage and resistance, choosing it not despite the abounding sorrow we barely survive but because of it, because joy — like music, like love — is one of those entirely unnecessary miracles of consciousness that give meaning to survival with its bright allegiance to the most alive part of us.”

I practice this brand of resistance daily, telling myself I will not let any greedy conmen or tinpot dictators rob me of my joy. As John Lennon sang, “Nothing’s going to change my [inner] world.”

Another recent article about higher levels of consciousness opens with this paragraph:

“It is hardly surprising, given the co-evolution of vision and consciousness, that how we look at the world — what we choose to bring into consciousness — shapes what we see, which in turn shapes the world we make in the image of our vision. This is why we call visionaries the people who see sides and paths others do not, who catch in the prism of their consciousness the light of the world invisible to the rest and cast it back magnified, more luminous, iridescent with possibility.”

This is the part each of us plays in creating our unique reality: By where we put our attention. It isn’t blindness to evil; it is balancing it with views of the best of life, leaning more heavily on the good than the bad.

As I struggle clumsily with my writer’s nunchucks, I’ll just say that Popova’s writing is deep stuff that always lifts my spirits and inspires my creativity.

Do yourself a favor and give The Marginalian a try. In times like these, here’s a good one to start with.

(I have no connection to Ms. Popova or her site other than being a grateful fan.)

Dan Piraro