Meditation Month Day 10

 

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PRACTICE PROMPT What is it that cannot be known?   Notice that anything we can know is always partial and limited. The total, the limitless, and the unconditional can never be grasped by the thinking mind. A mind that seeks an answer cannot arrive at unconditional freedom, because thought can only divide reality into fragments and then cling to those fragments as fixed views. When we clearly see the limits of thinking, striving naturally softens, and we can rest in the open space of not-knowing. Ask yourself: What is it that cannot be known?

Related Content An Invitation to the Unknown Read an excerpt from this week’s video that unpacks the components and goal of the koan “What is it that is not a thing, not the mind, not the Buddha?” Read more » Three Methods of Letting Go of Thoughts If it feels impossible to quiet the mind and let go of thoughts and thinking, Haemin Sunim offers three helpful ways to tame what Buddhists call monkey mind.   Read more » Follow Us

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Via Daily Dharma: What Is Sitting?

 

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What Is Sitting? What do we mean by “just sitting”? “Sitting” means sitting, walking, working, eating, speaking, and being silent. “Just” means that there is nothing in the world that is not sitting. Barry Magid, “Uselessness” CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

What the Karma? By Matthias Esho Birk A reflection on action, breath, and the path to reawakening.  Read more »

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: Developing Unarisen Healthy States

 

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RIGHT EFFORT Developing Unarisen Healthy States Whatever a person frequently thinks about and ponders, that will become the inclination of their mind. If one frequently thinks about and ponders healthy states, one has abandoned unhealthy states to cultivate healthy states, and then one’s mind inclines to healthy states. (MN 19) Here a person rouses the will, makes an effort, stirs up energy, exerts the mind, and strives to develop the arising of unarisen healthy mental states. One develops the unarisen investigation of states awakening factor. (MN 141)

Reflection Here right effort is defined as actively encouraging the better aspects of our character to emerge from unconscious potential to conscious embodiment. We are all capable of kindness, for example. Why not try more often to be kind? We are capable of wisdom; let’s actively try to encourage it. This suggests that happiness—the regular manifestation of healthy mental and emotional states—is something we can make happen through effort. Daily Practice The positive mental state singled out in this passage is the second factor of awakening, called the investigation of states. When mindfulness is present, it is natural that the mind takes great interest in experience and investigates its mental and emotional states carefully. See what it feels like to be curious about the detailed textures of your experience and see what you can do to evoke and support this sense of regularly looking closely at your mental states. Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Mind and Abiding in the Third Jhāna One week from today: Maintaining Arisen Healthy States Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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