Via Lama Rod Owens

 

“In my healing I am also mourning… It is my acknowledgment that there is suffering. It is my honoring of my discomfort as well as the discomfort of everyone else in the world.” – Lama Rod

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Appreciative Joy

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RIGHT INTENTION Cultivating Appreciative Joy 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 appreciative joy, for when you develop meditation on appreciative joy, any discontent will be abandoned. (MN 62)  The far enemy of appreciative joy is discontent. (Vm 9.100)

Reflection It is telling that we do not even have a word in English for the Pali word for appreciative joy (mudita). By putting together two words, we only approximate what we are trying to convey. Appreciative joy is the emotion of feeling happy for the other person, not because of them or about them, but celebrating the fact that they are happy and feeling blessed or fortunate in some way. Why don’t we have a word for this? Daily Practice Pay close attention to what happens in your own experience when you hear news of some good fortune befalling someone, whether the person is well known to you or not. Do you feel resentment, jealousy, or some other form of discontent? If so, stop right there and intervene. Conjure up goodwill instead and practice feeling happy for the person. These two mind states are opposites: one is unhealthy and the other healthy. Tomorrow: Refraining from Harsh Speech One week from today: Cultivating Equanimity 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: Forever a Student

 

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Forever a Student I think having the curiosity of a student forever is something to aspire to, and to see even the most irritating, pesky, awful life events as an occasion for teaching is a good way to go about your day if you can. Sarah Ruhl, “Learning How to Listen” CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

Perfect Moments By Les Kaye A brief teaching on striving for perfection reminds us we’re already there. Read more »

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right View: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering

 

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RIGHT VIEW Understanding the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering What is the cessation of suffering? It is the remainderless fading away and ceasing, the giving up, relinquishing, letting go, and rejecting of craving. (MN 9) When one knows and sees consciousness as it actually is, then one is not attached to consciousness. When one abides unattached, one is not infatuated, and one’s craving is abandoned. One’s bodily and mental troubles are abandoned, and one experiences bodily and mental well-being. (MN 149)

Reflection Last week we were reminded of the consequences of not knowing and seeing consciousness as it really is, namely attachment, infatuation, and an increase of troubles generally. Here we discover the positive side of the story. We are much better off when we understand that consciousness is a series of momentary phenomena that arise and pass away in rapid succession. Seeing this, we do not get attached to it.  Daily Practice Become familiar with the habit of regarding your own mind as a series of events rather than as a solid thing with enduring qualities. Little is lost by doing so, and much can be gained. With a process, there is nothing to attach to. It is like watching a game or a performance: you want to stay present and attentive, but you don’t want to inhibit what is happening by trying to hold on to it. Your mind too is like a performance.  Tomorrow: Cultivating Appreciative Joy One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering 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: An Audacious Heart

 

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An Audacious Heart Even when confronted with frightening intimidation, you should make your heart audacious to the proper degree. Ajaan Lee, “Human Values” CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation

 

I honor the light in all of us. The more I love God, the more I love God's forms, which are all forms. Living from the soul is very much a heart-centered journey. I get on a bus, and by the time I get off, I feel like I have met intimately family members I've known all my life. We're all in love with one another. To live in your spiritual heart with the degree of openness it entails, trust in the One. In that loving awareness, you are not as vulnerable as you would be in the ego, where you think you are separate from others.

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation \\ Words of Wisdom - August 17, 2025 💠

 

Ultimately you live simultaneously in all of the planes of consciousness so that in a way, it's like a vertical cut-up—you look at somebody, they're there; they're not there. There's an interesting series of stages in karma yoga, the yoga of living daily life as an exercise in becoming pungent, where you develop a witness—a place in yourself that watches your whole melodrama, your dance. It doesn't judge you; it doesn't try to change you; it's not trying to become enlightened; it's just watching the whole thing.

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

 

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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 common pleasant feeling, one is aware: “Feeling a common pleasant feeling.” When feeling an uncommon pleasant feeling, one is aware: “Feeling an uncommon pleasant feeling”. . . One is just aware, just mindful: “There is feeling.” And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)

Reflection A common pleasant feeling refers to the ordinary pleasures we are capable of experiencing through the gratification of the senses. Some things look really good, sound wonderful, taste and smell delicious, feel smooth and cool to the touch, and are great to think about. An uncommon pleasant feeling is the sort encountered during some meditation practices. In both cases it is okay to be closely aware of pleasure. Daily Practice When pleasure is encountered in ordinary life it is usually accompanied by desire and craving. When we practice mindfulness with pleasant feeling tones as an object, the goal is to experience the sensations with equanimity rather than with preference and attachment. It is natural to experience pleasure; the danger comes only when we allow it to carry us away into unhealthier mental and emotional states. 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) One practices: “I shall breathe in contemplating fading away";  one practices: “I shall breathe out contemplating fading away.” This is how concentration by mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated       so that it is of great fruit and great benefit. (A 54.8) 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.

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