Via Daily Dharma: Practicing Nothing

You lack nothing, therefore you practice. Therefore you must realize and manifest this no-lack, this realized life, this awakened life that you are.

—Elihu Genmyo Smith, “No Need to Do Zazen, Therefore Must Do Zazen”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - July 14, 2019 💌

The interesting question is, "How do you put yourself in a position so that you can allow ‘what is’ to be?" The enemy turns out to be the creation of mind. Because when you are just in the moment, doing what you are doing, there is no fear. The fear is when you stand back to think about it. The fear is not in the actions. The fear is in the thought about the actions. 

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Pain and Pleasure, Here and Now

Buddhism is a practice of penetrating and accepting the here and now—not only the bliss of meditation, but the irritations of mundane human interaction and the pain in the morning paper. Just as the lotus needs muddy water to live, the pain of the world can inspire compassionate and effective action.

—Katy Butler, “The Lotus and the Ballot Box”

Via Daily Dharma: Stay Open to the Unexpected

Emptiness refers to the absence of something that, for some reason, one expects to find—as when we say a glass, normally used to hold liquids, is empty even though it is full of air. The point is not that there is nothing there at all, but rather that what is there differs from your expectations.

—William S. Cobb, “The Game of Go”

Via Daily Dharma: A Simple Unity

Without the feeling of separation from the rest of the world, we lose the need to strain and stress to be better, more clever, or more accomplished. We can start to just be. That’s all there is to it.

—Ayya Khema, “The Elemental Self”

Buteyko method

The Buteyko method or Buteyko Breathing Technique is a form of complementary or alternative physical therapy that proposes the use of breathing exercises as a treatment for asthma as well as other conditions. 


The method takes its name from Ukrainian doctor Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko, who first formulated its principles during the 1950s. This method is based on the assumption that numerous medical conditions, including asthma, are caused by chronically increased respiratory rate or deeper breathing (hyperventilation).  However, this theory is not widely supported in the medical community due to the lack of evidence supporting either the theory behind the method or that it works in practice. This method purportedly retrains the breathing pattern through chronic repetitive breathing exercises to correct the hyperventilation, which, according to the method's proponents, will therefore treat or cure asthma as well as any other conditions purportedly caused by hyperventilation. At the core of the Buteyko method is a series of reduced-breathing exercises that focus on nasal-breathing, breath-holding and relaxation. 

Research into the use of the Buteyko method has focused almost exclusively on the treatment of asthma, and have had methodological problems. Studies have not found objective measures to support its use such as improvement in lung function, though there are results showing it may improve subjective measures such as asthma symptoms and quality of life. Reviews of this medical literature have come to different conclusions about the strength of evidence supporting the Buteyko method, with some literature saying the evidence does not support its use, while others have concluded the evidence is enough to consider qualified support. The literature that supports considering its use note the Buteyko method should be used with traditional therapies (and not in place of mainstream treatment) and is unlikely to affect the underlying cause of asthma. There is no support for the use of the Buteyko method in other diseases, such as diabetes mellitus or any of the over 150 diseases supporters of this method claim to treat.

Buteyko Breathing Exercises in 3 minutes by Patrick McKeown

Via Daily Dharma: Inquiring into the Unconscious

To see clearly—to perceive things as they are—we must break the chain between the percept and the concept. This break comes after the senses connect with the object of perception, but before the great flywheel of mental habit boxes that perception in stale cubbyholes of thoughts and feelings.

—Interview with Tara Bennett-Goleman, “Emotional Alchemy: How the Mind Can Heal the Heart”

Via Lion's Roar / How to Practice Shamatha Meditation

How to Practice Shamatha Meditation

by Lama Rod Owens| July 9, 2019

Shamatha meditation—mindfulness or concentration—is the foundation of Buddhist practice. Lama Rod Owens teaches us a version from the Vajrayana tradition.

Illustration by Carole Henaff.

Shamatha means “peaceful abiding” or “tranquility.” Also called mindfulness or concentration meditation, shamatha is an important introductory practice that leads to the practice of vipashyana, or insight meditation.

The purpose of shamatha meditation is to stabilize the mind by cultivating a steady awareness of the object of meditation. The traditional practice of shamatha uses different kinds of supports or anchors for our practice. Eventually, this leads to practicing without supports and meditating on emptiness itself in an open awareness. For this particular practice, the instructions will be for shamatha meditation using the breath as the focus of our practice.

Shamatha mediation allows us to experience our mind as it is. When we practice shamatha, we are able to see that our mind is full of thoughts, some conducive to our happiness and further realization, and others not. It is not extraordinary that our minds are full of thoughts, and it is important to understand that it is natural to have so much happening in the mind.
Over time, practicing shamatha meditation calms our thoughts and emotions. We experience tranquility of mind and calmly abide with our thoughts as they are. Eventually, this leads to a decrease in unhelpful thoughts.

When we experience stable awareness, we are then ready to practice vipashyana, in which we develop insight into what “mind” is by investigating the nature of thoughts themselves. In the Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism, the ultimate goal is to practice calm abiding and insight in union, which opens the door to realizing the true nature of mind.

Traditionally, shamatha practice is taught through instructions on the physical body and then looking at the meditation instructions themselves.

The Seven-Point Posture

The seven-point posture of Vairochana is an ancient set of posture points that are said to align the physical body with our energetic body. The posture has been practiced for thousands of years by Hindu and Buddhist yogis. The seven points are:

1. Sit cross-legged.
2. Hands in lap or on knees.
3. Have a straight back.
4. Widen the shoulders to open the heart center.
5. Lower the chin.
6. Open mouth slightly with the tongue resting on the roof of the mouth.
7. Eyes open, gazing about four finger widths past the tip of nose.

A Body-Sensitive Posture

We all have different bodies and capabilities. It is important to adjust this demanding traditional posture to meet the needs of our own bodies, and not struggle to adapt our bodies to the posture. What is most important in terms of body posture is keeping the back and spine as straight as possible and remaining comfortable. So the seven points of a more body-sensitive posture could be:

1. Sit on a cushion or a chair, stand, or lie down.
2. Arrange your hands in any way that is comfortable.
3. Hold your back as straight as possible.
4. Keep your shoulders relaxed and chest open.
5. Hold your head at whatever level is comfortable.
6. Keep your lower jaw slightly open.
7. Keep the eyes closed or open.

The Meditation

There are many kinds of breath meditations. Some have been written down, while others have only been transmitted orally from teacher to student. The following is a basic breath meditation from the Vajrayana tradition:

1. Adjust the body into a comfortable position, and start the practice by becoming aware of your breath. Notice the inhalation and exhalation.
2. As you notice the breath, continue to let go of thoughts as they arise. Each time you are distracted by clinging to a thought, return to the breath. Keep doing this over and over again.
3. Eventually, as you exhale, become aware of your breath escaping and dissolving into space. Experience the same thing with the inhalation.
4. Slowing down, begin to allow your awareness to mix into open space with the breath on both the inhale and exhale.
5. To deepen the practice, begin to hold the breath after the inhalation for a few seconds before exhaling. By doing this, you are splitting the breath into three parts: inhalation, holding, and exhalation. Keep doing this.
6. As you inhale, begin to chant om to yourself. As you hold, chant ah. As you exhale, chant hung. Chanting these sacred syllables helps to further support awareness and is believed to purify our minds.
7. As you continue with exhalation, relax more. Continue awareness practice, letting go of thoughts and returning to the breath. Do this for as long as you can.

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Via Daily Dharma: How Much Can We Forgive?

Consider the possibility, and I am only saying consider the possibility, that maybe nothing is unforgivable. Maybe there is a way to find forgiveness even for what we have believed for so long to be unforgivable. Explore this mindfully.

—Allan Lokos, “Lighten Your Load”

Via Ram Dass ? Words of Wisdom - July 10, 2019 💌

Working to accept death does not exclude efforts to heal the body. In other words, you can go and swim with the dolphins, have chemotherapy or radiation, or whatever, if simultaneously you are also working on death. So that you can keep the balance even. ‘Ah, death. Ah, life.’ That’s the optimum place.
Not, ‘I wish for death’ or, ‘I’m going towards death.’ Also not, ‘I must have life’ or, ‘I can’t possibly have death.’ Because it’s the aversion and attraction that are the root of the suffering which turns into a problem at the moment of death.

- Ram Dass -

Via Paper Cranes to Fort Sill – In Solidarity with Detailed Asylum Seekers

Paper Cranes to Fort Sill – In Solidarity with Detailed Asylum Seekers

9 de jul de 2019 — 

Dream Action Oklahoma (affiliated with United We Dream, the nation’s largest immigration youth-led network) is organizing a coalition of groups in Oklahoma for a large peaceful protest at Fort Sill on Saturday, July 20, 2019.

This past March, Tsuru for Solidarity, a direct action, nonviolent project of allied organizations within the Japanese American community, gathered in Crystal City, Oklahoma in collaboration with pilgrims from allied national organizations and networks. Crystal City, a former WWII internment camp in Texas, housed over 2,000 persons of Japanese ancestry. The gathering was to protest conditions at the nearby South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. 30,000 tsuru(origami cranes) were strung on the fences surrounding the detention center to demonstrate solidarity with those detained, including unaccompanied children separated from their families.

Last month, the Dept. of Health and Human Services announced that up to 1,400 unaccompanied migrant children would be transferred from Texas to Fort Sill, Oklahoma—another former WWII internment camp that held 700 persons of Japanese ancestry, including 90 Buddhist priests. Tsuru for Solidarity has been invited to participate and a Buddhist memorial service will be part of the day’s events.

Fort Sill, a military site, is a historic concentration camp that was used to imprison indigenous people forcibly removed from their lands. It is a place where native children were forcibly taken from their families and placed in re-education schools. It is a site where over 700 American men from the Japanese American community, including 90 Buddhist monks, were imprisoned during WWII. 

Concentration camps are used to indefinitely detain minority groups in violation of human and civil rights and without due process. Fort Sill is being prepared to once again become a concentration camp. Concentration camps are now being used across the U.S. on a scale not seen since the WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans.

It's time for us to reclaim our moral center and our human commitment to one another. 

We are interconnected. What happens to one of us affects all of us. 

Speak out, show up, and get involved.

Please join us in this movement. 

We invite you to get involved by: 

1) ATTENDING
2) FOLDING & SENDING paper cranes
Click here for detailed instructions & a video on how to fold paper cranes.
3) DONATING 
4) SHARING the message
Click here for more information.

 

Via Lion's Roar / Seeing Beyond the Screen

Seeing Beyond the Screen

Yael Shy on how to bring mindfulness into your digital life.

The key to mindful living “off the cushion” is building in a pause to check in with our intention, our body, and our heart before we reach for our favorite distractions. Nowhere is this more palpable and powerful than in our relationships to our devices. When do you reach for your phone? When do you click on social media sites? How do you feel right before heading to your page on the site? What happens in your mind while scrolling or posting? How do you feel afterward?

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Via Lion's Roar / Finding Wisdom in the Smartphone

FINDING WISDOM IN
THE SMARTPHONE 

I invented a new practice for myself recently. Here’s the instruction: don’t look at your phone.

That’s what I tell myself when I feel myself start to get restless. Waiting for the elevator. Waking up in the morning. Standing alone at a party.

And it doesn’t mean Never look at your phone. There are many moments throughout the day when it’s reasonable to do so. But I often look at my phone by default, even when there’s no reason to. Or, worse, I look at it because I’m avoiding something uncomfortable — like a squishy emotion.

When I try this new practice of not looking at my phone, I discover a lot. Sometimes, choosing not to look at my phone reminds me that there’s something I’m avoiding. Other times, it reminds me to relax and enjoy myself. And other times still, it prompts me to ask: what am I using this phone for?

Most of us have smartphones — literal supercomputers strapped to our hips. How are we using them? How are they using us? I find that when I start asking these questions, this object of distraction starts to become an object of meditation.

—Sam Littlefair, editor, LionsRoar.com

PS: If you want to take your smartphone practice a step further, check out our growing list of Buddhist iPhone apps.

Via Daily Dharma: The Open Arms of Dharma

The dharma, it seems, is big enough not just to endure us, but to embrace us, in all of our muck and glory.

—Anne Cushman, “Under The Lens: An American Zen Community In Crisis”

Via Daily Dharma: A Tender and Forgiving Practice

Maybe the first rule we should begin with, if we want meditation to be in our life for a long time, is: Don’t make a rigid structure and then chastise ourselves when we don’t live up to it. Better to keep a limber mind and develop a tenderness toward existence.

—Natalie Goldberg, “Rules for a Long-Term Relationship”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - July 7, 2019 💌

The truth is everywhere. Wherever you are, it’s right where you are, when you can see it. And you can see it through whatever vehicle you are working with, you can free yourself from certain attachments that keep you from seeing it. The scientist doesn’t stop being a scientist, nor anybody stop being anything. You find how to do the things to yourself which allow you to find truth where you are at the moment. I’d say we never find out anything new, we just remember it.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Finding the Sacred in Change Inbox x

In trying to deny that things are always changing, we lose our sense of the sacredness of life. It’s easy to forget that life and death are part of the natural scheme of things, intrinsic to our lives in an eternally shifting universe.

—Ronna Kabatznick, “Sea of Sorrow”

Via Daily Dharma: How to Be Free

If you can maintain a mind of equanimity, you are free, no matter what the conditions.

—Master Sheng-Yen, “The Wanderer”