Thich Nhat Hanh Memorial "Day of Mindfulness" Day 6 | Live from Plum Vil...

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh invites his bell in the mountains of Deer Park

Via Daily Dharma: Welcome Whatever Arises

 Thoughts come and go. Feelings come and go. Allow yourself to experience the transient nature of thoughts and feelings, welcoming everything that arises as just this, not me, not mine.

Sandra Weinberg, “Eating and the Wheel of Life”

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Action: Reflecting upon Bodily Action

 

RIGHT ACTION
Reflecting Upon Bodily Action

However the seed is planted, in that way the fruit is gathered. Good things come from doing good deeds; bad things come from doing bad deeds. (SN 11.10) What is the purpose of a mirror? For the purpose of reflection. So too bodily action is to be done with repeated reflection. (MN 61) When you have done an action with the body, reflect on that same bodily action thus: "Has this action I have done with the body led to my own affliction?" If, on reflection, you know that it has, then tell someone you trust about it and undertake a commitment not to do it again. If you know it has not, then be content and feel happy about it. (MN 61)

Reflection

While the practice has to do with being present in the moment, we are also encouraged to reflect on past action with the same diligence we apply to present action and intention for future action. If we have done harm in the past, it is healing to bring it out in the open by revealing it to another. Not necessarily a religious figure with the power to forgive—there is no such person in Buddhism—but simply a person you trust.

Daily Practice

Practice having no secrets. Whenever you do something, even a very small thing, that you feel was wrong or hurtful in some way, make a point of "coming clean" about it to someone. Perhaps you apologize to someone you’ve harmed or confess your errors to a trusted friend. With this as an ongoing practice, you may find yourself feeling lighter, unburdened by the things you do that are not quite right.

Tomorrow: Abstaining from Harming Living Beings
One week from today: Reflecting upon Verbal Action

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - January 26, 2022 💌

 
 

Just center yourself in silence for a moment. 

Instead of waiting for something to happen, flip it just slightly and just be in it. Are you really here or are you just waiting for the next thing? It’s interesting to see where we are in relation to time; whether we’re always just between what just happened and what happens next, or whether we can just be here now.   

So, let’s just find our way to be here together. If you’re feeling agitated, just notice the agitation. If you’re warm, be warm. If you’re cold, be cold. If you’re overly full, be overly full. Be it, whatever it is, but put it all in the context of a quiet space, because there’s a secret in that, and it’s worth playing with it.   

That there’s a place that we can be inside of ourselves, inside of the universe, in which and from which we can appreciate the delight in life. Where we can still have equanimity, and quality of presence, and the quietness of peace.   

It’s something I’ve been cultivating for 45 years now. Just imagine a mandala or a flower and think about the center of the flower and then all the petals that come out from the center and think of the center of the flower as absolutely still, and think of all of the petals as moving, and energy, and change, but the center is still.  

Ram Dass 

Via Daily Dharma: Knowing Yourself Is Enough

 You only have to know what you are, how you exist; that’s all. Just understand your mind: how it works, how attachment and desire arise, how ignorance arises, where emotions come from.

Lama Thubten Yeshe, “Chocolate Cake”

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Via Lion’s Roar // The Heart Sutra: the Fullness of Emptiness

 

The Heart Sutra: the Fullness of Emptiness

Emptiness is not something to be afraid of, says Thich Nhat Hanh. The Heart Sutra teaches us that form may be empty of self but it’s full of everything else.

 

Via Lions Roar // Remembering Thich Nhat Hanh

 

 

 

Remembering Thich Nhat Hanh (1926-2022) Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk and founder of the Engaged Buddhism movement, died on January 21, 2022, in his home country of Vietnam. He was 95.

Read More: Plum Village is broadcasting memorial services honoring Thich Nhat Hanh over the next week; A number of Buddhist leaders and organizations took to social media to share tribute to Thich Nhat Hanh, one of the great dharma teachers of our time.

Via Daily Dharma: Drawing Out the Heart

 To be truly and wholly present even for the briefest moment is to be vulnerable, for we have arrived at the point where the obstacle that fear constructs between ourselves and others dissolves. It is here that the heart is drawn out of hiding and the inherent sympathetic response called compassion arises.

Lin Jensen, “An Ear to the Ground”

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from False Speech

 

RIGHT SPEECH
Refraining from False Speech

False speech is unhealthy. Refraining from false speech is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning false speech, one dwells refraining from false speech, a truth-speaker, one to be relied on, trustworthy, dependable, not a deceiver of the world. One does not in full awareness speak falsehood for one’s own ends or for another’s ends or for some trifling worldly end. (DN 1) One practices thus: "Others may speak falsely, but I shall abstain from false speech." (MN 8) Such speech as you know to be true and correct but unbeneficial and which is also unwelcome and disagreeable to others—do not utter such speech. (MN 58)

Reflection

Even if something is true, that does not mean that it should always be said. The important point is whether or not it will be beneficial to speak. If a person is set in their views and what you say is unlikely to make a difference, then it is better to remain silent—all the more so if what you say would cause distress for the other person. But if by speaking up there is a good chance of helping them see more clearly, then go ahead and speak.

Daily Practice

Every Wednesday we give careful attention to the quality of our speech. Take on the practice of training yourself to become ever more aware of the truthfulness of what you say and ever more careful not to say something misleading or false. It can seem harmless to stretch the truth in small ways, but all speech is on a continuum from wrong speech to right speech, and discerning this  becomes subtler as you become more skillful.

Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Bodily Action
One week from today: Refraining from Malicious Speech

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Via White Crane Institute // Noteworthy

 

2009 -

Nearly 2,200 government employees involved in foreign policy issues signed a letter delivered to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton calling on the government to give EQUAL BENEFITS TO SAME-SEX PARTNERS.

The Bush administration had eased some rules, opening up some training to same-sex partners, but had resisted efforts to treat homosexual partners the same as married couples. But Clinton, during her confirmation hearings, indicated a greater willingness to explore the issue.

"I think that we should take a hard look at the existing policy," Clinton said in response to a question from Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.). "My understanding is other nations have moved to extend that partnership benefit." The issue achieved prominence in 2007 when a respected ambassador, Michael Guest, resigned after 26 years in the Foreign Service to protest the rules and regulations that he argued gave same-sex partners fewer benefits than family pets. Guest said he was forced to choose "between obligations to my partner, who is my family, and service to my country," which he called "a shame for this institution and our country.

With the overturning of the Defense of Marriage Act by the Supreme Court in 2013, these benefits are now available to married Gay and Lesbian partners.

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(5) How To Cope with the Loss of a Loved One? | Thich Nhat Hanh, 2014 05...

Via Daily Dharma: Pulling at the Root

 Only when we clearly see the thirst of craving—the underlying cause of suffering—are we able to quench it.

Andrew Olendzki, “What’s in a Word? Vipassana”

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - January 23, 2022 💌

 
 

I don’t believe it’s all-important to be what our culture calls “optimal.” Before the stroke, I wrote a great deal about the terrible things that can happen in aging, and how to cope with them. Now I’m happy to say that having gone through what some would view as the worst, it’s not so bad after all.    

Getting old isn’t easy for a lot of us. Neither is living, neither is dying. We struggle against the inevitable, and we all suffer because of it. We have to find another way to look at the whole process of being born, growing old, changing, and dying, some kind of perspective that might allow us to deal with what we perceive as big obstacles without having to be dragged through the drama.     

It really helps to understand that we have something — that we are something — which is unchangeable, beautiful, completely aware, and continues no matter what. Knowing this doesn’t solve everything — this is what I encountered and told about in “Be Here Now,” and I’ve still had my share of suffering. But the perspective of the soul can help a lot with the little things, and it is my hope that you’ll be able to take from this book some joy in being “still here.”    

Recently, a friend said to me, “You’re more human since the stroke than you were before.” This touched me profoundly. What a gift the stroke has given me, to finally learn that I don’t have to renounce my humanity in order to be spiritual — that I can be both witness and participant, both eternal spirit and aging body. The book’s ending, which had eluded me, is now finally clear. The stroke has given me a new perspective to share about aging, a perspective that says, “Don’t be a wise elder, be an incarnation of wisdom.” That changes the whole nature of the game. That’s not just a new role; it’s a new state of being. It’s the real thing.     

At nearly seventy, surrounded by people who care for and love me, I’m still learning to be here now.    

– Excerpt from Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing and Dying by Ram Dass

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right View: The Noble Truth of Suffering

 

RIGHT VIEW
Understanding the Noble Truth of Suffering

When people have met with suffering and become victims of suffering, they come to me and ask me about the noble truth of suffering. Being asked, I explain to them the noble truth of suffering. (MN 77) What is suffering? (MN 9) Sickness is suffering. (MN 9)

Reflection

While nobody would wish illness on another person, times of ill health or affliction are often excellent opportunities for practice. The scope of our experience contracts, sometimes to a very small point of breathing in and out, or to a specific part of the body that is in pain. Illness and affliction focus our attention and force us to abandon much that is taken for granted in times of health. This is where we all come face to face with suffering.

Daily Practice

Scan your body with your awareness and check in to see if there is anywhere you are experiencing pain or discomfort. Few of us are entirely free of any instance of distress. Rather than trying to overlook or avoid the discomfort, turn your attention deliberately to it. There is something to learn here, something to see and understand. If you can’t find any pain, be grateful for that.

Tomorrow: Cultivating Lovingkindness
One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering

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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Tricycle // Ask a Teacher: When Is a Buddha Statue Appropriate or Offensive?

 

Ask a Teacher: When Is a Buddha Statue Appropriate or Offensive?
By Vanessa Zuisei Goddard

Is the Buddha statue in your favorite yoga studio offensive? A Zen teacher turns to the Buddha’s own words for guidance in answering this question.

Read more »

Via Daily Dharma: What’s Done Is Done

 The future is an illusion, the past is now a dream, and the only reality we have access to is the present. In that light, self-forgiveness is the willingness to stop trying to fix our past or make it better. It is giving up all hope of improving that which has already happened. What is done is done.

Mark Coleman, “Why Are We So Hard on Ourselves?”

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

 

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 ill will is internally present, one is aware: "Ill will is present for me." When ill will is not present, one is aware: "Ill will is not present for me." When the arising of unarisen ill will occurs, one is aware of that. And when the abandoning of arisen ill will 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

The second of the five hindrances is ill will, which, like the first hindrance, sense desire, is a mental state that arises and passes away from time to time. Highlighting this factor in the swirl of experience and noticing when it is present and when it is not helps us realize that the annoyance we often feel is a fleeting phenomenon. This in turn gives us the ability to abandon that annoyance. We need not give in to it.

Daily Practice

Annoyance is a good way of practicing with ill will, because it is a mild form of it. Anger, hatred, and fear are more charged and thus more difficult to work with. See if you can notice when you are annoyed and also when you are not. See how annoyance is just a state that arises and therefore is a state you can let go of. Instead of holding on to the justification for the annoyance, see if you can just let it go and "abide without clinging."

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 into and abides in the fourth phase of absorption, which has neither-pain-nor-pleasure and purity of mindfulness as a result of equanimity. The concentrated mind is thus purified, bright, unblemished, rid of imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability. (MN 4)

Reflection

This state of mind is the culmination of the four stages of absorption and represents the consummation of the meditative enterprise of focused, one-pointed awareness. With the mind thus purified of its imperfections it is capable of seeing clearly, and by becoming "malleable" and "wieldy" it can be used as a tool to penetrate the many distortions and delusions that normally prevent us from understanding the true nature of things.

Daily Practice

Allow your Sunday sitting meditation to slowly and gently mellow into a profound state of equanimity. The mind is steady and bright but also imperturbable in the sense that there is nothing in your inner or outer experience that is going to evoke an episode of yearning or aversion. Equanimity is balance, an evenly hovering attention. Notice also in this passage that equanimity is said to be the means of purifying mindfulness.

Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of Suffering
One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Body and Abiding in the First Jhāna

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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Thich Nhat Hanh Memorial Ceremony Day 2 | Live from Hue, Vietnam | 2022 ...