Via Daily Dharma: Guide Yourself Towards Healing

 Once you have genuinely, fully, and tenderly touched your own brokenness, place a seed in the crack. Make a wish in that fissure, and share with yourself the aimless kindness of your own presence.

Lama Karma, “A Letter from My Future Self, Encouraging Me to Practice”

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - February 6, 2022 💌

 
 

It’s interesting to observe your own reaction when change presents itself in life.   

It may be an economic change in your circumstances, it may be a change in the way you spend your life. A lot of people, as their children grow, have an opportunity to change their lives, but they have such strong habits in how they’ve always done things and who they’ve always been, that they get frightened at the freedom to change when an opportunity presents itself.    

Up until now, they justified their existence by what their karma commitments are; “I have to be this way,” and I would say that doesn’t have to be the case. They don’t have to wait for their kids to grow up, because that waiting becomes their daily routine.    

How much of who I was yesterday is defining who I am today? How much can I allow who I am today to be totally open and tuning and responding to the situation, which includes everything I was yesterday, but also all that I will be tomorrow?  

- Ram Dass

Professor Ann Gleig at GBF - San Francisco Sunday Feb. 6, 2022 // QUEERING BUDDHISM OR BUDDHIST DE-QUEERYING?

 

2022.02.06 Ann Gleig (Queer Buddhism, Racial Justice & Buddhism, Buddhism).mp3

Article in Google Books: Undoing Whiteness in America Buddhist Modernism: Critical, Collective, and Contextual Turns

Article at  tandfonline.com: Queering Buddhism or Buddhist De-Queering? Reflecting on Differences: Amongst Western LGBTQI Buddhists
and the Limits of Liberal Convert
Buddhism

Gay Buddhist Fellowship

Via Daily Dharma: Facing Life’s Pains

In turning toward our pain there’s great freedom—a freedom that grounds us in our core of being. As we slowly but steadily undo our various ways of fleeing our pain, the energy we’ve invested in getting away from our pain—as opposed to simply being with our pain—is freed up, becoming available for us to use for truly life-giving purposes.

Robert Augustus Masters, “A Painless Present”

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

 

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 perceives odors as they actually are, then one is not attached to odors. 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

Suffering arises and falls away moment by moment, just like everything else. Suffering is not an abstract characteristic of the world but is manifest in thousands of little ways every day. Any time you feel afflicted by suffering, you can inquire into what it is that you want to be other than it is and then relinquish your hold on that episode of wanting. Desires and discontents come up but need not rule us. Just let go of them, one by one.

Daily Practice

As we move through each of the senses in order, today we work with odors and the sense of smell. Next time you smell something offensive, and you catch yourself automatically recoiling from it, try instead to bring an attitude of equanimity to the experience. Notice that you can disengage from aversion to the smell if you choose to do so and then continue to smell the odor without attachment or aversion.

Tomorrow: Cultivating Appreciative Joy
One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering

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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via The Tricycle Community // The Touching Final Meeting between the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu

 

Mission Joy: Happiness in Troubled Times Directed by Peggy Callahan and Louie Psihoyos

Discover the touching friendship between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu in February’s featured film, streaming now until March 4.

Watch now »

Via Lion's Roar // Unraveling Anxiety

 

Unraveling Anxiety

Buddhist teacher Judy Lief explains the Buddha’s deep analysis of the roots of anxiety and shows how mindfulness can help us ease the suffering of an anxious mind.

Mindfulness of the breath is especially helpful in working with anxiety. Through meditation practice we learn about our own breath patterns—how our breathing changes from fast to slow, shallow to deeper, from tight to free-flowing, depending on our thoughts and emotional state. As we become familiar with these variations, we are able to work with the breath as a healing force. If we feel anxious, we can deliberately regulate our breathing until it is slow and steady. We can drop the habit of holding and tightening our breathing.

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: Abandoning Arisen Unhealthy States

 

RIGHT EFFORT
Abandoning Arisen Unhealthy States

Whatever a person frequently thinks about and ponders, that will become the inclination of their mind. If one frequently thinks about and ponders unhealthy states, one has abandoned healthy states to cultivate unhealthy states, and then one’s mind inclines to unhealthy states. (MN 19) Here a person rouses the will, makes an effort, stirs up energy, exerts the mind, and strives to abandon arisen unhealthy mental states. One abandons the arisen hindrance of sluggishness. (MN 141)

Reflection

Unhealthy or unhelpful states come up all the time. The early teaching was not simply to be aware of everything but also to discern what is unhealthy and learn how to abandon it. Alertness is a more helpful mental state than sluggishness, and it is therefore beneficial to remain alert as much as possible. Rest and sleep when appropriate, but when you are awake practice being really alert and fully conscious.

Daily Practice

There is nothing morally wrong with sluggishness of mind. The problem is just that it prevents the mind from working well and is therefore a hindrance to seeing clearly. When you feel drowsy or sleepy, or you feel your mind getting dull, explore how many ways you can dispel this temporary state and restore a sense of alertness. It is a matter of raising the level of energy in the body and/or the mind.

Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling and the Second Jhāna
One week from today: Developing Unarisen Healthy States

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Via Daily Dharma: Let Voidness Liberate

 When we are clear and sure about what we are doing, we are less open to the many other possibilities available. But when we let ourselves hang out in the space of not-knowing, there is enormous potential and life could unfold in innumerable ways. So rather than avoid and fear this place of uncertainty, we can embrace it and all its gifts.

Kaira Jewel Lingo, “Trusting the Unknown”

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Via White Crane Institute // RUBÉN DARÍO

 

Died

1916 -

Félix Rubén García Sarmiento (b: 1867) died.  Born in Metapa, Matagalpa, Nicaragua in 1867. he achieved renown as RUBÉN DARÍO. Dario was a Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-American literary movement known as modernism (modernism) that flourished at the end of the 19^th century. Darío has had a great and lasting influence on 20^th century Spanish literature and journalism. He has been praised as the "Prince of Castilian Letters" and undisputed father of the modernismo literary movement

In November, 2012, the University of Arizona acquired a privately-held collection of manuscripts and letters created by Dario. This distinctive collection of archival material contained documents pertaining to Darío’s life and work as a poet, journalist and diplomat. Several of the manuscripts are signed transcripts, written in Darío’s hand, of some of his most important works including “Coloquio de los Centauros,” two versions of “Los motivos del lobo” and “Canto épico a las glorias de Chile,” a manuscript of 76 pages, which was one of Darío’s first long poems. 

The documents have already begun to alter the scholarship on Darío. The peer-reviewed “Bulletin of Spanish Studies,” a prestigious academic journal from the United Kingdom, has published an article by Professor Acereda in its August 2012 issue based on letters found in ASU’s collection. The article, “‘Nuestro más profundo y sublime secreto’: Los amores transgresores entre Rubén Darío y Amado Nervo,” ("Our Most Profound and Sublime Secret: the Transgressive Love of Ruben Dario and Amado Nervo") reveals for the first time a secret romantic relationship between Darío and famed Mexican poet AMADO NERVO (1870-1919) the Mexican Ambassador to Argentina and Uruguay, journalist, poet, and educator. Acereda said,“The exact nature of this relationship is evidenced in a series of intimate letters exchanged between the two poets and they help us to better understand the respective works of these modernist authors, as well as to establish a re-reading of certain texts.” 

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Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute

"With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson

Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989!
www.whitecraneinstitute.org

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Via FB

 

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles roll
ed into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full.. The students responded with a unanimous ‘yes.’

The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand.The students laughed..

‘Now,’ said the professor as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things—-your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions—-and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.. The sand is everything else—-the small stuff.

‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’ he continued, ‘there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.

Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and mow the lawn.

Take care of the golf balls first—-the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented. The professor smiled and said, ‘I’m glad you asked.’ 

 

The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of Beers with a friend.

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Living: Abstaining from Taking What is Not Given

 

RIGHT LIVING
Undertaking the Commitment to Abstain from Taking What is Not Given

Taking what is not given is unhealthy. Refraining from taking what is not given is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning the taking of what is not given, one abstains from taking what is not given; one does not take by way of theft the wealth and property of others. (MN 41) One practices thus: "Others may take what is not given, but I will abstain from taking what is not given." (MN 8) One is to practice thus: "Here, regarding things seen by you, in the seen there will be just the seen." When, firmly mindful, one sees a form, one is not inflamed by lust for forms; one experiences it with a dispassionate mind and does not remain holding it tightly. (SN 35.95)

Reflection

The precept against stealing is pretty straightforward and obvious, but here a more subtle aspect of that teaching is being addressed. Beyond the obvious—taking an object that has not been given—there are ways in which any object can serve as the launching point of a complex narrative about ourselves. Objects, such as a casual remark overheard, can be appropriated by the self and turned into things way beyond what they actually are.

Daily Practice

When you look at (or hear or think of) an object, practice seeing it only for what it is, without attachment and without automatically regarding it in terms of how it relates to you and what it can do for you, or otherwise entangling the object with your own sense of self. Instead of allowing an object to trigger a whole process of "stealing" it for your own story, practice just letting it be what it is. Bare attention to an object avoids unnecessary proliferation.

Tomorrow: Abandoning Arisen Unhealthy States
One week from today: Abstaining from Misbehaving Among Sensual Pleasures

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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Daily Dharma: Real Wisdom is Compassion

 Awakening reveals the no-thingness of things—that no thing is apart from all other things. To realize truly that there is only this nature, with no “other” outside us, is to naturally want to refrain from causing harm, just as we refrain from doing harm to one of our own limbs or eyes.

Bodhin Kjolhede, “Pain, Passion, and the Precepts”

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Action: Reflecting upon Verbal Action

 

RIGHT ACTION
Reflecting Upon Verbal 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 verbal action is to be done with repeated reflection: (MN 61) When you have done an action with speech, reflect upon that same verbal action thus: "Has this action I have done with speech led to my own affliction?" If, upon 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

People are always talking, if not to other people, then to themselves. And the words we use have consequences, sowing the seeds of both external and internal karma. External karma is the consequence of our actions in the world; internal karma is the effect of our thoughts and emotions on ourselves. This text is telling us that it is beneficial to reflect upon things you have said in the past, noticing anything that has been hurtful to yourself. It is not too late to change the pattern, to learn to speak to yourself and of yourself in healthier ways.

Daily Practice

Pay attention to what you say, both to others and to yourself. Notice if you find you are devaluing yourself—putting yourself down in some way or being harshly self-critical. As in the case of bodily action, revealing these things to another person who you trust and who has your best interests in mind can be unburdening. It is healthy to change unhealthy habits, even those that are the most intimate and personal.

Tomorrow: Abstaining from Taking What is Not Given
One week from today: Reflecting upon Mental Action

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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Daily Dharma: Befriending Your Breath

 The breath is like a soothing friend holding your hand as you walk into fear or loneliness or anger, encouraging you to stay with it. And if you feel like running away, observe that. And the breath is always there, in, out, in, out.

Interview with Larry Rosenberg by Amy Gross, “The Art of Doing Nothing”

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Via Lion's Roar // Ubuntu: I Am Because We Are; How to Practice Hugging Meditation; The Mindful Bodhisattva

 

Ubuntu: I Am Because We Are

The African philosophy of ubuntu teaches that we are human only through the humanity of others. Buddhists of African descent explore the synergy between ubuntu and the Buddhist teachings on interdependence. From the March 2022 issue of Lion’s Roar.

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from Malicious Speech

 

RIGHT SPEECH Refraining from Malicious Speech

Malicious speech is unhealthy. Refraining from malicious speech is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning malicious speech, one refrains from malicious speech. One does not repeat there what one has heard here to the detriment of these, or repeat here what he has heard there to the detriment of those. One unites those who are divided, is a promoter of friendships, and speaks words that promote concord. (DN 1) One practices thus: "Others may speak maliciously, but I shall abstain from malicious speech." (MN 8) When others address you, their speech may be gentle or harsh … One is to train thus: "My mind will be unaffected, and I shall utter no bad words; I shall abide with compassion for their welfare, with a mind of lovingkindness, without inner hate." (MN 21)

Reflection

Our natural tendency is to soften to gentle words and retaliate against harsh speech. But the former can allow us to be exploited by the flatterer, and the latter allows the worst in others to bring out the worst in us. Equanimity in the face of harsh speech is not indifference or detachment; it is simply being aware without reactivity. It is not allowing our minds to be thrown off by what others say to us.

Daily Practice

This is a challenging practice, but a helpful one. It encourages us to maintain a balanced state of mind in the face of any kind of speech. It may be easier to practice this at first with overhearing things in the media or the conversations of others, working up to being able to wish for the welfare of even those who speak harshly directly to you. It is not as hard as it sounds once you learn not to take everything others say personally.

Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Verbal Action
One week from today: Refraining from Harsh Speech

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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - February 2, 2022 💌

 
 

It says in the Tao, “Truth waits for eyes unclouded by longing.”    

The way I hear this in psychology is: motivation affects perception. When I’m hungry, I see what’s edible. If I’m horny, I see what’s makeable. If I’m tired, I see what’s soft, you know, my motivation selects out of the infinity of the universe what it is that fits in with my desires.    

Since that’s the case, as long as you’re identified with your desires, you can’t help but manipulate the universe to try to bring about that gratification of your desires. If you carry that to its ultimate truth, you see that everybody around you is an object to be manipulated to give you that gratification.    

So if it says, “Truth waits for eyes unclouded by longing,” what does it mean to have an eye unclouded by longing? It’s the place in your being, in your awareness, which is not totally identified with your desire system.    

My sense is that to the extent you are not attached to your desire systems, you are able to hear other human beings, and you do less of projecting into them what you need, and the result is that out of your action comes responses which are more compassionate to who they are than your need at the moment.    

So this doesn’t mean you don’t have desires, but rather there is a paradox that’s hard to work with, which is this: “What does it mean to be fully involved in life and non-attached?”   

- Ram Dass

Via Daily Dharma: Work With What’s There

 You don’t escape from your delusions in zazen. Instead, you look straight at them, since you have to work with them. This is the paradox. You never enter a promised paradise in which there will be no delusion. But all your delusions are workable. If they weren’t, I think we’d all go mad.

Jakusho Kwong-roshi, “Emptying into Spaciousness”

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