The Mindful Bodhisattva

Mindfulness is more than just a meditation practice. Mindfulness is life, and life is love. That’s why it’s the whole path of the bodhisattva, says Zen teacher Norman Fischer.

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 welcome and agreeable to others—do not utter such speech. (MN 58)

Reflection

Speaking truthfully is a habit that can be learned, even if we have previously learned the habit of speaking untruthfully. It is a matter of bringing full awareness to your speech and its consequences. Often there may appear to be a short-term benefit from speaking falsely, but the Buddha is pointing out the long-term harm that false speech does to your character. In the long run the lack of integrity is unhealthy.

Daily Practice

This passage is urging us to speak only when what we say is likely to have a beneficial effect on another person or on the situation at hand. It is not enough to say things that are agreeable to others, even if they are true. Flattery, for example, might have an unbeneficial effect on someone by inflating their sense of themselves. Practice speaking only those words that are going to be helpful.

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

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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Daily Dharma: It’s All Good

 When you encounter a difficulty in your life, an impasse, solve it. If you can solve it, it’s good. If you can’t solve it, it’s still good, as it’s no longer your problem if you can’t solve it. It’s only a problem when you solve it. So when you encounter challenges in life—it’s all good!

Guo Gu, “The Sound of a Bell, the Seven-Piece Robe”

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Via White Crane Institute | The GUTENBERG BIBLE

 

Noteworthy

The Gutenberg Bible

1455 -

The traditional date for the publication of the GUTENBERG BIBLE, the first Western book printed from movable type thus transforming what had been an apocryphal transcription and imprecise oral tradition into rigid stone.

While the Gutenberg Bible helped introduce printing to the West, the process was already well established in other parts of the world. Chinese artisans were pressing ink onto paper as early as the second century A.D., and by the 800s, they had produced full-length books using wooden block printing. Movable type also first surfaced in the Far East. Sometime around the mid-11th century, a Chinese alchemist named Pi Sheng developed a system of individual character types made from a mixture of baked clay and glue. Metal movable type was later used in Korea to create the “Jikji,” a collection of Zen Buddhist teachings. The Jikji was first published in 1377, some 75 years before Johannes Gutenberg began churning out his Bibles in Mainz, Germany.

By studying the size of Gutenberg’s paper supply, historians have estimated that he produced around 180 copies of his Bible during the early 1450s. That may seem miniscule, but at the time there were probably only around 30,000 books in all of Europe. The splash that Gutenberg’s Bibles made is evident in a letter the future Pope Pius II wrote to Cardinal Carvajal in Rome. In it, he raves that the Bibles are “exceedingly clean and correct in their script, and without error, such as Your Excellency could read effortlessly without glasses.” 

Most Gutenberg Bibles contained 1,286 pages bound in two volumes, yet almost no two are exactly alike. Of the 180 copies, some 135 were printed on paper, while the rest were made using vellum, a parchment made from calfskin. Due to the volumes’ considerable heft, it has been estimated that some 170 calfskins were needed to produce just one Gutenberg Bible from vellum.

Out of some 180 original printed copies of the Gutenberg Bible, 49 still exist in library, university and museum collections. Less than half are complete, and some only consist of a single volume or even a few scattered pages. Germany stakes the claim to the most Gutenberg Bibles with 14, while the United States has 10, three of which are owned by the Morgan Library and Museum in Manhattan. The last sale of a complete Gutenberg Bible took place in 1978, when a copy went for a cool $2.2 million. A lone volume later sold for $5.4 million in 1987, and experts now estimate a complete copy could fetch upwards of $35 million at auction.

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Lovingkindness

 

RIGHT INTENTION
Cultivating Lovingkindness

Whatever you intend, whatever you plan, and whatever you have a tendency toward, that will become the basis on which your mind is established. (SN 12.40) Develop meditation on lovingkindness, for when you develop meditation on lovingkindness, all ill will will be abandoned. (MN 62)  The manifestation of lovingkindness is the removal of annoyance. (Vm 9.93)

Reflection

Only one experience occurs at a time. Each one replaces the one before it and is itself replaced by the next. This happens in rapid succession as the stream of consciousness flows on. It feels like a continuous event, much as the still images displayed rapidly in a movie theater merge into a flowing story, but in fact, each mind moment is organized around a single object, with a single emotional response.

Daily Practice

This means that when you are feeling kindly or benevolent toward a particular person or in a particular situation, you cannot at the same time feel ill will or anger or annoyance. The beauty of lovingkindness is that it replaces negative emotions in the mind. Next time you feel even slightly annoyed by someone or something, try conjuring up an attitude of kindness toward something and watch the annoyance disappear.

Tomorrow: Refraining from False Speech
One week from today: Cultivating Compassion

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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Daily Dharma: Loving Through Attention

 You could describe the whole process [of mindful attention] as love. You could say, “I’m giving attention to my breath,” or “I’m giving attention to painting the windows.” But it’s equally, “I’m learning how to love this in-breath, learning how to love this brushstroke.” The spareness drops away.

Martin Aylward in conversation with James Shaheen and Sharon Salzberg, “Coming Back to Embodiment”

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right View: Understanding 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) Death is suffering. The passing away of beings, their dissolution, disappearance, dying, completion of time, dissolution of aggregates, laying down of the body. (MN 9)

Reflection

It is natural that we experience a great deal of mental pain when someone we love dies. Such pain is an inevitable part of life. The Buddha never said there is a way to make pain go away. How much suffering it causes, however, is another matter. Pain is amplified by our resentment of it and our resistance to it, and by our wishing it would go away. Pain is diminished by our turning toward it, accepting it, and attempting to learn from it.

Daily Practice

Reflect on the poignancy of death, either the death of someone dear to you or your own inevitable death. Allow yourself to feel the sorrow, which is an expression of mental pain. This is natural. Also allow yourself to feel strong, whole, and balanced in the midst of the sorrow. Mental pain, like physical pain, is something to be examined carefully and with equanimity. We need not feel overwhelmed by it.

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 Daily Dharma: No Birth, No Death

The Buddha taught that there is no birth and no death. Our belief that these ideas about birth and death are real creates a powerful illusion that causes us a great deal of suffering. When we understand that we can’t be destroyed, we’re liberated from fear. It’s a huge relief. We can enjoy life and appreciate it in a new way.

Thich Nhat Hanh, “Free from Fear”

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Via Daily Dharma: Mindfulness Is an Action

 Mindfulness is not a state but an action, a cultivation of openness, again and again in each moment.

Alex Tzelnic, “‘Blindfulness’: How to Avoid Moral and Attentional Licensing”

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - February 20, 2022 💌

 

 

Treat everyone you meet like God in drag. - Ram Dass

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Racial and Social Justice as Dharma Practice A Multi Sangha Program open to all

 

Racial and Social Justice as Dharma Practice

A Multi Sangha Program open to all

Facilitated by: Hoka Chris Fortin and Doralee Grindler Katonah . 

 

Thursdays, 6:00 – 8:00 pm., The 4^th Thursday of each month beginning February 24, 2022

If we were to simply walk past the fires of racism, sexism, and so on because illusions of separation exist within them, we may well be walking past one of the widest gateways to enlightenment.  

Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, The Way of Tenderness

The Racial and Social Justice Dharma Group is committed to study, intimate investigation and conversation, and embodied bodhisattva practice to actualize personal and collective freedom for all beings. 

We understand that we have grown up with systems of baked in oppression which harm us and others.  Racial, social, and economic disparities permeate these systems. We strive to wake up to these unconscious identities and use them to develop compassion and wisdom. 

 

We embrace that we cannot do this kind of work alone and that it is in supportive community and through our Bodhisattva Vow that the potential for transformation and the ability to live a live devoted to ending suffering is possible.

 

We recognize that there is no ‘right’ way or script for action; that we are discerning and asking ‘what are we called to do now, unique to our life circumstances, and moment to moment.’ 

 

We practice being present in the midst of suffering and offer our full aliveness for the liberation of all beings everywhere. 

 

 

Pre-registration for the group is requested each month, so that everyone can have the materials for the evening and consider the agreements before each meeting. 

 

To register, or for more information please email: chrisfortin@comcast.net or grindkaton@icloud.com. The zoom link is sent out each month.  

 

Current literature and timely resources inform our monthly meetings and will be sent on registration. 

Thursday March 24; Grieving While Black, An Antiracist Take On Oppression and Sorrow . Breeshia Wade  

 

Facilitated by: Hoka Chris Fortin and Doralee Grindler Katonah . 

The two teachers facilitating the group identify as white, U.S. citizens, and Zen Buddhist priests. We understand the limitations of our experiences in relation to race, and strive to bring cultural humility to our facilitation of these groups.

 

Dana is always welcome and will be donated by RSJD to an organization dedicated to racial and social justice. 

 

 

Via Listen to this week’s podcasts from the Be Here Now Network

  Ethan Nichtern – The Road Home – Ep. 67 – Doing Small Things: The Dharma of Lego
February 17, 2022 In this episode of The Road Home, Ethan Nichtern explores the dharma of Lego and how doing small things can help with the often...

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