Via Daily Dharma: Seeking Nirvana

 Birth-and-death is itself nirvana. There is nothing such as birth and death to be avoided; there is nothing such as nirvana to be sought. Only when you realize this are you free from birth and death.

Eihei Dogen Zenji, “Birth and Death”

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A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

 

Religions are not revealed: they are evolved. If a religion were revealed by God, that religion would be perfect in whole and in part, and would be as perfect at the first moment of its revelation as after ten thousand years of practice. There has never been a religion that fulfills those conditions.

 

--Robert Blatchford, journalist and author (17 Mar 1851-1943)

Via The Raaft / Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation

“Social engagement does not only mean taking care of hungry children in remote areas or protesting wars. It means first engaging to transform suffering right where you are, then slowly moving out from there as far as you can."  - Sister Chan Khong, Learning True Love

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Action: Reflecting upon Social Action

 

RIGHT ACTION Reflecting Upon Social 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 social action is to be done with repeated reflection. (MN 61) One reflects thus: "Others may act in unhealthy ways; I shall refrain from acting in unhealthy ways." (MN 8) One lives with companions in concord, with mutual appreciation, without disputing, blending like milk and water, viewing each other with kindly eyes. One practices thus: "I maintain bodily acts of lovingkindness toward my companions both openly and privately." (MN 31)

Reflection

So much of what we think, say, and do affects the people around us. It is important to bring awareness and care to our social interactions. When we “view each other with kindly eyes,” it is natural and easy to be thoughtful. It is often the little things we do that have a big effect on maintaining harmony among friends, family, and co-workers.

Daily Practice

One simple way to practice living with others in harmony is to do kindly acts for them from time to time. Today, actively look for ways to do little things with the intention of pleasing someone. And don’t necessarily feel the need for such deeds to be acknowledged. Much value comes from performing acts of kindness in private. Take it up as a challenge—finding creative ways to do something nice for someone, even in secret.

Tomorrow: Abstaining from Intoxication
One week from today: Reflecting upon Bodily Action

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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Daily Dharma: No Mud, No Lotus

 If you know how to make good use of the mud, you can grow beautiful lotuses. If you know how to make good use of suffering, you can produce happiness. We need some suffering to make happiness possible.

Thich Nhat Hanh, “Thich Nhat Hanh on Transforming Suffering”

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Via Tricycle

 

Creative Engagement in an Imperfect World
By Gavin Milne

As we respond to the crises of today’s world, embracing imperfection—and cultivating compassion—can help us chart a path forward.

Read more »

Via Daily Dharma: Settling the Snow Globe Mind

Learning to drop what we’re doing, however momentarily, and to genuinely pay attention in the present moment, without attachment or bias, helps us become clear, just as a snow globe becomes clear when we stop shaking it and its flakes settle.

Lama Surya Das, “The Heart-Essence of Buddhist Meditation”

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from Frivolous Speech

 

RIGHT SPEECH
Refraining from Frivolous  Speech

Frivolous speech is unhealthy. Refraining from frivolous speech is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning frivolous speech, one refrains from frivolous speech. One speaks at the right time, speaks only what is fact, and speaks about what is good. One speaks what is worthy of being overheard, words that are reasonable, moderate, and beneficial. (DN 1) One practices thus: "Others may speak frivolously, but I shall abstain from frivolous speech." (MN 8) When a person commits an offense of some kind, one should not hurry to reprove them but rather should consider whether or not to speak. If you will be troubled, the other person will be hurt, and you can help them emerge from what is unhealthy and establish them in what is healthy, then it is proper to speak. It is a trifle that you will be troubled and they will be hurt compared with the value of helping establish them in what is healthy. (MN 103)

Reflection

The teachings on right speech are encouraging us to take the matter of communication more seriously than we often do. Often a lot of chattering is not conveying anything important, and it has a tendency to be distracting, making us less attentive. Speaking carefully about what is true and good brings greater value to our speech and renders it more worthy of being overheard.

Daily Practice

The example offered in this passage suggests that we should not jump to reprimand someone when they have committed some small offense. Pausing to consider whether to speak up breaks the momentum of a quick, reflexive reaction. It may turn out to be appropriate to speak, but the key issue is whether it would be helpful to do so. Note that whether speaking up would be troublesome or might hurt the other person is a trifle in comparison to the benefit of “helping establish them in what is healthy.”

Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Social Action
One week from today: Refraining from False Speech

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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - March 16, 2022 💌

 
 

The technique of the witness is to merely sit with the fear and be aware of it before it becomes so consuming that there’s no space left. The image I usually use is that of a picture frame and a painting of a gray cloud against a blue sky. But the picture frame is a little too small. So you bend the canvas around to frame it. But in doing so you lost all the blue sky. So you end up with just a framed gray cloud. It fills the entire frame.

So when you say 'I'm afraid' or 'I'm depressed', if you enlarged the frame so that just a little blue space shows, you would say ‘ah, a cloud.’ That is what the witness is. The witness is that tiny little blue over in the corner that leads you to say, ‘ah, fear.’ 

- Ram Dass

Via Lion's Roar // Rest In Your Buddhanature

 

Rest In Your Buddhanature

Your true nature is like the sky, says Mingyur Rinpoche, its love and wisdom unaffected by the clouds of life. You can access it with this awareness meditation.

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

 

RIGHT VIEW
Understanding the Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering

And what is the way leading to the cessation of suffering? It is just this noble eightfold path; that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right living, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. (MN 9) One perfects their ethical behavior by abandoning the taking of life, dwelling without taking life, with rod and weapon laid aside, gentle and kindly, and with compassion for all living beings. (DN 2)

Reflection

The first and perhaps most important of the basic ethical precepts is committing yourself to the practice of harmlessness. This means not only no deliberate killing but also refraining from any kind of assault against living beings. The phrase used above literally means “laying down the stick” and broadly speaking is construed as not only abandoning any overt acts of violence but also softening the heart internally with kindness and compassion.

Daily Practice

How can you bring more harmlessness to your daily life? It  is an emotional attitude more than anything else. It involves seeing things through the eyes of other beings and recognizing that they do not want and do not deserve to be assaulted. Begin by brushing insects away rather than killing them, slowing down to avoid animals on the road, and in every way increasing your sensitivity to the inherent value of life.

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

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Via Daily Dharma: The Power of Pausing

Pausing helps us become a detached observer of our emotions and reframe the situation. . . . When our habits and preconceptions no longer guide us, we can make room to consider a situation from multiple angles, and make better and more compassionate decisions.

Rev. Grace Song, “The Power of Mindful Journaling”

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Equanimity

RIGHT INTENTION
Cultivating Equanimity

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 equanimity, for when you develop meditation on equanimity, all aversion is abandoned. (MN 62)   The proximate cause of equanimity is seeing ownership of deeds. (Vm 9.95) Having tasted a flavor with the tongue, one is neither glad-minded nor sad-minded but abides with equanimity, mindful and fully aware. (AN 6.1)

Reflection

The phrase “seeing ownership of deeds” refers to karma. Recognizing that everything that happens is a matter of cause and effect gives rise to equanimity. It is not raining to spoil your picnic, your toothache is not a form of punishment, and you are not having a bit of luck because you deserve it. When we regard things as the result of conditions rather than as entangled in our own sense of self, equanimity begins to develop.

Daily Practice

Cycling through the senses, we are practicing today with the tongue and flavors. The aim is to use this sense modality to cultivate equanimity, the state of mind that does not favor pleasure or oppose displeasure. As you eat your food, see if you can relate to the taste with a neutral reaction. Acknowledge the tastiness if it tastes good and be aware of the bad taste if it is bad, but practice looking at each evenly. It is what it is.

Tomorrow: Refraining from Frivolous Speech
One week from today: Cultivating Lovingkindness

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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

 

Via Daily Dharma: Learning the Dance of Compassion

 Letting go of incessantly measuring and comparing ourselves to others leads to spontaneous acts of courage and compassion. It’s like learning a dance step well enough that we no longer need to keep looking down at our feet. Eventually we feel the music and the movement, and that’s enough to be perfectly in tune with our partner and right on the beat.

Gaylon Ferguson, “Natural Bravery”

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GURL, YOU'RE A KAREN - A Randy Rainbow Parody

Tina Turner - Lotus Sutra / Purity of Mind (2H Meditation)

Via White Crane Institute // PI DAY

 

Noteworthy

1592 -

PI DAY is a holiday held to celebrate the mathematical constant π (pi). Pi Day is observed on March 14^th (3/14), due to π being roughly equal to 3.14. The Pi Minute is also sometimes celebrated on March 14 at 1:59 p.m. If π is truncated to seven decimal places, it becomes 3.1415926, making March 14 at 1:59:26 p.m., Pi Second (or sometimes March 14, 1592 at 6:53:58 a.m.).

The first Pi Day celebration was held at the San Francisco Exploratorium in 1988, with staff and public marching around one of its circular spaces, and then consuming fruit pies; the museum has since added pizza pies to its Pi Day menu.

The founder of Pi Day was Larry Shaw, a now retired physicist at the Exploratorium who still helps out with the celebrations. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology often mails out its acceptance letters to be delivered to prospective students on Pi Day.

Some also celebrate Pi Approximation Day in addition to Pi Day, which can fall on any of several dates:

• April 26: The Earth has traveled two radians of its orbit by this day (April 25th in leap years); thus the entire orbit divided by the distance traveled equals pi
• July 22: 22/7 in the more common day/month date format, an ancient approximation of pi
• November 10: The 314th day of the year (November 9 in leap years)
• December 21, 1:13 p.m.: The 355th day of the year (December 20 in leap years), celebrated at 1:13 for the Chinese approximation 355/113

On Pi Day, 2004, Daniel Tammet calculated and recited 22,514 decimal digits of pi.

Somewhat appropriately, it would seem, Albert Einstein was born on Pi Day, 1879.

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Via BBC Heart and Soul // Damien McGuinness meets Wolfgang Rothe, a radical priest challenging the Catholic church