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Four Ideals to Guide Your Practice
By Dale S. Wright

An often-overlooked sutra contains four simple teachings for bodhisattvas that may also serve as a guide for contemporary dharma practitioners.

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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 the unhealthy states, and then one’s mind inclines to unhealthy states. (MN 19) Abandoning sluggishness, one abides free from sluggishness; one purifies the mind of sluggishness. (MN 51) Just as a person who had been gravely ill, suffering, with no appetite and weak in body, would recover from that illness and regain their strength, so would one rejoice and be glad about the abandoning of sluggishness. (DN 2)

Reflection

Some mental and emotional states drag us down into suffering and obstruct our ability to see things clearly, and some states move us away from suffering and enhance our ability to see what is really going on. Sluggishness is unhealthy—not wrong or bad but unhelpful to the project of understanding and diminishing suffering. Whenever it arises, it is worth making an effort to abandon it by stirring up and applying some energy.

Daily Practice

Focus your attention on that moment when you recognize you are sleepy or lazy or otherwise feeling sluggish and counter it with an upsurge of energy, whether physical or mental. There is a transition point at which the mental state of sluggishness is met with the mental state of energy, and your experience is thereby transformed. Learning to be aware of such nuances in experience is the essence of mindfulness practice.

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

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Via Daily Dharma: Letting Go of Resistance to Pain

 If we do experience pain or suffering ourselves, we can use it. We’re conditioned to resist pain. We think of it as a solid block we have to push away, but it’s not. It’s like a melody, and behind the cacophony there is tremendous spaciousness.

-Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, “No Excuses”

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ViaDaily Dharma: Meeting Pain with Love

 The Buddha’s injunction that we extend compassion to ourselves requires that after recognizing our suffering, we respond to it with love. This takes courage and commitment. It means not looking away, not seeking distractions when offered the opportunity to be present for our own pain.

-Beth Roth, “Family Dharma: Leaning Into Suffering”

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Via Daily Dharma: Don’t Believe Every Thought

 One of the most life-changing realizations you can have is “I don’t have to believe my thoughts…they are just thoughts!” Any story you have about yourself is not the same as the unfolding reality of what you are: the ongoing life of your senses, the tenderness of your heart, the consciousness that right now is seeing or hearing these words.

-Tara Brach, “A True Taste of Peace”

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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 one 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) Disputes occur when a person is deceitful and fraudulent. Such a person dwells disrespectful and undeferential towards others, causing harm and unhappiness for many. If you see any such root of a dispute either in yourself or externally, you should strive to abandon it. And if you do not see any such root of dispute either in yourself or externally, you should practice in such a way that it does not erupt in the future. (MN 104)

Reflection

Arguments and disputes do not come from external circumstances, but from the internal qualities of people’s minds. When there is a competing interest, for example, it might be negotiated peacefully and fairly, or it might escalate into a hateful argument and even become violent. The difference lies in what kind of internal mental and emotional states are brought to the table by both participants. We can influence how this unfolds.

Daily Practice

Take special care to refrain from being deceitful or fraudulent in all of your dealings with other people. And when other people are exhibiting these qualities, try hard not to be provoked into doing the same. These practices in daily life require a regular habit of being tuned in to the workings of your own mind and being sensitive to the extent your own experience is impacted by the mental and emotional qualities of others.

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

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Via Daily Dharma: The Power of Practice

 Effective practice proceeds slowly and with care. Gradually, our patterns lose their constricting power, and we live more expansively than before.

-Anne C. Klein, “The Four Immeasurables”

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Via Words of Wisdom - July 20, 2022 💌

 

My challenge to you as fellow pilgrims on the journey, is to cultivate the stability of living on two planes of consciousness simultaneously—as Christ said, ‘In the world but not of the world,’ to be fully passionately involved in life and also be totally equanimous and centered. This is not an either/or, it’s a both/and. 

- RAM DASS

 
Upland Hills Ecological Awareness Center, February 15-16th 1997

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Compassion

RIGHT INTENTION
Cultivating Compassion

Whatever you intend, whatever you plan, and whatever you have a tendency toward, that will become the basis upon which your mind is established. (SN 12.40) Develop meditation on compassion, for when you develop meditation on compassion, any cruelty will be abandoned. (MN 62) The near enemy of compassion is ordinary sorrow. (Vm 9.99)

Reflection

Just as physical pleasure and pain are natural and inevitable aspects of human experience, the same is true of mental pleasure and pain. Sorrow can be seen as a form of mental pain, and it is natural to feel such pain, for example, with the death of a loved one. Compassion is also accompanied by sorrow, but it is not ordinary sorrow; it is a higher sorrow, raised beyond the personal to the level of a universal emotion.

Daily Practice

Allow yourself to open to the suffering of another person; there is plenty of opportunity for this these days. See if you can discern a difference between feeling sorry for them and feeling sorrow on account of their pain. See if you can feel the difference between a personal sorrow and a universal sorrow. Practice opening to the suffering of others on this broader, more universal level of experience and meaning.

Tomorrow: Refraining from Malicious Speech
One week from today: Cultivating Appreciative Joy

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Via Daily Dharma: Simplifying Our Choices

 One of the hardest things to remember about practice is that we’ve truly never before experienced this moment. We repeat the same action over and over and over again. And yet in repeating the act of sitting, we give ourselves a structure in which our strategies become obvious and our choices become simple.

-Alex Tzelnic, “How to Resist the Comfort of Repetition”

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Via White Crane Institute -- Say their names! MAHMOUD ASGARI and AYAZ MARHONI

Died

2005 -

The Iranian Government publicly executed two teenage boys on July 19th 2005, in the city of Mashad. Their names were MAHMOUD ASGARI and AYAZ MARHONI, one eighteen and the other seventeen or possibly sixteen-years-old.

They were accused of raping a thirteen-year-old boy, but it has been established that the authorities invented the charge of rape to prevent public sympathy for the true reason for their execution, that they were Gay. After their arrest the two boys endured a year of imprisonment and torture before the high court of Iran upheld their sentence and their execution by hanging was carried out in a public square in the city of Mashad.

International outrage was met with arrogance and impunity by the religious and conservative Iranian government, and a systematic persecution soon began against Gays, which has led to an unverified report of a second execution, and untold numbers of arrests and torture. These events indicate that the worldwide struggle for Gay Freedom has not decreased but has become more violent and inhumane.

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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 Dhamma Wheel | Right View: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering

 

RIGHT VIEW
Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering

What is the origin of suffering? It is craving, which brings renewal of being, is accompanied by delight and lust, and delights in this and that; that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for being, and craving for non-being. (MN 9) When one does not know and see perception as it actually is, then one is attached to perception. When one is attached, one becomes infatuated, and one’s craving increases. One’s bodily and mental troubles increase, and one experiences bodily and mental suffering. (MN 149)

Reflection

Perception is the mental process by which we interpret incoming sensory information and create meaning from it. Perception uses the cognitive faculties of the mind to  weave words and concepts into explanations and stories that help define the world we inhabit and our place in it. The problem is that we often take these stories to be more real than they are, at which point they can become sources of attachment.

Daily Practice

Learn to hold your perceptions lightly. Perception is a useful tool and can be used by wisdom to disengage us from suffering. But as with any tool, if we mishandle it we can cause harm to ourselves and others. Practice reminding yourself that your perceptions are only creating a map of the world that may or may not depict the terrain accurately. When our stories give rise to craving, they are doing more harm than good.

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

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Via Daily Dharma: Relax

 Your body reflects your mind. When you feel love for all beings, it shows on your face. Seeing your honest, relaxed face, others will gravitate toward you and enjoy being around you.

-Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, “11 Benefits of Loving-Friendliness Meditation”

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A Terra e a Lua em um único quadro registrado a 5 milhões de quilômetros pela sonda OSIRIS-Rex.

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Mindfulness and Concentration: Establishing Mindfulness of Body and the First Jhāna

 

RIGHT MINDFULNESS
Establishing Mindfulness of Body

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)   Full awareness: when going forward and returning, looking ahead and looking away . . . one is just aware, just mindful: “There is body.” And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)

Reflection

Mindfulness involves focusing awareness very precisely on whatever is occurring in the present moment. Its sibling term, full awareness, expands the scope of awareness to encompass the whole sweep of a movement or activity. The two terms work together somewhat like a spotlight and a floodlight to illuminate an activity at the micro level of detail and at the macro level of broader continuity.

Daily Practice

Cultivate an attitude of full awareness as you go about the ordinary activities of daily life. When you are sipping tea, full awareness takes in the entire motion of lifting the cup, bringing it to the lips, sipping, swallowing, and returning the mug to the table. Many ordinary motions, like “looking ahead and looking away,” can be done every day as a practice of full awareness, complementing rather than replacing mindfulness.

RIGHT CONCENTRATION Approaching and Abiding in the First Phase of Absorption (1st Jhāna)

Having abandoned the five hindrances, imperfections of the mind that weaken wisdom, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, one enters and abides in the first phase of absorption, which is accompanied by applied thought and sustained thought, with joy and the pleasure born of seclusion. (MN 4) One practices: “I shall breathe in experiencing the mind;” one practices: “I shall breathe out experiencing the mind.” This is how concentration by mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated,  so that it is of great fruit and great benefit. (A 54.8)

Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering
One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling and Abiding in the Second Jhāna

Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media
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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.