A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
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: “I shall initiate and sustain mental acts of kindness
toward my companions, both publicly and privately.” One lives with
companions in concord, with mutual appreciation, without disputing,
blending like milk and water, viewing each other with kindly eyes. One
thinks thus: “It is a gain for me, it is a great gain for me, that I am
living with such companions in the spiritual life.” (MN 31)
Reflection
Of the three
kinds of action recognized in Buddhist teaching, mental acts are more
important than verbal and bodily actions because we say and do things
only after we think them. The system of cause and effect generated by
our thoughts is called karma, and we create either healthy or unhealthy
karma not only by acting and speaking but also with every mental action.
Attending to the quality of the mind is so important.
Daily Practice
In the privacy
of your own mind, practice thinking good thoughts about people. This can
be a kind of guerilla lovingkindness practice, in which you send
friendly and benevolent thoughts to people without them knowing you are
doing so. See what a good effect this has on your own mind. The people
you direct your kindness to do not need to be aware of your thoughts;
you only have to generate them to reap the benefits.
Tomorrow: Abstaining from Intoxication One week from today: Reflecting upon Bodily Action
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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 equanimity, for when you develop meditation on
equanimity, all aversion is abandoned. (MN 62)
The far enemies of equanimity are attachment and aversion. (Vm 9.101)
When a person smelling an odor with the nose is not attached to pleasing
odors and not repelled by unpleasing odors, they have established
mindfulness and dwell with an unlimited mind. For a person whose
mindfulness is developed and practiced, the nose does not struggle to
reach pleasing odors, and unpleasing odors are not considered repulsive.
(SN 35.274)
Reflection
Buddhist
teachings are not abstract but always point us to the front lines of
lived experience. Cycling through each of the six senses, we come to
exploring the quality of equanimity even in the smelling of odors.
Equanimity is the midpoint between favoring and opposing, between
wanting what feels good and not wanting what feels bad. It is not
indifference but a more refined attitude of understanding and
acknowledging.
Daily Practice
See if you can
find and then inhabit that middle emotional ground in which you are
acutely aware of a sensation—in this case a smell coming through the
nose—but are not reacting to it, either for or against. All sensory
experience is just what it is; we need not make it good or bad by our
emotional response. Learning to do this with a sense like smell will
help you apply equanimity to other, more complex situations as needed.
Tomorrow: Refraining from Frivolous Speech One week from today: Cultivating Lovingkindness
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But
to be overly busy cannot possibly bring peacefulness. It cannot bring
contentment. It cannot bring a heart full of love; it cannot bring a
heart that can actually bring the mind to meditation.
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 who has perfected their ethical behavior sees no danger from any
side, just as a king who has vanquished his enemies sees no danger from
any side. One experiences in oneself the blameless happiness that comes
from maintaining noble ethical behavior. (DN 2)
Reflection
From the
Buddhist point of view, our own toxic internal states are our greatest
threat. The hostility, cruelty, and hatred we are capable of act as a
poison corroding our hearts from within, just as the craving,
attachment, and grasping tendencies within us obscure our ability to see
clearly and do what is best for us. The way to end suffering is to walk
a path that relies on upright ethical conduct as a shield against these
threats.
Daily Practice
It is just as
important to acknowledge our victories over our harmful inner tendencies
as it is to be aware of our failures. It is okay to feel good about
doing good. Allow yourself to feel the power of a commitment to honesty
or a dedication to justice or a refusal to participate in harmful
behavior. It is natural to feel happiness when behaving ethically, and
you are encouraged to relish the healthy states that come from positive
actions.
Tomorrow: Cultivating Equanimity One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of Suffering
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Most
of us spend an entire lifetime chasing thoughts and emotions like a
dog, never finding complete satisfaction. Yet, with a slight but radical
shift of attention, we turn toward the stone thrower—awareness itself.
Phakchok Rinpoche and Erric Solomon, “Creating a Confident Mind”
LAMMAS DAY
‒ In English-speaking countries, August 1 is Lammas Day ("loaf-mass
day"), the festival of the first wheat harvest of the year. In Wiccan
traditions, the name Lammas is used for one of the sabbats, The festival
is also known as Lughnasadh, a feast to commemorate the
funeral games (Tailtean Games) of Tailtiu, foster-mother of the Irish
sun-god Lugh. Lammas is a cross-quarter occurring ¼ of a year after
Beltane. Lughnasadh was one of the four main festivals of the medieval
Irish calendar: Imbolc at the beginning of February, Beltane on the first of May, Lughnasadh in August and Samhain in November.
The early Celtic
calendar was based on the lunar, solar, and vegetative cycles, so the
actual calendar date in ancient times may have varied. Lughnasadh marked
the beginning of the harvest season, the ripening of first fruits, and
was traditionally a time of community gatherings, market festivals,
horse races and reunions with distant family and friends. Among the
Irish it was a favored time for handfastings ‒ trial marriages that
would generally last a year and a day, with the option of ending the
contract before the new year, or later formalizing it as a more
permanent marriage.
In Christian
tradition on this day it was customary to bring to church a loaf made
from the new crop. In many parts of England, tenants were bound to
present freshly harvested wheat to their landlords on or before the
first day of August. In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, where it is referred
to regularly, it is called "the feast of first fruits".
Now is a great
time of year to work on honing your own talents. Learn a new craft, or
get better at an old one. Put on a play, write a story or poem, take up a
musical instrument, start getting crafty, or sing a song. Whatever you
choose to do, this is the right season for rebirth and renewal, so set
August 1 as the day to share your new skill with your friends and
family.
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There is a grieving process that is required when you change—you grieve
the shifts in your identity, you put the dream to rest before you can go
on. You have to deal with your past before you can come into the
moment. You don’t deny it. It’s not not there. It’s just not compelling
you. It’s not busy holding onto you.
We
have to return to the root of the problem, which is the mistaken belief
that joy can be hoarded, seized, or commodified when the fact is that
real joy is contagious.
RIGHT MINDFULNESS Establishing Mindfulness of Mind
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 the mind is not composed, one is aware: “The mind is not
composed”. . . One is just aware, just mindful: “There is mind.” And one
abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)
Reflection
With the third
of the four foundations of mindfulness, or practices on which
mindfulness can be established, we learn to notice the effect of various
mental and emotional states on the way consciousness manifests in our
experience. A composed mind consists of a moment of coherence, unity,
tranquility, and internal harmony. Sometimes this happens, and sometimes
it does not. Simply be aware when it does and does not.
Daily Practice
When observing
the many changing mental states in your experience, it is important to
avoid getting attached to them. This is particularly difficult with
thoughts, which have rich content that can draw us into the story and
away from an attitude of neutral observation. This is why the
instruction to just be aware, to just be mindful, is so important. This keeps the mind moving forward and not clinging to anything.
RIGHT CONCENTRATION Approaching and Abiding in the Third Phase of Absorption (3rd Jhāna)
With the fading away of joy, one
abides in equanimity. Mindful and fully aware, still feeling pleasure
with the body, one enters upon and abides in the third phase of
absorption, on account of which noble ones announce: “One has a pleasant
abiding who has equanimity and is mindful.” (MN 4)
One practices: “I shall breathe in concentrating the mind”;
one practices: “I shall breathe out concentrating 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 Way to the Cessation of Suffering One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects and the Fourth Jhāna
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Whatever a person frequently
thinks about and ponders, that will become the inclination of their
mind. If one frequently thinks about and ponders healthy states, one has
abandoned unhealthy states to cultivate healthy states, and then one’s
mind inclines to healthy states. (MN 19)
Here a person rouses the will, makes an effort, stirs up energy, exerts
the mind, and strives to develop the arising of unarisen healthy mental
states. One develops the unarisen awakening factor of energy. (MN 141)
Reflection
Energy is a
word with many different meanings in English. Here it refers to a mental
state that may or may not co-arise with other mental states. Its
presence or absence determines how much effort we put into whatever we
are doing in any given moment. Energy levels can be adjusted by
intention. Sometimes we need to put more effort into what we are doing;
sometimes we need to back off and stop trying so hard.
Daily Practice
Since our
concern here is developing healthy states, working with energy is a
means of supporting such things as practicing when you don't feel like
it, being patient when your impulses are urging otherwise, and looking
more closely at a situation to see where the wisdom is to be found in
it. Think of energy as an impersonal factor you can either dial up or
dial down, depending on the situation.
Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Mind and Abiding in the Third Jhāna One week from today: Maintaining Arisen Healthy States
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Forgiveness
is really not about someone’s harmful behavior; it’s about our own
relationship with our past. When we begin the work of forgiveness, it is
primarily a practice for ourselves.
RIGHT LIVING Undertaking the Commitment to Abstain from Misbehaving Among Sensual Pleasures
Sensual misconduct is
unhealthy. Refraining from sensual misconduct is healthy. (MN 9)
Abandoning sensual misconduct, one abstains from misbehaving among
sensual pleasures. (MN 41) One practices thus: “Others may engage in
sensual misconduct, but I will abstain from sensual misconduct.” (MN 8)
Odors cognizable by the nose are of two kinds: those to be cultivated
and those not to be cultivated. Such odors as cause, in one who
cultivates them, unhealthy states to increase and healthy states to
diminish, such odors are not to be cultivated. But such odors as cause,
in one who cultivates them, unhealthy states to diminish and healthy
states to increase, such odors are to be cultivated. (MN 114)
Reflection
The point here
is not that some things smell good and some smell bad. Rather it is that
some odors provoke unhealthy states in us and some incline us toward
healthy states. As usual, the emphasis is on the mental and emotional
response to sensory input and not on the quality of that data. The key
is to avoid the tendency for the odor to give rise to craving, either
craving for more pleasure or craving for pain to go away.
Daily Practice
Here you have
another invitation to abide in your experience with equanimity, to be
acutely aware of something, in this case an odor, without being driven
by that information into responding with attraction or aversion. Smells
are a good way to practice equanimity, since it is so easy to observe
the mind being automatically hijacked by pleasure or displeasure into
liking or not liking the smell.
Tomorrow: Developing Unarisen Healthy States One week from today: Abstaining from Intoxication
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Christian
mystic Meister Eckhart wrote: “Be willing to be a beginner every single
morning.” Beginners are comfortable with not-knowing and the
impossibility of knowing. It is this admission that allows you to relax
and think clearly and creatively.
I
intentionally ask myself the question, “What would I gain from this
person’s loss?” and it is quite clear to me that I don’t benefit at all.
The true benefit is in stepping off of center stage, and experiencing
the kindness of delighting in someone else’s good experience.
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 mental
action is to be done with repeated reflection. (MN 61)
When you have done an action with the mind, reflect upon that same
mental action thus: “Has this action I have done with the mind led to
both my own affliction and the affliction of another?” 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
Mental action
is at least as important and influential as physical and verbal action.
Every thought, memory, or image that goes through your mind constitutes a
mental act, and it is based on these mental events that other actions
are put into play. It is okay to reflect from time to time on what has
gone through your mind and inquire whether on the whole it has been
healthy or unhealthy. This is a form of mental housekeeping.
Daily Practice
Now and then,
step out of merely thinking thoughts and reflect on them. A mirror
creates an image of whatever passes before it and reveals what it looks
like from another perspective. Learn to do that with your own mind by
stepping back and gazing on your thoughts rather than “inhabiting” them,
as you normally do. This is one way of understanding the practice of
mindfulness—becoming aware of what is happening.
Tomorrow: Abstaining from Misbehaving Among Sensual Pleasures One week from today: Reflecting upon Social Action
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