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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) Disputes occur when a person adheres to their own views, holds onto them tenaciously, and relinquishes them with difficulty. Such a person dwells disrespectful and undeferential toward 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

If you look around you will easily see that so many of the disputes taking place in the world are rooted in the human tendency to become attached to views and opinions. It is natural for people to disagree, but it is neither necessary nor inevitable for them to argue about it. Views are learned ways of organizing our understanding of the world, and when held lightly they are beneficial, but they can easily become a source of trouble.

Daily Practice

Notice when you see people attached to their views, when they are holding on to them tenaciously, and when they relinquish them with difficulty. Next, notice when you do these things yourself. Try looking at things from different points of view, if only to train your own mind to become more agile and avoid getting locked in to particular perspectives. Notice how many things can be seen from many different points of view.

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 Daily Dharma: Let Your Practice Shape You

 We think that we have to know who we are in order to bloom, but that is not true. It is our nature to bloom, but we don’t have to know who or what we are in order to do so. . . . We can only do the practice and let it shape us.

Ken McLeod, “On Not Being Special”

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - August 17, 2022 💌

 
 

You’ve got to see if you keep examining your own mind (which must be your work in part, to become mindful) you must see that who you think you are and how you think it is, is what’s creating the reality of what you’re seeing.

- Ram Dass -

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

Via CEBB-BH

 

“O refúgio é instantaneamente o lugar de repouso na natureza livre e lúcida que nos permite ver os aspectos condicionados e nos permite, se nós estamos além do caminho do ouvinte, efetivamente experimentar. Então, a gente poderia dizer que o refúgio é o início do caminho e é também o último gesto dentro do caminho. A saída do caminho é o refúgio, quando nós verdadeiramente tomamos refúgio, o caminho termina”. 
  

- Lama Padma Samten -

 

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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 far enemy of compassion is cruelty. (Vm 9.99)

Reflection

In a moment of compassion, cruelty is impossible, and when cruelty is present there is no room for compassion. As opposite emotions, these two always compete for a spot in the mind. Whichever is raised into conscious awareness from its unconscious latency will have the greatest impact on the mind stream that follows. When we are able to cultivate compassion over cruelty, we can train our minds toward healthy and happy states.

Daily Practice

Put aside some time each day to think of the suffering of others, perhaps just before or just after meditating, and allow yourself to feel compassion in your heart rather than pity or despair. Also, any time you catch yourself feeling mean-spirited or hurtful, immediately take note of that and see if you can replace the incipient cruelty with its antidote, authentic compassion. In these ways you guide your mind in a noble direction.

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

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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Daily Dharma: What is Goodwill?

Mature goodwill accords dignity to others, recognizing that they are the agents responsible for their happiness.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu, “The Kamma of Goodwill”

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Via White Crane Institute // The GENERAL COUNCIL OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA

 

Noteworthy

1988 -

The GENERAL COUNCIL OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA, meeting in Victoria, BC becomes "the first mainstream church in the world to accept Gay ordination without imposing celibacy."

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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 consciousness as it actually is, then one is attached to consciousness. 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

Continuing to cycle through all five aggregates, our text comes to focus on consciousness as a source of the craving that leads to suffering. The mind can take anything within its scope as an object of awareness, and you can bring mindfulness even to awareness itself. What does the experience of knowing actually feel like? Learn to regard the act of awareness itself even-mindedly, without getting caught or attached.

Daily Practice

Work at bringing a posture of equanimity to the experience of consciousness. Awareness itself is not attached; attachment arises alongside it, coloring the awareness with a trace of favoring some things and opposing others. Back away from these subtle forms of craving and see if you can simply be with the experience of knowing something in a balanced and even way, with an evenly hovering awareness.

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

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Via Daily Dharma: Staying Curious Through Uncertainty

 Consider the uncertainty, fear, and helplessness seeds that have taken root and sprouted to the surface in yourself. With gentle curiosity, you can ask: What does this seedling look like? How does it move in your body? Can you give it a sound? If you could touch it, how would it feel?

Jessica Angima, “The Not-Knowing of Our Time”

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Via Ram Dass, Love Serve Remember / FB

 

When I am loving awareness I’m aware of everything outside, but pulling into the heart, the spiritual heart brings me to loving awareness. I’m aware of my thoughts, but loving awareness is simply witnessing them. And loving awareness is in the moment. I have thoughts about the past and future, and those are not helpful, so I dive deep into the present and the presence and in this present moment we will find loving awareness.

This moment is love. I am infinite. I am loving awareness.

 

@babaramdass

 

© Original art by AriDesignss (@aridesignss )

Via Relentless Indigenous Woman /FB

 

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 flexing and extending limbs, wearing clothing, carrying food . . . one is just aware, just mindful: “There is a body.” And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)

Reflection

Mindfulness of the body can be very precise and focused, as when we observe every microsensation of the inbreath and outbreath. It can also be broader and more open, taking in the full sweep of larger activities. The practice of full awareness, a term used together with mindfulness, involves an awareness that draws back, so to speak, to a slightly greater distance, allowing it to encompass the full scope of an activity.

Daily Practice

Practice being aware of your body in motion as it moves the limbs in dance or sport or physical work. Feel the continuity of such movements, and allow your mindfulness to encompass the motion as a whole. Now practice doing all this with full awareness, dialing up your focused attention so it becomes even more acute and precise. This is mindfulness in motion, without clinging.

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 contemplating impermanence”; one practices: “I shall breathe out contemplating impermanence.” 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

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Via Daily Dharma: Practicing for All

 When you meditate, it is not just for yourself, you do it for the whole society. You seek solutions to your problems not only for yourself, but for all of us. 

Gelek Rinpoche, “A Lama for All Seasons”

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - August 14, 2022 💌

 
 

In my aging wisdom, I have a sense of the incredible beauty of the unfolding design of the universe. I treasure the mystery of it. I really delight in the mystery of it.

-Ram Dass -

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

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Via Tricycle /// How Mindfulness Works Even When It Doesn’t

How Mindfulness Works Even When It Doesn’t By Gil Fronsdal

When attention to the breath proves to be no match for our racing thoughts, how can we instead consciously turn our awareness to the tensions that occupy our mind?

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Via Tricycle // Beats and Buddhas

 

“Beats and Buddhas”: A New Exhibit Features Art from Allen Ginsberg and Gonkar Gyatso
By Alison Spiegel

Photographs by the legendary beat poet and colorful collages by Tibetan artist Gonkar Gyatsu are drawn together by an unlikely thread of humor and spirituality.

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