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.
RIGHT MINDFULNESS Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling
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 feeling a common neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling, one is
aware: “Feeling a common neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling.” When
feeling an uncommon neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling, one is aware:
“Feeling an uncommon neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling.”. . . One is
just aware, just mindful: “There is feeling.” And one abides not
clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)
Reflection
A feeling tone
accompanies every moment of experience, and it changes at every moment.
We generally just accept this and are influenced by it but without
conscious awareness. The stream of feelings flows as constantly as the
stream of consciousness, and modulates on a spectrum from extremely
pleasant through moderately pleasant, mildly pleasant, neutral, mildly
painful, and moderately painful to extremely painful.
Daily Practice
The second of
the four foundations on which mindfulness practice is established is the
mindful awareness of feeling tones. This requires isolating them in
your experience, since they are usually blended in with everything else.
Make a point of selecting just the strand of experience that carries a
feeling tone—good, bad or neutral. Not whether you like it or not, just
how it feels. You will learn with practice how to focus on this regularly.
RIGHT CONCENTRATION Approaching and Abiding in the Second Phase of Absorption (2nd Jhāna)
With the stilling of applied and
sustained thought, one enters upon and abides in the second phase of
absorption, which has inner clarity and singleness of mind, without
applied thought and sustained thought, with joy and the pleasure born of
concentration. (MN 4)
Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Mind and Abiding in the Third Jhāna
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Sitting
with modest discomfort teaches the mind to be less frightened.
Experiencing the disappearance of discomfort soothes the mind, makes it
confident, and allows for the insight of impermanence: Everything
passes.
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 unhealthy states, and then
one’s mind inclines to unhealthy states. (MN 19)
Abandoning all five arisen hindrances, one abides having abandoned all five arisen hindrances. (MN 51)
Reflection
If you are
often restless, you are practicing restlessness and training yourself to
become more restless. The same goes for the other hindrances of
sluggishness, sense desire, ill will, and doubt. These mental factors
will all arise from time to time; when they do you have the option to
indulge them and thereby strengthen them or to abandon them and weaken
them. Gradually diminish these unhealthy states by letting go when they
arise.
Daily Practice
When the mind
is temporarily free of the influence of the hindrances, it naturally
becomes calm, unified, and clear, and thus more capable of seeing with
insight. Pay attention to the quality of your inner life, and when one
of these hindrances arises simply notice it and let it go. All things
that arise in the mind will pass away if you do not “stick” to them by
either welcoming them or rejecting them. Just let them pass through.
Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling and Abiding in the Second Jhāna One week from today: Developing Unarisen Healthy States
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RIGHT LIVING Undertaking the Commitment to Abstain from Taking What is Not Given
Taking what is not given is
unhealthy. Refraining from taking what is not given is healthy. (MN 9)
Abandoning the taking of what is not given, one abstains from taking
what is not given; one does not take by way of theft the wealth and
property of others. (MN 41) One practices thus: “Others may take what is
not given, but I will abstain from taking what is not given.” (MN 8)
On thinking a mental object with the mind, one does not grasp at its
signs and features. Since if one left the mind faculty unguarded,
unwholesome states of covetousness and grief might intrude, one
practices the way of restraint and guards the mind faculty in that way.
(MN 51)
Reflection
Are you using
your mind as a tool to think thoughts, or does it feel like your mind is
driving the thoughts you think and you have little control over the
process? Mindfulness is a way of re-establishing a sense of empowerment
in the midst of our thinking processes. It is not a matter of
suppressing thoughts but of influencing how much you grasp onto or
resist the processes of your mind. Non-grasping is a form of
protection.
Daily Practice
Practice
watching what arises and passes away in your mind as a kind of parade
that marches by, without getting stuck on the content of each thought.
Watch it approach, but then let it recede. Each thought is different,
each is interesting, but there is no reason to grab hold of any thought
and try to hang onto it or prevent it from leaving. Take what is given,
but refrain from making more of what is happening by holding on.
Tomorrow: Abandoning Arisen Unhealthy States One week from today: Abstaining from Misbehaving Among Sensual Pleasures
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THE FIRST GAY RIGHTSMARCHONWASHINGTOND.C. demands
"an end to all social, economic, judicial, and legal oppression of
Lesbian and Gay people." Marking the tenth anniversary of the Stonewall
riots and coming in the wake of the lenient jail sentence given to Dan
White for the assassination of openly gay San Francisco city supervisor
Harvey Milk, the First National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay
Rights on October 14, 1979 was an historic event that drew more than
200,000 people from across the United States and ten other countries.
In the wake of
the Milk/Moscone assassinations, the Anita Bryant campaign to roll back
protections extended to sexual orientation, and years of community
building around the nation, the support for a massive demonstration in
the nation's capital grew. There were strong reservations on the part of
those who worried that anything less than massive numbers would negate
the demonstration and undermine political activism. However, by the late
summer of 1979 it was clear that the March would be a large media
event. Locally, the National Coalition of Black Gays and the DC
Coalition of Black Gays supported the March from the beginning.
Both groups were
also involved in planning and holding the first Third World Conference,
held at Harambee House on Georgia Avenue. The Third World Conference
concluded with a march by persons of color down Georgia Avenue to the
Mall where they joined the March on Washington. This walk down Georgia
Avenue was the first public demonstration by Lesbians and Gays in the
heart of the African-American areas of the city.
The plans for the
1979 March were determinedly more inclusive of persons of color and the
transgendered. The souvenir booklet for the March includes an article
by Jim Kepner summarizing GLBT activism leading to the March and an
article by Brandy Moore detailing the preparations for the March.
Speakers included Richard Ashworth and Adele Starr (PFLAG) Marion Berry
(then D.C. mayor), S.F. Councilman Harry Britt, Lesbian feminist
theorist, Charlotte Bunch, poet Alan Ginsberg, activists Flo Kennedy,
Morris Kight, poet and activist Audrey Lorde, musicians, Robin Tyler and
Tom Robinson, Leonard Matlovich, Arthur McCombs (Gay Atheist League),
feminist theorist, Kate Millett, Rev. Troy Perry (listed as a “cameo”
appearance”!), Juanita Ramos (Comite Homosexual Latinamericano), Betty
Santoro (NY Spokeswoman for Lesbian Feminist Liberation), Eleanor Smeal
(N.O.W.) and labor activist, Howard Wallace. Recordings of speeches,
including Audre Lorde’s keynote address to the masses on the Washington
Mall, and Alan Ginsberg reading his poetry and warning Congress can be
heard here:
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
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 verbal
action is to be done with repeated reflection. (MN 61)
When you have done an action with speech, reflect on that same verbal
action thus: “Was this action I have done with speech an unhealthy
bodily action with painful consequences and painful results?” If, on
reflection, you know that it was, then tell someone you trust about it
and undertake a commitment not to do it again. If you know it was not,
then be content and feel happy about it. (MN 61)
Reflection
Speech is such
an important form of action, especially in our modern world of constant
communication. It helps to think of speaking words as a form of planting
seeds— something we want to do with care and with the hope of good
fruits arising in the future. It is helpful to reflect on what seeds you
have sown, and it is a blessing to be able to look back on what you
have said to someone and feel content and happy about it.
Daily Practice
Reflect on what
you have said to others from time to time, especially soon after saying
it, and check in on whether your communication has been harmful or
helpful. If you feel that something is “off” in some way, do not
hesitate to share your concerns with a trusted friend and look for ways
to repair the damage. Taking care of our healthy relationships is a form
of right action, and attending to our speech is a way of doing this.
Tomorrow: Abstaining from Taking What is Not Given One week from today: Reflecting upon Mental Action
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Not-knowing
means being open and playful. Not-knowing means engaging without an
expected outcome and being willing to be wrong so that you can
ultimately get it right.
Alex Tzelnic, “Being Wrong Until You Get It Right”
Full
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