Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from Harsh Speech

 

TRICYCLE      COURSE CATALOG      SUPPORT      DONATE

RIGHT SPEECH Refraining from Harsh Speech Harsh speech is unhealthy. Refraining from harsh speech is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning harsh speech, one refrains from harsh speech. One speaks words that are gentle, pleasing to the ear, and affectionate, words that go to the heart, are courteous, and are agreeable to many. (DN 1) One practices thus: "Others may speak harshly, but I shall abstain from harsh speech." (MN 8) When one says, "All those disengaged from the pursuit of the enjoyment of sensual pleasures have entered upon the right way," one thus extols some people. But when one says instead, "The disengagement from the pursuit of the enjoyment of sensual pleasures is a state without suffering, and it is the right way," then one is not extolling anyone but is simply stating the truth. (MN 139)

Reflection One of the common patterns of speech that causes difficulty is the tendency to extol some people and disparage others. We judge and label people as good or bad, right or wrong, based on what they do and then use speech to overpraise some people and overly blame others. This leads to a form of harsh speech that is directed at individuals, who will naturally take it personally and respond by retaliating against the blaming.  Daily Practice Practice actively framing everything you see people around you doing as impersonal actions of body, speech, and mind rather than as qualities of the people as individuals. It is not that people are kind or cruel but their actions may be kind or cruel. Praising the person may elevate their sense of self and contribute to such things as inflated pride, while praising their actions will encourage further good action.  Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Mental Action One week from today: Refraining from Frivolous Speech Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Tricycle is a nonprofit and relies on your support to keep its wheels turning. Donate »

© 2023 Tricycle Foundation 89 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003

Via Daily Dharma: Choosing a Mindfulness Tool

 We need to know at different times in our day what element of mindfulness is really helpful to us. Is it investigative awareness? Is it learning to reframe our perceptions? Or is it learning to draw on the extended family of mindfulness: of kindness, compassion, and joyfulness? 

Christina Feldman and Jaya Rudgard, “The Many Shades of Mindfulness”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Via White Crane Institute // Parinirvana Day, or Nirvana Day

 

Noteworthy

Buddha

2023 -

Parinirvana Day, or Nirvana Day is a Mahayana Buddhist holiday celebrated in East Asia. By some it is celebrated on 8^th of February, but by most on 15^th of February. It celebrates the day when the Buddha achieved Parinirvana, or complete Nirvana, upon the death of his physical body.

---

|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|

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

|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation \\ Words of Wisdom - February 8, 2023 💌

 
 

We can take our lives exactly as they are in this moment. It is a fallacy to think that we're necessarily going to get closer to God by changing the form of our lives, by leaving so-and-so, or changing our jobs, or moving, or whatever...by giving up our stereos, or cutting off our hair, or growing our hair, or shaving our beards, or...It isn't the form of the game; it's the nature of the being that fulfills the form. If I'm a lawyer, I can continue being a lawyer. I merely use being a lawyer as a way of coming to God.

- Ram Dass -

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Appreciative Joy

 

TRICYCLE      COURSE CATALOG      SUPPORT      DONATE

RIGHT INTENTION Cultivating Appreciative Joy 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 appreciative joy, for when you develop meditation on appreciative joy, any discontent will be abandoned. (MN 62)  The function of appreciative joy is being unenvious. (Vm 9.95)

Reflection The reason for working so consistently with intention and for developing healthy intentions like appreciative joy is to clear the mind of toxic states like envy and discontent. When you are able to feel good about the good fortune of others, you cannot at the same time feel bad about it. Just as suffering is the trigger of compassion, seeing people do well and be healthy gains access to joy. Daily Practice Look around you at any time of day and notice things that are going well for yourself and for other people. We are often habituated to seeing the fault in things. Try deliberately to go in the other direction and be aware of positive situations and events. Then allow yourself to feel gently joyful about them. There is a lot that is going well in our world, and it is a worthy practice to take notice of these things and allow them to bring joy. Tomorrow: Refraining from Harsh Speech One week from today: Cultivating Equanimity Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Tricycle is a nonprofit and relies on your support to keep its wheels turning. Donate »

© 2023 Tricycle Foundation 89 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003

Via Tricycle // Making Friends with Death

 

Making Friends with Death
By Wes Nisker

Without death there is no life—and this alone is reason enough to practice making death our friend, writes author and Buddhist practitioner Wes Nisker. Read more »

Via Daily Dharma: Cultivate a Beginner’s Mind

Cultivate your beginner’s mind. Be willing not to be an expert. Be willing not to know. Not knowing is nearest. Not knowing is most intimate.

Zenkei Blanche Hartman, “The Zen of Not Knowing”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Via White Crane Institute // JONATHAN, SON OF SAUL

 This Day in Gay History

February 07

Born

David and Jonathan [Pierre et Gilles, 2005]

1046 BCE -

JONATHAN, SON OF SAUL, born; OK...there was no "February"in 1046 BCE. And no one knows exactly when the biblical Jonathan was born, either. But since no one of any particular importance to Gay history was born on February 7, let’s just assign it to this sweet young man, whose present in Holy Writ has always been an embarrassment to fundamentalist preachers everywhere?

The love of Jonathan for David, a love so deep that he foreswore his father out of loyalty to his beloved, has provided literature with both a powerful trope for male love and one of the most oft-quoted lines of Scripture, spoken by David at the death of his friend: “My brother, Jonathan, thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women” (2 Samuel 1:26). Attempts to explain away this line are among the most dazzling examples of sophistry, ingeniousness, and wrong-headed mumbo-jumbo in 2,000 years of biblical exegesis. But we know what it means, don’t we?

8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|

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

|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|

 

Via JMG // Graham: All Churches Should Require Anti-LGBTQ Vow

 

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right View: The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering

 

RIGHT VIEW Understanding the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering What is the cessation of suffering? It is the remainderless fading away and ceasing, the giving up, relinquishing, letting go, and rejecting of craving. (MN 9) When one knows and perceives odors as they actually are, then one is not attached to odors. When one abides unattached, one is not infatuated, and one’s craving is abandoned. One’s bodily and mental troubles are abandoned, and one experiences bodily and mental well-being. (MN 149)

Reflection Suffering arises and falls away moment by moment, just like everything else. Suffering is not an abstract characteristic of the world but is manifest in thousands of little ways every day. Any time you feel afflicted by suffering, you can inquire into what it is that you want to be other than it is and then relinquish your hold on that episode of wanting. Desires and discontents come up but need not rule us. Just let go of them, one by one. Daily Practice As we move through each of the senses in order, today we work with odors and the sense of smell. Next time you smell something offensive, and you catch yourself automatically recoiling from it, try instead to bring an attitude of equanimity to the experience. Notice that you can disengage from aversion to the smell if you choose to do so and then continue to smell the odor without attachment or aversion. Tomorrow: Cultivating Appreciative Joy One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Tricycle is a nonprofit and relies on your support to keep its wheels turning. Donate »

© 2023 Tricycle Foundation 89 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003

Via Daily Dharma: Color Everything With Intention

 Rather than making a few heroic or virtuous gestures or taking on some righteous cause, the idea is to have a quality of awareness, gentleness, and benefit to others color everything you do.

Judy Lief, “Train Your Mind: All activities should be done with one intention”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE