Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Compassion

 

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

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Via FB // Matsuoka Roshi’s version of the Heart Sutra

 

Via Daily Dharma: Right Here and Now

 

Right Here and Now

The truth is, everything we could possibly need for joy, ease, wisdom, and compassion is right here and now, in the ordinary messiness of our lives. At some point, we finally realize this and learn to let go of the struggles and the wishes for some other life, and, with a sense of wonder and courage, trust-fall into our actual lives with a deep sense of radical acceptance. Mark Van Buren, “Thanks for Everything. I Have No Complaints Whatsoever.” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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

 

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

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Via Daily Dharma: Natural Balance

 

Natural Balance

There’s a natural balance, a dance, between embracing and releasing: turning your surroundings into yourself, like the tree that absorbs carbon dioxide, and turning yourself into your surroundings, like the same tree releasing oxygen. Shozan Jack Haubner, “Consider the Seed” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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

 

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

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation \\ Words of Wisdom - August 13, 2023 💌

"Which reality do you dwell in? If you stand anywhere, you're missing part of the show. Don't stand anywhere. I have no idea who you are or who I am. Then I am free. The minute I get trapped in a label, I have just imprisoned myself. No matter how well I furnish the prison, it's still a prison."

 

- Ram Dass -