Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Appreciative Joy

 

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RIGHT INTENTION Cultivating Appreciative Joy 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 appreciative joy, for when you develop meditation on appreciative joy, any discontent will be abandoned. (MN 62)  The far enemy of appreciative joy is discontent. (Vm 9.100)

Reflection It is telling that we do not even have a word in English for the Pali word for appreciative joy (mudita). By putting together two words, we only approximate what we are trying to convey. Appreciative joy is the emotion of feeling happy for the other person, not because of them or about them, but celebrating the fact that they are happy and feeling blessed or fortunate in some way. Why don’t we have a word for this? Daily Practice Pay close attention to what happens in your own experience when you hear news of some good fortune befalling someone, whether the person is well known to you or not. Do you feel resentment, jealousy, or some other form of discontent? If so, stop right there and intervene. Conjure up goodwill instead and practice feeling happy for the person. These two mind states are opposites: one is unhealthy and the other healthy. 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.

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Via Daily Dharma: Managing Your Expectations

Managing Your Expectations

Remind yourself that it is not realistic to expect external objects to be a lasting source of happiness. Reflect on the fact that by letting go, we can enjoy our health, our relationships, any wealth we might have when it’s there, and be relaxed when it isn’t.

Venerable Thubten Chodron, “Taking the Ache Out of Attachment”

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

 

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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 sees consciousness as it actually is, then one is not attached to consciousness. 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 Last week we were reminded of the consequences of not knowing and seeing consciousness as it really is, namely attachment, infatuation, and an increase of troubles generally. Here we discover the positive side of the story. We are much better off when we understand that consciousness is a series of momentary phenomena that arise and pass away in rapid succession. Seeing this, we do not get attached to it.  Daily Practice Become familiar with the habit of regarding your own mind as a series of events rather than as a solid thing with enduring qualities. Little is lost by doing so, and much can be gained. With a process, there is nothing to attach to. It is like watching a game or a performance: you want to stay present and attentive, but you don’t want to inhibit what is happening by trying to hold on to it. Your mind too is like a performance.  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.

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Via Daily Dharma: Don’t Fight Your Thoughts

Don’t Fight Your Thoughts

Having thoughts is a natural consequence of having a mind. Since it isn’t really possible to block thoughts, when we meditate, we don’t struggle against our thoughts by suppressing or blocking them. Instead, we use an object to rest our attention on, neither pushing thoughts away nor engaging them further. Phakchok Rinpoche, “Creating a Confident Mind” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - August 20, 2023 💌

"Silence is very much a part of my universe now, an awareness of silence. My universe involves using silence and not waiting for something to happen, because silence is what's happening.

When you and I rest together in loving awareness, we swim together in the ocean of love. Remember, it's always right here. Enter into the flow of love with a quiet mind and see all things with love as part of yourself. Just play with the silence for a moment."

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Resilience

Resilience

Remember resilience just demands we respond in this moment for this moment. It’s not the same as a long-term self-improvement plan. Sharon Salzberg, “Forever Connected” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Mindfulness and Concentration: Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling and the Second Jhāna

 

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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 pleasant feeling, one is aware: “Feeling a common pleasant feeling.” When feeling an uncommon pleasant feeling, one is aware: “Feeling an uncommon pleasant feeling”. . . One is just aware, just mindful: “There is feeling.” And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)

Reflection A common pleasant feeling refers to the ordinary pleasures we are capable of experiencing through the gratification of the senses. Some things look really good, sound wonderful, taste and smell delicious, feel smooth and cool to the touch, and are great to think about. An uncommon pleasant feeling is the sort encountered during some meditation practices. In both cases it is okay to be closely aware of pleasure. Daily Practice When pleasure is encountered in ordinary life it is usually accompanied by desire and craving. When we practice mindfulness with pleasant feeling tones as an object, the goal is to experience the sensations with equanimity rather than with preference and attachment. It is natural to experience pleasure; the danger comes only when we allow it to carry us away into unhealthier mental and emotional states. 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) One practices: “I shall breathe in contemplating fading away";  one practices: “I shall breathe out contemplating fading away.” 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 Cessation of Suffering One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Mind and Abiding in the Third Jhāna Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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Via Tricycle

Coming Back to the Buddha 

The Buddha of infinite light, or Amitabha Buddha, accepts us just as we are. The great Pure Land teacher Shinran wrote that we can find great consolation by taking refuge in Amitabha. How do we do this? 

Writer, psychotherapist, environmental activist, and Pure Land Buddhist Satya Robyn shows us how in this month’s Dharma Talk, inviting us to explore our limited nature as human beings and open to the infinite compassion of Amitabha. Robyn shares a three-stage process for coming back to the Buddha, ultimately unraveling the truth that we have access to unlimited love.

Inspired by Shinran, Robyn invites us to recite the nembutsu for a taste of Amitabha’s consolation. “The nembustu, which means remembering the Buddha, is when we recite the name of Amitabha Buddha. It’s a practice that’s available to anybody, you don’t have to have any time, you don’t have to be an academic. It doesn’t matter if you’re living a virtuous life or not. The idea is that everybody can be taken into Amitabha’s arms and have an experience of that consolation.”

Watch the full talk today to learn more about this practice from Robyn, including a special guest appearance by her dog, Ralph!

Watch the Dharma Talk today »