Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Lovingkindness

 

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RIGHT INTENTION Cultivating Lovingkindness 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 lovingkindness, for when you develop meditation on lovingkindness, all ill will will be abandoned. (MN 62)  Lovingkindness is like a mother who has a baby boy, for she just wants him to grow and thrive. (Vm 9.108)

Reflection The image of a mother with a newborn child is used often in early Buddhist literature to help envision and define the emotional state of lovingkindness. While this might involve some idealization, the point is that this emotion can be viewed as natural, pure, and spontaneous. It is a caring for another that is not rooted in our own self-interest and not entangled with an exchange. Lovingkindness is just wanting the best for someone else. Daily Practice See what it feels like to regard all people as your newborn child, to look on all situations with the same benevolence you might extend to an infant and to cultivate a non-specific wish for all beings to be healthy, safe, and profoundly well. Lovingkindness is a quality of heart and mind that can be cultivated, and by doing so you transform “the basis on which your mind is established.” In short, you become a more caring person. Tomorrow: Refraining from False Speech One week from today: Cultivating Compassion 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: Authenticity Never Yields Regret

 

Authenticity Never Yields Regret

When you give yourself fully to life—when you pour yourself into everything you do unreservedly—then there’s no room for regret. Taylor Plimpton, “Lessons From a (Mostly) Good Dog: #2, Relax”  CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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

 

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RIGHT VIEW Understanding the Noble Truth of Suffering When people have met with suffering and become victims of suffering, they come to me and ask me about the noble truth of suffering. Being asked, I explain to them the noble truth of suffering. (MN 77) What is suffering? (MN 9) In short, the five aggregates affected by clinging are suffering. (MN 9)

Reflection Some forms of suffering are glaringly obvious, such as a pounding toothache or the deep grief that comes from losing a loved one. Others can be subtler and more pervasive rather than episodic. Such is the case with the suffering that comes from clinging to anything whatsoever. Even things that feel overtly gratifying can on another level be sowing the seeds of disappointment. Clinging always involves some sort of suffering. Daily Practice Clinging is the word used to refer to our response to desire. When we want something, we reach for it or hold on tightly so it does not slip away. When we don’t want something, we push it away and try to avoid or destroy it. Notice how this attitude of attachment and aversion can manifest, often subtly, in all aspects of experience. Learn to become consciously aware of the unconscious reflex to grasp, and also to let go of it. Tomorrow: Cultivating Lovingkindness One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin 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: Truth Shines Through

Truth Shines Through

Practice challenges our conditioned beliefs. And in this challenge, what isn’t true dissolves.  Caverly Morgan, “Overcoming Negative Self-Talk” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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Via FB \\ A Snail´s Shell

 

Via FB

 

Via [GBF] IN PERSON and ZOOM Meeting Sunday, October 1, 10:30-12:00 (PDT)- Dhammachari Danadasa

A wonderful talk with the Venerable Dhammachari who shared this diagram and poem as part of his talk.

OCTOBER 1- Dhammachari Danadasa

Dhammachari Danadasa has been practicing with the San Francisco Buddhist Center (SFBC) community since 1993 and was ordained in 2011. His current area of exploration is the cultivation of metta (universal loving kindness) as a response to all the hatred, discrimination, and bigotry in the world out there.

 

 

GBF Talks can be found here: https://gaybuddhist.org/

Living for the Dead | Official Trailer | Hulu

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Mindfulness and Concentration: Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects and Abiding in the Fourth Jhāna

 

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RIGHT MINDFULNESS Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects 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 the awakening factor of concentration is internally present, one is aware: “Concentration is present for me.” When concentration is not present, one is aware: “Concentration is not present for me.” When the arising of unarisen concentration occurs, one is aware of that. And when the development and fulfillment of the arisen awakening factor of concentration occurs, one is aware of that. . . . One is just aware, just mindful: “There is a mental object.” And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)

Reflection The practice of insight meditation also involves the practice of concentration. Insight and concentration are like the two wings of a bird, each supporting the function of the other. Concentration is a mental factor that allows the mind to focus on a single object without being carried away by the stream of consciousness into telling and retelling stories. Insight is understanding the nature of what you are focusing on.  Daily Practice As with all mental factors, sometimes concentration is present and sometimes it is not. Sometimes your mind is focused, and other times it is flitting from one object to another, apparently out of control. With practice you can notice these fluctuations of mind. You can watch the ability to focus come and go, always simply being aware of what is happening. The idea is not to control the mind but to calm it and let it settle. RIGHT CONCENTRATION Approaching and Abiding in the Fourth Phase of Absorption (4th Jhāna) With the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous disappearance of joy and grief, one enters upon and abides in the fourth phase of absorption, which has neither-pain-nor-pleasure and purity of mindfulness as a result of equanimity. The concentrated mind is thus purified, bright, unblemished, rid of imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability. (MN 4) Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of Suffering  One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Body and Abiding in the First Jhāna 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: Creating Space for the Dharma

 

Creating Space for the Dharma

Mental simplicity involves contentment, straightforwardness, and some degree of trust in the unfolding of life. This frees up energy to do the relevant thinking that supports our life of practice. It creates space for the dharma to unfold. Kim Allen, “The Value of Simplicity” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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