Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Equanimity

 

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RIGHT INTENTION
Cultivating Equanimity
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 equanimity, for when you develop meditation on equanimity, all aversion is abandoned. (MN 62) 

When a person, thinking a mental object with the mind, is not attached to pleasing mental objects and not repelled by unpleasing mental objects, they have established mindfulness and dwell with an unlimited mind. For a person whose mindfulness is developed and practiced, the mind does not struggle to reach pleasing mental objects, and unpleasing mental objects are not considered repulsive. (SN 35.274)
Reflection
Some objects in the world are naturally pleasing, and some are displeasing. This goes for our thoughts and other mental objects as well. Of course it feels good to think about some things and it feels bad to think of others, but whether we experience stress or suffering depends not on these facts but on our response to them. When attached, we struggle, and when we abide in our minds with equanimity, we are at peace.
Daily Practice
When you are settled for some time in a quiet place, turn your awareness to the thoughts and images that may be streaming through your mind. When you are caught by the content of these, you are swept along by the mental flow, but if you regard what is happening with equanimity, as a process of arising and passing mental objects, your mindfulness is developed and you are no longer favoring some thoughts over others.
Tomorrow: Refraining from Frivoulous Speech
One week from today: Cultivating Lovingkindness

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© 2023 Tricycle Foundation
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Via Daily Dharma: You Are Your Teacher

You Are Your Teacher

Always hold true to your own perception. Your own self is your main teacher.

Jeff Bridges, “The Natural”


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Monday, October 23, 2023

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

 

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RIGHT VIEW
Understanding the Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering
And what is the way leading to the cessation of suffering? It is just this noble eightfold path; that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right living, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. (MN 9)

One practices contentment. (DN 2)
Reflection
A simple and elegant instruction: Practice contentment! First, we see that it is something we can attain rather than something that comes to us from outside by chance or grace. Then we find out it is a skill that can be practiced, like playing the piano or learning a language. What does it take to feel content? Appreciating the pleasure instead of the pain, the well-being instead of the illness, the joy instead of the distress.
Daily Practice
Contentment is an experience, not a set of circumstances. You need not wait until you are wealthy to feel content, or even wait for that headache to go away. Contentment is an experience that can be accessed by settling into the moment and finding the goodness in it. Even in the most challenging of conditions there are positive aspects that can be brought forward in your mind. Suffering is real, but it can be put aside, however briefly.
Tomorrow: Cultivating Equanimity
One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of Suffering


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 Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.
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© 2023 Tricycle Foundation
89 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003

Via Daily Dharma: Just Sit

Just Sit

The moment we sit down to do zazen, we are useless; what we are doing has no point outside of itself, outside of the moment itself. 

Barry Magid, “Uselessness: The koan of just sitting”


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Sunday, October 22, 2023

Via FB


 

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Mindfulness and Concentration: Establishing Mindfulness of Mind and Abiding in the Third Jhāna

 

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RIGHT MINDFULNESS
Establishing Mindfulness of Mind
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 mind is liberated, one is aware: “The mind is liberated.”. . . One is just aware, just mindful: “There is mind.” And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)
Reflection
We are used to thinking of people as being in bondage to suffering at all times until they suddenly “wake up” and are liberated from suffering once and for all—perhaps while seated under a tree. But we can also take things one moment at a time and see that sometimes our mind is in bondage—to anger, for example—and sometimes it is not. Noticing the moments you are liberated from harmful states is inherently valuable.
Daily Practice
As you practice mindfulness, watching various states come and go in your mind and body, pay close attention to the moments you feel held or restrained by something. Maybe it is a mood of discouragement, or perhaps you feel you are in the grips of an unpleasant story. Watching closely, you may see that later the experience has changed, as all things do. This is a moment in which to relish the fleeting sense of freedom.
RIGHT CONCENTRATION
Approaching and Abiding in the Third Phase of Absorption (3rd Jhāna)
With the fading away of joy, one abides in equanimity, mindful and fully aware. Still feeling pleasure with the body, one enters upon and abides in the third phase of absorption, on account of which noble ones announce: “One has a pleasant abiding who has equanimity and is mindful.” (MN 4)
Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering
One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects and the Fourth Jhāna

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Tricycle is a nonprofit and relies on your support to keep its wheels turning.
© 2023 Tricycle Foundation
89 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003

Via Daily Dharma: The Fifth Precept

The Fifth Precept

Intoxicants take you away from reality; meditation takes you toward reality. Which do you want? You are already intoxicated by ignorance, anger, and attachment and suffer as a result. Why do you want to take more intoxicants?

Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, “The Fifth Precept”


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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation //


The next message you need is always right where you are. 

- Ram Dass -

Saturday, October 21, 2023

Via Esther Perel // A Translation


 

Tenha o cuidado em separar as pessoas das políticas de seus governos. Tenha o cuidado de separar as pessoas das ações dos terroristas que vivem entre elas.  

 

Tenha cuidado para não reduzir a história e o contexto a uma interpretação restrita. Tenha cuidado para não evitar a complexidade e as nuances em prol da memeificação. 

 

Tenha o cuidado em reconhecer que a dor de um lado não significa ódio ao outro lado. Tenha o cuidado em compreender que o apoio a um lado não significa ódio ao outro lado. 

 

Tenha cuidado com a manipulação em nível de massa: desinformação e a negação da perda. Tenha cuidado para não descartar a dor excruciante e real dos outros. 

 

Não torne as coisas piores. Tenha cuidado para não dizer coisas online que você não diria para alguém na vida real. Tenha cuidado para não adicionar ódio ao ódio, pois estamos todos sendo esmagados sob o seu peso crescente. 

 

Tenha cuidado para não perder a empatia por aqueles de quem você discorda. Tenha cuidado para não desumanizar os outros, pois fazer isso desumaniza você.

 

Não perca o contato com as suas partes que você mais precisa: Sua compaixão. Sua humanidade. Seu cuidado.

Via LGBTQ Nation // What is gay math?


 

Via GBF / Dhammachari Danadasa


 

Via [GBF] Opening the Heart to Joy & Sorrow - with Danadasa

 A new dharma talk has been added to our website and podcast:


"Opening the Heart to Joy & Sorrow" - with Dhammachari Danadasa
When we open our heart, we open it to all experiences: our greatest joys and our deepest sorrows.
Danadasa shares an image that represents the meaning of Vadrasana - the "Diamond Throne," on which the Buddha is said to have gained enlightenment under the bodhi tree at Bodhgaya, India. Not just a literal place, the Vadrasana also resides within each of us, as a place that we can come to in order to experience awakening.
Danadasa shares that we must move beyond pursuing only the fruits of our meditative practice. It is only when we address those aspects that may distress us that we begin to recognize injustice, anger, grief and sorrow.
Danadasa e compares the wisdom that results from striving upward with that which arises from below. Striving upward does work, but then we have no roots. We must become open to just receiving without trying to achieve something. This is what happens when we learn from experiences that distress us; it gives rise to emotional resilience.

Via Listen to this week’s podcasts from the Be Here Now Network

 

Thank you for listening to our podcasts every week! We truly appreciate your support. Here are the episodes that went out this week.

Listen now to our most recent episodes!
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Raghu Markus – Mindrolling – Ep. 513 – Practicing Paramitas with Tenzin Palmo
October 20, 2023
“During our daily life, we have so much opportunity to practice. To practice being generous, to practice being patient in the face of other...
Listen Now