A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
A teacher can sing a song and show you some moves but ultimately the dance belongs to you. A good teacher gets out of your way and, in this regard, a flawed but honest teacher is often the best teacher.
However the seed is
planted, in that way the fruit is gathered. Good things come from doing
good deeds; bad things come from doing bad deeds. (SN 11.10) What is the
purpose of a mirror? For the purpose of reflection. So too bodily
action is to be done with repeated reflection. (MN 61)
Reflection
The image of
planting seeds and harvesting their fruits is widespread throughout the
world. It is a simple model of cause and effect, and it lies at the
heart of the Buddhist understanding of karma. As embodied beings we are
always engaging with the world, and we are invited here to notice this
fact and engage with care. If we want good things to come our way, we
need to do good deeds to ensure that they do.
Daily Practice
Think of
meditation as similar to looking in a mirror, but instead of regarding
your external form you are observing the quality of your inner life.
When you act in certain ways, how does it make you feel? If you
regularly feel bad about what you do, then you are planting the wrong
seeds. Gradually learn to act in ways that will result in healthier and
more beneficial outcomes for yourself and others.
Tomorrow: Abstaining from Harming Living Beings One week from today: Reflecting upon Verbal Action
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When
we sit well, everything else takes care of itself. So whether we have
been sitting [for] five years or twenty years or are just beginning, it
is important to sit with great, meticulous care.
False speech is unhealthy. Refraining from false speech is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning false speech, one dwells refraining from false speech, a truth-speaker, one to be relied on, trustworthy, dependable, not a deceiver of the world. One does not in full awareness speak falsehood for one’s own ends or for another’s ends or for some trifling worldly end. (DN 1) One practices thus: “Others may speak falsely, but I shall abstain from false speech.” (MN 8)
Reflection
Refraining from false speech has both external and internal consequences. By becoming a “truth-speaker” you become trusted and respected by others, and they will consider you dependable. Internally, you avoid the harm to your character that is inflicted by false speech, for in being untruthful you hurt yourself as much as others. Notice that you need not try to change others but only commit to being the best person you can be.
Daily Practice
Undertake a commitment to always tell the truth. The practice of right speech can be as simple as that. Refrain from even little white lies, petty deceptions, and frivolous, perhaps amusing, deflections from the truth. Try this for a while at least and see what it feels like and what effect it has on you. You may find it feels good to be scrupulously truthful; gradually you may even get in the habit of being a truth-speaker. This is good.
Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Bodily Action One week from today: Refraining from Malicious Speech
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One might argue that the whole purpose of Zen Buddhism is to wake you up to this simple fact: this is your life. This is it. And that’s not a depressing thought, but a joyful one. This is it! This is my life!
The game isn’t to end up a good meditator; but to end up free. The game isn’t to end up a good Buddhist; it’s to end up Buddha. The game isn’t to end up a good Christian; but to end up Christ. The game isn’t to end up loving; it’s to end up being love.
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)
Reflection
The mind is always a work in progress, insofar as it is always changing. This change is not random but is directed by the mind, which both shapes and is shaped by itself. You cannot just decide something once and behave altogether differently ever after, but you can gradually train your mind, like a growing plant, in one direction or another. Training yourself to become kinder, using the power of intention, is a healthy thing to do.
Daily Practice
You can develop lovingkindness on a regular basis, practicing every day to strengthen your ability to feel kindly, and this will slowly incline your mind toward feeling kindly more often and for longer periods of time. Or you can intentionally practice lovingkindness whenever you feel ill will toward someone, in which case lovingkindness can act as an antidote to the poison of hatred. Or, of course, do both.
Tomorrow: Refraining from False Speech One week from today: Cultivating Compassion
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The problem with interpersonal love is that you are dependent on the other person to reflect love back to you. That’s part of the illusion of separateness. The reality is that love is a state of being that comes from within.