Monday, November 27, 2023

Via Daily Dharma: A Great Puzzle

 

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A Great Puzzle

We need to counteract the passive mind that just complacently absorbs things. This can be done by engaging with each opportunity as though it were the missing piece in a great puzzle.

Khentrul Rinpoche, “Unity in Difference”


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Sunday, November 26, 2023

Via TED Radio Hour

 


Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Mindfulness and Concentration: Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects and 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)
Reflection
The fourth foundation of mindfulness involves looking at various aspects of our experience as episodes of phenomena arising and passing away in the stream of consciousness. Unhelpful habits of mind, acting as hindrances to inner clarity, come and go along with helpful mental factors, such as those guiding us to awakening. We learn to observe these changing states with calm and focused equanimity, without grasping.
Daily Practice
Sit quietly on a regular basis and take an interest in watching what goes on in your mind. The challenge is to observe it all without latching on to the content of your thoughts but simply noting them as events arising and passing away. Become mindful of mental objects rather than becoming entangled in them. If you can do this with ardent energy, fully aware and mindful, you will likely find yourself very content.
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


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Via Daily Dharma: Being Nobody Special

 

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Being Nobody Special

To be fully awake is the normal human condition. It expresses the deepest truth of our nature, our oneness with the energy of the universe. We meditate and study and practice to penetrate into, or relax into, this awareness.

Sandy Boucher, “We Are in Training to Be Nobody Special”


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Saturday, November 25, 2023

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Via Daily Dharma: Don’t Relive the Past

 

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Don’t Relive the Past

The past has already been lived. It doesn’t have to be relived. To sacrifice the present and the future by reliving past injuries is not the way of the sages.

Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, “Opening the Injured Heart”


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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: Maintaining Arisen Healthy States

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RIGHT EFFORT
Maintaining Arisen Healthy States
Whatever a person frequently thinks about and ponders, that will become the inclination of their mind. If one frequently thinks about and ponders healthy states, one has abandoned unhealthy states to cultivate healthy states, and then one’s mind inclines to healthy states. (MN 19)
Reflection
The mind is always moving, leaning into the future as it flows like a stream through the landscape of the world. What path it takes is guided by neither chance nor a higher power: each moment inclines the mind toward the next moment. This is why it can be so important to maintain healthy mental and emotional states when they arise. The healthier the mind is now, the healthier it is likely to be in the future.
Daily Practice
Notice when you feel kindness toward someone, and then extend that further by feeling kindly toward someone else. Be aware of generosity when it is present in your mind and look for ways to continue expressing it through other generous actions. When you have moments of insight and understanding, allow yourself to linger on them, ponder their significance, and let the wisdom sink a little deeper into your mind.
Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects and Abiding in the Fourth Jhāna
One week from today: Restraining Unarisen Unhealthy States

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 Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.
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Via Tricycle //

 



Sangha in the Age of Long COVID
By Juliana Sloane
Buddhist spaces relaxing their COVID safety measures brought relief to many, but for chronically ill or immunocompromised practitioners, those changes also brought risk.
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Via Tiny Buddha

 


Via Mushim Patricia Ikeda

 


I'm pleased to see "How to Practice Metta [Buddhist Good Will or Loving Kindness Meditation] for a Troubled Time," originally published in Lion's Roar some years ago, included in the first issue of the monthly digital newsletter "Bodhi Leaves," edited by my Dharma friend Noel Alumit and Mihiri Tillakaratne. Thank you, Noel and Mihiri! They say:

In San Francisco’s Chinatown, 170 years ago, Chinese immigrants established the first Buddhist temple in the United States. Now, Americans of Asian descent are the largest sangha of Buddhists in America. But despite being the oldest and largest Buddhist group in the United States, Asian American voices have been strangely absent in discussions and interpretations of what “American Buddhism” means.

Every month, Lion’s Roar’s new digital publication, Bodhi Leaves, will feature articles and teachings exploring the Asian American Buddhist experience.

While Bodhi Leaves’ content will be solely from an Asian American Buddhist perspective, its themes will be universal. I’ve learned about Buddhism from mostly white Americans. Now I hope that everyone, regardless of race or ethnicity, can gain wisdom from Asian American Buddhists writing with the freedom to be unabashedly ourselves. All are welcome to this party!

We hope Bodhi Leaves will help Asian American Buddhists create space to engage with one another, deepen our practice, and reframe Buddhism in America.

If you’d like to sign up to receive Bodhi Leaves each month, click here https://mailchi.mp/0099f1a2d01f/bodhi-leaves