Via Tricycle -- A Doorway to Skillful Action

 

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February 17, 2024 A Doorway to Skillful Action   What is equanimity? How do we access it? And how can it help us confront the difficult realities of the current moment?  Tibetan teacher Lama Karma describes equanimity as “a space of freedom that’s not polarized, but also not asleep.” He goes on to describe that “equanimity is the capacity to stand in the middle and to see without bias. When we can see in this way, instead of being pigeonholed into a particular view, a vast spectrum of possibility opens.” When we reach this place of openness, we can respond to the world, no matter the circumstances, with skill and compassion. According to Lama Karma, this is what the Dharma is all about—opening our perspectives beyond constructs we create, and seeing beyond to insight, the basis of freedom. Learn more about equanimity and enjoy a guided practice to help you access it in this month’s Dharma Talk.   Watch now »

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Living: Abstaining from Intoxication

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RIGHT LIVING Undertaking the Commitment to Abstain from Intoxication Intoxication is unhealthy. Refraining from intoxication is healthy. (MN 9) What are the imperfections that defile the mind? Negligence is an imperfection that defiles the mind. Knowing that negligence is an imperfection that defiles the mind, a person abandons it. (MN 7) One practices thus: "Others may become negligent by intoxication, but I will abstain from the negligence of intoxication." (MN 8) One of the dangers attached to addiction to intoxicants is liability to sickness. (DN 31)

Reflection Ever practical and down-to-earth, the Buddha does not moralize about intoxication but points out its practical dangers. Intoxication is anything that evokes negligence, and negligence can mean anything that prevents you from seeing clearly. This is unhealthy, not just in the physical sense but also in mental and emotional ways. Becoming more sensitized to the various obstacles to our own diligence is a valuable practice. Daily Practice Find something you tend to get intoxicated by—it need not be alcohol or drugs, but can be ordinary things like coffee or sugar, the news or other media, or emotions like sadness, self-pity, or envy—and look more closely at your relationship to it. In what ways might the negligence and lack of clarity involved in that intoxication contribute to sickness, whether it be a physical sickness or a less tangible mental or emotional affliction? Tomorrow: Maintaining Arisen Healthy States One week from today: Abstaining from Harming Living Beings 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: Who Is Outraged?

 

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Who Is Outraged?

Buddhism offers a skillful means for relieving feelings of outrage, by shifting the perspective from how outraged one feels to the question of who feels outraged. Mark Epstein, “Are We All Hungry Ghosts?” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Action: Reflecting upon Social Action

 

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RIGHT ACTION Reflecting Upon Social Action 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 social action is to be done with repeated reflection: (MN 61) One reflects thus: "A person who thinks in hurtful ways is displeasing and disagreeable to me. If I were to think in hurtful ways, I would be displeasing and disagreeable to others. Therefore, I will undertake a commitment to not think in hurtful ways." (MN 15)

Reflection Bodily and verbal actions have obvious effects on others, but in Buddhist teachings even what you think can affect the world around you in significant ways. Every thought plants a seed, and the fruits—both good and bad—can emerge in unexpected ways to do harm or to bring about benefit. This is why it is so important to look inward, using the mirror of mindfulness practice to see and refine the quality of your thoughts and attitudes. Daily Practice It is easy to condemn other people who do not think like us. But we know how it feels to be condemned by others for thinking the way we do. This antagonistic cycle can be broken by having enough empathy to look at things from another’s point of view and to even make a practice of it. Instead of thinking about how other people should change, try as an exercise looking for ways you can change. Learn from others how not to be. Tomorrow: Abstaining from Intoxication One week from today: Reflecting upon Bodily Action Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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© 2024 Tricycle Foundation 89 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003

Via Daily Dharma: Arranging Flowers with Space

 

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Arranging Flowers with Space When you are a good flower arranger, you give each flower enough space. A flower needs space around her in order to radiate her beauty, her freshness. Therefore, you don’t need a lot of flowers. Thich Nhat Hanh, “Peace as a Path: Five Exercises” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

The Elephant in the Dharma Hall By John Peacock Author John Peacock discusses why for too many, Buddhist practice is a retreat into a quietism that ignores the pressing social and political realities of our time. Political discussion, in the author’s view, must find its way into the Dharma Hall and be made integral to our everyday practice. Read more »

Via White Crane Institute // RICHARD BLANCO

 

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RICHARD BLANCO is an American poet, public speaker, author and civil engineer. Today is his birthday. He is the fifth poet to read at a United States presidential inauguration, having read the poem "One Today" for Barack Obama's second inauguration. He is the first immigrant, the first Latino, the first openly gay person and at the time the youngest person to be the U.S. inaugural poet.

Blanco's books include How to Love a Country; City of a Hundred Fires, which received the Agnes Starrett Poetry Prize from the University of Pittsburgh Press; Directions to The Beach of the Dead, recipient of the Beyond Margins Award from the PEN American Center; and Looking for The Gulf Motel, recipient of the Paterson Poetry Prize and the Thom Gunn Award. He has also authored the memoirs For All of Us, One Today: An Inaugural Poet's Journey and The Prince of Los Cocuyos: A Miami Childhood, winner of the Lambda Literary Prize.

In addition, Blanco has collaborated with Caldecott Medal renown cartoonist, author and illustrator Dav Pilkey on One Today illustrated children's book. He also partnered with photographer Jacob Hessler on the limited edition fine press poetry book Boundaries, with artist John Bailey on series of Ekphrastic paintings titled a Place of Mind, and with Ramio Fernandez on the photography book Cuba Then.

He has been a professor, having taught at Georgetown University, American University, Central Connecticut State University, Wesleyan University, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Colby College, Carlow University, and currently at Florida International University. His passion is to demystify poetry teaching to all ages including grade school to nursing homes, at diverse writers workshops (e.g. Omega Institute, Maine Media Workshops), correctional institutions, and several non-profit organizations including the Writer's Center. He serves as the first Education Ambassador for the Academy of American Poets.

Blanco released his fourth volume of poetry, titled “How to Love a Country,” in which he explores immigration, racism, gun violence and LGBTQ issues in early 2021. In many of his poems, Blanco, a son of Cuban immigrants, speaks about the challenges of immigrating to a new place and engaging with a new culture.

A Maine native who currently lives in Bethel, Bianco received the National Humanities Medal from President Joe Biden at a March 2023 ceremony.

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Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute

"With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson

Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989!
www.whitecraneinstitute.org

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Via Daily Living from White Crane Institute // ST. VALENTINE

 

Noteworthy

The reliquary of St. Valentine in the Vatican

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ST. VALENTINE. No no no…Don’t jump to any conclusions. St. Valentine was not Gay, but neither did he have anything to do with the holiday for lovers that bears his name. That St. Valentine, one of the more boring Christian martyrs, is the patron saint of lovers is a mere fluke. You see, the Norman word galatin, meaning a lover, was often mispronounced valentin, and through a natural confusion of names, St. Valentine became associated with love.

Officially recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, St. Valentine is known to be a real person who died around A.D. 270. However, his true identity was questioned as early as A.D. 496 by Pope Gelasius I, who referred to the martyr and his acts as “being known only to God.”

One account from the 1400s describes Valentine as a temple priest who was beheaded near Rome by the emperor Claudius II for helping Christian couples wed. A different account claims Valentine was the Bishop of Terni, also martyred by Claudius II on the outskirts of Rome. Because of the similarities of these accounts, it’s thought they may refer to the same person. Enough confusion surrounds the true identity of St. Valentine that the Catholic Church discontinued liturgical veneration of him in 1969, though his name remains on its list of officially recognized saints.

There is lore that says he was sent to the prison as he was involved in the act of soldiers weddings who were not allowed to marry or mistreated in the Roman empire. Hmmmmmmmm....

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Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute

"With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson

Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989!
www.whitecraneinstitute.org

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - February 14, 2024 💌 Inbox

 

I think in relationships, you create an environment with your own work on yourself, which you offer to another human being to use to grow in the way they need to grow. Parents are environments for their children, lovers are an environment for their partners. You keep working – you become the soil – moist and soft and receptive so the person can grow the way they need to grow, because how do you know how they should grow?

- Ram Dass