Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: Abandoning Arisen Unhealthy States

 

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RIGHT EFFORT Abandoning Arisen Unhealthy States Whatever a person frequently thinks about and ponders, that will become the inclination of their mind. If one frequently thinks about and ponders unhealthy states, one has abandoned healthy states to cultivate unhealthy states, and then one’s mind inclines to unhealthy states. (MN 19) Abandoning worldly sense desire, one abides with a mind free from sense desire, one purifies the mind of sense desire. (MN 51) Just as a person who had taken a loan would pay off their debts and have money left over, so would one rejoice and be glad about the abandoning of sense desire. (DN 2)

Reflection When an unhealthy state arises, what do you do? First, acknowledge it rather than try to ignore or suppress it, and then understand that it is unhealthy and likely to bring harm to yourself and/or others. Finally, let it go. Letting it go is simply aligning yourself with the law of impermanence. All mental and emotional states will pass away naturally; the trick is not to encourage the unhealthy ones by getting caught by them. Daily Practice Practice experiencing a stream of sensory inputs—sights, sounds, and the rest—without being entangled in them. When you abide in your experience with equanimity rather than desire or aversion, you are free. Even if these moments are brief, they are compared in this text to the freedom of being liberated from debt. The mind is unencumbered, without anxiety, and feels light and at ease. This feels good. Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling and Abiding in the Second Jhāna One week from today: Developing Unarisen Healthy States 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: Love Needs Agency

 

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Love Needs Agency  Our ability to love is determined by the decisions we make to act in a certain way. When we surrender our decision-making, we deny our greatest strength: our capacity for love.  Peter Doobinin, “Reclaiming Our Agency” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

At the Crossroads of Buddhism and America Helen Tworkov in conversation with James Shaheen In this episode of Tricycle Talks, Tricycle’s editor-in-chief, James Shaheen, sits down with Helen Tworkov to talk about what first brought her to Buddhism, the dangers of exoticizing Buddhist traditions, and how she understands the bardos of old age and death. Listen now »

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Living: Abstaining from Taking What is Not Given

 

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RIGHT LIVING Undertaking the Commitment to Abstain from Taking What is Not Given Taking what is not given is unhealthy. Refraining from taking what is not given is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning the taking of what is not given, one abstains from taking what is not given; one does not take by way of theft the wealth and property of others. (MN 41) One practices thus: “Others may take what is not given, but I will abstain from taking what is not given.” (MN 8) On seeing a form with the eye, one does not grasp at its signs and features. Since if one left the eye faculty unguarded, unwholesome states of covetousness and grief might intrude, one practices the way of its restraint, one guards the eye faculty, one undertakes the restraint of the eye faculty. (MN 51)

Reflection This is not a practice for shutting out the world but for gaining some control over what enters and influences your mind. Just as you don’t eat everything that you encounter, so also you need not see, hear, touch, or think everything that is capable of being discerned. Some objects impinge on the senses with such force that they cannot be ignored, but most of what we experience we seek out, driven by desire. We need not do this. Daily Practice Even with visual experience, we do not always have to take in more than what is immediately presented to the eye. Practice seeing something, acknowledging it, and then letting it pass away without chasing after its details and associations. We can take what is given to sight, and only what is given, and then move on to the next moment. In this way we are not dragged into entanglements we don’t choose, and we remain free. Tomorrow: Abandoning Arisen Unhealthy States One week from today: Abstaining from Misbehaving Among Sensual Pleasures 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: When Words Fail Us

 

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When Words Fail Us We cannot discuss the truth. And words cannot express it. They can only ever point us to the present moment experience of the now. Matthias Esho Birk, “When Is a Word Dead?” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

How to Meditate While Raising Kids By Sumi Loundon Kim Caring for young children doesn’t leave much room for meditation unless you allow your practice, and yourself, to evolve. Read more » Crows Are White Directed by Ahsen Nadeem After decades of living a secret life, a filmmaker travels to a strict Japanese monastery in search of guidance but the only monk who will help him prefers ice cream and heavy metal over meditation. Crows Are White is an exploration of truth, faith, and love, from the top of a mountain to the bottom of a sundae. Watch now »

Via FB \\ English Literature

 

Pity the nation whose people are sheep,

and whose shepherds mislead them.

Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced,

and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.

Pity the nation that raises not its voice,

except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as hero

and aims to rule the world with force and by torture.

Pity the nation that knows no other language but its own

and no other culture but its own.

Pity the nation whose breath is money

and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.

Pity the nation — oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode

and their freedoms to be washed away.

My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty. 

~Lawrence Ferlinghetti

 

(Book: Ferlinghetti's Greatest Poems https://amzn.to/49qBP5s)

(Art Credit: Lesley Oldaker)

 

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Lawrence Ferlinghetti, an American poet and co-founder of the City Lights Bookstore and publishing house, published "Pity the Nation" in his collection "A Coney Island of the Mind" in 1958. While Ferlinghetti did not write "Pity the Nation" himself, he included it in his collection, showcasing his admiration for Gibran's work and highlighting the poem's relevance to contemporary social and political issues. Ferlinghetti's connection to the poem lies in its inclusion in his influential collection.