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.
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 the unhealthy states, and then
one’s mind inclines to unhealthy states. (MN 19)
Abandoning sluggishness, one abides free from sluggishness; one purifies
the mind of sluggishness. (MN 51) Just as a person who had been gravely
ill, suffering, with no appetite and weak in body, would recover from
that illness and regain their strength, so would one rejoice and be glad
about the abandoning of sluggishness. (DN 2)
Reflection
Some mental and
emotional states drag us down into suffering and obstruct our ability
to see things clearly, and some states move us away from suffering and
enhance our ability to see what is really going on. Sluggishness is
unhealthy—not wrong or bad but unhelpful to the project of understanding
and diminishing suffering. Whenever it arises, it is worth making an
effort to abandon it by stirring up and applying some energy.
Daily Practice
Focus your
attention on that moment when you recognize you are sleepy or lazy or
otherwise feeling sluggish and counter it with an upsurge of energy,
whether physical or mental. There is a transition point at which the
mental state of sluggishness is met with the mental state of energy, and
your experience is thereby transformed. Learning to be aware of such
nuances in experience is the essence of mindfulness practice.
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
The Conditions for Ethical Well-being and Happiness With John Peacock
A
brand new Dharma Talk is available now! John Peacock, a retired
academic and a Buddhist practitioner for over fifty years, offers a
discussion of Buddhist ethics and why they matter.
Only
through acknowledging and releasing blind emotions can I experience the
inner unencumbered and harmonious being that is always present despite
the suffering.
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 smelling an odor with the nose, one does not grasp at its signs and
features. Since if one left the nose faculty unguarded, unwholesome
states of covetousness and grief might intrude, one practices the way of
its restraint, one guards the nose faculty, and undertakes the
restraint of the nose faculty. (MN 51)
Reflection
As we move
systematically through the six sense spheres, we come to that most
overlooked of sensory capabilities, discerning odors. The senses are
simply giving us information, and whether we grasp after this
information or simply let it be and take what is given is a choice we
make in reacting to the information. Moving beyond the raw smell into
attraction or aversion is a way of taking what is not given.
Daily Practice
Can you smell
something with a lovely scent and simply notice that pleasure arises
with the experience of smelling? And can you smell something foul or
disgusting and simply be aware that displeasure or even pain arises in
the smelling of it? And further, can you hold both experiences equally,
with equanimity, rather than automatically being drawn to one and
repulsed by the other? Practice simply being with what is.
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
The Iranian Government publicly executed two teenage boys on July 19th 2005, in the city of Mashad. Their names were MAHMOUDASGARI and AYAZ MARHONI, one eighteen and the other seventeen or possibly sixteen-years-old.
They were accused
of raping a thirteen-year-old boy, but it has been established that the
authorities invented the charge of rape to prevent public sympathy for
the true reason for their execution, that they were Gay. After their
arrest the two boys endured a year of imprisonment and torture before
the high court of Iran upheld their sentence and their execution by
hanging was carried out in a public square in the city of Mashad.
International
outrage was met with arrogance and impunity by the religious and
conservative Iranian government, and a systematic persecution soon began
against Gays, which has led to an unverified report of a second
execution, and untold numbers of arrests and torture. These events
indicate that the worldwide struggle for Gay Freedom has not decreased
but has become more violent and inhumane.
|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|
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
