Saturday, August 17, 2024

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 restlessness, one abides unagitated with a mind inwardly peaceful; one purifies the mind of restlessness. (MN 51) Just as a person who had been a slave, unable to go where he liked, would be freed from slavery, so would one rejoice and be glad about the abandoning of restlessness. (DN 2)
Reflection
The most basic meditation instruction given at the start of any session is to relax the body and the mind. This is because restlessness is so prevalent in our lives. The mind cannot begin to see clearly until it has settled down and rid itself of distractions. This text likens attaining a peaceful mind to feeling liberated from slavery, a powerful image indeed. As Bob Marley sings, “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery.”

Daily Practice
“None but ourselves can free our minds,” Marley continues. It is inevitable, and often outside our control, that our mind is put in chains by deadlines, multitasking, and the expectations of others. But we can free ourselves from this, if only for a few moments here or there or once a day when we sit down to practice. It can feel wonderful to “rejoice and be glad” when we are able to slip the bonds of mental slavery now and then.

Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling and Abiding in the Second Jhāna
One week from today: Developing Unarisen Healthy States

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Via White Crane Institute // Toni Morrison

 

 
Today's Gay Wisdom
Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison
2019 -

The 2019 loss of Nobel Laureate author Toni Morrison reminded us of her comments on racism and fascism, a comparison even more relevant today.

In this address, given at Howard University during its 1995 Charter Day celebrations, Morrison spoke eloquently about the origins and social significance of Howard and other historically Black institutions of higher learning, about the education and mis-education of African Americans (and LGBT folk, we might add), and about the aberrant societal tensions wrought by racism, [sexism], and fascism.  

. . . Let us be reminded that before there is a final solution, there must be a first solution, a second one, even a third. The move toward a final solution is not a jump. It takes one step, then another, then another. Something, perhaps, like this:

(1) Construct an internal enemy, as both focus and diversion.

(2) Isolate and demonize that enemy by unleashing and protecting the utterance of overt and coded name-calling and verbal abuse. Employ ad hominem attacks as legitimate charges against that enemy.

(3) Enlist and create sources and distributors of information who are willing to reinforce the demonizing process because it is profitable, because it grants power and because it works.

(4) Palisade all art forms; monitor, discredit or expel those that challenge or destabilize processes of demonization and deification.

(5) Subvert and malign all representatives of and sympathizers with this constructed enemy.

(6) Solicit, from among the enemy, collaborators who agree with and can sanitize the dispossession process.

(7) Pathologize the enemy in scholarly and popular mediums; recycle, for example, scientific racism and the myths of racial superiority in order to naturalize the pathology.

(8) Criminalize the enemy. Then prepare, budget for and rationalize the building of holding arenas for the enemy--especially its males and absolutely its children.

(9) Reward mindlessness and apathy with monumentalized entertainments and with little pleasures, tiny seductions, a few minutes on television, a few lines in the press, a little pseudo-success, the illusion of power and influence, a little fun, a little style, a little consequence.

(10) Maintain, at all costs, silence.

[...] Racism may wear a new dress, buy a new pair of boots, but neither it nor its succubus twin fascism is new or can make anything new. …


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Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute

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Friday, August 16, 2024

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 tasting a flavor with the tongue, one does not grasp at its signs and features. Since if one left the tongue faculty unguarded, unwholesome states of covetousness and grief might intrude, one practices the way of its restraint, one guards the tongue faculty, one undertakes the restraint of the tongue faculty. (MN 51)
Reflection
The precept against stealing, phrased here as taking what is not given, protects us from ethical misconduct and from unhealthy mind states such as greed and covetousness. On a more subtle level, every time we go beyond the given data of sense experience we are in a sense taking more than is given, which can be seen as a form of stealing. It can be challenging to be with what is without mental proliferation, but it is worthwhile.

Daily Practice
See if you can train yourself to be aware of the raw texture of sensory input without looking beyond what is given in experience and trying to take more. The Buddha often urged his followers, “Train yourself thus: In the tasting there will only be what is tasted,” nothing added or taken away. This injunction is also in the mindfulness instruction: “Be just aware, just mindful, that there is flavor, without clinging to anything in the world.”

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?
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89 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003

Via Daily Dharma: Wisdom Must Come from Within

 

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Wisdom Must Come from Within

Wisdom isnʼt something that others can give to us. While they can teach us, it remains words and external knowledge. But when it comes to the crunch, we have to make wisdom arise ourselves.

Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto, “The Forest Container of the Rains Retreat”


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The Power of Recollecting the Buddha
By Scott Tusa
An essay and practice on embodiment.
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Thursday, August 15, 2024

Via Tricycle \\ Three Teachings: An Antidote to Jealousy

 

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August 15, 2024

Empathetic Joy in the Face of Jealousy
 
Jealousy, or envy, is a familiar feeling for most of us, even though we might not admit to it so easily. Described as “ubiquitous and invisible” in the Fall 2015 issue of Tricycle magazine, jealousy is so common that it would appear to be something readily discussed, but because it is often tinged with shame, it usually goes unspoken. 

Meditation teacher, psychotherapist, and hypnotherapist Mindy Newman explores the guilt or shame often associated with jealousy in the latest issue of Tricycle. She finds that the antidote to this ubiquitous but invisible emotion is empathetic joy, one of the four sublime states, also known as the brahmaviharas or four immeasurables.

To embody empathetic joy, she says, we must start by recognizing and owning up to jealousy in ourselves. While it may be painful, this first step alone creates space from the afflictive emotion, and the necessary foundation to move away from it. Eventually, shame can drop away and the roots of jealousy may become clear. As we rejoice in the happiness and achievements of others, their gains become ours, too.

This week’s Three Teachings presents practices for cultivating empathetic joy and appreciation as an antidote to jealousy.

The Green-Eyed Monster By Mindy Newman

Meditation teacher, psychotherapist, and hypnotherapist Mindy Newman offers a step-by-step guide to finding authentic empathetic joy, including practical and meaningful advice, like focusing on your feelings instead of the object of your jealousy. She also shares a meditation practice for going deeper.
Read more »

Experiencing Boundless Joyfulness With Scott Tusa

Meditation teacher Scott Tusa shares a practice for cultivating boundless joyfulness, which he describes as a great antidote to jealousy, in the fourth video of his four-part Dharma Talk on opening your heart
Watch now »

Someone Is Jealous of You By Reverend Patti Nakai

Former minister of the Buddhist Temple of Chicago Reverend Patti Nakai reflects on the power of appreciating our own lives, including the inevitable suffering, and what we already have, in the face of jealousy.
Read more »