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.
RIGHT VIEW Understanding the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering
What is the cessation of
suffering? It is the remainderless fading away and ceasing, the giving
up, relinquishing, letting go, and rejecting of craving. (MN 9)
When one knows and sees consciousness as it actually is, then one is not
attached to consciousness. When one abides unattached, one is not
infatuated, and one’s craving is abandoned. One’s bodily and mental
troubles are abandoned, and one experiences bodily and mental
well-being. (MN 149)
Reflection
Last week we
were reminded of the consequences of not knowing and seeing
consciousness as it really is, namely attachment, infatuation, and an
increase of troubles generally. Here we discover the positive side of
the story. We are much better off when we understand that consciousness
is a series of momentary phenomena that arise and pass away in rapid
succession. Seeing this, we do not get attached to it.
Daily Practice
Become familiar
with the habit of regarding your own mind as a series of events rather
than as a solid thing with enduring qualities. Little is lost by doing
so, and much can be gained. With a process, there is nothing to attach
to. It is like watching a game or a performance: you want to stay
present and attentive, but you don’t want to inhibit what is happening
by trying to hold on to it. Your mind too is like a performance.
Tomorrow: Cultivating Appreciative Joy One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering
Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel
In this Dharma Talk, author and
spiritual teacher in the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition Andrew
Holecek discusses how to bring appearance in harmony with reality.
RIGHT MINDFULNESS Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling
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)
When feeling a common pleasant feeling, one is aware: “Feeling a
common pleasant feeling.” When feeling an uncommon pleasant feeling, one
is aware: “Feeling an uncommon pleasant feeling”. . . One is just
aware, just mindful: “There is feeling.” And one abides not clinging to
anything in the world. (MN 10)
Reflection
A common
pleasant feeling refers to the ordinary pleasures we are capable of
experiencing through the gratification of the senses. Some things look really good, sound wonderful, taste and smell delicious, feel smooth and cool to the touch, and are great to think about. An uncommon
pleasant feeling is the sort encountered during some meditation
practices. In both cases it is okay to be closely aware of pleasure.
Daily Practice
When pleasure
is encountered in ordinary life it is usually accompanied by desire and
craving. When we practice mindfulness with pleasant feeling tones as an
object, the goal is to experience the sensations with equanimity rather
than with preference and attachment. It is natural to experience
pleasure; the danger comes only when we allow it to carry us away into
unhealthier mental and emotional states.
RIGHT CONCENTRATION Approaching and Abiding in the Second Phase of Absorption (2nd Jhāna)
With the stilling of applied and
sustained thought, one enters upon and abides in the second phase of
absorption, which has inner clarity and singleness of mind, without
applied thought and sustained thought, with joy and the pleasure born of
concentration. (MN 4)
One practices: “I shall breathe in contemplating fading away";
one practices: “I shall breathe out contemplating fading away.”
This is how concentration by mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated
so that it is of great fruit and great benefit. (A 54.8)
Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Mind and Abiding in the Third Jhāna
Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel