Via Dhamma Wheel | Right View: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering

 

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RIGHT VIEW Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering What is the origin of suffering? It is craving, which brings renewal of being, is accompanied by delight and lust, and delights in this and that: that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for being, and craving for non-being. (MN 9) When one does not know and see formations as they actually are, then one is attached to formations. When one is attached, one becomes infatuated, and one’s craving increases. One’s bodily and mental troubles increase, and one experiences bodily and mental suffering. (MN 149)

Reflection The aggregate of formations comprises all the volitional and emotional factors that make up our mental states, that guide our actions of body, speech, and mind, and that shape our deeper character and personality traits. These provide the basis for suffering because we so easily become attached to and infatuated with them. Formations are not a problem in themselves, but craving for them is the very cause of our suffering. Daily Practice Practice being aware of your mental states without being attached to them. Observe them with equanimity as they pass through your mind, rather than sorting them into what you welcome and what you resent. Do the same with your intentions and deepest underlying dispositions. Notice how easily any of these can become “sticky” and induce you to cling to it. This is how suffering arises. It is important to see and know this. Tomorrow: Cultivating Compassion One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering 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: Literature as Spirituality

 

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Literature as Spirituality Literature models a truth of spiritual life: that there are moments we come to when our thinking is suspended, and when an old knowing has been dropped and the attachment to a new knowing has not yet arisen. Henry Shukman, “The Art of Being Wrong” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from False Speech

 

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RIGHT SPEECH Refraining from False Speech False speech is unhealthy. Refraining from false speech is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning false speech, one dwells refraining from false speech, a truth-speaker, one to be relied on, trustworthy, dependable, not a deceiver of the world. One does not in full awareness speak falsehood for one’s own ends or for another’s ends or for some trifling worldly end. (DN 1) One practices thus: “Others may speak falsely, but I shall abstain from false speech.” (MN 8) When one knows overt sharp speech to be true, correct, and unbeneficial, one should try not to utter it. (MN 139)

Reflection It is easy for us to admonish other people and point out their faults, especially when we are right about them. The meaning of right speech does not end with the admonition to speak the truth; it also guides us to say only what is beneficial. What is gained by  calling someone a jerk if doing so does not help them become less of a jerk? Skillful speech not only speaks the truth but also works to improve any given situation. Daily Practice See if you can discern in any given situation what will be beneficial to say and what will not. Publicly calling out someone’s faults can feel gratifying, especially when it seems entirely justified, but it may do more harm than good. If what you want to say does not contribute in some way to an overall improvement of things, you should resist the temptation to speak out and should try not to utter hurtful speech, even if it is true. Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Bodily Action One week from today: Refraining from Malicious Speech 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: The Illusion of Busy

 

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The Illusion of Busy Everybody complains that they’re so busy they haven’t got any time. But why are they so busy? It’s only their illusions that keep them busy. A person who practices zazen has time. When you practice zazen, you have more time than anyone else in the world. Kodo Sawaki Roshi, “To You” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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As long as you have certain desires about how it ought to be you can't see how it is.  - Ram Dass -

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Lovingkindness

 

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RIGHT INTENTION Cultivating Lovingkindness Whatever you intend, whatever you plan, and whatever you have a tendency toward, that will become the basis on which your mind is established. (SN 12.40) Develop meditation on loving kindness, for when you develop meditation on lovingkindness, all ill will will be abandoned. (MN 62)  Lovingkindness is the way to purity for one who has much ill will. (Vm 9.108)

Reflection Since every hurtful emotion has a corresponding helpful one that acts as a potential antidote, take advantage of this fact when next you are feeling consumed by aversion. In any moment when you feel ill will, you have the option of feeling kindness in its place, and you will be better off replacing the one with the other. You don’t necessarily have to forgive anyone their actions; you need only to feel different inside yourself. Daily Practice Feeling grumpy? Annoyed as all get-out with someone? Furious over somebody’s hurtful words or actions and ready to kill them (figuratively speaking, of course)? Take a closer look: Who is getting hurt here? As much as you might wish for the harm of the other person, it is really only you who is being harmed by your ill will. Take a moment to change the script and see if you can develop some lovingkindness instead. It helps. Tomorrow: Refraining from False Speech One week from today: Cultivating Compassion 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: The Need to Love

 

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The Need to Love The need to love and to be loved is real and present in every one of us.  Sister Dang Nghiem, “How to Be Your Own Soulmate” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right View: Understanding the Noble Truth of Suffering

 

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RIGHT VIEW Understanding the Noble Truth of Suffering When people have met with suffering and become victims of suffering, they come to me and ask me about the noble truth of suffering. Being asked, I explain to them the noble truth of suffering. (MN 77) What is suffering? (MN 9) Not to get what one wants is suffering. There comes the wish: “Oh, that we were not subject to birth, aging, sickness, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair! Oh, that birth, aging, sickness, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair would not come to us!” But this is not to be obtained by wishing, and not to obtain what one wants is suffering. (MN 9)

Reflection What exactly does psychological suffering feel like? It is the raw experience of craving itself, the yearning for something that you cannot have, the desperate need for something to go away that is afflicting you, the primal fear of the existential fragility of the human situation. The noble truth of suffering acknowledges all this, but also recognizes that this suffering can be understood and resolved, and thus holds out hope. Daily Practice Allow yourself to feel and explore the psychological pain of not getting what you want. It is not just the yearning for something you feel you need, like thirsting for water, but includes the desperate urge to get free of something afflicting you. Notice also that wishing to get what you want or for what you hate to go away is never effective. There is no escape from suffering except by going directly through the craving that causes it. Tomorrow: Cultivating Lovingkindness One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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