Monday, September 9, 2024

Via GBF News: VIDEOS of Our Dharma Talks


Inbox

Tom Bruein

Tue, Aug 27, 3:50 PM (13 days ago)
to Gay
Great news! 
We have started editing and posting the Zoom videos of dharma talks that we began recording during the pandemic. 

Between now and the end of the year, we will post 20 each month. Once all 100 videos are posted we will be caught up. Then beginning in 2025 we will continue posting a new video each week we have a speaker. 

Where to Find the Videos
  1. On the GBF YouTube channel, in our Dharma Talks - VIDEO playlist
    Be sure to subscribe to the channel to be notified immediately when each new video is posted. (Videos generally go up before the audio podcast version is published)

  2. On the GBF website. Each talk has its own page where the audio and video are posted along with a summary. Here are links directly to the first 20 with video:
Enjoy!

Love & Light,
Tom Bruein

--
Enjoy 850+ free recorded dharma talks at https://gaybuddhist.org/podcast/

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Action: Reflecting upon Bodily Action

 

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RIGHT ACTION
Reflecting Upon Bodily Action
However the seed is planted, in that way the fruit is gathered. Good things come from doing good deeds; bad things come from doing bad deeds. (SN 11.10) What is the purpose of a mirror? For the purpose of reflection. So too bodily action is to be done with repeated reflection. (MN 61)

When you are doing an action with the body, reflect upon that same bodily action thus: “Is this action I am doing with the body an unhealthy bodily action with painful consequences and painful results?” If, upon reflection, you know that it is, then stop doing it; if you know that it is not, then continue. (MN 61)
Reflection
It is never superfluous to be consciously aware of what you are doing as you are doing it. And it is never too late to stop doing something if you become aware that it is causing harm to yourself or someone else. A mindful person is also a thoughtful person, carefully attentive to what they are doing and aware of the effect of their actions on others. Notice how good things come from doing good deeds and bad from bad.
Daily Practice
Practice being both a mindful and a thoughtful person. Take note of how you are acting and how your actions are impacting others. Do not be afraid to suddenly stop what you are doing if you notice it having harmful effects, and be flexible enough to change your behavior for the better when you can. Right action is skillful action, and is measured not only by its outcome but more importantly by the wisdom that is guiding it.
Tomorrow: Abstaining from Harming Living Beings
One week from today: Reflecting upon Verbal Action

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Via Daily Dharma: Aspects of Enlightenment

 

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Aspects of Enlightenment

If you attain unsurpassable, complete enlightenment, all sentient beings also attain it. The reason is that all sentient beings are aspects of enlightenment.

Eihei Dogen Zenji, “Tea and Rice”


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Sunday, September 8, 2024

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Mindfulness and Concentration: Establishing Mindfulness of Body and Abiding in the First Jhāna

 

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RIGHT MINDFULNESS
Establishing Mindfulness of Body
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)
 
One acts with full awareness: When eating, drinking, tasting, defecating, and urinating . . . one is just aware, just mindful: “There is a body.” And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)
Reflection
So much of the time we engage in everyday actions without paying much attention to what we are doing. Indeed the mind and body are capable of doing most of what they need to do without any mindfulness at all. This is why establishing mindfulness in every little thing we do is a deliberate practice that takes some effort and commitment. By cultivating conscious awareness over automatic reaction, we gain important insights.
Daily Practice
Over a century ago the king of Burma said he was so busy that the only time he could practice mindfulness was when he went to the toilet—which he did with full awareness. We too are often busy, but never so busy that we cannot make the effort at every opportunity to attend carefully to what we are doing while we are doing it. Mindfulness practice is always accessible. Let’s act with full awareness, not clinging to anything.
RIGHT CONCENTRATION
Approaching and Abiding in the First Phase of Absorption (1st Jhāna)
Having abandoned the five hindrances—imperfections of the mind that weaken wisdom—quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, one enters and abides in the first phase of absorption, which is accompanied by applied thought and sustained thought, with joy and the pleasure born of seclusion. (MN 4)
Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering
One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling and Abiding in the Second Jhāna

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 Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.
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89 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003

Via Daily Dharma: Living Through the Unthinkable

 

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Living Through the Unthinkable

The great thing, as everybody knows who lives through what you think you can’t live through, is you turn around and there are millions and millions of other people there—the billions of people who have lived through unendurable loss.

Marie Howe, “The Space Between”


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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation //

 


I must just encourage you to explore the possibility that you use the adventure of service as a vehicle for opening up the exploration of who you are in relation to what you’re doing. Because I think if you were less a nurse and less a doctor, and more an awareness who was being a nurse and doctor, your payoff would be improved considerably, and death would become an interesting part of nature rather than an error or a failure. And you could still do your work, in fact, perhaps even more impeccably.

- Ram Dass

Saturday, September 7, 2024

via Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: Restraining Unarisen Unhealthy States

 

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RIGHT EFFORT
Restraining Unarisen 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)

Here a person rouses the will, makes an effort, stirs up energy, exerts the mind, and strives to restrain the arising of unarisen unhealthy mental states. One restrains the arising of the unarisen hindrance of doubt. (MN 141)
Reflection
Unhealthy mental states can erupt at any time, and it is prudent to be on guard against them. The best defense is to not allow them to arise in the first place, and there are ways to help with that. Faith or trust is the antidote to doubt, and if you are capable of cultivating trusting confidence, debilitating doubt will find no foothold in your mind. If you make an effort to think and ponder with trust, the hindrance of doubt will not arise.
Daily Practice
It is always possible to be doubtful of oneself, of others, of what you think you know or what you are doing. And there is a place for honest questioning of your assurances. But doubt can also be crippling, preventing you from moving forward. See if you can gain confidence through faith in the teachings and the value of mindfulness and use that to hold yourself in such a way that doubt does not penetrate your mind.
Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Body and Abiding in the First Jhāna
One week from today: Abandoning Arisen Unhealthy States

Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media
#DhammaWheel

Questions?
 Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.
Tricycle is a nonprofit and relies on your support to keep its wheels turning.
© 2024 Tricycle Foundation
89 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003