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 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: 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” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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

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.

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Via Daily Dharma: No Self, No Other

 

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No Self, No Other There are different ways to explain anatta, or no-self, yet fundamentally it denies our separation from other people and from the rest of the natural world. David Loy, “Healing Ecology” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Living: Abstaining from Harming Living Beings

 

TRICYCLE      COURSE CATALOG      SUPPORT      DONATE RIGHT LIVING Undertaking the Commitment to Abstain from Harming Living Beings Harming living beings is unhealthy. Refraining from harming living beings is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning the harming of living beings, one abstains from harming living beings; with rod and weapon laid aside, gentle and kindly, one abides with compassion toward all living beings. (M 41) One practices thus: “Others may harm living beings, but I will abstain from the harming of living beings.” (MN 8) This is something that leads to the welfare and happiness of a layperson in this present life: balanced living. Here, a person knows their wealth coming in and their wealth going out, and leads a balanced life, being neither too extravagant nor too frugal, [knowing that] “in this way my income exceeds my expenditures, and my expenditures do not exceed my income.” (AN 8.54) Reflection Indian culture is deeply rooted in commerce, as its early civilizations seem to have flourished on trade, and many of the Buddha’s followers were merchants. He thus had respect for commercial life, and the economic balance he mentions here can be seen as a middle-way lifestyle for the layperson. Just as a monk lives being neither too indulgent nor too ascetic, so also a layperson should live a financially balanced life. Daily Practice Right living for a householder or layperson involves prudence, self-control, and a balanced lifestyle. Notice the negative psychological effect when you are in debt or living beyond your means, and notice also the harmful effects of extravagance and self-indulgence. Contrast these to the sense of contentment and security that comes from living in equilibrium, when your income and expenses are in harmony with each other. Tomorrow: Restraining Unarisen Unhealthy States One week from today: Abstaining from Taking What is Not Given 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. Donate » © 2024 Tricycle Foundation 89 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003

Via Daily Dharma: The Seeds of Experience

 

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The Seeds of Experience You could think of the mind as a field: Whatever you do and think—all of the actions that will lead to happiness or suffering—are like seeds or imprints that you plant in it. When conditions are ripe, a seed will sprout into an experience. Trinlay Tulku Rinpoche, “The Seeds of Life” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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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