Saturday, September 14, 2024

Via FB


 

Via FB


 

Bring on the Rain - Alice Di Micele

Via FB - Visualize a chuva!



 

Via FB


 

Via FB


 

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: Abandoning Arisen Unhealthy States

 


TRICYCLE      COURSE CATALOG      SUPPORT      DONATE
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 doubt, one abides having gone beyond doubt; unperplexed about healthy states, one purifies the mind of doubt. (MN 51) Just as a person, laden with goods and wealth, who undertakes a long journey across a dangerous wilderness, would make it safely through with their goods to safety, so would one rejoice and be glad about the abandoning of doubt. (DN 2)
Reflection
Our text likens doubt to the insecurities felt while undertaking a dangerous journey, something that would have been commonplace to the merchants of ancient India. It is a sense of uneasiness around vague but real threats, and the image describes very well what today we might call anxiety. Might anxieties be regarded as unhealthy states, and might it be possible to simply abandon them, as described here?

Daily Practice
Notice when you feel anxious about or wary of little things in your daily experience, and see if you can just abandon them. I'm not referring to a diagnosed anxiety disorder here but to the many small worries we have that might respond to this sort of approach. Ask yourself if these doubts are helpful, and when you realize they are not, see if you can let go of them simply by deciding "not to go there” just now. 

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

Via Daily Dharma: The Bodhisattva’s Independence

 

Support Tricycle with a donation »
The Bodhisattva’s Independence

A bodhisattva should develop a mind that functions freely, without depending on anything or any place. 

The Buddha, “The Diamond Sutra”


CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE


Connected Detachment (Possibility)
By Rick Rubin
In an excerpt from his recent book, legendary music producer Rick Rubin imparts a timeless lesson on equanimity.
Read more »

Friday, September 13, 2024

A Zen Diagram


 

Via The Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation - Letting Go

 


Thich Nhat Hanh - On Letting Go


“To “let go” means to let go of something. That something may be an object of our mind, something we've created, like an idea, feeling, desire, or belief. Getting stuck on that idea could bring a lot of unhappiness and anxiety. We'd like to let it go, but how? It’s not enough just to want to let it go; we have to recognize it first as being something real. We have to look deeply into its nature and where it has come from, because ideas are born from feelings, emotions, and past experiences, from things we've seen and heard. With the energy of mindfulness and concentration we can look deeply and discover the roots of the idea, feeling, emotion, or desire. Mindfulness and concentration bring about insight, and insight can help us release the object in our mind.” – Thich Nhat Hanh, How to Relax


“Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything - anger, anxiety, or possessions - we cannot be free.” – Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation


“We have negative mental habits that come up over and over again. One of the most significant negative habits we should be aware of is that of constantly allowing our mind to run off into the future. Perhaps we got this from our parents. Carried away by our worries, we're unable to live fully and happily in the present. Deep down, we believe we can't really be happy just yet—that we still have a few more boxes to be checked off before we can really enjoy life. We speculate, dream, strategize, and plan for these ‘conditions of happiness’ we want to have in the future; and we continually chase after that future, even while we sleep. We may have fears about the future because we don't know how it's going to turn out, and these worries and anxieties keep us from enjoying being here now.” – Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Breath: A Practice for Our Busy Lives


“If you know how to be happy with the wonders of life that are already there for you to enjoy, you don't need to stress your mind and your body by striving harder and harder, and you don't need to stress this planet by purchasing more and more stuff. The Earth belongs to our children. We have already borrowed too much from it, from them; and the way things have been going, we're not sure we'll be able to give it back to them in decent shape. And who are our children, actually? They are us, because they are our own continuation. So we've been shortchanging our own selves. Much of our modern way of life is permeated by mindless overborrowing. The more we borrow, the more we lose. That's why it's critical that we wake up and see we don't need to do that anymore. What's already available in the here and now is plenty for us to be nourished, to be happy. Only that kind of insight will get us, each one of us, to stop engaging in the compulsive, self-sabotaging behaviors of our species. We need a collective awakening. One Buddha is not enough. All of us have to become Buddhas in order for our planet to have a chance. Fortunately, we have the power to wake up, to touch enlightenment from moment to moment, in our very own ordinary and, yes, busy lives. So let's start right now. Peace is your every breath.”  – Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Breath: A Practice for Our Busy Lives


“Buddhism teaches that joy and happiness arise from letting go. Please sit down and take an inventory of your life. There are things you’ve been hanging on to that really are not useful and deprive you of your freedom. Find the courage to let them go.” – Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Breath: A Practice for Our Busy Lives


“I have arrived, I am home in the here, in the now. I am solid, I am free. In the ultimate I dwell.” – Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Breath: A Practice for Our Busy Lives


These and other books by Thich Nhat Hanh are available for sale at Parallax Press at parallax.org and plumvillage.shop