Friday, October 25, 2024

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Living: Abstaining from Intoxication

 


TRICYCLE      COURSE CATALOG      SUPPORT      DONATE

RIGHT LIVING
Undertaking the Commitment to Abstain from Intoxication
Intoxication is unhealthy. Refraining from intoxication is healthy. (MN 9) What are the imperfections that defile the mind? Negligence is an imperfection that defiles the mind. Knowing that negligence is an imperfection that defiles the mind, a person abandons it. (MN 7) One practices thus: “Others may become negligent by intoxication, but I will abstain from the negligence of intoxication.” (MN 8)

When I look on with equanimity, some particular sources of suffering fade away in me; thus that suffering is exhausted. (MN 101)
Reflection
We saw last month how some sources of suffering diminish with effort. Now we hear that other sources of suffering are resolved when we simply look upon them with equanimity. In other words, some things are better handled by not striving to change them overtly but simply by changing your relationship to what is happening. Desire can be a form of intoxication, and equanimity can transform negligence into clarity.

Daily Practice
Knowing when to step forward to try to change things with effort and when to step back and allow them to change by natural processes is a skill to be learned and a practice to be developed. Never underestimate the transformative power of equanimity. Sometimes it is our own desires, our wanting and not wanting, that cause problems; in such cases learning to look on with equanimity can make all the difference. 

Tomorrow: Maintaining Arisen Healthy States
One week from today: Abstaining from Harming Living Beings

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: Cultivate Noble Thoughts

 

Support Tricycle with a donation »
Cultivate Noble Thoughts

We can improve the texture of the mind by influencing the kind of thoughts we tend to think. When you observe thoughts that diminish the qualities you appreciate, abandon those thoughts and give a thought or two to something virtuous, respectable, joyful—perhaps a thought of kindness.

Shaila Catherine, “Access to Absorption”


CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

Did you know it's National Estate Planning Awareness Week? The Tricycle Foundation has partnered with FreeWill to share a free, online estate planning tool. In just 20 minutes, you can mindfully plan for your future by protecting your loved ones, safeguarding your assets, and making a lasting legacy to improve access to Buddhist teachings for years to come.
Learn more »


A Safe Place to Fall Apart
BJ Miller in conversation with James Shaheen and Sharon Salzberg
In this episode of Life As It Is, Tricycle’s editor-in-chief, James Shaheen, and meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg sit down with palliative care physician BJ Miller to explore how studying Buddhism and art history has radically shifted his perspective on disability and death.
Listen now »

Via FB



 

Via FB


 

Via FB


 

Via FB


 

Via FB


 

Via FB


 

Via FB


 

Via FB


 

Via FB


 

Via FB


 

Via FB


 

Via FB



 

Thursday, October 24, 2024

Via Daily Dharma: Zen Is an Expression of the Now

 

Support Tricycle with a donation »
Zen Is an Expression of the Now

The meaning of Zen is nothing other than the expression of the now: reality unfolding. Not an imaginary reality—the one we hold in our mind. Real reality. As it is, right now. The meaning of Zen is never something else. Just this. Right here. 

Matthias Esho Birk, “Sitting Long and Getting Tired”


CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

Via Three Teachings: Dharma Friends

 

Support Tricycle with a donation »
October 24, 2024

The Importance of Spiritual Friendship
 
Anyone unfamiliar with Buddhism would be forgiven for thinking of it as a solitary pursuit or practice. Images of silent retreats or a single meditator on a cushion come to mind. But sangha, or community, is one of the three jewels of Buddhism, and friendship is key.

The concept of spiritual friends, known as kalyanamitra (P. kalyana mitta), is central to the Buddhist path, as much a support for practice as an outlook to cultivate. Individual friends and sanghas provide necessary encouragement for sticking with practice and following the precepts, or guidelines for an ethical life. They can provide guidance, relief, or inspiration.

Spiritual friendship is also important as an orientation. An often-referenced quote by the Buddha is “friendship is not half of the holy life, but all of it” (Samyutta Nikaya, 45.2). As American Tibetan Buddhist nun Venerable Thubten Chodron points out, the Buddha was speaking about himself here, explaining that he is a good friend to all. 

This week’s Three Teachings celebrates the importance of dharma friendships and the underrated impact of a friendly disposition, to one another and ourselves.
Forward today's teachings to a friend »

Making Our Way Together By Mindy Newman and Kaia Fischer

In this retelling of a story in the Karmashataka Sutra about a boy named Virupa, psychotherapist and meditation teacher Mindy Newman and translator Kaia Fischer highlight how “being known” is the mark of true friendship. In this story, the Buddha bestows this very gift to the central character. Newman and Fischer also lay out practical advice for being a good dharma friend.
Read more »

Admirable Friendship With Kate Johnson

In a four-part Dharma Talk, meditation teacher Kate Johnson, author of the book Radical Friendship, discusses friendship as a central process in our lives and in our practice—one that “restores intimacy, loyalty, and generosity to our relationships with all beings, including ourselves.”
Watch now »

The Whole of Spiritual Life With Venerable Thubten Chodron and Venerable Ayya Tathaaloka 

In an interview on the vital importance of friendship, the nuns Ven. Thubten Chodron and Ven. Ayya Tathaaloka reflect on their own experience and encourage lay practitioners and monastics alike to seek out friends. These relationships, they agree, are an opportunity for transformation.
Read more »

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Action: Reflecting upon Social Action

 


TRICYCLE      COURSE CATALOG      SUPPORT      DONATE

RIGHT ACTION
Reflecting Upon Social 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 social action is to be done with repeated reflection. (MN 61)

A person is content with any lodging places they may get, speaks in praise of such contentment, and does not try to obtain these things in improper or unsuitable ways. Not getting these things, one does not worry, and getting them, one makes use of them without being greedy, obsessed, or infatuated, observing such potential dangers and wisely being aware of how to escape them. (AN 4.28)
Reflection
Just as you can practice contentment by appreciating whatever you eat or wear, so too can you take this approach to where and how you live. For monks and nuns, who in the early days wandered from place to place, this meant adjusting to a different lodging situation almost every night. The practice of feeling content wherever you are can be extended to laypeople as well. Contentment is a mental state that can be cultivated.

Daily Practice
It is not difficult to find the flaws in any situation. However, this leads to discontent, which is a state of mind conducive to suffering. Practice instead finding the benefits of things in your life, such as your living situation. It could always be worse. There is always something in any situation that can be noticed, raised in awareness, and appreciated. Practice doing this whenever you can; contentment contributes to your well-being.

Tomorrow: Abstaining from Intoxication
One week from today: Reflecting upon Bodily Action


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