A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
So
often you just forget that you’re living, and in doing so you forget
that you’re dying, and you forget to be present altogether. I always
think that one of the easiest ways to remember to love the world is to
remember that you have to leave it at some point.
Malicious speech is
unhealthy. Refraining from malicious speech is healthy. (MN 9)
Abandoning malicious speech, one refrains from malicious speech. One
does not repeat there what one has heard here to the detriment of these,
or repeat here what he has heard there to the detriment of those. One
unites those who are divided, is a promoter of friendships, and speaks
words that promote concord. (DN 1) One practices thus: "Others may speak
maliciously, but I shall abstain from malicious speech." (MN 8)
When others address you, their speech may be timely or untimely. . . .
One is to train thus: "My mind will be unaffected, and I shall utter no
bad words. I shall abide with compassion for their welfare, with a mind
of lovingkindness, without inner hate." (MN 21)
Reflection
The second
category of right speech is refraining from malicious speech, which has a
lot to do with setting people against one another and causing
divisions. Such speech involves harmful intentions and is therefore
unhealthy. Notice the final phrase of the text, wherein one undertakes
to personally refrain from such speech even though others may do it. The
practice here is to change your own behavior, not that of others.
Daily Practice
Pay attention
to the speech you hear around you and see if you can identify malicious
speech when you hear it. Then listen for when you yourself engage in
such speech, often inadvertently. Finally, undertake a commitment to
refrain from malicious speech. This is particularly challenging when you
are interrupted by untimely speech, but such episodes provide an
opportunity to practice not being thrown off by the impropriety of
others.
Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Verbal Action One week from today: Refraining from Harsh Speech
Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel
"You and I are paying the price of having grown up in such a materially
oriented society. Such an externalised society, a society that measures
people in terms of their products, their achievements, their
possessions, their knowledge. Instead of cultivating the quality of
being. In the East one spends one’s life in a spiritual sense preparing
for aging and death. We have spent most of our lives denying aging and
death.
And the predicament we face now is that once we become older, when we
suddenly realize there’s another agenda, its harder to do it now.
Because its harder to not be distracted by all of the changes that are
happening in our bodies and our minds. Go through the spiritual
transformations when you are young so that when you get old you will
have built up the resonance within yourself to transform the changes
without getting caught in them."
>> Want to dive deeper with Ram Dass? Click Here to Receive a Daily Wisdom Text from Ram Dass & Friends.
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 compassion, for when you develop meditation on compassion,
any cruelty will be abandoned. (MN 62)
Suppose there were a pond with lovely smooth banks, filled with pure
water that was clear and cool. A person scorched and exhausted by hot
weather, weary, parched, and thirsty, would come upon the pond and
quench their thirst and their hot-weather fever. In just the same way, a
person encounters the teachings of the Buddha and develops compassion,
and thereby gains internal peace. (MN 40)
Reflection
When
lovingkindness encounters the suffering of another, it transforms into
compassion. Compassion is defined as "the trembling of the heart in the
presence of suffering," along with the urge to alleviate the suffering
of other living beings. Actions that are motivated by compassion are
always healthy, regardless of their outcome, and banish from the mind
any impulse toward cruelty in that moment.
Daily Practice
The same
metaphor is used to describe compassion as was used last week for
lovingkindness: the cool, clear water of a forest pond encountered on a
hot day by a person parched and thirsty. This conveys the sense that
compassion is a naturally healthy mental state, providing a precious
refuge from harsher emotions. See if you can experience the internal
peace that comes from caring for the well-being of others.
Tomorrow: Refraining from Malicious Speech One week from today: Cultivating Appreciative Joy
Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel
The
Buddha’s teachings on mindfulness point to one end—realization and
release from suffering. Still, there are rewards along the way—greater
compassion and a clear conscience, for two. And even, dare I say it,
happiness.
On this date CBSbroadcast "The Gay Bar" an episode of Norman Lear's series Maude. '
Bea Arthur
portrayed Maude and in this episode she fought with her neighbor, Dr.
Harmon, over the opening of a gay bar in town. Dr. Harmon is portrayed
as bigoted and ignorant in his hatred of Gay people and his opposition
of the opening of the bar.
Meanwhile Maude's
husband Arthur forms the group "Fathers Against Gay Society"
(F.A.G.S.). Craig Richard Nelson starred as a patron of "The Gay
Caballero." In the end the bar is opened outside of the city limits
where it can't be legally stopped.
Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute
"With the
increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful
corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community
is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave
standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming
mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson
