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.
Whatever a person frequently
thinks about and ponders, that will become the inclination of their
mind. If one frequently thinks about and ponders healthy states, one has
abandoned unhealthy states to cultivate healthy states, and then one’s
mind inclines to healthy states. (MN 19)
Here a person rouses the will, makes an effort, stirs up energy, exerts
the mind, and strives to develop the arising of unarisen healthy mental
states. One develops the unarisen investigation of states awakening
factor. (MN 141)
Reflection
Here right
effort is defined as actively encouraging the better aspects of our
character to emerge from unconscious potential to conscious embodiment.
We are all capable of kindness, for example. Why not try more often to
be kind? We are capable of wisdom; let’s actively try to encourage it.
This suggests that happiness—the regular manifestation of healthy mental
and emotional states—is something we can make happen through effort.
Daily Practice
The positive
mental state singled out in this passage is the second factor of
awakening, called the investigation of states. When mindfulness is
present, it is natural that the mind takes great interest in experience
and investigates its mental and emotional states carefully. See what it
feels like to be curious about the detailed textures of your experience
and see what you can do to evoke and support this sense of regularly
looking closely at your mental states.
Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Mind and Abiding in the Third Jhāna One week from today: Maintaining Arisen Healthy States
Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel
Studying,
working, driving, cooking, or any other activity, so long as it only
aims to get somewhere else, to achieve something else, cannot be the
goal of life. When we have achieved a goal, reached a destination, or
resolved a problem and have some free time, what do we do? We play. Play
is its own end.
RIGHT LIVING Undertaking the Commitment to Abstain from Misbehaving Among Sensual Pleasures
Sensual misconduct is
unhealthy. Refraining from sensual misconduct is healthy. (MN 9)
Abandoning sensual misconduct, one abstains from misbehaving among
sensual pleasures. (MN 41) One practices thus: "Others may engage in
sensual misconduct, but I will abstain from sensual misconduct." (MN 8)
A person reflects thus: "If someone were to commit adultery with my
partner, that would not be pleasing and agreeable to me. Now if I were
to commit adultery with the partner of another, that would not be
pleasing and agreeable to the other. How can I inflict on another what
is displeasing and disagreeable to me?" Having reflected thus, one
abstains from sexual misconduct, exhorts others to abstain from it, and
speaks in praise of abstinence from it. (SN 55.7)
Reflection
The practical
definition of the precept against sexual misbehavior is defined in the
context of householder or layperson life as fidelity or honesty in
relationships. When an intimate partnership (of any gender combination)
involves a mutual promise of exclusivity, this is to be respected.
Cheating involves causing hurt and not being truthful, both of which are
inherently unhealthy and harmful.
Daily Practice
Relationships
are a rich area for daily practice. This text invites us to explore the
application of the Golden Rule in relationships, in both large and small
ways. It emphasizes that a pledge of fidelity works both ways and that
there are also countless minor instances of abuse of trust and integrity
that can come under the gaze of awareness. Look to see if there is
anything you do, however small, that you would not want your partner to
do.
Tomorrow: Developing Unarisen Healthy States One week from today: Abstaining from Intoxication
Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel
We
can never be sure of the fact that we are born in the Pure Land and
have attained our enlightenment. To acquire this consciousness, we must
exhaust our efforts.
Dr. Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, “Self-Power and Other-Power”
OSCAR WILDEgives his first lecture on "The English Renaissance of Art"
in New York. It was on this visit-slash-publicity tour that Wilde
famously responded to a customs official’s request if he had anything to
declare with “I have nothing to declare except my genius.”
In December 1881,
Oscar sailed for New York to travel across the United States and
deliver a series of lectures on aesthetics. The 50-lecture tour was
originally scheduled to last four months, but stretched to nearly a
year, with over 140 lectures given in 260 days. In between lectures he
made time to meet with Henry Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Walt
Whitman. He also arranged for his play, “Vera,” to be staged in New York
the following year. When he returned from America, Oscar spent three
months in Paris writing a blank-verse tragedy that had been commissioned
by the actress Mary Anderson. When he sent it to her, however, she
turned it down. He then set off on a lecture tour of Britain and
Ireland.
|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|
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
