Via Dhamma Wheel | Right View: The Noble Truth of Suffering

 

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RIGHT VIEW Understanding the Noble Truth of Suffering When people have met with suffering and become victims of suffering, they come to me and ask me about the noble truth of suffering. Being asked, I explain to them the noble truth of suffering. (MN 77) What is suffering? (MN 9) Sickness is suffering. (MN 9)

Reflection While nobody would wish illness on another person, times of ill health or affliction are often excellent opportunities for practice. The scope of our experience contracts, sometimes to a very small point of breathing in and out, or to a specific part of the body that is in pain. Illness and affliction focus our attention and force us to abandon much that is taken for granted in times of health. This is where we all come face to face with suffering. Daily Practice Scan your body with your awareness and check in to see if there is anywhere you are experiencing pain or discomfort. Few of us are entirely free of any instance of distress. Rather than trying to overlook or avoid the discomfort, turn your attention deliberately to it. There is something to learn here, something to see and understand. If you can’t find any pain, be grateful for that. Tomorrow: Cultivating Lovingkindness One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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Ali Youssefi - Love is the Light

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Via Alison Elizabeth Marshall blog

Paradise of Presence is a new challenge to Western readers

My book Paradise of Presence is a new challenge to Western readers. It is out now, available globally as an e-book and paperback. The UBL (universal book link) is https://books2read.com/Paradise-of-Presence. This takes you to a page that shows all the outlets where the book can be purchased. For Amazon, it shows only the US store; however, the book is available from all Amazon stores. 

 

Make the jump here to read the full blog post: https://alisonelizabethmarshall.com/paradise-of-presence-is-a-new-challenge-to-western-readers/

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation \\ Words of Wisdom - January 19, 2025 💠

 

"If I can’t stop thinking, maybe I can just let my thoughts go by without getting all caught up in them. Feel the breeze on your face or your neck? See how it’s going by? You’re not all hung up with it. You don’t have to see where each breeze goes. You don’t have to look quickly to see if it hit those trees over there. It’s breezes, and they’re just going by. Make your thoughts like those breezes, those little breezes, just going by."

>> Want to dive deeper with Ram Dass? Click Here to Receive a Daily Wisdom Text from Ram Dass & Friends.

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Mindfulness and Concentration: Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects and the Fourth Jhāna

 

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RIGHT MINDFULNESS Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects 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)   When ill will is internally present, one is aware: "Ill will is present for me." When ill will is not present, one is aware: "Ill will is not present for me." When the arising of unarisen ill will occurs, one is aware of that. And when the abandoning of arisen ill will occurs, one is aware of that. . . . One is just aware, just mindful: "There is a mental object." And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)

Reflection The second of the five hindrances is ill will, which, like the first hindrance, sense desire, is a mental state that arises and passes away from time to time. Highlighting this factor in the swirl of experience and noticing when it is present and when it is not helps us realize that the annoyance we often feel is a fleeting phenomenon. This in turn gives us the ability to abandon that annoyance. We need not give in to it. Daily Practice Annoyance is a good way of practicing with ill will, because it is a mild form of it. Anger, hatred, and fear are more charged and thus more difficult to work with. See if you can notice when you are annoyed and also when you are not. See how annoyance is just a state that arises and therefore is a state you can let go of. Instead of holding on to the justification for the annoyance, see if you can just let it go and "abide without clinging."  RIGHT CONCENTRATION Approaching and Abiding in the Fourth Phase of Absorption (4th Jhāna) With the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous disappearance of joy and grief, one enters into and abides in the fourth phase of absorption, which has neither-pain-nor-pleasure and purity of mindfulness as a result of equanimity. The concentrated mind is thus purified, bright, unblemished, rid of imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability. (MN 4) Reflection This state of mind is the culmination of the four stages of absorption and represents the consummation of the meditative enterprise of focused, one-pointed awareness. With the mind thus purified of its imperfections it is capable of seeing clearly, and by becoming "malleable" and "wieldy" it can be used as a tool to penetrate the many distortions and delusions that normally prevent us from understanding the true nature of things. Daily Practice Allow your Sunday sitting meditation to slowly and gently mellow into a profound state of equanimity. The mind is steady and bright but also imperturbable in the sense that there is nothing in your inner or outer experience that is going to evoke an episode of yearning or aversion. Equanimity is balance, an evenly hovering attention. Notice also in this passage that equanimity is said to be the means of purifying mindfulness. Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of Suffering One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Body and Abiding in the First 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: Release Delusion

 

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Release Delusion Although renunciation may express itself in outward forms, its essence is the letting go of the mind’s habits of delusion. Even just a moment of such release is powerful, because it provides a reference point, an alternative to the false sense of self we ordinarily experience.  Joseph Goldstein, “Love as the Expression of Emptiness” CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

Abortion and the First Precept By Katy Butler   FREE   This reflection views abortion through the lens of the first precept. Read more »

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Via White Crane Institute \\ Alexander Woollcott

 

Today's Gay Wisdom Alexander Woollcott 2018 - "I'm tired of hearing it said that democracy doesn't work. Of course it doesn't work. We are supposed to work it." - Alexander Woollcott

|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 Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989! www.whitecraneinstitute.org |8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|

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