Revoked

Thursday, April 17, 2025

Via Daily Dharma: Just Thoughts

Just Thoughts

One of the most life-changing realizations you can have is “I don’t have to believe my thoughts . . . they are just thoughts!”

Tara Brach, “A True Taste of Peace”

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To Be or Not to Be
By Matthias Esho Birk

How do we live with this outrageous fortune?

Tricycle’s Buddhism & Ecology Summit
April 22–24, 2025

Join us from April 22–24, 2025, for Tricycle’s Buddhism & Ecology Summit: Experiencing Interconnectedness in the Natural World, a series of conversations with Buddhist teachers, writers, and environmental activists. This is a donation-based event sponsored by The BESS Family Foundation.

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Via The Tricycle Community \\ Three Teachings on Bodhicitta

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April 17, 2025

The Basics of Bodhicitta

One of the core principles in Mahayana Buddhism is bodhicitta, the wish for the awakening of all beings. Bodhicitta is the state of mind developed by a bodhisattva, who vows to liberate all beings, wishing for awakening only as a means of doing so.

Why wish to liberate others and not just ourselves? Because attachment to the ego, or self, is the root of suffering. Cultivating love and compassion for others, on the other hand, is the path to relieve suffering. “Buddhism emphasizes love’s beneficial power. Because its nature is joy and because it always brings about happiness and well-being, to love is the most meritorious action,” says Karma Trinlay Rinpoche, one of the first Westerners to have received the traditional Tibetan Buddhist education offered to tulkus (reincarnate masters).

This week’s Three Teachings reviews the basics of bodhicitta and why this altruistic intention is such an important part of Mahayana Buddhism.

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What We’ve Been All Along
By Karma Trinlay Rinpoche

In this thorough description of bodhicitta, Karma Trinlay Rinpoche explains why bodhicitta is essential, the difference between ultimate and relative bodhicitta, and the link between love and compassion.

Bodhicitta Explained
By Ken McLeod

Author, translator, and teacher Ken McLeod offers a birds-eye view of bodhicitta from different perspectives.

Bodhicitta’s Ripple Effect
By Francis Dojun Cook

The late professor and author Francis Dojun Cook focuses on the cascading effect of bodhicitta as a motivation to motivate others, which, in turn, motivates others, and so on.

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Wednesday, April 16, 2025

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from False Speech

RIGHT SPEECH
Refraining from False Speech

False speech is unhealthy. Refraining from false speech is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning false speech, one dwells refraining from false speech, is a truth-speaker, one to be relied on, trustworthy, dependable, not a deceiver of the world. One does not in full awareness speak falsehood for one’s own ends or for another’s ends or for some trifling worldly end. (DN 1) One practices thus: “Others may speak falsely, but I shall abstain from false speech.” (MN 8)

Such speech as you know to be true, correct, and beneficial, and which is welcome and agreeable to others—know the time to use such speech. (MN 58)

Reflection

Of course it is important to refrain from false speech, but even right speech is to be wielded carefully. Generally it is appropriate to speak when what you are saying is beneficial—that is, when it is helping people emerge from what is unhealthy and become established on a healthy course. But even in this case there is something to be said for knowing when to speak up and when to remain silent.

Daily Practice

As you pay attention to your own speech patterns, notice if you ever find yourself praising people or telling them what they want to hear as a way of seeking favor. It is good to say things that please people, especially when it is true and beneficial, but you should still take care not to do so frivolously. The basic message here is just to take care to speak skillfully, even when you have positive things to say.

Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Bodily Action
One week from today: Refraining from Malicious Speech

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Via Daily Dharma: The Buddha’s Prescription

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The Buddha’s Prescription

To end suffering, the Buddha prescribed a compound of three essentials: morality, meditation, and wisdom. Meditation practice without morality and wisdom is like a stool with only one leg—it is bound to fall over.

Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede, “Don’t Just Sit There”

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What We’re Listening To
By The Editors

Expand your Buddhist practice with thought-provoking dharma talks, a deep dive into Buddhist history, and two genre-defying albums exploring impermanence, chaos, and transcendence.

The Realm of Choice
With Martin Aylward

Our life seems to be composed of a near-constant series of choice points. This brand new Dharma Talk explores both how we can bring wisdom, openness, and possibility to our so-called choices, and also points beyond our usual ideas and beliefs about choice and decision-making.

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