Daily Dharma
Meditation is not merely a useful technique or mental gymnastic, but part of a balanced system designed to change the way we go about things at the most fundamental level.
If each person is not fundamentally separate from other beings, it follows that the suffering of others is also one’s own suffering, that the violence of others is also one’s own violence.
Letting go of expectations and recognizing the nature of cyclic existence do not entail becoming cynical. Derisively thinking “I can’t expect anything of anyone” is not a virtuous or realistic attitude that helps us on the path to enlightenment!
The thought is the thinker. There is no one behind it. The thought is thinking itself. It comes uninvited. You will see that when there is a strong detachment from the thought process, thoughts don’t last long.
Questioning in a meditative way doesn’t demand an answer. We come to this art of inquiry with an attitude of openheartedness. We familiarize ourselves with silence, because wise questions and fruitful responses arise out of silence.
Establishing a meditation practice where we become intimate with the elements offers us a way to connect to the presence of nature within ourselves, seeing over time that we are nature, not something separate from it.
When you try to ignore something or push it away, it actually seems to have a larger and more unrelenting presence. But when you turn toward and pay attention to the discomfort, it loses power over you.
Open to what is. Let go of those add-ons we’re conditioned to pile on: Don’t be afraid of what you are feeling.
If you look at the facts of something and write down your thoughts, you find that those thoughts lead to certain feelings, and those feelings lead to action. If you can practice new thoughts, you can change outcomes for yourself.
With our mindful walking we enter into a direct communion with the earth and with the ancient practices and rituals of the cultures buried beneath our highways and skyscrapers.
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Anu Gupta talked about how, there wasn’t a word in his native Hindi language that expressed how he felt as a queer man growing up in America. Through meditation, he started to find love and acceptance, leading to him coming out to his family.