Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Lovingkindness

 

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RIGHT INTENTION Cultivating Lovingkindness 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 lovingkindness, for when you develop meditation on lovingkindness, all ill will will be abandoned. (MN 62)  The manifestation of lovingkindness is the removal of annoyance. (Vm 9.93)

Reflection Only one experience occurs at a time. Each one replaces the one before it and is itself replaced by the next. This happens in rapid succession as the stream of consciousness flows on. It feels like a continuous event, much as the still images displayed rapidly in a movie theater merge into a flowing story, but in fact, each mind moment is organized around a single object, with a single emotional response. Daily Practice This means that when you are feeling kindly or benevolent toward a particular person or in a particular situation, you cannot at the same time feel ill will or anger or annoyance. The beauty of lovingkindness is that it replaces negative emotions in the mind. Next time you feel even slightly annoyed by someone or something, try conjuring up an attitude of kindness toward something and watch the annoyance disappear. Tomorrow: Refraining from False Speech One week from today: Cultivating Compassion 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: A Bigger Universe

 

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A Bigger Universe Consciousness can be dissected and broken up in all kinds of ways, and this can be useful, but it’s not as useful as locating consciousness in a bigger, moving universe. Beth Jacobs, “Mapping Your Mind: The Original Buddhist Psychology” CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

A Battle in the Bardo By An Tran Explore the legendary life and rebirth of sorcerer-monk Tu Dao Hanh. Read more »

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right View: Understanding 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) Death is suffering. The passing away of beings, their dissolution, disappearance, dying, completion of time, dissolution of aggregates, laying down of the body. (MN 9)

Reflection It is natural that we experience a great deal of mental pain when someone we love dies. Such pain is an inevitable part of life. The Buddha never said there is a way to make pain go away. How much suffering it causes, however, is another matter. Pain is amplified by our resentment of it and our resistance to it, and by our wishing it would go away. Pain is diminished by our turning toward it, accepting it, and attempting to learn from it. Daily Practice Reflect on the poignancy of death, either the death of someone dear to you or your own inevitable death. Allow yourself to feel the sorrow, which is an expression of mental pain. This is natural. Also allow yourself to feel strong, whole, and balanced in the midst of the sorrow. Mental pain, like physical pain, is something to be examined carefully and with equanimity. We need not feel overwhelmed by it.     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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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation \\\ Words of Wisdom - February 15, 2026 ❄️

 

“I got to be a Harvard professor by doing what I ought to do, and even then I was just doing what I ought to do to be a good Harvard professor. It was only when I took mushrooms that I connected to something in myself that was true. It wasn’t somebody saying I ought to be this, it was what I am.”   Source: Ram Dass – Here and Now – Ep. 98 – Spiritual Practices

Via Daily Dharma: Offering to the World

 

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Offering to the World As Buddhists we have much to offer. We must contribute our clear insights, special contemplative tools, and compelling moral convictions in the task of transforming and uplifting our society and the world. Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, “A Call to Conscience” CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

Humor and Heartbreak By James Shaheen Tricycle’s editor-in-chief, James Shaheen, explores his father’s journey with dementia while illuminating how Buddhist teachings can help us navigate life’s challenging moments.  Read more »

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 sluggishness is internally present, one is aware: "Sluggishness is present for me." When sluggishness is not present, one is aware: "Sluggishness is not present for me." When the arising of unarisen sluggishness occurs—one  is aware of that. And when the abandoning of arisen sluggishness 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 Formal practice involves sitting down deliberately for a stretch of time and committing to being aware of all that unfolds in your experience. At its best this is an enterprise of great contentment, even though it requires effort to maintain an ardent and wakeful mind. Even if all you are noticing is that your mind is getting sluggish and you need to generate some energy, it is valuable that you can see that. Daily Practice As we practice becoming aware of the five hindrances in succession, we come to working with sluggishness. Like all the other hindrances, this is just a mental state that is inherently impermanent and that comes and goes under different conditions. When you notice a lethargy of mind, just be aware of it. This is just what is happening now. But notice also that it goes away and that you can help it go away by abandoning it. 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 upon and abides in the fourth phase of absorption, which has neither-pain-nor-pleasure and purity of mindfulness due to equanimity. The concentrated mind is thus purified, bright, unblemished, rid of imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability. (MN 4) Reflection Equanimity is the attitude and emotional state that is truly transformative. Being able to be entirely neutral while at the same time being fully aware is a special state of mind to be cherished. Neutral is sometimes regarded as a negative word, suggesting disinterest or detachment, but that is not at all how it is used in the Buddhist tradition. Rather it is the pinnacle of the developed mind, the state to which the jhāna practice delivers us. Daily Practice See if you can work with these descriptions of the mind as a living practice. Can you feel what it is like for the mind to be "bright"? Can you relate to how the texts are using words like "unblemished" and "rid of imperfection" not to judge the mind harshly but to appreciate its capacity for luminosity? Can you sit tranquilly in equanimity and feel the mind as "malleable"and "wieldy," imperturbable in the face of any experience? 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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