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.
RIGHT LIVING Undertaking the Commitment to Abstain from Intoxication
Intoxication is unhealthy.
Refraining from intoxication is healthy. (MN 9) What are the
imperfections that defile the mind? Negligence is an imperfection that
defiles the mind. Knowing that negligence is an imperfection that
defiles the mind, a person abandons it. (MN 7) One practices thus:
"Others may become negligent by intoxication, but I will abstain from
the negligence of intoxication." (MN 8)
One of the dangers attached to addiction to intoxicants is increased quarreling. (DN 31)
Reflection
Diligence is
one of the mental states most highly valued in Buddhist teachings, and
negligence, its opposite, is one of the greatest dangers. The argument
against intoxication is not the substance itself (alcohol, drugs, and
the like) but the state of negligence it invites. The mind is "defiled"
or poisoned by these dispositions, and they lead to a host of secondary
problems, such as diminishing health and increased quarreling.
Daily Practice
Practice
diligence of mind at every opportunity and in any creative way you can.
This is not a practice of what you put into your body in the way of food
or drink but of how alert, clear, and balanced you can be in your life
every day. So many modern activities involve a sort of mental
intoxication that makes us negligent in various ways. As a practice,
notice what effect different activities have on your mental clarity.
Tomorrow: Maintaining Arisen Healthy States One week from today: Abstaining from Harming Living Beings
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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.
Karma Trinlay Rinpoche, “What We’ve Been All Along”
Thich Nhat Hanh, o monge zen que inspirou tantos de nós, encerrou sua passagem terrena neste dia 22 de janeiro, 00am, no templo Tu Hieu Pagoda, no Vietnã (onde foi ordenado monge aos 16 anos), aos 95 anos.
A.comunidade Plum Village, que ele criou e coordenou, pede que façamos uma pausa e uma respiração consciente em homenagem ao Thay.
“Por favor, não construam uma stupa para mim. Por favor, não coloquem minhas cinzas em um vaso, não me prendam dentro e limitem quem eu sou.
Sei que isso será difícil para alguns de vocês. Se você tiver que construir uma stupa, por favor prometa que vai colocar uma placa nela que diz:
“Eu não estou aqui”.
Além disso, você também pode colocar outra placa que diz:
“Eu também não estou lá fora”.
E uma terceira placa que diz:
“Se eu estiver em algum lugar, é na sua respiração consciente e nos seus passos calmos”.
The International Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism announces that our beloved teacher Thich Nhat Hanh has passed away peacefully at Từ Hiếu Temple in Huế, Vietnam, at 00:00hrs on 22nd January, 2022, at the age of 95. We invite our global spiritual family to take a few moments to be still, to come back to our mindful breathing, as we together hold Thay in our hearts in peace and loving gratitude for all he has offered the world.
However the seed is
planted, in that way the fruit is gathered. Good things come from doing
good deeds; bad things come from doing bad deeds. (SN 11.10) What is the
purpose of a mirror? For the purpose of reflection. So too social
action is to be done with repeated reflection. (MN 61)
One reflects thus: "A person who speaks in hurtful ways is displeasing
and disagreeable to me. If I were to speak in hurtful ways, I would be
displeasing and disagreeable to others. Therefore, I will undertake a
commitment to not speak in hurtful ways." (MN 15)
Reflection
Social action
is not one of the formal categories of action outlined by the Buddha,
but today it represents a large part of our activity. The image of
reflecting on social interactions as carefully as you would those of
body, speech, and mind is a useful one, allowing you to check on the
effects of your actions on the world around you. Is what you are doing
socially leading to beneficial or to harmful consequences?
Daily Practice
When people
speak to us in hurtful ways, our first reflex is often to respond in
kind or to recoil, feeling angry, hurt, or resentful. This teaching is
pointing us in an entirely different direction. Instead of trying to get
back at or reform the other person, we learn from them what not to do.
If you know what it feels like to be hurt, why would you want to hurt
anyone else? Try this way of looking at things and see what happens.
Tomorrow: Abstaining from Intoxication One week from today: Reflecting upon Bodily Action
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We
have to remember to be patient, not to have expectations. Then one day
we will find ourselves understanding suffering, knowing its origins,
observing it, and watching it end.
"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
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Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute
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If you cannot find that place in you that is free of fear, even though
you acknowledge that there might also be a part of you that is
frightened, you are not going to be able to contribute to a universe
that is free of fear. So, as far as I am concerned, social action must
have at its very foundation a spiritual focus.
But even though we find ourselves afraid, and not feeling peaceful, and
less than fully loving and compassionate, we must act. There is no way
you can be in an incarnation without acting. We cannot wait until we are
enlightened to act. We all hear the way in which our silence is itself
an act of acquiescence to a system. That is as much an action as
walking.
Since we must act, we do the best we can to act consciously and
compassionately. But in addition, we can make every action an exercise
designed to help us become free. Because the truth that comes from
freedom, and the power that comes from freedom, and the love and
compassion that come from freedom are the jewels we can cultivate to
offer to our fellow sentient beings for the relief of their suffering.
Frivolous speech is
unhealthy. Refraining from frivolous speech is healthy. (MN 9)
Abandoning frivolous speech, one refrains from frivolous speech. One
speaks at the right time, speaks only what is fact, and speaks about
what is good. One speaks what is worthy of being overheard, words that
are reasonable, moderate, and beneficial. (DN 1) One practices thus:
"Others may speak frivolously, but I shall abstain from frivolous
speech." (MN 8)
When a person commits an offense of some kind, one should not hurry to
reprove them but rather should consider whether or not to speak. If you
will be troubled, the other person will not be hurt, and you can help
them emerge from what is unhealthy and establish them in what is
healthy, then it is proper to speak. It is a trifle that you will be
troubled compared with the value of helping establish them in what is
healthy. (MN 103)
Reflection
The guideline
to refrain from frivolous speech is a recommendation that we take
seriously what we say and say what is meaningful with a sense of purpose
and care. It does not mean everything we say has to be profound, just
carefully considered. Here we also have guidance for when to speak up
and when not to. If we can help someone and make a difference by
speaking out, then the fact that it is troublesome is a trifle.
Daily Practice
As you practice
considering carefully the way you speak, the suggestion to "not hurry
to reprove" someone who does or says something offensive but rather to
"consider whether or not to speak" is an important suggestion. This
moment of pause and reflection is itself a powerful practice in daily
life and should be followed at every opportunity. Try speaking up only
when you really can help a person or situation and not simply from habit
or reflex.
Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Social Action One week from today: Refraining from False Speech
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We
talk about giving up and developing, renouncing and cultivating. But
when the fruit of practice is realized, there is nothing to add and
nothing to remove.
A
stable, solid body is a mental image superimposed onto a stream of
events in the same way that a spinning propeller is seen as a circle.
The constant succession of discrete acts of cognition or feeling appears
as a monolithic event, just as the rapid change of frames in a film
appears as a smooth continuum.
The Dalai Lama and Thubten Chodron, “An Unbroken Sequence”
RIGHT VIEW Understanding the Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering
And what is the way leading
to the cessation of suffering? It is just this noble eightfold path:
that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right
living, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. (MN 9)
It happens that a fully awakened Buddha arises in the world, endowed
with wisdom and impeccable behavior. Having realized awakening himself,
he teaches the Dhamma, lovely in the beginning, middle, and end, and
demonstrates a purified spiritual life. The Dhamma taught by the Buddha
is heard by people, who gain trust in the Buddha and his teaching. (DN
2)
Reflection
After the first
three noble truths have pointed out the existence of suffering,
identified its cause as craving, and attested that craving can be ended,
the fourth noble truth focuses on the treatment plan to follow in order
to cure suffering. The eightfold path is an integrated path of
gradually purifying behavior in the world, developing the mind through
meditation, and understanding the nature of things more clearly.
Daily Practice
This path is a
call to adventure, an invitation to undertake the process of gradual
transformation that will carry anyone from a condition of affliction,
moderate or grave, to one of greater happiness and well-being. It starts
with hearing the teachings and having just enough trust to take your
first steps and begin putting those teachings into practice. The path
calls for many small steps taken carefully and mindfully.
Tomorrow: Cultivating Equanimity One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of Suffering
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