Via Sen McGlinn's blog // Homosexuality and gender identity, January 6, 2021

 

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Mindfulness and Concentration: Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling and the Second Jhāna

 

RIGHT MINDFULNESS Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling 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 feeling a painful feeling, one is aware: "Feeling a painful feeling . .. . one is just aware, just mindful: 'There is feeling.'" And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)

Reflection The second ground on which mindfulness is established is the realm of feeling tones. This includes both physical and mental feeling tones, and this week the unpleasant or painful feeling tones are singled out. Physical pain is self-evident, but mental pain is often subtler, as is the transition point between an unpleasant feeling tone and an unhealthy emotion.  Daily Practice See if you can break the reflexive bond between feeling pain and immediately resenting it or hating it or wishing it would go away. Try instead to examine with interest and curiosity the texture of the pain: for instance, is it sharp or dull, throbbing or constant? Pain is an inevitable aspect of human experience, and all but the most intense pain is bearable. There is more to learn from facing pain than from attempting to run from it. So let’s look at it and see what we can learn. RIGHT CONCENTRATION Approaching and Abiding in the Second Phase of Absorption (2nd Jhāna) With the stilling of applied and sustained thought, one enters upon and abides in the second phase of absorption, which brings inner clarity and singleness of mind, without applied thought and sustained thought, with joy and the pleasure born of concentration. (MN 4) Reflection The mind is capable, through training, of becoming more concentrated than is usual in ordinary daily experience. The Buddha describes this as a natural process, unfolding as the body and mind become gradually happier and more tranquil while the mind is focusing on a single object. In the second phase of this process, discursive thinking gradually fades away as the feeling of pleasure and well-being grows stronger and deepens. Daily Practice As you sit quietly and focus on your breathing, the thoughts and memories and plans that so habitually inhabit the mind begin to settle, and the mind becomes calmer. At a certain point thoughts may cease altogether. Awareness of sensory experience remains strong, but it is no longer mediated by words, images, or concepts. The need to re-engage the mind with an object and hold it there is no longer needed, so these functions drop away. Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Mind and Abiding in the Third 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: What Counts as Meaningful?

 Meaningfulness is found not only in the dramatic and the intense but also in the small moments, illuminated by a curious awareness. 

Christina Feldman, “Doing, Being, and the Great In-Between”

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - January 8, 2023 💌

 
 

The process of self-remembering is the process of developing the witness. 

- Ram Dass -


From Here & Now – Ep. 7 – The Veil

Via Tumblr

 

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: Abandoning Arisen Unhealthy States

 

RIGHT EFFORT Abandoning Arisen Unhealthy States Whatever a person frequently thinks about and ponders, that will become the inclination of their mind. If one frequently thinks about and ponders unhealthy states, one has abandoned healthy states to cultivate unhealthy states, and then one’s mind inclines toward unhealthy states. (MN 19) Here a person rouses the will, makes an effort, stirs up energy, exerts the mind, and strives to abandon arisen unhealthy mental states. One abandons the arisen hindrance of ill will. (MN 141)

Reflection Unhealthy mental states arise all the time. The causes and conditions for their arising have been forged in previous mind moments, and we have no direct conscious control over whether or not they arise. The practice of right effort has to do entirely with how we handle them once they have come up. In other words, we have no control over what hand we are dealt in each moment, but we have the power to play that hand more or less skillfully. Daily Practice The conscious mind cannot control what emerges from the unconscious, but it can exercise some influence over how we respond. Take, for example, ill will, which can manifest as annoyance, resentment, or hatred; practice the art of acknowledging it but choosing not to feed it. To abandon ill will is not to suppress it or block it but rather to see it, know it to be harmful, and abandon it—to let it pass through and wave farewell.  Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling and Abiding in the Second Jhāna One week from today: Developing Unarisen Healthy States Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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© 2023 Tricycle Foundation 89 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003

Via Daily Dharma: Vulnerability is the Compass

 The great strength of lovingkindness and goodwill is vulnerability, and that vulnerability is what
sets the compass of the heart in the direction of connection and belonging.

Devin Berry, “Metta and Karuna: Two Heart Practices to Cultivate in Meditation and Daily Life”

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Via Be Here Now Network

  Raghu Markus – Mindrolling – Ep. 472 – Healing Woundedness with Judith Ragir
January 06, 2023

“The woundedness gets healed both psychologically but also through spiritual practice, through God consciousness entering you. Then you feel like something larger than yourself...

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Via Be Here Now Network

 

David Nichtern – Creativity, Spirituality & Making a Buck – Settling into Practice, A Buddhist View with Michael Kammers
January 06, 2023

“There is another expression of practice, ‘Hasten slowly and you will soon arrive.’ There is a built-in tension between our momentum to try not...

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Via Just a Baha'i Blog // What is a True Baha’i Marriage?

 

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Living: Abstaining from Taking What is Not Given

 

RIGHT LIVING Undertaking the Commitment to Abstain from Taking What is Not Given Taking what is not given is unhealthy. Refraining from taking what is not given is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning the taking of what is not given, one abstains from taking what is not given; one does not take by way of theft the wealth and property of others. (MN 41) One practices thus: "Others may take what is not given, but I will abstain from taking what is not given." (MN 8) A person reflects thus: "If someone were to take from me what I have not given, that is, to commit theft, that would not be pleasing and agreeable to me. Now if I were to take from another what he has not given, that is, to commit theft, that would not be pleasing and agreeable to the other either. How can I inflict on another what is displeasing and disagreeable to me?" Having reflected thus, one abstains from taking what is not given, exhorts others to abstain from it, and speaks in praise of abstinence from it. (SN 55.7)

Reflection Another way of stating the Golden Rule, this text is simply pointing out the natural argument against misappropriating the property of others. It is not just that it is wrong and invites retribution but in an important way it is actually unhealthy. That is to say, theft damages the quality of our own character, thus contributing to our own suffering, as well as causing suffering in others. Daily Practice This precept against taking what is not given is a rich ground for practice, because it raises the bar for what is to be considered theft. How many things do we take that may not have been freely given? More than you might think. Look into this matter today and see if you notice how many things are coerced from others or taken without returning adequate compensation, and how often you assume you are entitled to something others have overlooked. Tomorrow: Abandoning Arisen Unhealthy States One week from today: Abstaining from Misbehaving Among Sensual Pleasures 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: The Value of a Spiritual Practice

 A spiritual practice should overflow into the world and help us to transcend illusion and journey toward enlightenment and truth.

Ben Okri, “Ben Okri on How ‘Art Helps Us Unify’

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Via Love Serve Remember Foundation

   

The quieter you become, the more you can hear.
- Ram Dass

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Action: Reflecting upon Verbal Action

 

RIGHT ACTION Reflecting Upon Verbal Action 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 verbal action is to be done with repeated reflection. (MN 61) When you are doing an action with speech, reflect on that same verbal action thus: "Does this action I am doing with speech lead to my own affliction?" If, on reflection, you know that it does, then stop doing it; if you know that it does not, then continue. (MN 61)

Reflection Speaking is a form of action, and depending on the context, it can have far-reaching consequences. This is especially true when our words are printed, broadcast, or digitally shared with the wider world. This text is encouraging us to be aware of what we are saying as we are saying it. Speaking reflectively, can you notice when your words are causing harm to yourself or others and just stop what you are saying? Daily Practice We are familiar with mindfulness of the body and mindfulness of mental objects, but what about mindfulness of speech? This is not one of the formal four foundations of mindfulness, but it is no less an opportunity for practice. Try, for a start, to speak slower and more deliberately and notice the difference from when the words seem to tumble out on their own. Speech is something we do, so let’s do it mindfully. Tomorrow: Abstaining from Taking What is Not Given One week from today: Reflecting upon Mental Action Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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