Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Compassion

 

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RIGHT INTENTION Cultivating Compassion 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 compassion, for when you develop meditation on compassion, any cruelty will be abandoned. (MN 62) The proximate cause of compassion is seeing helplessness in those overwhelmed by suffering. (Vm 9.94)

Reflection While lovingkindness is an emotional attitude that flows indiscriminately to all beings in all directions, compassion is the form it takes when it encounters the awareness of suffering. When someone who cares sees another being suffering, “the heart trembles” and the wish for the suffering to end arises. Compassion is an expression of caring for others and as such is an inherently healthy state of mind that should be cultivated. Daily Practice Take some time to look at suffering rather than avoid it by looking elsewhere. There are opportunities for doing this all around you, as both small and large examples of suffering abound. Pay close attention to the quality of mind that occurs when you are giving sustained attention to the suffering of another. It is not about getting lost in pity or sorrow but about allowing the mind to feel the pain with an attitude of caring. Tomorrow: Refraining from Malicious Speech One week from today: Cultivating Appreciative Joy 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: Staying with Our Subconscious

  

 

Responses that arise from the subconscious often don’t make sense initially, but if we keep following the threads without judgment, it all eventually becomes clear.

Lama Palden Drolma, “Tips for the Procrastinator Practitioner”

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right View: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering

 

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RIGHT VIEW Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering What is the origin of suffering? It is craving, which brings renewal of being, is accompanied by delight and lust, and delights in this and that; that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for being, and craving for non-being. (MN 9) When one does not know and see bodily sensations as they actually are, then one is attached to bodily sensations. When one is attached, one becomes infatuated, and one’s craving increases. One’s bodily and mental troubles increase, and one experiences bodily and mental suffering. (MN 149)

Reflection The fifth of the six sense modalities is the range of bodily sensations that are discernable through the body as a sense organ. Like all the other sense organs, the body is an instrument for both the arising of suffering and the cessation of suffering. When craving is present, either for a pleasant sensation or for the cessation of a painful sensation, a micro-moment of suffering is produced. You can experience this happening in your body again and again. Daily Practice Whether sitting or walking or engaging in any of your other normal activities, pay close attention to the sensations of the body as they naturally arise and pass away. Notice how some are favored (the ones that feel good) and some are resented and resisted (the ones that feel bad). Notice how that subtle attachment or aversion, called infatuation in this text, is the starting point for all kinds of discontent and suffering. Tomorrow: Cultivating Compassion One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Cessation 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 Daily Dharma: What Is a Precept?

An ethical precept is a question to be held up to the light of circumstance, an inquiry rather than an answer. And the nature of this inquiry is not so much the dubious enterprise of trying to figure out the right thing to do as it is an offering of an unaided heart.

Lin Jensen, “An Ear to the Ground”

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Mindfulness and Concentration: Establishing Mindfulness of Body and the First Jhāna

 

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RIGHT MINDFULNESS Establishing Mindfulness of Body 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 walking, one is aware: "I am walking."… One is just aware, just mindful: "There is a body." And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)

Reflection As we gain the ability to be mindful of the body while breathing in and out, experiencing the entire body and stilling its activities, it becomes natural to extend this capacity for awareness to other normal activities. One of these is walking, and the point is not to get somewhere but to be entirely attentive to what it feels like to walk. Every step is an exercise in non-attachment, in not clinging to anything in the world. Daily Practice Spend some time in formal walking meditation. You can go for a walk and practice heightened awareness to the experience, but in formal walking meditation you walk slowly back and forth for 10 or 15 paces in each direction. This frees you from any concern about navigation, obstacles, or distractions, allowing the mind to focus entirely on the flow of physical sensations that come with slowly lifting, moving, and placing the foot with each step. RIGHT CONCENTRATION Approaching and Abiding in the First Phase of Absorption (1st Jhāna) Having abandoned the five hindrances, imperfections of the mind that weaken wisdom, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, one enters and abides in the first phase of absorption, which is accompanied by applied thought and sustained thought, with joy and the pleasure born of seclusion. (MN 4) When one sees oneself purified of all these unhealthy states and thus liberated from them, gladness is born. When one is glad, joy is born; in one who is joyful, the body becomes tranquil; one whose body is tranquil feels pleasure; in one who feels pleasure, the mind becomes concentrated. (MN 40) Reflection The English word concentration conjures up a sense of deliberate effort, wherein you force yourself to pay attention or to concentrate. While the appropriate application of energy is required, the Buddhist texts talk about concentration as something you relax into naturally, rather than something you force yourself to do through discipline. This sets a very different tone, and makes the practice of concentration more appealing. Daily Practice We are used to noticing when we are vexed or afflicted in some way, and are less likely to notice when we are free from distress and feeling good. Try to reverse this today, and notice the times when the mind is free, if only for a moment, from any uncomfortable mental or emotional states. In short, feel good about feeling good when you feel good, and allow yourself to be glad when the mind is clear. Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering One week from today:  Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling and Abiding in the Second Jhāna Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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