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Randy Harris for The New York Times

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: Maintaining Arisen Healthy States

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RIGHT EFFORT Maintaining Arisen Healthy States Whatever a person frequently thinks about and ponders, that will become the inclination of their mind. If one frequently thinks about and ponders healthy states, one has abandoned unhealthy states to cultivate the healthy state, and then one’s mind inclines to healthy states. (MN 19) Here a person rouses the will, makes an effort, stirs up energy, exerts the mind, and strives to maintain arisen healthy mental states. One maintains the arisen tranquility and concentration awakening factors. (MN 141)

Reflection Healthy and positive mental states arise all the time. The idea is to learn how to notice them, recognize their value, and make some effort to sustain them when they arise. This means developing habits that will reinforce qualities like kindness, generosity, compassion, and truthfulness. Slowing down, becoming peaceful, and allowing the mind to unify through focusing is particularly valuable. Daily Practice The two factors of awakening, tranquility and concentration, are considered together here because of their natural affinity with each other. Finding time to slow down, stop doing things, and simply allow the mind to become peaceful and focused is a healthy thing to do. It is not that settling the mind takes effort, but it takes effort to disengage from normal business to give the mind time to focus naturally. Once you do it, you'll see that it’s worth it.   Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects and the Fourth Jhāna One week from today: Restraining Unarisen Unhealthy States 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: Getting From Here to There

 Our destination is our vow to do good, to do no harm, and to seek awakening for ourselves and others. Our starting point is accepting and embracing all of our qualities, good, bad, and neutral.

Mark Herrick, “You Can Get There from Here”

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Via Tricycle // You Can Get There from Here

 

You Can Get There from Here
By Mark Herrick

Awakening is not the triumph over our mental disturbances but a state in which we are fully aware of all aspects of our lives, good and bad.

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Via Gay White Crane Institute // Gay Wisdom

Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989
This Day in Gay History
April 15 Born Leonardo Da Vinci 1452 - LEONARDO DA VINCI, Italian Renaissance polymath was born (d. 1519); How much of what is known about the sexuality of this greatest of history’s geniuses is fact and how much is speculation? Here's what we know: (1) When he was 23 and working in Verocchio’s workshop, Leonardo was accused of having committed homosexual acts with one Jacopo Saltarelli, aged seventeen, and described as “a boy of ill-repute.” (2) He complained in his notebooks of his attachment to his student Andrea Salaino, whom he nicknamed “Salai” “(“little devil”). Calling Salai a liar and a thief, he was nonetheless obsessed with the handsome young man to have left him a good portion of his estate. (3) Francesco Melzi, Salai’s replacement as Leonardo’s assistant, was left the larger part of the master’s estate. These are the known facts. That Leonardo chose his students for their looks is contemporary gossip. That all his female subjects were painted from young male models is speculation. That the Mona Lisa is actually a man is a pretty giggly idea. Thirty years ago, the then-daring Sexology magazine attempted to prove this assertion by dressing up the famous painting with a boy’s haircut and clothing. Without knowing it, Sexology actually came up with definite proof that the Mona Lisa is really Julie Andrews.   |8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|   Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute "With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989! www.whitecraneinstitute.org |8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|

 

Namasté

 

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Living: Abstaining from Intoxication

 

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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 indecent exposure of one's person. (DN 31)

Reflection The arguments put forward in the early Buddhist texts against intoxication were mostly practical ones. In this case there is the recognition that when you lose control of yourself through some form of intoxication, the chances increase that you will do something foolish or embarrassing that you will regret later. Better to undertake the commitment to abstain from the kind of negligence that leads to such behaviors. Daily Practice See if, through introspection, you can discern the point at which intoxication begins to show up in your experience. If you are a drinker, investigate the moment between the first and second swig, or the first and second glass, or whatever point you can notice when the mind begins to get a little sluggish. If you don’t drink, try the same experiment with some other form of intoxication. There are many to choose from. Tomorrow: Maintaining Arisen Healthy States One week from today: Abstaining from Harming Living Beings 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: Seeing Nonself

Nonself only begins to be clear when the illusion of seamlessness disappears and we experience the gaps in the continuity, when we actually see the mind and its object arising and dying together from instant to instant.

Cynthia Thatcher, “Disconnect the Dots”

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Via Daily Dharma: Seeking Well-Being Within

We are always seeking something from the outside and forgetting that our fundamental well-being and strength depend on how we relate to our own minds.

Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, “Old Relationships, New Possibilities”

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Action: Reflecting upon Social Action

 

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RIGHT ACTION Reflecting Upon Social 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 social action is to be done with repeated reflection. (MN 61) One reflects thus: “Others may speak in unhealthy ways; I shall refrain from speaking in unhealthy ways.” (MN 8) One lives with companions in concord, with mutual appreciation, without disputing, blending like milk and water, viewing each other with kindly eyes. One practices thus: “I maintain verbal acts of lovingkindness toward my companions both openly and privately.” (MN 31)

Reflection How we speak to one another has a big impact on how well we get along with one another. We evoke from others the same emotions we express to them. If you say something with annoyance, you will provoke annoyance. If you say something kind, you will bring out the kindness of others. This is how human interactions work: however the seed is planted, the fruit is gathered.  Daily Practice One important way of practicing in daily life is bringing as much lovingkindness as possible to everything you do, especially in the realm of verbal action. Make a point today of speaking kindly to the people you interact with. You’ll find it comes easily if you can manage to view the other person “with kindly eyes.” Find something good in other people to focus upon and allow your speech to flow from the emotion of friendliness. Tomorrow: Abstaining from Intoxication One week from today: Reflecting upon Bodily Action Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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