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 mental objects as they actually are, then one is attached to thoughts. 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 Of the six kinds of objects that make up our experience, mental objects are the most challenging to work with. The feeling tones that arise with sensory objects give rise to craving, as we delight in the pleasure and are averse to the pain, but thoughts come with the added challenge of rich content. We can’t help but get drawn into the story and entangled in the plot, at which point our mental troubles usually increase. Daily Practice Practice regarding the mental objects coursing through your mind as thoughts and thoughts only. See if you can focus on their arising and passing away as a series of events occurring in the mind, without getting drawn into the content of the thoughts. Never mind, in other words, what the thought is about, but regard it simply as a passing mental phenomenon to be treated much like the passing physical sensations of the body.  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: Remember the Meaning of Ritual

In seeking to “live more like a monk,” it is vital not to confuse the outer appearance and forms of ritual life with the wisdom and compassion that such rituals are meant to instill. In other words, don’t confuse the jelly jar for the sweet jelly within. 

Jundo Cohen, “Zen Monastic Practices at Home”

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  Raghu Markus – Mindrolling – Ep. 487 – The Mysterion with Kabir Helminski
April 20, 2023

 

“In Sufism, sincerity would be understood to be something like doing whatever you do for the sake of God; not for anyone’s approval, not...

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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 standing, one is aware: “I am standing”… One is just aware, just mindful, “there is body.” And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)

Reflection Mindfulness can be practiced in any position. Sitting and walking are the most familiar positions, but you can also practice standing or lying down. It is simply a matter of “establishing the presence of mindfulness” in the same way you do in sitting practice. Notice the same emphasis on being just aware, just mindful of the bodily sensations without mental elaboration. Can you stand to practice without clinging to anything in the world? Daily Practice When you find yourself having to stand in place for any length of time, such as waiting in line or watching an event, take the opportunity to practice mindfulness. Turn your attention inward, to the flow of your direct experience, and notice, for example, all the micro-adjustments made by your body to maintain balance. This in itself can become a compelling practice, as you notice how much is going on that you normally overlook. 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) Reflection Absorption practice begins by finding the sweet spot in the center of the mind, the place where there is neither too much energy (restlessness) nor too little (sluggishness), neither wanting (sense desire) nor non-wanting (ill will) something or anything. When these hindrances, along with doubt, are abandoned temporarily, the mind naturally settles down into a state of tranquil alertness and equanimity. Daily Practice Sit quietly and comfortably in a peaceful place and allow everything swirling around in your mind and body to gradually settle down. Like dust settling in the air or particulates settling in water, there is nothing to force or make happen. Patience will be rewarded by the experience of deeper and deeper modes of peacefulness, clarity, and stability of mind. Don’t try to measure anything; just let it all be what it is. 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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Via Daily Dharma: Being With Both Pleasure and Pain

The goal of practice is not to pursue pleasure and avoid pain, but rather to experience both with full awareness, neither favoring one nor opposing the other. 

Andrew Olendzki, “Pleasure and Pain”

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Via White Crane Institute // ABIGAIL KINOIKI KEKAULIKE KAWANANAKOA

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Last Hawaiian Princess Abigail Kawananakoa with wife Veronica Gail Worth

1926 -

ABIGAIL KINOIKI KEKAULIKE KAWANANAKOA,  sometimes called Kekau, a member of the House of Kawānanakoa, was born on this date. She claimed to be the heir to the royal throne of Hawaiʻi. She was referred to by many as a princess, an honorific commonly bestowed upon the descendants of titled subjects of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi or important figures in Hawaiian history, although she held no official title or role in the Hawaiian state government.

Kawānanakoa was the only child of Lydia Liliuokalani Kawānanakoa, born during her marriage to Irish-American William Jeremiah Ellerbrock. Kawānanakoa was educated at Punahou School in Honolulu, the Shanghai American School in Shanghai from 1938 to 1939, and Notre Dame High School in Belmont, California, from which she graduated in 1943. She attended Dominican College in San Rafael, California, from 1943 to 1944, and studied at the University of Hawaii in 1945.

The Kingdom of Hawaii's last two monarchs, David Kalākaua and Liliʻuokalani were childless. Because of this, both monarchs named family members as heirs, including Princess Kaʻiulani, the daughter of Princess Miriam Likelike, sister of the two rulers.

At the age of six, she was legally adopted by her grandmother, Princess Abigail Campbell Kawānanakoa, in the Hawaiian tradition of hānai with the intention that she remain a direct heir to a possible restoration of the kingdom. She was a granddaughter of Prince David Laʻamea Kahalepouli Kinoiki Kawānanakoa, the hānai adopted son of King Kalākaua. With the adoption by her grandmother, Abigail became a daughter of Prince Kawānanakoa. Her genealogy firmly establishes her as a member of the Hawaiian Royal Family. In 1986, she told writer Marilyn Kim that, had the kingdom continued, it was her cousin Edward A. Kawānanakoa who would have been heir to the KawānanakoaKalākaua lines, as he was the first born of the oldest sibling, but joked that she would be the "power behind the throne." Senator Daniel Inouye had described Abigail as; "..a member of the family with the closest blood ties to the Kalākaua Dynasty" however, author and professor of the University of Hawaii, Jon M. Van Dyke states in his book: "Who Owns the Crown Lands of Hawai‘i?" that none of the Kawānanakoas have ever claimed an interest in the Crown Lands but acknowledges that they are the designated heirs of the Kalākaua line.

Kawānanakoa was the president of the Friends of ʻIolani Palace from 1971 to 1998, succeeding her mother, who founded the organization. The palace was built by her adopted great-granduncle, King David Kalākaua. She was active in various causes for the preservation of native Hawaiian culture, including the restoration of 'Iolani Palace.

Kawānanakoa was heiress to the largest stake in the estate of her great-grandfather, James Campbell, a 19th-century industrialist from Ireland. When the estate was converted into a corporation in 2007, her share was estimated to be about US$250 million.

In 2013, Kawānanakoa requested to be buried in a new crypt at the Royal Mausoleum of Hawaii at Mauna ʻAla directly adjacent to the Wyllie Tomb. The request was approved by the State Land Board in April 2013, but the decision was  controversial in the Hawaiian community.

She was a supporter of the Thirty Meter Telescope protests aimed at preventing the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope at Mauna Kea. She also helps subsidize the annual cost of Merrie Monarch Festival.

In 1952, Kawānanakoa was briefly engaged to Peter Perkins, a male model and star player on the Oahu polo team, although they did not marry.

In October 2017, Kawānanakoa married Veronica Gail Worth in Honolulu. The couple were married in a ceremony performed at the home of Justice Steven Levinson. In 2017 Kawānanakoa had a medical episode. In a handwritten letter by her to the media, she explained her firing of her former attorney James Wright. Wright, a trustee for the multimillion-dollar Abigail K. K. Kawananakoa Revocable Living Trust, has made accusations that Worth has abused her 92-year-old spouse. Michael Rudy, Worth's attorney, and Michael A. Lilly, Kawānanakoa's attorney, have both denied the allegations. First Hawaiian Bank succeeded Wright as trustee in 2018.

Kawānanakoa died on December 11, 2022, at age 96. Her death was announced in the Hawaiian language at ʻIolani Palace. Governor Josh Green ordered all flags to be flown at half-staff of respect for Kawānanakoa.

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation /// Words of Wisdom - April 23, 2023 💌

 
 

"Acting with compassion is not doing good because we think we ought to... It is giving ourselves into what we are doing, and being present in the moment. It is acting from our deepest understanding of what life is and not compromising the truth." 

 - Ram Dass -

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: Restraining Unarisen Unhealthy States

 

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RIGHT EFFORT Restraining Unarisen 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 to unhealthy states. (MN 19) Here a person rouses the will, makes an effort, stirs up energy, exerts the mind, and strives to restrain the arising of unarisen unhealthy mental states. One restrains the arising of all five unarisen hindrances. (MN 141)

Reflection Having gone through each of the five hindrances one at a time, we now regard them as a group. At all times, and in no particular order, we want to become sensitive to the harmful effects of sense desire, ill will, restlessness, sluggishness, and doubt, and to work actively to restrain their arising. With the development of certain skills, we can position ourselves wisely so that the conditions that feed these unhealthy states will diminish. Daily Practice Cultivate the habit of being sensitive to the five hindrances throughout all activities of daily life. If some particular activity tends to make you restless, like drinking a lot of coffee, you might think about cutting down. If interacting with a particular person provokes your ill will, you might think about seeing them less. It is just a matter of knowing what conditions trigger unhealthy states and working to diminish them.  Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Body and the First Jhāna One week from today: Abandoning Arisen Unhealthy States Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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