Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Lovingkindness

 

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RIGHT INTENTION Cultivating Lovingkindness Whatever you intend, whatever you plan, and whatever you have a tendency toward, that will become the basis upon which your mind is established. (SN 12.40) Develop meditation on lovingkindness, for when you develop meditation on lovingkindness, all ill will will be abandoned. (MN 62)  The far enemy of lovingkindness is ill will. (Vm 9.98)

Reflection Ill will is the far enemy of lovingkindness because it is so clearly in opposition to it. These two polar opposites cannot occupy the mind at the same moment. This means that at any point we are are feeling kind or aversive or are experiencing a moment of mindful equanimity. Right intention means learning to use every opportunity to cultivate lovingkindness, since it is such a beneficial mind state. Daily Practice You cultivate mental and emotional states by encouraging them to arise and then working to maintain them as much as possible. Practice feeling friendly and kindly, if only in your mind, toward all the people and other beings you encounter each day. The more you do this, the more inclined your mind will be toward friendliness and kindness. One consequence of this is that the tendency toward ill will will diminish. Tomorrow: Refraining from False Speech One week from today: Cultivating Compassion 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: Pain Inspires Action

Pain Inspires Action

Just as the lotus needs muddy water to live, the pain of the world can inspire compassionate and effective action. The imperfect, as the poet Wallace Stevens said, is our paradise.  Katy Butler, “The Lotus and the Ballot Box”  CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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

 

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RIGHT VIEW Understanding the Noble Truth of Suffering When people have met with suffering and become victims of suffering, they come to me and ask me about the noble truth of suffering. Being asked, I explain to them the noble truth of suffering. (MN 77) What is suffering? (MN 9) Separation from the pleasant is suffering. Whoever has what is wanted, liked—pleasant sight-objects, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, or mind-objects—or whoever encounters well-wishers, wishers of good, of comfort, of security, such as mother or father or brother or sister or younger kinsmen or friends or colleagues or blood-relations, and then is deprived of such concourse, intercourse, connection, or union. (MN 9)

Reflection One of the most obvious and common forms of suffering is the pain we feel when separated from something or someone we care deeply about and are thus attached to. In fact, the mental pain of loss that comes from caring is one thing, while the emotional pain of the loss grows in direct proportion to how much attachment there is. It is possible to care deeply about something or someone without being attached.  Daily Practice Practice with easy things first, and work up to more challenging ones. See if you can feel equanimity instead of misery when you must separate from something like a favorite mug that breaks. Then see if you can apply that same approach to more serious matters, such as the breakup of a relationship or the loss of a dearly beloved person. Remember: Pain is inevitable, but how much suffering it causes depends on the level of attachment. Tomorrow: Cultivating Lovingkindness One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin 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: Rebuilding Our Full Selves

 

Rebuilding Our Full Selves

Sometimes the way we find out how to voice a disowned aspect of ourselves is by listening to others who have not disowned it.  Dennis Genpo Merzel, “Introducing Big Mind”  CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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Dickens-to-Go: Reflections on the Best of Times and the Worst of Times

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Mindfulness and Concentration: Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects and the Fourth Jhāna

 

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RIGHT MINDFULNESS Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects 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 the awakening factor of joy is internally present, one is aware: “Joy is present for me.” When joy is not present, one is aware: “Joy is not present for me.” When the arising of unarisen joy occurs, one is aware of that. And when the development and fulfillment of the arisen awakening factor of joy occurs, one is aware of that . . . One is just aware, just mindful: “There is a mental object.” And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)

Reflection Mindfulness practice is about looking very closely at the details of our experience. Every single moment something different is happening, and we train our mind to notice as much as we can, rather than running on automatic or making educated guesses. Here we are selecting one particular emotion, joy, and observing the dynamics of its arising and passing away and how it can be encouraged and developed with practice. Daily Practice Get in touch with the sensations that well up when you experience joy. To do this, call to mind something joyful and see how it feels. Remember: Joy is an emotion with mental as well as physical manifestations in experience. Then notice when these sensations are not present, when joy is absent. This is the kind of detailed investigation mindfulness practice entails. But remember not to cling to anything—just watch it pass through. RIGHT CONCENTRATION Approaching and Abiding in the Fourth Phase of Absorption (4th Jhāna) With the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous disappearance of joy and grief, one enters upon and abides in the fourth phase of absorption, which has neither-pain-nor-pleasure      and purity of mindfulness due to equanimity. The concentrated mind is thus purified, bright, unblemished, rid of imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability. (MN 4) One practices: “I shall breathe in liberating the mind”;  one practices: “I shall breathe out liberating the mind.” This is how concentration through mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated       so that it is of great fruit and great benefit. (A 54.8) Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of Suffering  One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Body and Abiding in the First Jhāna Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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