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 equanimity is internally present, one is aware: “Equanimity is present for me.” When equanimity is not present, one is aware: “Equanimity is not present for me.” When the arising of unarisen equanimity occurs, one is aware of that. And when the development and fulfillment of the arisen awakening factor of equanimity 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 You will know equanimity is internally present when you feel your mind is in balance, tipping neither toward what is pleasant nor away from what is unpleasant. Normally the mind is lurching up and down, like a seesaw pushed and pulled by our desires. But it is possible to experience pleasure without being pulled into it and to experience pain without pushing it away. When the mind is attentive but not tilted, this is equanimity.  Daily Practice Become familiar with what equanimity feels like internally. Start with something simple, like a slight pain in your knee when you are sitting in meditation, and simply be aware of it as a sensation rather than as something to resist, resent, or wish away. Do the same with any slightly pleasant sensation, such as in parts of your body that feel comfortable when you sit. Learn to simply observe these sensations as phenomena, with equanimity. 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 as a result of equanimity. The concentrated mind is thus purified, bright, unblemished, rid of imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability. (MN 4) 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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Via Daily Dharma: Avoiding Extremes

 

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Avoiding Extremes

Falling into the extremes of permanence and nihilism prevents liberation, enlightenment, and the existence of sentient beings. Khandro Kunga Bhuma Rinpoche, “‘Why Do I Need to Practice if Everything Is Empty?’”  CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - October 27, 2024 💌

 

The question is, “Why do you do practices?” because a lot of people will step away from this and say, “I ought to meditate.” Forget it. Don’t!

Go out and lust some more. Go until you are so nauseated by your own predicament that you yearn to meditate. Get so hungry for it that you can’t wait to just sit down.

Turn off the television, turn off the drama and just be quiet for a few minutes. Wait until you really want it, because when you start with “I should,” you end up hating the practice, hating everybody, and hating yourself. Then you cheat and then you get guilty. It’s a whole thing that you psychologically do. Forget it.

You came here and that was an honest thing you did. You are here. What you hear, you hear. What you don’t hear, you don’t, don’t collect it. If it doesn’t stick forget it. It’ll come around again, another lifetime maybe...Maybe 10,000 lifetimes. Who knows?

- Ram Dass


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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 healthy states, 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 awakening factor of equanimity. (MN 141)

Reflection The mind is constantly changing, and every moment is different from every other. Still, there are some mental and emotional states that are good for us and we want to sustain, and others we are better off abandoning. We cannot always rely on the healthy states to naturally persist once they occur, and it is a skillful use of effort to work to maintain them. Doing so will incline the mind steadily in the direction of greater health.  Daily Practice When you find yourself feeling generous, look for ways to maintain that attitude of generosity by additional thoughts and acts of generosity. When you notice kindness or compassion arising in your experience, recognize it as healthy and see how you can nurture the emotion so it lingers in your mind a bit longer. At every opportunity, find ways to encourage your best qualities to continue once they have arisen. 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: In the Same Boat

 

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In the Same Boat

Carlos Castaneda was once asked how we could make our lives more spiritual, and he said: ‘Just remember that everyone you encounter today, everyone you see, will someday have to die.’ He’s right. That knowledge changes our whole relationship to people.

Larry Rosenberg, “Only the Practice of Dharma Can Help Us at the Time of Death”

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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) When I look on with equanimity, some particular sources of suffering fade away in me; thus that suffering is exhausted. (MN 101)

Reflection We saw last month how some sources of suffering diminish with effort. Now we hear that other sources of suffering are resolved when we simply look upon them with equanimity. In other words, some things are better handled by not striving to change them overtly but simply by changing your relationship to what is happening. Desire can be a form of intoxication, and equanimity can transform negligence into clarity. Daily Practice Knowing when to step forward to try to change things with effort and when to step back and allow them to change by natural processes is a skill to be learned and a practice to be developed. Never underestimate the transformative power of equanimity. Sometimes it is our own desires, our wanting and not wanting, that cause problems; in such cases learning to look on with equanimity can make all the difference.  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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