A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
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)
Reflection
The third
foundation on which mindfulness is established, mindfulness of mind,
involves noticing the impact of various emotions and attitudes on the
mind. Consciousness simply reflects whatever object comes before it, but
then we respond to the object with love or hate, wanting or not
wanting, and all kinds of judgments favoring or opposing it. With
mindfulness we are content with watching this as it occurs.
Daily Practice
After you gain
skill in observing the bodily sensations that accompany breathing in and
out and then bringing mindfulness to bear on pleasant and unpleasant
feeling tones, next focus on the influence craving and aversion may or
may not have on your mind in any given moment. When you like something,
be aware of that. When you dislike something, be aware of that. This is
the starting point of mindfulness of mind.
RIGHT CONCENTRATION Approaching and Abiding in the Third Phase of Absorption (3rd Jhāna)
With the fading away of joy, one
abides in equanimity; mindful and fully aware, still feeling pleasure
with the body, one enters upon and abides in the third phase of
absorption, on account of which noble ones announce: “One has a pleasant
abiding who has equanimity and is mindful.” (MN 4)
Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects and Abiding in the Fourth Jhāna
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If we are to help heal the world, we need to remember that it is a
sacred place. Our actions need to be positive statements, reminders that
even in the worst times there is a world worth struggling for. We need
to find ways to keep the vision alive, to acknowledge but not get caught
in the dark side, to remember that even the worst aspects of suffering
are only part of the whole picture. We need to enter lightly.
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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)
Reflection
What do you do when you are in the grip of an unhealthy mood, filled with a steady stream of unhealthy mental and emotional states? Sometimes you just have to take the initiative and change the channel, so to speak. Just as you might decide to prepare and eat a meal if you are hungry or take a walk if you are restless, so too you can decide to develop healthy states and, by various means, invite them to arise in your mind.
Daily Practice
You might adopt the practice of each day choosing a healthy state to develop and then working to deliberately bring it to mind. Maybe generosity one day, kindness another, or compassion all week. It is just a matter of making a decision to call to mind that particular positive quality. Choose to think kind thoughts about someone or decide to do a kind act, and you will find that the emotional state of kindness will naturally arise.
Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Mind and the Third Jhāna One week from today: Maintaining Arisen Healthy States
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Why is it that we yearn to be more or other than we are? It so rarely occurs to us that what we are looking for may be—indeed, always is—already within us, simply undiscovered.