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.
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: "A person who acts in hurtful ways is displeasing and
disagreeable to me. If I were to act in hurtful ways, I would be
displeasing and disagreeable to others. Therefore, I will undertake a
commitment to not act in hurtful ways." (MN 15)
Reflection
The classical
teachings list three modes of action—body, speech, and mind—not four.
Social action is not a category in the ancient texts, but it is an
important aspect of our modern world, and the Buddha had plenty to say
about how to act among others. The same principles apply: reflect
carefully on how you interact with others and learn to behave in ways
that are healthy and bring about healthy relationships.
Daily Practice
One of the best
things we can learn from others is how not to act. Whenever we see
something in others that is disagreeable to us, we can take the
opportunity to refrain from acting the same way ourselves. Instead of
blaming others or feeling insulted by them or putting our energy into
rebuking them or trying to change them, none of which is useful or
likely to be successful, let’s learn instead what not to do ourselves.
Tomorrow: Abstaining from Intoxication One week from today: Reflecting upon Bodily Action
Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel
"I used to be a person who spoke of my soul like it was a heart or a
liver or something like that. Now I treat my soul as a second
perspective within myself. So I go into watching number two (soul)
watching number one (ego).
Soul has a very simple motive structure - it wants to meld with number
three (God). It wants to go into the All and Everything. Number two came
from a very different space than number one came from. The soul came
directly from spirit. The incarnation came with an operating system,
like a piece of software, called the ego.
Number one stops at the end of the incarnation, death. But the soul
doesn’t. It just keeps galumphing along, through one and another and
another. I don’t know about you, but I would like to be identified with
my soul when I die."
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Frivolous speech is
unhealthy. Refraining from frivolous speech is healthy. (MN 9)
Abandoning frivolous speech, one refrains from frivolous speech. One
speaks at the right time, speaks only what is fact, and speaks about
what is good. One speaks what is worthy of being overheard, words that
are reasonable, moderate, and beneficial. (DN 1) One practices thus:
"Others may speak frivolously, but I shall abstain from frivolous
speech." (MN 8)
When a person commits an offense of some kind, one should not hurry to
reprove them but rather should consider whether or not to speak. If you
will not be troubled, the other person will not be hurt, and you can
help them emerge from what is unhealthy and establish them in what is
healthy, then it is proper to speak. (MN 103)
Reflection
The fourth
category of right speech is refraining from frivolous speech. This is
not meant to stifle us entirely or to reduce human expression to
essential facts and nothing more; rather, it is an invitation to pay
more careful attention to what we say. It is healthy to speak what is
true, to speak about what is good, and to be moderate in our speech,
even if other people are not. What can you say that is helpful?
Daily Practice
Has it ever
occurred to you that some people speak just for the sake of speaking, or
say anything and everything that comes to mind, or go on indefinitely
repeating the same stories? See if you can notice yourself doing this
from time to time. Practice being aware enough of your own speech
patterns to notice whether you are always saying something useful or
necessary or valuable. Sometimes it is better to stay silent.
Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Social Action One week from today: Refraining from False Speech
Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel
This
month’s Film Club pick sheds light on an art of shadows. Witness the
beauty of shadow puppet theater in Shaanxi Province, where farmers by
day become performers by night—fighting to preserve an ancient tradition
in the face of modernity.