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Via Words of Wisdom - January 12, 2025 💠

 

“There is such an ocean of suffering in the world. I mean, there's also pleasure and beauty and fun and play. But there is an ocean of suffering. There is suffering of every conceivable kind. The ocean of suffering is so vast, and the media bring it so immediately to you—the faces of the people around you, and the stories about other cultures. It's so intense that what often happens is you feel powerless before this ocean, this wave, this tidal wave of suffering. Edmund Burke's line is: The worst mistake is to do nothing, because you can only do a little. Which is the same line as Gandhi’s: What you do may seem insignificant, but it is very important that you do it. Since everything is interrelated, if you do an act to relieve suffering—if you help somebody across the street, pick up somebody's groceries, read to somebody who's blind, or just be kind and tender to somebody who has AIDS—whatever you do, even reading a story to your child, the way in which it’s done out of tender caring... It's like our hearts are all connected in the universe, and it’s just like dropping pebbles into water—it keeps spreading and spreading. It’s very hard to understand, when it seems like such a trivial act, how it is connected to the entire universe in that way. And I feel that it is important not only for the relief of suffering, that you do what you can for other people. It's important for your own heart that you do something.”   >> Want to dive deeper with Ram Dass? Click Here to Receive a Daily Wisdom Text from Ram Dass & Friends

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Mindfulness and Concentration: Establishing Mindfulness of Mind and the Third Jhāna

 

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RIGHT MINDFULNESS Establishing Mindfulness of Mind 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 mind is devoid of desire, one is aware: "The mind is devoid of desire." One is just aware, just mindful: "There is mind." And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)

Reflection The mind is merely aware of an object, either a sensory or mental object, much like a mirror reflecting accurately whatever comes before it. Emotional states, such as desire, co-arise every moment and flood the mind, often distorting or coloring what is seen, heard, felt, or cognized. Sometimes desire is present, sometimes it is not. Here we are being encouraged to notice when it is not.  Daily Practice Our emotional life flickers moment by moment as quickly as our mental life does, and the stream of consciousness is permeated by a stream of attitudes, intentions, and views. By noticing when desire is present and absent, we learn to recognize that it is just a passing state that sometimes occurs and sometimes does not. Practice "not clinging to anything in the world," including the presence or absence of sensory desire. 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) Reflection Remember that jhāna practice is not something that can be undertaken lightly or sporadically and usually requires the protected conditions of a retreat center and the guidance of an experienced teacher. The jhānas are mentioned a lot in the early texts and form the core discussion of right concentration. But mostly we just hear the standard formula repeated in various contexts without much detail on how to practice. Daily Practice The transition from the second to the third phase of absorption has to do with the mellowing of joy, which is an almost effervescent energetic upwelling of pleasant bodily sensation into an experience of mental and emotional equanimity. The body still experiences pleasure, but the mind settles into an even and balanced awareness of the pleasant feeling tone that is not attached to it in any way. Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects and the Fourth 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: The Joys and the Sorrows

 

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The Joys and the Sorrows If we can recognize and accept our pain without pushing it away or clinging to it, we’ll be better able to see that joys and sorrows are truly the same. Jessica Angima, “The Not-Knowing of Our Time” CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: Developing Unarisen Healthy States

 

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RIGHT EFFORT Developing Unarisen 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 develop the arising of unarisen healthy mental states. One develops the unarisen investigation of states awakening factor. (MN 141)

Reflection Here right effort is defined as actively encouraging the better aspects of our character to emerge from unconscious potential to conscious embodiment. We are all capable of kindness, for example. Why not try more often to be kind? We are capable of wisdom; let’s actively try to encourage it. This suggests that happiness—the regular manifestation of healthy mental and emotional states—is something we can make happen through effort. Daily Practice The positive mental state singled out in this passage is the second factor of awakening, called the investigation of states. When mindfulness is present, it is natural that the mind takes great interest in experience and investigates its mental and emotional states carefully. See what it feels like to be curious about the detailed textures of your experience and see what you can do to evoke and support this sense of regularly looking closely at your mental states. Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Mind and Abiding in the Third Jhāna One week from today: Maintaining Arisen Healthy States Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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