Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Via Daily Dharma: Recollecting the Buddha

 

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Recollecting the Buddha

By valuing and honoring the awakened nature of the Buddha, we sense our own potential to awaken. When done in the container of dharma practice, this does not feed conceit but nearly the opposite—it supports both wholesome humility and self-respect.

Kim Allen, “Getting to Know the Buddha”


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Opening Up to Grief
By Bonnie O’Brien Jonsson
In the search for her lost father, a daughter finds the dharma. 
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ia Dhamma Wheel | Right View: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering

 


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RIGHT VIEW
Understanding the Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering
And what is the way leading to the cessation of suffering? It is just this noble eightfold path; that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right living, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. (MN 9)

One perfects their ethical behavior by abandoning the taking of life, dwelling without taking life, with rod and weapon laid aside, gentle and kindly, and with compassion for all living beings. (DN 2)
Reflection
The first and perhaps most important of the basic ethical precepts is committing yourself to the practice of harmlessness. This means not only no deliberate killing but also refraining from any kind of assault against living beings. The phrase used above literally means “laying down the stick” and broadly speaking is construed as not only abandoning any overt acts of violence but also softening the heart internally with kindness and compassion.

Daily Practice
How can you bring more harmlessness to your daily life? It  is an emotional attitude more than anything else. It involves seeing things through the eyes of other beings and recognizing that they do not want and do not deserve to be assaulted. Begin by brushing insects away rather than killing them, slowing down to avoid animals on the road, and in every way increasing your sensitivity to the inherent value of life. 

Tomorrow: Cultivating Equanimity
One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of Suffering

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Questions?
Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.



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Monday, March 10, 2025

Via NYT... Lgbtq, multicultural, DEI...


 

Source: Hidden Brain Media

 


Via Daily Dharma: Pursue Truth

 

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Pursue Truth

To pursue the true reality of dharma is nothing other than not getting involved in useless discussion. 

Eihei Dogen Zenji, “The Eight Qualities of a Great Person”


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The Great Buddha of Ibiraçu
By Haley Barker
The largest Buddha statue in the West sits calmly in Brazil.
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2025 Tricycle Film Festival
March 14–27, 2025
We invite you to join us for the second annual virtual Tricycle Film Festival from March 14–27, offering five feature-length films and five short films that you can watch all festival long, plus a live event with Ed Bastian, director of The Dalai Lama’s Gift.
Get your ticket »

Via White Crane Institute -- 2023 - THE GERMAN SYNODAL ASSEMBLY ON THE REFORM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH voted on this date in Frankfurt, Germany, to bless same-sex couples

 



2023 -

THE GERMAN SYNODAL ASSEMBLY ON THE REFORM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH voted on this date  in Frankfurt, Germany, to bless same-sex couples, with 176 of the 202 assembly members voting for the proposal, including two-thirds of the bishops in attendance.

According to a report from the newspaper Donaukurier, same-sex blessings have already been going on in the German church — but were in a canonical grey area and took place in private, rather than openly in churches.

The move stands in direct contradiction to the Vatican, which has explicitly declared that “the Church does not have, and cannot have, the power to bless unions of persons of the same sex.”

The Vatican argued that while God and the Church can bless individuals, including homosexuals, it cannot bless sin, including sexual activity that takes place outside of a valid marriage.

The issue of same-sex couple blessings is one of the main demands from the German Synodal Path, a series of conferences of the Catholic Church in Germany since 2019 that have been looking to greatly transform the Church.

The Synodal Way has proposed radical reforms, such as ordaining priestesses, declaring homosexual acts not to be sinful, and allowing all priests to be married.


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Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute

"With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson

Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989!
www.whitecraneinstitute.org

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Sunday, March 9, 2025

Via the Be Here Now Network

Krishna Das – Pilgrim Heart – Ep. 175 – Healing Our Heavy Hearts
March 06, 2025

In this episode of Pilgrim Heart, Krishna Das explores: “These practices free us from all negative emotions, ultimately. They free us from the very...


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My Favorite Things about Project 2025 - Sound of Music Parody Song

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 aversion, one is aware "the mind is devoid of aversion" … One is just aware, just mindful: "There is mind." And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)
Reflection
Mindfulness can be established and sustained by focusing on the quality of consciousness itself. Consciousness is colored in every moment by subtle or obvious emotional tones, in particular by various forms of greed, hatred, and delusion. These states are toxic, but the mind is often free of them for fleeting moments. Here we are invited to notice when the mind is free from hatred in its many forms.    

Daily Practice
Aversion is a quality of mind that comes and goes. Sometimes we are annoyed at something, and sometimes we are not. Sometimes we hate something and wish it would go away, and sometimes we do not. This is a practice of noticing the flickering moods of the mind, of becoming aware of the emotional strands that arise in the mind and then vanish. In particular, notice when your mind is free of any trace of aversion.


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)

When one sees oneself purified of all these unhealthy states and thus liberated from them, gladness is born. When one is glad, joy is born; in one who is joyful, the body becomes tranquil; one whose body is tranquil feels pleasure; in one who feels pleasure, the mind becomes concentrated. (MN 40)
Reflection
Pleasure is as natural and inevitable a part of human experience as pain, and like pain it is not to be feared or avoided. The challenge is to not be carried away by either, and to abide with both with equanimity. The unhealthy pursuit of pleasure can lead to all sorts of problems, but there are some cases, like this one, when pleasure is an ally. There is a healthy pleasure that comes simply from the experience of a tranquil body.

Daily Practice
Pleasure can be a gateway leading from tranquility to concentration. Allow yourself to feel how pleasant it is to be calm. Temporarily free from the rush of restlessness, and not, for the moment, driven by all kinds of pressures to do and accomplish things, take some time to allow yourself to fully feel the deep pleasure of a calm and tranquil moment. This is the pleasure of being, not doing.


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.



Tricycle is a nonprofit and relies on your support to keep its wheels turning.

© 2025 Tricycle Foundation
89 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003