Thursday, March 13, 2025

Via Apple News: A doomed journey to the South Pole captivated the world. Turns out there’s even more to the story.


 

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Action: Reflecting upon Social Action

 


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RIGHT ACTION
Reflecting Upon Social Action
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: "Others may act in unhealthy ways; I shall refrain from acting in unhealthy ways." (MN 8) One lives with companions in concord, with mutual appreciation, without disputing, blending like milk and water, viewing each other with kindly eyes. One practices thus: "I maintain bodily acts of lovingkindness toward my companions both openly and privately." (MN 31)
Reflection
So much of what we think, say, and do affects the people around us. It is important to bring awareness and care to our social interactions. When we “view each other with kindly eyes,” it is natural and easy to be thoughtful. It is often the little things we do that have a big effect on maintaining harmony among friends, family, and co-workers.

Daily Practice
One simple way to practice living with others in harmony is to do kindly acts for them from time to time. Today, actively look for ways to do little things with the intention of pleasing someone. And don’t necessarily feel the need for such deeds to be acknowledged. Much value comes from performing acts of kindness in private. Take it up as a challenge—finding creative ways to do something nice for someone, even in secret.

Tomorrow: Abstaining from Intoxication
One week from today: Reflecting upon Bodily Action

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: Enlightenment Arising

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Enlightenment Arising

Enlightenment is something we seek and something that seeks us, something that arises within us.

Aaron P. Proffitt, “Beyond Simplicity”


CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE


Trusting in Simplicity
By Ajahn Sumedho
Awakening isn’t about struggle, it’s about presence.
Read more »

 

Via The Tricycle Community \\ Three Teachings: Pain

 


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March 13, 2025

Living and Practicing with Pain

Everyone has experienced physical pain to one degree or another, and, as Zen priest Annalisa Rakugo Castaldo says, “One of the most interesting things about pain is that it is a universal experience but also utterly personal.” As counterintuitive as that may seem, Buddhist wisdom reminds us that pain isn’t an enemy but a friend. Mindfulness is a great way to greet this friend.

The Buddha’s mindfulness instructions start with focusing on the felt sense. Through mindfulness we can see and experience that pain is not separate from us, and that trying to isolate and detach from pain can even cause more suffering. By investigating pain with curiosity and kindness, we can loosen its grip. As psychotherapist and spiritual teacher Robert Augustus Masters says, we can “skillfully relate to it rather than from it.” 

We can still wish pain away; that’s only natural. But we can also work on releasing our desire to wish it away, and thereby soften its power. 

This week’s Three Teachings offers three perspectives on living and practicing with pain.
Forward today's teachings to a friend »


Belonging in the Body
By Sebene Selassie

“We can bring empathy to ourselves by meeting pain with embodied awareness, curious about the sensations. It’s not that we long for the pain to continue. We can aspire for a release from pain, but we bring kindness and compassion to whatever is happening. We accept what’s there, without contention,” writes meditation teacher Sebene Selassie.
Read more »

The Noble Truth of Pain
By Annalisa Rakugo Castaldo


“So how do you practice with pain? I can tell you what I do,” writes Zen priest Annalisa Rakugo Castaldo. “I accept the truth that I want pain-filled moments to be different. Breathe. Recognize that the pain is not other than myself, that it is an intrinsic part of being alive. Breathe. Remember that pain is not the same thing as suffering. Breathe. Let go of my desire to be free of the pain. Breathe. Gently turn my attention to one of the other many aspects of the present moment. Breathe. Repeat as necessary.”
Read more »

A Painless Present
By Robert Augustus Masters


“As we slowly but steadily undo our various ways of fleeing our pain, the energy we’ve invested in getting away from our pain—as opposed to simply being with our pain—is freed up, becoming available for us to use for truly life-giving purposes,” writes psychotherapist and spiritual teacher Robert Augustus Masters.
Read more »

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Wednesday, March 12, 2025

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White Crane InstituteExploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989
 
This Day in Gay History

March 12


Jack Kerouac
1922 -

JACK KEROUAC, American writer (d. 1969); an American novelist, writer, poet and artist. Along with William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, he is among the best known of the writers (and friends) known as the Beat Generation. Kerouac's work was popular, but received little critical acclaim during his lifetime. Today, he is considered an important and influential writer who inspired others, including Tom Robbins, Lester Bangs, Richard Brautigan and Ken Kesey, and writers of the New Journalism. Kerouac also influenced musicians such as The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Morrissey, Tom Waits, Simon & Garfunkel, Lebris Ulf Lundell and Jim Morrison. Kerouac's best-known books are On The Road, The Dharma Bums, Big Sur and Visions of Cody. Kerouac spent many of the years between 1947 and 1951 on the road, although he often spent extended periods at his mother's home and in the Florida home he purchased for her.


Today's Gay Wisdom
2018 -

The Wit of Jack Kerouac

“Be in love with yr life.”— Belief and Technique for Modern Prose

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.”—On the Road

“Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.”—On the Road

“It's hard to explain and best thing to do is not be false.”—Big Sur

“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.”—The Dharma Bums

“One man practicing kindness in the wilderness is worth all the temples this world pulls.” — The Dharma Bums

“No man should go through life without once experiencing healthy, even bored solitude in the wilderness, finding himself depending solely on himself and thereby learning his true and hidden strength. Learning for instance, to eat when he’s hungry and sleep when he’s sleepy.” — Lonesome Traveler

“The only truth is music.” - Jack Kerouac

"Our battered suitcases were were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life."—On the Road

“The best teacher is experience and not through someone’s distorted point of view.” — On the Road

“Maybe that’s what life is...a wink of the eye and winking stars.”—Letter to Alan Harrington


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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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Via White Crane Institute //

 Noteworthy

1985 -

On this date the first memorial to the Nazi's gay victims was unveiled: a pink granite stone monument at the former Neuengamme concentration camp, inscribed "Dedicated to the Homosexual Victims of National Socialism."

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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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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation //

 


While you may be able to see the body as an object, its very hard to see the personality as an object because you’ve identified with it for so long. You think that’s who you are.

And now we’re getting more into the depth of the matter because the question one asks is, ‘Is there a place to stand in relation to change where one is not frightened by it? Is there a place to stand in the presence of change where one can be with the changes, even enjoy the changes, work with the changes, become an elder, do all the things that changing involves and at the same moment cultivate equanimity, spaciousness, emptiness, awareness, clarity?’

That’s really what the issue of the deep spiritual work is about.
 

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from Frivolous Speech

 

RIGHT SPEECH
Refraining from Frivolous  Speech
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 be troubled, the other person will 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. It is a trifle that you will be troubled and they will be hurt compared with the value of helping establish them in what is healthy. (MN 103)
Reflection
The teachings on right speech are encouraging us to take the matter of communication more seriously than we often do. Often a lot of chattering is not conveying anything important, and it has a tendency to be distracting, making us less attentive. Speaking carefully about what is true and good brings greater value to our speech and renders it more worthy of being overheard.
Daily Practice
The example offered in this passage suggests that we should not jump to reprimand someone when they have committed some small offense. Pausing to consider whether to speak up breaks the momentum of a quick, reflexive reaction. It may turn out to be appropriate to speak, but the key issue is whether it would be helpful to do so. Note that whether speaking up would be troublesome or might hurt the other person is a trifle in comparison to the benefit of “helping establish them in what is healthy.”
Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Social Action
One week from today: Refraining from False Speech

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