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

 

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 not uplifted, one is aware: “The mind is not uplifted.”. . . One is just aware, just mindful: “There is mind. “And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)

Reflection

The word uplifted in the original text carries a sense of both greater and loftier. Applying that to mind states, we might think of some states as more open or spacious than others, because they are more expanded in scope, encompassing a wider view. Or we might think of some states as more ethically refined than others; kindness, for example, is more “uplifted” than selfishness.

Daily Practice

As you sit in meditation and observe mental states arise and pass away in your consciousness, notice their quality. Notice in particular when your mind feels contracted; see what that feels like exactly. Notice also when the mental states that are present are ignoble or less than uplifted. You are just noticing, not judging. Abide mindful and fully aware of these states, "not clinging to anything."

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) One practices: "I shall breathe in experiencing the whole body"; one practices: "I shall breathe out experiencing the whole body." This is how concentration by mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated so that it is of great fruit and great benefit. (SN 54.8)

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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Via Daily Dharma: Fully Participate

If we bring our full identities into practice with others, we can function within our identities in a way that is participatory rather than self-involved, and so allows us something beyond.

Leora Fridman, “Healthy Boundaries”

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - June 5, 2022 💌

 

At some point awakening begins. The awakening happens with trauma or it happens when somebody you love dies. In sexuality you transcend separateness. It can be drugs. It can be meditation. It can be a hymn. It can be a leaf falling. It can be lying under the stars. It can be trying to solve a problem where your mind gets so one-pointed it goes through the veil. Whatever it is, you open up into other planes of consciousness that have been there in all the splendor all the time. 

- Ram Dass -

Via Tricycle // The Radical Power of Just Showing Up with Shelly Tygielski

 

June 4, 2022

Thriving in Community

 
The communities that thrive are the ones that work together. 

That’s the premise behind Pandemic of Love, a South Florida–based mutual aid organization that is now 2 million donors strong. Pandemic of Love was established in March 2020, when meditation teacher and community activist Shelly Tygielski looked around and realized that in her community there were people with needs—and people with the ability to fill those needs. The organization has brought people together in communities of care, supporting one another through the pandemic, mass shootings, and hurricanes. 

“In any ecosystem… organisms all need each other, not just merely to survive, but in fact to thrive,” she says. “When they work together, when they cooperate, when they give and take, they actually do a lot better than merely just surviving. I think that points to a lot of what we can look to as human beings.”

On the latest episode of the podcast Life As It Is, Tygielski sits down with Sharon Salzberg and Tricycle’s editor-in-chief, James Shaheen, to discuss her work with Ukrainian refugees in Poland, the connection between self-care and social transformation, and the radical power of just showing up.
 

Listen to the full episode now »

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: Developing Unarisen Healthy States

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 mindfulness-     awakening factor. (MN 141)

Reflection

Mindfulness can be an active state of mind when it is arising in the present moment in your lived experience, or it can be a personality or character trait lying dormant in the unconscious mind, waiting to be activated. In Buddhist language this is indicated by saying mindfulness is either arisen or unarisen, and a different strategy is needed for each situation. Here we are told how to awaken our innate mindfulness by an act of will.

Daily Practice

Develop your latent capacity for mindfulness by bringing it from a passive trait to an active state as often as you can. It is mostly a matter of remembering to do so. It is not difficult to be mindful, but it can be difficult to remember to be mindful. When you are able to do this more often, the habit of being consciously aware of your experience grows and mindfulness becomes the inclination of your mind. This is good for you.

Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Mind and Abiding in the Third Jhāna
One week from today: Maintaining Arisen Healthy States

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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

 

Via Daily Dharma: Lasting Happiness

 You need strong determination to overcome harmful habits. But the payoff is happiness—not just for today but for always.

Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, Getting Started

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Via L.A. Times // Newsletter: Why LGBTQ rights may be secure despite the Supreme Court

 

Make the jump here to read the full article

Via Daily Dharma: A Wise Response in a Complex World

Making space for the truth of our feelings is essential for keeping the heart healthy and finding a wise response in this complex world.

Oren Jay Sofer, “Why We Need Both Grief and Gratitude”

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Living: Abstaining from Misbehaving Among Sensual Pleasures

 

RIGHT LIVING
Undertaking the Commitment to Abstain from Misbehaving Among Sensual Pleasures    

Sensual misconduct is unhealthy. Refraining from sensual misconduct is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning sensual misconduct, one abstains from misbehaving among sensual pleasures. (MN 41) One practices thus: “Others may engage in sensual misconduct, but I will abstain from sensual misconduct.” (MN 8) Forms cognizable by the eye are of two kinds: those to be cultivated and those not to be cultivated. Such forms as cause, in one who cultivates them, unhealthy states to increase and healthy states to diminish, such forms are not to be cultivated. But such forms as cause, in one who cultivates them, unhealthy states to diminish and healthy states to increase, such forms are to be cultivated. (MN 114)

Reflection

As humans we use our eyes a lot. Mostly we are free to choose what we gaze on, but in many cases our attention is hijacked by visual images directed at us from a billboard, a magazine page, or a computer screen. Sometimes this provokes craving of various sorts and is thus a way of engaging us in sensual misconduct against our will. Learning to resist being hijacked by images and to abandon it when it happens is a healthy skill.

Daily Practice

Notice the quality of your mind as you take in visual information. The more you look at something, does it increase or decrease your stress? Does it make you more calm and at ease or does it wind you up? What you look at is one thing; how you feel when you do so is something else. Learn to observe the inner state evoked by sensory inputs and to thereby learn what to cultivate and what not to cultivate for your own well-being.

Tomorrow: Developing Unarisen Healthy States
One week from today: Abstaining from Intoxication

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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via SBMG //

 

Upcoming Retreat

Online: Half-Day Meditation Retreat, “Entering the Path of Chan”, with Guo Gu (Chan)

June 11 @ 9:30 am - 12:30 pm $20 – $100   GuoGu will be with us online via zoom. This half-day retreat extends his May 22 dharma talk (available on SBMG’s website Audio section) and builds upon the Silent Illumination approach to practice. Click here to register via Eventbrite. Registrants will receive the zoom link by email two days before the retreat with reminder and details about the day. Guo Gu (Dr. Jimmy Yu) is the founder of the Tallahassee Chan Center, the founder of the socially engaged intra-denominational Buddhist organization, Dharma Relief, and a professor of Buddhism and East Asian religions at Florida State University. He was a monk for nine years and one of the late Master Sheng Yen’s senior and closest disciples. He is the author of Silent Illumination (2021), The Essence of Chan (2020), and Passing Through the Gateless Barrier (2016). To connect with Guo Gu, visit....READ MORE

REGISTER NOW

IMS Book Club: A Queer Dharma | Jacoby Ballard — June 16 at 7PM ET

After gay Pride flag flap, N.J. school fills windows with rainbow banners

 

Happy Pride 2022!

 

Via Daily Dharma: A Vast Improve Collective

 Once we see that we are not solo improv stand-up players but rather members of a vast improv collective, we can recognize that the only way that I can succeed is if we succeed. 

Jay Garfield, “Learning to Live Without a Self”

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Action: Reflecting upon Mental Action

 

RIGHT ACTION
Reflecting Upon Mental 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 mental action is to be done with repeated reflection. (MN 61) When you wish to do an action with the mind, reflect upon that same mental action thus: “Would this action I wish to do with the mind lead to both my own affliction and the affliction of another?” If, upon reflection, you know that it would, then do not do it; if you know that it would not, then proceed. (MN 61)

Reflection

It may seem odd to us that we could be aware of our intention to think thoughts before actually doing so. Thinking before you speak is one thing, but thinking before you think? And yet in the Buddhist model of mind and body, actions of the mind are not so different from actions of body and speech. We can learn to be aware of them before, during, and after undertaking all forms of action.

Daily Practice

Identify some of your thought patterns that are familiar to you: the stories you tell yourself over and over, the episodes from the past you ruminate over. Now make the decision not to go there yet again. Some of this introspection can be helpful, but if it becomes repetitive and involuntary it can “lead to your own affliction.” There are ways to take more control over your mental action, and not ruminating is one of those ways.

Tomorrow: Abstaining from Misbehaving Among Sensual Pleasures
One week from today: Reflecting upon Social Action

Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media
#DhammaWheel

Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

The Koan

 

Wednesday, June 1, 2022

A Koan

 

Today,

In waiting for a bus

A policeman stopped in his car

And asked me for directions.

 

 

In writing this down it looked rather koanish, or maybe a semi-koan[1]?

When I got home… there was an email link reminding me of this talk (I missed it yesterday but knew I could retrieve later), so I tuned in:

Awakening with Koans: A Conversation with Joan Sutherland Roshi

During Roshi Sutherland’s talk, I looked at my notes… and just laughed. 

As besides enjoying the moment earlier in giving the off duty, but uniformed policeman directions, to the music store. The music store is up above the bus stop, like WAY above… next to the Café de Chocolate. I was waiting for the bus in Pilar  on the corner near Lulu’s and the  OuroPretano Cevejeria, after  going to the corrieos and getting a haircut.

 

I loved how the policeman, rolled to a stop, asked this foreign guy waiting for the bus for directions, thanked me and drove on. I liked how the ladies – the kind that clean houses or work in pousadas and meet up at the bus stop on their way home, like the ladies in ICEB at 4pm, began chatting with me as we waited for the bus up the hill, no one asked where I was from… no funny faces, nada… nice! 

 

This was after  another opportunity to practice in the Corrieos… where there was a long line, no one was masked, and when I asked the young lady texting behind me who was coughing, if she might  give me some space, she moved closer to me with a snarl… I wanted to growl back, but instead I moved a bit out of line, she tried moving into my space, but I held my ground. I was tempted to pull rank and use my idoso status and jump ahead, but when I am not exactly in a hurry, and well it seems wrong… those folks that are working and need a break, often end up getting stranded in line as seniors get to jump the line. It seems backward, the folks with time  might wait a bit and let those that need to get to work get in and out.  

Besides, I have my 4th vax, and am religiously masking my old man's sit upon... but I digress.

 

Dhukka… breathe in, breathe out. And I did, when I got to the desk… I asked  the lady if she had sent anything to México today.

 

“Não”

 

The person next to me at the window looked over and said, “Legal (cool)”.

 

We all laughed, suddenly one of the street beggars came in, shoved me aside, and told her he needed 6 reais for lunch and that she had only given him 5… I moved over, she fished out more troco, gave it to him and he left. I looked at her, she looked at me, and we smiled. We all have our designated beggars now, that things are a bit harsh for some here.

 

She  got my certified signature pages I needed to send to MXDF off to the folks in a masters defense I was in a few weeks ago, and as I left she shouted, “Muito obrigado Daniel!”. People are nice here.

 

My frustration with the mean girl evaporated, I went to the street… It was beautiful, and I thought… “Self, you earned a haircut”. So I called Lulu, after a lovely walk down to Pilar and Lulu’s he fixed me up, and there I was, waiting for the bus.

 

And so dear readers, that is how I ended up with my own semi-koan, with a dollop of Joan.

 

Here it is again:

 

Today,

In waiting for a bus

A policeman stopped in his car

And asked me for directions.

 

Yep, it’s that good here.

 

---

[1] What is a koan, you ask? Assist the talk link above, or make the jump here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koan

 

Awakening with Koans: A Conversation with Joan Sutherland Roshi

Via Lion's Roar// Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha

 

GBF] new GBF talks

New talks have been added to the audio archive at the GBF website:

2022_05_22 Syra Smith The Heart of Sorrow.mp3

2000_03_05 Jim Wilson First GBF Spring Retreat 1 Engaged Buddhism Xin Xin Ming.mp3

2000_03_05 Jim Wilson First GBF Spring Retreat 2 If All is Buddha Why Do We Sit.mp3

2000_03_06 Jim Wilson First GBF Spring Retreat 3 Suffering .mp3

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from Harsh Speech

 

RIGHT SPEECH
Refraining from Harsh Speech

Harsh speech is unhealthy. Refraining from harsh speech is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning harsh speech, one refrains from harsh speech. One speaks words that are gentle, pleasing to the ear, and affectionate, words that go to the heart, are courteous, and are agreeable to many. (DN 1) One practices thus: “Others may speak harshly, but I shall abstain from harsh speech.” (MN 8) When one speaks unhurriedly, one’s body does not grow tired and one’s mind does not become excited, one’s voice is not strained and one’s throat does not become hoarse. The speech of one who speaks unhurriedly is distinct and easy to understand. (MN 139)

Reflection

The previous text on right speech emphasized the drawbacks of speaking hurriedly, and this one reverses the focus and speaks to the benefits of taking your time when you have something to say. This can seem out of touch with the pace of modern life, but does that mean we should ignore this advice to fit in with the times? Might it be better to be guided by these wise words and learn to slow down how we communicate?

Daily Practice

How much of the stress in your experience comes from speaking too fast or trying to follow the speech of others who are speaking at a mile a minute? Notice, by paying attention, when this happens and make a conscious effort to slow down the pace of your own speech. This can have the effect of slowing down the people you talk with as well. You don’t have to be swept along by the speaking habits of others.

Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Mental Action
One week from today: Refraining from Frivolous Speech

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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Daily Dharma: Exploring with Courage

 Only the courage to explore things as they are–in all of their messiness, pain, and resistance to our desires–leads to real surprises. One of them might be our own freedom, closer than we thought.

Matthew Gindin, “The Middle Way of Sobriety” 

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - June 1, 2022 💌

  

 

What I’m suggesting is that after a while everything in your life becomes grist for the mill for awakening, and your priorities change. Instead of, ‘Am I awakening through my work? Am I awakening through this relationship? Am I awakening through this drive? Am I awakening through how I take care of my body?' The journey of awakening begins to dominate the terrain. There is clearly an inner shift of priority, and then you start to use your life that way.

- Ram Dass -

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