Saturday, December 25, 2021

Via Daily Dharma: Adjusting Your Rudder

 I liken the process of transforming habits to turning a cargo ship at sea. A large vessel with that much momentum can’t make sharp turns. However, a one- or two-degree course correction of the rudder, if held steady, will take that ship in a very different direction over time.


—Oren Jay Sofer, “Turning a Ship”


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Via Daily Dharma: Celebrate with Peace

 

[The holiday season] is a wonderful time, especially if we remember to celebrate with feelings of peace and good will, banish our harsh judgments and foolish prejudices, and remind ourselves of our interrelatedness with other people, sentient beings, and the natural environment that surrounds us.

—Reverend Earl Ikeda, “O Bodhi Tree, O Bodhi Tree”


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Via Dhamma Wheel // Maintaining Arisen Healthy States

 

RIGHT EFFORT
Maintaining Arisen 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 maintain arisen healthy mental states. One maintains the arisen awakening factor of mindfulness. (MN 141)
Reflection
The premier list of healthy mental and emotional states includes the seven factors of awakening, the first of which is mindfulness. It is good to practice mindfulness frequently, for that will incline the mind to further mindfulness. Right effort has a lot to do with developing and maintaining healthy habits of mind and body. It is not always easy to do the right thing, and it often takes effort, but it is invariably good for us.

Daily Practice
The effort required to sustain the state of mindfulness over time—that is, over multiple mind moments in a row—is not the teeth-clenching discipline of forced action but rather the gentle willingness to come back to the present moment. See if you can access a way of understanding effort that is easeful and natural rather than strained. Think of the effort you put into doing the things you like to do—it is an easy effort.

Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects and Abiding in the Fourth Jhāna
One week from today: Restraining Unarisen Unhealthy States

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#DhammaWheel

Questions?
Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Tricycle // The Best Possible Life

 


The Best Possible Life
By Seth Zuiho Segall
In the West, our deeply rooted ideal of human flourishing as the pinnacle of a good life has shaped the way we’ve adapted the dharma.
Read it now »

Vi Daily Dharma: Cherishing Family //

 

While an attitude of nonattachment is essential, it would be sadly misguided to imagine we need to give up love and affection for our family members in order to follow the Bodhisattva Way of universal compassion.

—Lama Jampa Thaye, “Bringing It All Back Home”


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Via White Crane Institute // SOL INVICTUS

 

The Unconquered Sun
2017 -

SOL INVICTUS ("the Unconquered Sun") or, more fully, Deus Sol Invictus ("the Unconquered Sun God") was the late Roman state sun god. The cult was created by the emperor Aurelian in 274 CE and continued until the abolition of paganism under Theodosius I. The Romans held a festival on December 25 called Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, "the birthday of the unconquered sun."

The use of the title Sol Invictus allowed several solar deities to be worshipped collectively, including Elah-Gabal, a Syrian sun god; Sol, the patron god of Emperor Aurelian (270-274); and Mithras. Oh, and a Jewish upstart named Jesus.

December 25th was also considered to be the date of the winter solstice, which the Romans called bruma. It was therefore the day the Sun proved itself to be "unconquered" despite the shortening of daylight hours. (When Julius Caesar introduced the Julian Calendar in 45 B.C.E., December 25th was approximately the date of the solstice. In modern times, the solstice falls on December 21st or 22nd.)

The Sol Invictus festival has a "strong claim on the responsibility" for the date of Christmas, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia. Solar symbolism was popular with early Christian writers as Jesus was considered to be the "sun of righteousness."

The date for Christmas may also bear a relation to the sun worship. According to the scholiast on the Syriac bishop Jacob Bar-Salibi, writing in the twelfth century:

"It was a custom of the Pagans to celebrate on the same 25 December the birthday of the Sun, at which they kindled lights in token of festivity. In these solemnities and revelries the Christians also took part. Accordingly when the doctors of the Church perceived that the Christians had a leaning to this festival, they took counsel and resolved that the true Nativity should be solemnized on that day." (cited in "Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries", Ramsay MacMullen. Yale:1997, p155)


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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 Be Here Now Network // Madison Margolin – Set and Setting – Ep. 2 – Connecting the Dots with Jason Pinsky

  Madison Margolin – Set and Setting – Ep. 2 – Connecting the Dots with Jason Pinsky
December 21, 2021
Jason Pinsky joins Madison Margolin for a conversation about connecting the dots of The Pinsky Triangle, and the great power of plant medicines to heal our minds and bodies.Jason Pinsky joins Madison Margolin for a conversation about connecting the dots of The Pinsky Triangle, and the great power of plant medicines to...

Tuesday, December 21, 2021

396Hz | Let Go Of Anxiety | Overcome Fear | Heal Root Chakra

Dave Richo - Letting Go of Fear Affirmations

Via LGBTQ Nation Daily Brief // Utah billionaire leaves Mormon church with blistering accusation it is actively harming the world

 Utah billionaire leaves Mormon church with blistering accusation it is actively harming the world

417Hz 》Remove Negative Energy from Home

Via Dhamma Wheel // Cultivating Equanimity

 


RIGHT INTENTION
Cultivating Equanimity
Whatever you intend, whatever you plan, and whatever you have a tendency toward, that will become the basis on which your mind is established. (SN 12.40) Develop meditation on equanimity, for when you develop meditation on equanimity, all aversion is abandoned. (MN 62) 

The characteristic of equanimity is promoting objectivity toward beings. (Vm 9.93) Having seen a form with the eye, one is neither glad-minded nor sad-minded but abides with equanimity, mindful and fully aware. (AN 6.1)
Reflection
Equanimity is the quality of mind in which we are neither drawn toward something that is enticing nor pushed away from what is repellent. Like a plate balanced on a stick, the mind does not tilt forward or backward but remains poised in the middle. We can still act from this state, and in fact our actions tend to be more balanced when we are grounded in the equipoise of equanimity rather than carried off by passion for or against something.

Daily Practice
Equanimity is cultivated with the practice of mindfulness. Being aware non-judgmentally means being aware of an object of experience without the mind being biased in favor of it or against it, without favoring or opposing what it is or what is happening. Practice bringing an attitude of "this is simply what is happening now" toward whatever occurs, instead of "I like [or don’t like] this," or "I approve [or don't approve] of this."

Tomorrow: Refraining from Frivolous Speech
One week from today: Cultivating Lovingkindness

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

Questions?
Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Daily Dharma: The Gift of Uncertainty

 

When we let ourselves hang out in the space of not-knowing, there is enormous potential and life could unfold in innumerable ways. So, rather than avoid and fear this place of uncertainty, we can embrace it and all its gifts.

—Kaira Jewel Lingo, “Trusting the Unknown”


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Via White Crane Institute // SOLSTICE

 


Yule Santa with Antlers
2017 -

WINTER SOLSTICE - In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice, sometimes known as Yule, occurs on or very close to this date. In the Northern Hemisphere, it marks the first official day of Winter. In the Southern Hemisphere, the summer solstice occurs around this time.

YULE is a winter festival celebrated in Northern Europe since ancient times. In pre-Christian times, Germanic pagans celebrated Yule from late December to early January on a date determined by a lunar calendar. During the process of Christianization and the adoption of the Julian calendar, Yule was placed on December 25, in order to correspond with the Christian celebrations later known in English as Christmas. Thus, the terms "Yule" and "Christmas" are often used interchangeably, especially in Christmas carols.

In Denmark, Norway and Sweden the term jul is the common way to refer to the celebration, including among Christians. In these countries the highlight of the yule celebrations is the Yule Eve or Christmas Eve on December 24, which is when children get their Yule or Christmas presents by a character resembling Father Christmas called julemanden (Denmark), julenissen (Norway), or jultomten (Sweden).

In Finland, it is called joulu, in Estonia jõulud, and in Iceland and the Faroe Islands jól.

Yule is an important festival for Germanic neopagans, Wiccans and various secular groups who observe the holiday at the winter solstice (December 21 or 22 in the Northern Hemisphere, June 20 or 21 in the Southern Hemisphere).

As with other holidays at this time of the year, it is about the shortness of the day and the long dark night, and it is celebrated, traditionally, with the burning of a log all night to keep the light or carry the light over the divide of the old year to the new.

The burning of the Yule log, the decorating of Christmas trees, particularly with lights, the eating of ham, the hanging of boughs, holly, mistletoe, etc. are all historically practices associated with Yule. When the Christianization of the Germanic peoples began, missionaries found it convenient to provide a Christian reinterpretation of popular pagan holidays such as Yule and allow the celebrations themselves to go on largely unchanged, versus trying to confront and suppress them. The Scandinavian tradition of slaughtering a pig at Christmas (see Christmas ham) is probably salient evidence of this.

The tradition is thought to be derived from the sacrifice of boars to the god Freyr at the Yule celebrations. Halloween and aspects of Easter celebrations are likewise assimilated from northern European pagan festivals.


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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, December 19, 2021

Via Daily Dharma: Finding the Still Point

 

Do not cling to or demand pleasure, calm, bliss, silence, or peace, for they may come and go. Realizing such is true peace shining at the heart of all the world’s noise and calamity—the still point at the center of all coming and going.

—Jundo Cohen, “Four Steps You May Be Overlooking in Your Zazen Practice”


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