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Racial and Social Justice as Dharma Practice A Multi Sangha Program open to all

 

Racial and Social Justice as Dharma Practice

A Multi Sangha Program open to all

Facilitated by: Hoka Chris Fortin and Doralee Grindler Katonah . 

 

Thursdays, 6:00 – 8:00 pm., The 4^th Thursday of each month beginning February 24, 2022

If we were to simply walk past the fires of racism, sexism, and so on because illusions of separation exist within them, we may well be walking past one of the widest gateways to enlightenment.  

Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, The Way of Tenderness

The Racial and Social Justice Dharma Group is committed to study, intimate investigation and conversation, and embodied bodhisattva practice to actualize personal and collective freedom for all beings. 

We understand that we have grown up with systems of baked in oppression which harm us and others.  Racial, social, and economic disparities permeate these systems. We strive to wake up to these unconscious identities and use them to develop compassion and wisdom. 

 

We embrace that we cannot do this kind of work alone and that it is in supportive community and through our Bodhisattva Vow that the potential for transformation and the ability to live a live devoted to ending suffering is possible.

 

We recognize that there is no ‘right’ way or script for action; that we are discerning and asking ‘what are we called to do now, unique to our life circumstances, and moment to moment.’ 

 

We practice being present in the midst of suffering and offer our full aliveness for the liberation of all beings everywhere. 

 

 

Pre-registration for the group is requested each month, so that everyone can have the materials for the evening and consider the agreements before each meeting. 

 

To register, or for more information please email: chrisfortin@comcast.net or grindkaton@icloud.com. The zoom link is sent out each month.  

 

Current literature and timely resources inform our monthly meetings and will be sent on registration. 

Thursday March 24; Grieving While Black, An Antiracist Take On Oppression and Sorrow . Breeshia Wade  

 

Facilitated by: Hoka Chris Fortin and Doralee Grindler Katonah . 

The two teachers facilitating the group identify as white, U.S. citizens, and Zen Buddhist priests. We understand the limitations of our experiences in relation to race, and strive to bring cultural humility to our facilitation of these groups.

 

Dana is always welcome and will be donated by RSJD to an organization dedicated to racial and social justice. 

 

 

Via Listen to this week’s podcasts from the Be Here Now Network

  Ethan Nichtern – The Road Home – Ep. 67 – Doing Small Things: The Dharma of Lego
February 17, 2022 In this episode of The Road Home, Ethan Nichtern explores the dharma of Lego and how doing small things can help with the often...

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Via Tricycle // The Shin Buddhist Path of Boundless Compassion

 

The Shin Buddhist Path of Boundless Compassion A Virtual Conversation with Mark Unno

Join fourteenth-generation Shin Buddhist priest Mark Unno for a discussion on finding compassion in dark times.

Sign up »

Via White Crane Institute // Today's Gay Wisdom

 

Young Andre Gide

2018 -

TODAY'S GAY WISDOM

The wisdom of Andre Gide:

 Art is a collaboration between God and the artist and the less the artist does the better - Andre Gide

Be faithful to that which exists nowhere but in yourself - and thus make yourself indispensable - Andre Gide

Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it. - Andre Gide

Dare to be yourself. - Andre Gide

It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not. - Andre Gide

It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves, in finding themselves. - Andre Gide

Obtain from yourself all that makes complaining useless, No longer implore from others what you yourself can obtain. - Andre Gide

One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time - Andre Gide

So long as we live among men, let us cherish humanity - Andre Gide

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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 Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: 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 energy awakening factor. (MN 141)

Reflection

Although it is not acknowledged as much as it could be, much of what goes on in our mind is healthy and beneficial and is helping us along the path of clarification. There are a lot of good people in the world who care for one another, respect one another, and wish each other well. It is important to acknowledge and maintain these beneficial states, which is done by feeding them energy.

Daily Practice

Next time you are feeling good in an unselfish way, perhaps thinking well of and wishing the best for the people around you, see how long you can sustain the experience. Just as your mind is likely to wander in meditation despite your efforts to keep your attention on your breath, there are all sorts of ways the good will you are feeling might waver or diminish, but the practice here is to give it the energy it needs to keep unfolding. See how long you can keep  up thinking well of people.

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

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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Daily Dharma: There Is No Thinker

 When passing thoughts appear in our mind, we often take them personally, as though we were the owner and controller of such thoughts. We’re not. In fact, there is no thinker behind passing thoughts. They merely exist without an owner. Once you see this truth clearly, it becomes easier to allow thoughts to simply pass by. 

Haemin Sunim, “Three Methods for Letting Go of Thoughts”

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Living: Abstaining from Intoxication

 

RIGHT LIVING
Undertaking the Commitment to Abstain from Intoxication

Intoxication is unhealthy. Refraining from intoxication is healthy. (MN 9) What are the imperfections that defile the mind? Negligence is an imperfection that defiles the mind. Knowing that negligence is an imperfection that defiles the mind, a person abandons it. (MN 7) One practices thus: "Others may become negligent by intoxication, but I will abstain from the negligence of intoxication." (MN 8) One of the dangers attached to addiction to intoxicants is liability to sickness. (DN 31)

Reflection

Ever practical and down-to-earth, the Buddha does not moralize about intoxication but points out its practical dangers. Intoxication is anything that evokes negligence, and negligence can mean anything that prevents you from seeing clearly. This is unhealthy, not just in the physical sense but also in mental and emotional ways. Becoming more sensitized to the various obstacles to our own diligence is a valuable practice.

Daily Practice

Find something you tend to get intoxicated by—it need not be alcohol or drugs, but can be ordinary things like coffee or sugar, the news or other media, or emotions like sadness, self-pity, or envy—and look more closely at your relationship to it. In what ways might the negligence and lack of clarity involved in that intoxication contribute to sickness, whether it be a physical sickness or a less tangible mental or emotional affliction?

Tomorrow: Maintaining Arisen Healthy States
One week from today: Abstaining from Harming Living Beings

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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Daily Dharma: Letting the Breeze In

 When the small self lets go at the point where it has been clinging most fiercely—suddenly a breeze can blow in through the windowless room.

Noelle Oxenhandler, “Twirling a Flower”

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Action: Reflecting upon Social Action

 

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: "A person who thinks in hurtful ways is displeasing and disagreeable to me. If I were to think in hurtful ways, I would be displeasing and disagreeable to others. Therefore, I will undertake a commitment to not think in hurtful ways." (MN 15)

Reflection

Bodily and verbal actions have obvious effects on others, but in Buddhist teachings even what you think can affect the world around you in significant ways. Every thought plants a seed, and the fruits—both good and bad—can emerge in unexpected ways to do harm or to bring about benefit. This is why it is so important to look inward, using the mirror of mindfulness practice to see and refine the quality of your thoughts and attitudes.

Daily Practice

It is easy to condemn other people who do not think like us. But we know how it feels to be condemned by others for thinking the way we do. This antagonistic cycle can be broken by having enough empathy to look at things from another’s point of view and to even make a practice of it. Instead of thinking about how other people should change, try as an exercise looking for ways you can change. Learn from others how not to be.

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

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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Daily Dharma: Finding True Silence

 Silence is something that comes from your heart, not from outside. Silence doesn’t mean not talking and not doing things; it means that you are not disturbed inside. If you’re truly silent, then no matter what situation you find yourself in you can enjoy the silence.

Thich Nhat Hanh, “The Heart of the Matter”

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Via Daily Dharma: We’re Never Alone

 No matter how despairing or cut off we can feel at any given time, we are not actually severed from the essential flow of life or from one another. If we get quiet for a while and pay careful attention, this is what we realize.

Sharon Salzberg, “Forever Connected”

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: 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 manifestation of equanimity is the subsiding of attraction and aversion. (Vm 9.93) Having smelled an odor with the nose, one is neither glad-minded nor sad-minded but abides with equanimity, mindful and fully aware. (AN 6.1)

Reflection

Equanimity, the fourth brahma-vihara, or sublime way of abiding, is defined here in terms of its manifestation—how it presents itself in experience. Equanimity manifests as the absence of the two extremes of attraction (greed) and aversion (hatred), which so often rule the mind. Equanimity is the still center point on a continuum between the two, where the mind neither draws toward nor tilts away from an object.

Daily Practice

Equanimity can be practiced with any of the sense modalities, and here we are invited to engage with the practice in the sensory realm of smelling odors. Practice lingering in the presence of an obviously pleasant or an intensely unpleasant odor and see if you can manifest the attitude of equanimity. You can experience pleasure and displeasure and not automatically want more or less of it. See what this feels like, and then sustain the non-reactive attitude toward feeling tones.

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

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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Daily Dharma: The Nature of Emotions

 All feelings come and go, and are by their nature ephemeral. But if we don’t train our minds to see that, we end up riding life like the old roller coaster at Coney Island that threatened to hurl people from their seats every now and again.

Pilar Jennings, “Fear”

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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, you should not hurry to reprove them but rather consider whether or not to speak. If you will not 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 they will be hurt compared with the value of helping establish them in what is healthy. (MN 103)

Reflection

So many of our speech patterns are habitual and unfold automatically. The practice of right speech gives us an opportunity to notice this, because we are bringing greater awareness to the action of speaking. It also enables us to change our habitual patterns because it gives us time to respond differently. The ability to pause and reflect before responding is particularly important when in the presence of offensive speech.

Daily Practice

The next time you feel offended by something someone says to you, slow down enough to not react automatically and to take some time to consider whether or not to speak. Not every put down requires a comeback. The critical factor in the analysis above is whether or not what you say will make a difference. It is okay to hurt someone’s feelings if you "can help them emerge from what is unhealthy" and get on a better track.

Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Social Action
One week from today: Refraining from False Speech

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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - February 16, 2022 💌 Inbox

 
 

This is us living the busy and unexamined life, acting from that complex of motives that take us through the day. But when we don’t pay full attention to our inner dialogue, to our feelings and thoughts, and we don’t answer the call of the heart, we feel alienated from ourselves and from life around us, however subtly, and we don’t experience the moment as fully as we might. As we pass by the homeless woman, life passes us by.

Compassionate action gives us an opportunity to wake up to some of our motives and to act with more freedom. It gives us the chance to put ourselves out on the edge, and if we are willing to take a clean look at what we see there, we can come to know ourselves better. We can’t, of course, change what is arising in us at any moment, because we can’t change our pasts and our childhoods. But when we listen to our own minds and stop being strangers to ourselves, we increase the number of ways we can respond to what arises.

Then we know when we are resisting contact with a poor person because of something that happened in childhood, and we know that now we have nothing to fear either from the homeless person or from the examination of our place in the economic structure. We are here right now, and we are free. We can either walk past the person, talk to her, give her some money, and go on, maybe reflecting on the causes of homelessness and its relation to our hot tub, or we can cross the street because we are still carrying around fear and protection from childhood and don’t want to deal with it today on the way to a meeting.

Whichever we do, with increasing awareness comes an appreciation of our actions as they are, and then they begin to change. Even if we haven’t acted compassionately toward the woman, we haven’t repressed the fact that she exists, and we aren’t judging ourselves; as awareness and acceptance increase, not blocked by our fears, we tend to act more humanely. It happens naturally.

- Ram Dass


Excerpt from Compassion in Action: Setting Out on the Path of Service

MEDICINE BUDDHA CHANTS @285Hz 🧘‍♂️ Best Healing Mantra Meditation (3 Ho...

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right View: The Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering

 

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) Having heard the Dhamma and trusting the Buddha, one undertakes a commitment to perfect their ethical behavior. (DN 2)

Reflection

The first step along the path of transformation and healing laid out by the Buddha is not meditation but the cultivation of improved ethical behavior. The practice is to purify your mind of some of the most harmful mental and emotional toxins that obstruct the ability to quiet the mind. This can only be done by making a commitment to a healthier course of action and will in itself greatly contribute to the cessation of suffering.

Daily Practice

Make a commitment to improving or even perfecting your ethical behavior as a living and active practice. Choose to work toward being a better person, toward treating others with greater care and respect, and toward being truthful and trustworthy. Ethical behavior is not only the result of meditation and wisdom but also the cause of them. As wisdom grows it becomes easier to behave ethically, but you need to begin such behavior on day one.

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

Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media
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Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.