Via Daily Dharma: Letting Go of Control

To maintain a deep, sustained practice of mindfulness is to consistently disidentify with the experience of self as willing agent, to let go of the obsessive need to discriminate, judge, and choose.

C. W. Huntington, Jr., “Are You Looking to Buddhism When You Should Be Looking to Therapy?”

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right View: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering

RIGHT VIEW Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering What is the origin of suffering? It is craving, which brings renewal of being, is accompanied by delight and lust, and delights in this and that; that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for being, and craving for non-being. (MN 9) When one does not know and see sounds as they actually are, then one is attached to sounds. When one is attached, one becomes infatuated, and one’s craving increases. One’s bodily and mental troubles increase, and one experiences bodily and mental suffering. (MN 149)

Reflection The basic cause of suffering is craving, a thirst or hunger for something other than what is. These texts we are consulting will guide us through how to work with this systematically, using each of the sense modalities in turn. Today the matter at hand is sound. We hear sounds all the time, but we practice with sounds by noticing them with full awareness and then ignoring the impulse to follow or resist the sounds. Daily Practice Use sound as a primary object of practice. When sitting quietly, with the back erect, notice the sounds that you experience. They may be relatively loud and distinct, if you are practicing in the city, for example, but even in a silent meditation center there are gentle sounds to be discerned. Practice entails hearing these sounds and then letting them go. The key is not to become infatuated with them but to just let them pass through.  Tomorrow: Cultivating Compassion One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - January 1, 2023 💌 🎆

 
 

The root of fear is the feeling of separateness that can exist here, within oneself. The root of the fear is within the model one has of oneself. That’s where fear starts. Once that feeling of separation exists, then you process everything from either inside or outside in terms of that model. It then keeps reinforcing the feeling of vulnerability, because there are incredibly powerful forces moving both inside and outside of you.

The transformative process of spiritual work is reawakening to the innocence of going behind that model of separation that one has, that cuts you off, that made you a tiny little fragile somebody. A lot of the power comes from a freeing of our own fragility.

- Ram Dass -

Daily Dharma: We Practice Together

 We always practice together. Even when we’re sitting alone, we’re practicing together. 

Norman Fischer, “We Are Our Relationships”

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Mindfulness and Concentration: Establishing Mindfulness of Body and the First Jhāna

 

RIGHT MINDFULNESS Establishing Mindfulness of Body 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)   Breathing in and out, aware of long and short breaths . . . one is just aware, just mindful: "There is body." And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)

Reflection Breathing is universally recommended as an object of meditation because it is always present and always changing. Sometimes it is long, sometimes short. This is not about controlling the breath but following along with it however it naturally unfolds. We are breathing all the time, but today is a good time to sit intentionally for some period of time and do nothing but be aware of breathing in and out, long and short.  Daily Practice There is a wealth of guidelines for practice here. What does it feel like to be at the same time both ardent (intent, energetic) and content, or to be aware of the breath while not clinging to the object of awareness? These are questions to be investigated in your own experience. Sit down in an empty place, establish the presence of mindfulness, and see for yourself what these words are pointing to. RIGHT CONCENTRATION Approaching and Abiding in the First Phase of Absorption (1st Jhāna) Having abandoned the five hindrances, imperfections of the mind that weaken wisdom, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, one enters and abides in the first phase of absorption, which is accompanied by applied thought and sustained thought, with joy and the pleasure born of seclusion. (MN 4) Reflection Absorption practice begins by finding the sweet spot in the center of the mind, the place where there is neither too much energy (restlessness) nor too little (sluggishness), neither wanting (sense desire) nor not wanting (ill will) anything. When these hindrances, along with doubt, are abandoned temporarily, the mind naturally settles down into a state of tranquil alertness and equanimity. Daily Practice Sit quietly and comfortably in a peaceful place and allow everything swirling around in your mind and body to gradually settle down. Like dust settling in the air or particulates settling in water, there is nothing to force or make happen. Patience will be rewarded by the experience of deeper and deeper modes of peacefulness, clarity, and stability of mind. Don’t try to measure anything; just let it all be what it is. Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling and the Second Jhāna Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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Adriana Calcanhotto - Sol Quadrado

Meditation Month Starts TOMORROW! Join Our Free 31-Day Challenge

Support Tricycle with a donation » December 31, 2022 Commit to Daily Practice in 2023   Tricycle’s annual Meditation Month challenge begins tomorrow!  Join us in committing to a daily meditation practice for all 31 days of January. Whether you’re new to meditation or an experienced practitioner, this free meditation challenge can support you in deepening your practice and integrating it into your daily life.   This year’s theme is Samadhi: Cultivating Inner Calm and Collectedness. Guided by Christina Feldman—author, co-founder of meditation retreat center Gaia House, and a guiding teacher emeritus at Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts—we will explore samadhi, an essential Buddhist teaching of meditative development, which aids us in finding greater stillness, well-being, and mind-body integration. “Samadhi is one of the great arts of a life lived fully and whole-heartedly,” says Feldman. “Samadhi develops a mind and heart that can be felt to be a refuge—a true friend.”   Each week, Christina will offer a dharma talk exploring a different facet of the teachings on samadhi. We’ll be there to support you along the way with an array of meditations, tips, inspiration, and resources, including a live Q&A call with Christina, Facebook discussion group, daily newsletter with practice prompts, and more.  Meditation Month is a free offering. Click below to learn more and register.   Join Meditation Month »   Also this week: 2023 bucket list: Discover Buddhism in the “land of the eternal sky” on a Tricycle pilgrimage to Mongolia, coming up Aug. 4-16. Learn more and sign up today.  Get cozy this holiday break with a cup of tea and Tricycle’s top 17 articles of 2022. What can we learn from the many myths about the Buddha’s life? Scholar Bernard Faure joins Tricycle Talks to discuss the rich creativity of the Buddhist tradition. Join Tricycle and Bodhi College for a fresh exploration of the Buddha’s path to freedom in our six-part online course, Reimagining the Eightfold Path. Tricycle Meditation Month 2023: Samadhi with Christina Feldman Starts January 1 Commit to a daily practice throughout January with Tricycle and Christina Feldman, a guiding teacher emeritus at Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts. Sign up now »

Via NPR // Encore: New wave icons The B-52s are on the road for their last tour

 

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: Restraining Unarisen Unhealthy States

 

RIGHT EFFORT Restraining Unarisen Unhealthy States Whatever a person frequently thinks about and ponders, that will become the inclination of their mind. If one frequently thinks about and ponders unhealthy states, one has abandoned healthy states to cultivate unhealthy states, and then one’s mind inclines to unhealthy states. (MN 19) Here a person rouses the will, makes an effort, stirs up energy, exerts the mind, and strives to restrain the arising of unarisen unhealthy mental states. One restrains the arising of the unarisen hindrance of ill will. (MN 141)

Reflection The encouragement to make an effort to restrain unhealthy mental states that have not yet arisen in the mind is not a call to suppress or censure yourself. You are not being asked to stick a finger in the dike and hold back the onslaught of the unconscious mind. Rather it is a call to be skillful in how to hold yourself in this present moment, for this moment conditions what will come up next. Daily Practice The mental quality of ill will includes such emotions as hatred or annoyance and can take the form of anger or fear. The practice described here involves understanding under what conditions these states arise and making an effort to instead encourage the conditions that will not welcome their arising. If you feel kindness, hatred will not arise; with equanimity, you will not get annoyed; if you trust, fear will not assail you. Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Body and Abiding in the First Jhāna One week from today: Abandoning Arisen Unhealthy States Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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