Via Daily Dharma: Working With Unavoidable Suffering

 When you encounter suffering that you can’t stop no matter how hard you try, you need equanimity to avoid creating additional suffering and to channel your energies to areas where you can be of help.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu, “The Brahma-Viharas: Head & Heart Together”

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Dhamma Wheel | Right Action: Reflecting upon Verbal Action

RIGHT ACTION Reflecting Upon Verbal 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 verbal action is to be done with repeated reflection: (MN 61) When you have done an action with speech, reflect upon that same verbal action thus: "Has this action I have done with speech led to my own affliction?" If, upon reflection, you know that it has, then tell someone you trust about it and undertake a commitment not to do it again. If you know it has not, then be content and feel happy about it.  (MN 61)

Reflection People are always talking, if not to other people, then to themselves. And the words we use have consequences, sowing the seeds of both external and internal karma. External karma is the consequence of our actions in the world; internal karma is the effect of our thoughts and emotions on ourselves. This text is telling us that it is beneficial to reflect upon things you have said in the past, noticing anything that has been hurtful to yourself. It is not too late to change the pattern, to learn to speak to yourself and of yourself in healthier ways. Daily Practice Pay attention to what you say, both to others and to yourself. Notice if you find you are devaluing yourself—putting yourself down in some way or being harshly self-critical. As in the case of bodily action, revealing these things to another person who you trust and who has your best interests in mind can be unburdening. It is healthy to change unhealthy habits, even those that are the most intimate and personal. Tomorrow: Abstaining from Taking What is Not Given One week from today: Reflecting upon Mental Action Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from Malicious Speech

 

RIGHT SPEECH Refraining from Malicious Speech Malicious speech is unhealthy. Refraining from malicious speech is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning malicious speech, one refrains from malicious speech. One does not repeat there what one has heard here to the detriment of these, or repeat here what he has heard there to the detriment of those. One unites those who are divided, is a promoter of friendships, and speaks words that promote concord. (DN 1) One practices thus: "Others may speak maliciously, but I shall abstain from malicious speech." (MN 8) When others address you, their speech may be gentle or harsh … One is to train thus: "My mind will be unaffected, and I shall utter no bad words; I shall abide with compassion for their welfare, with a mind of lovingkindness, without inner hate." (MN 21)

Reflection Our natural tendency is to soften to gentle words and retaliate against harsh speech. But the former can allow us to be exploited by the flatterer, and the latter allows the worst in others to bring out the worst in us. Equanimity in the face of harsh speech is not indifference or detachment; it is simply being aware without reactivity. It is not allowing our minds to be thrown off by what others say to us. Daily Practice This is a challenging practice but a helpful one. It encourages us to maintain a balanced state of mind in the face of any kind of speech. It may be easier to practice this at first with overhearing things in the media or the conversations of others, working up to being able to wish for the welfare of even those who speak harshly directly to you. It is not as hard as it sounds once you learn not to take everything others say personally. Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Verbal Action One week from today: Refraining from Harsh Speech 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: Goals for the Heart

 May we learn to delight in the joy of another wherever it may be found. May we sponsor a heart that seeks to end the suffering of others. 

Felicia Washington Sy, “Finding Your Way”

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

 

 

My work around the issue of aging is to quiet the mind enough—it’s like standing back enough, finding a place to stand where I am not so caught in the culture and caught in a set of attitudes I developed from my childhood, and so on—that I can see what is and respond in a way that is in harmony with way it is, become part of it. Which is the way a bird sings or a river flows or a baby cries. 

- Ram Dass -

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Compassion

 

RIGHT INTENTION Cultivating Compassion 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 compassion, for when you develop meditation on compassion, any cruelty will be abandoned. (MN 62)  The function of compassion is not bearing the suffering of others. (Vm 9.94)

Reflection Compassion is an emotion to be felt, a "trembling of the heart in the presence of suffering." Its opposite emotion, cruelty, can come in strong or very subtle forms and involves the mind being unmoved in the face of suffering. Allowing yourself to be moved by compassion (as opposed to merely bearing or tolerating it) has a gradually transformative effect, softening the hardness of the mind and heart and allowing the habit of compassion to develop. Daily Practice Open yourself to the suffering of others. There is no shortage of opportunity for doing this in our world. But instead of noticing a tragic event or an injustice and then moving on to something else, allow your attention to linger on the suffering for a while. Open your mind and body to the unpleasantness of attending to suffering. It is okay to feel the pain of suffering without immediately trying to fix it. We learn and grow from this. Tomorrow: Refraining from Malicious Speech One week from today: Cultivating Appreciative Joy 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: Refining Skillful Effort

 Cultivating skillful effort, we learn to distinguish the “right” amount of effort. Not too little. Not too much. Just right. In tune. When we find the right pitch, our practice flourishes.

Peter Doobinin, “Skillful Effort”

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Via White Crane Institute // SAN FRANCISCO

Noteworthy

Baghdad by the Bay

1847 -

The city of Yerba Buena, California is renamed SAN FRANCISCO a place that still holds a magical aura for Gay people everywhere. Also known as Baghdad by the Bay coined in the late 1940s by columnist and mainstay of San Francisco culture Herb Caen, likely reflecting the multiculturalism and exotic character of the city, while also identifying the city with a great historical cultural and intellectual center, as well as possibly implying a moral association with Babylon.

The Lesbian, Gay, bisexual, queer and transgender (LGBTQ) community in San Francisco is one of the largest and most prominent LGBT communities in the world, and is one of the most important in the history of LGBT Rights and activism. The city itself has, among its many nicknames, the nickname "Gay capital of the world", and has been described as "the original 'Gay-friendly city'". LGBT culture is also active within companies that are based in Silicon Valley, which is located within the San Francisco bay area.

San Francisco's LGBT culture has it roots in the city's own origin as a frontier-town, what SF State University professor Alamilla Boyd characterizes as “San Francisco’s history of sexual permissiveness and its function as a wide-open town - a town where anything goes". The discovery of gold saw a boom in population from 800 to 35,000 residents between 1848 and 1850. These immigrants were composed of miners and fortune seekers from a variety of nationalities and cultures, although over 95% were young men.

These transient and diverse populations thrust into a relatively anarchic environment were less likely to conform to social conventions. For example, with an unbalanced gender ratio, men often assumed roles conventionally assigned to women in social and domestic settings. Cross-gender dress and same-sex dancing where prevalent at city masquerade balls where some men would assume the traditional role of women going so far as to wear female attire.

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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 View: 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 understand odors as they actually are, then one is attached to odors. 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 classical teaching of the noble truths is described in this text by cycling through all six sense spheres one by one, pointing to how suffering arises and ceases in countless individual experiences. Suffering is not a broad concept, but an intimate and fleeting experience. Every time you are experiencing something and craving it in some way, you are creating a micro-event of suffering. Today we are considering suffering in relation to the sense of smell. Daily Practice Smell is perhaps the least used of all the senses, but it is not to be overlooked as a field for practice. Are you capable of smelling odors without at the same time saying to yourself on some level: “This one is good"; "This one is bad"; "I want more of this one"; "I want this one to go away"? This is the invitation to practice. See if you can experience odors simply as what they are and not in relation to your desire for or against. 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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