A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
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 awakening factor of energy. (MN 141)
Reflection
Energy is a
word with many different meanings in English. Here it refers to a mental
state that may or may not co-arise with other mental states. Its
presence or absence determines how much effort we put into whatever we
are doing in any given moment. Energy levels can be adjusted by
intention. Sometimes we need to put more effort into what we are doing;
sometimes we need to back off and stop trying so hard.
Daily Practice
Since our
concern here is developing healthy states, working with energy is a
means of supporting such things as practicing when you don't feel like
it, being patient when your impulses are urging otherwise, and looking
more closely at a situation to see where the wisdom is to be found in
it. Think of energy as an impersonal factor you can either dial up or
dial down, depending on the situation.
Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Mind and Abiding in the Third Jhāna One week from today: Maintaining Arisen Healthy States
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Patience
is key to your mental health when you are physically ill. It is one of
the few virtues you can actively cultivate when your body ceases to
cooperate.
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)
Odors cognizable by the nose are of two kinds: those to be cultivated
and those not to be cultivated. Such odors as cause, in one who
cultivates them, unhealthy states to increase and healthy states to
diminish, such odors are not to be cultivated. But such odors as cause,
in one who cultivates them, unhealthy states to diminish and healthy
states to increase, such odors are to be cultivated. (MN 114)
Reflection
The point here
is not that some things smell good and some smell bad. Rather it is that
some odors provoke unhealthy states in us and some incline us toward
healthy states. As usual, the emphasis is on the mental and emotional
response to sensory input and not on the quality of that data. The key
is to avoid the tendency for the odor to give rise to craving, either
craving for more pleasure or craving for pain to go away.
Daily Practice
Here you have
another invitation to abide in your experience with equanimity, to be
acutely aware of something, in this case an odor, without being driven
by that information into responding with attraction or aversion. Smells
are a good way to practice equanimity, since it is so easy to observe
the mind being automatically hijacked by pleasure or displeasure into
liking or not liking the smell.
Tomorrow: Developing Unarisen Healthy States One week from today: Abstaining from Intoxication
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Although
they appear to be quite different, sadness and openness are in fact
intimately connected. The profound sadness that overwhelms us when we
understand the impermanent nature of all phenomena opens us up to the
world around us.
Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, “The Secret Strength of Sadness”
Whatever
we have been searching for, whatever we have been striving for—all
unnecessary! Equanimity means that we discover something immeasurable
that we have never actually lost.
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 have done an action with the mind, reflect upon that same mental action thus: “Has this action I have done with the mind led to both my own affliction and the affliction of another?” 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
Mental action is at least as important and influential as physical and verbal action. Every thought, memory, or image that goes through your mind constitutes a mental act, and it is based on these mental events that other actions are put into play. It is okay to reflect from time to time on what has gone through your mind and inquire whether on the whole it has been healthy or unhealthy. This is a form of mental housekeeping.
Daily Practice
Now and then, step out of merely thinking thoughts and reflect on them. A mirror creates an image of whatever passes before it and reveals what it looks like from another perspective. Learn to do that with your own mind by stepping back and gazing on your thoughts rather than “inhabiting” them, as you normally do. This is one way of understanding the practice of mindfulness—becoming aware of what is happening.
Tomorrow: Abstaining from Misbehaving Among Sensual Pleasures One week from today: Reflecting upon Social Action
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