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.
The
way we do anything can reflect the way we do everything. It’s useful to
see whether our lives outside of meditation practice are congruent with
our lives as we sit.
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 bodily
action is to be done with repeated reflection. (MN 61)
When you wish to do an action with the body, reflect upon that same
bodily action thus: “Is this action I wish to do with the body an
unhealthy bodily action with painful consequences and painful results?”
If, upon reflection, you know that it is, then do not do it. If you know
that it is not, then proceed. (MN 61)
Reflection
As embodied
beings, we are always performing some sort of action, even if that
action is remaining still. Buddhist teachings recognize that physical
actions begin with the mental intention to act and invite us to look
carefully at the quality of our intentions. It is often hard to discern
the intention before the action, and it feels as if the body is acting
“on its own.” But if you investigate your experience closely, it is
possible to see your intention.
Daily Practice
See if you can
catch that brief moment before any action when the intention to do the
action arises in the mind. You might try this when you decide to open
your eyes after a sitting, for example. Then extend this capability to
noticing the ethical quality of actions you perform in daily life,
reflecting on whether a forthcoming action is likely to cause harm in
some way. If you can catch it before you act and stop, that is good.
Tomorrow: Abstaining from Harming Living Beings One week from today: Reflecting upon Verbal Action
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False speech is unhealthy.
Refraining from false speech is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning false speech,
one dwells refraining from false speech, a truth-speaker, one to be
relied on, trustworthy, dependable, not a deceiver of the world. One
does not in full awareness speak falsehood for one’s own ends or for
another’s ends or for some trifling worldly end. (DN 1) One practices
thus: “Others may speak falsely, but I shall abstain from false speech.”
(MN 8)
When one knows overt sharp speech to be untrue, incorrect, and unbeneficial, one should on no account utter it. (MN 139)
Reflection
How much of
what we say is totally useless? We often emphasize the value of
expressing ourselves and of “getting things off our chest,” and this
accounts for many of the expletives we utter and emotional downloads we
deliver. What about the role speech plays in communicating with others?
Buddhist teachings encourage us to focus on speaking what is true and
what is beneficial—that is, what brings out the best in others.
Daily Practice
Pay attention
to how people speak and notice speech that is sharp. One text calls it
“stabbing one another with verbal daggers.” You know it when you hear it
because you almost feel stabbed or wounded by the aggressive hostility
of the words. Now look at your own habits of speaking and see if you can
catch yourself doing the same thing. Whenever you notice the intention
to speak in ways that are harmful, don’t do it.
Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Bodily Action One week from today: Refraining from Malicious Speech
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He
who expresses true love and kindness is not harmed but loved in return.
He who loves is thus protected, and he who is loved comes to express
his potential qualities beyond egotistical concerns, thus cultivating
the true source of happiness.
Karma Trinlay Rinpoche, “What We’ve Been All Along”
"When you have your game all together, and there is still a yearning
inside you, and you say, 'I don't understand why I'm still unhappy, I've
got it all.' Well, that yearning is your ticket to spiritual
awakening."
Whatever you intend,
whatever you plan, and whatever you have a tendency toward, that will
become the basis upon which your mind is established. (SN 12.40) Develop
meditation on lovingkindness, for when you develop meditation on
lovingkindness, all ill will will be abandoned. (MN 62)
The far enemy of lovingkindness is ill will. (Vm 9.98)
Reflection
Ill will is the
far enemy of lovingkindness because it is so clearly in opposition to
it. These two polar opposites cannot occupy the mind at the same moment.
This means that at any point we are are feeling kind or aversive or are
experiencing a moment of mindful equanimity. Right intention means
learning to use every opportunity to cultivate lovingkindness, since it
is such a beneficial mind state.
Daily Practice
You cultivate
mental and emotional states by encouraging them to arise and then
working to maintain them as much as possible. Practice feeling friendly
and kindly, if only in your mind, toward all the people and other beings
you encounter each day. The more you do this, the more inclined your
mind will be toward friendliness and kindness. One consequence of this
is that the tendency toward ill will will diminish.
Tomorrow: Refraining from False Speech One week from today: Cultivating Compassion
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