Sunday, August 13, 2023

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

 


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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)
 
Full awareness: When flexing and extending limbs, wearing clothing, carrying food . . . one is just aware, just mindful: “There is a body.” And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)
Reflection
Mindfulness of the body can be very precise and focused, as when we observe every microsensation of the inbreath and outbreath. It can also be broader and more open, taking in the full sweep of larger activities. The practice of full awareness, a term used together with mindfulness, involves an awareness that draws back, so to speak, to a slightly greater distance, allowing it to encompass the full scope of an activity.

Daily Practice
Practice being aware of your body in motion as it moves the limbs in dance or sport or physical work. Feel the continuity of such movements, and allow your mindfulness to encompass the motion as a whole. Now practice doing all this with full awareness, dialing up your focused attention so it becomes even more acute and precise. This is mindfulness in motion, without clinging.


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)

One practices: “I shall breathe in contemplating impermanence”;
one practices: “I shall breathe out contemplating impermanence.”
This is how concentration by mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated 
so that it is of great fruit and great benefit. (A 54.8)

Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering
One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling and Abiding in the Second Jhāna

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation \\ Words of Wisdom - August 13, 2023 💌



"Which reality do you dwell in? If you stand anywhere, you're missing part of the show. Don't stand anywhere. I have no idea who you are or who I am. Then I am free. The minute I get trapped in a label, I have just imprisoned myself. No matter how well I furnish the prison, it's still a prison."
 
- Ram Dass -

Saturday, August 12, 2023

Via Love Serve Remember Foundation // Love and Aloha — A call to your heart from Maui


Alu ka pula i Maui.

Concentrate your prayers on Maui

.

‘Ōlelo No’eau 115
For a moment when concentration and united effort are required (adapted to Maui from Hakalau). 
From ‘Ōlelo No’eau, Hawaiian Proverbs and Political Sayings, by Mary Kawena Pukui. 

 

Send support to Aloha in Action.


It rained early in the morning yesterday, a brief miracle amidst the devastating fires on Haleakalā and in Lāhainā, just around the corner from Napili Bay, our beloved refuge and retreat. 

We are heartbroken. Our raw hearts burn, turned towards the astonishing loss of life, home, and heritage. As fire raged across the island, we found each other — some forced to evacuate, others providing shelter and refuge, all reaching out in the connecting heart mantras of crisis - Are you safe? Where are you now? What do you need? How can we help? 

All are now focused on getting resources to community — cooking meals and gathering essential supplies to pass from warm hand to warm hand, ferrying resources to our brothers and sisters in Lāhainā, and boats from one shore to the other. Supporting people who have lost all, to protect their land and rebuild. We are connected as satsang and ‘ohana (family) — united in aloha (love), kāko’o (support) and (kokūa) help. 

All of us are part of Ram Dass’ ‘ohana. We are all connected to life-giving Maui in a deep way, regardless of zip code. Through him, we are all children of Maui’s love and momona (sweetness, abundance).

Ram Dass received blessing by Auntie Mahilani Poepoe, a revered Elder and gifted healer, to shine his light here on Maui. His dear friends Lei’ohu Ryder and Maydeen ‘Īao continue her lineage, as Kumu Aloha, Founders of Aloha in Action, and Kahu of Kukuipuka Heiau. They are our satsang’s cherished aunties, blessing us with connection to Maui’s ‘āina (land) — a lineage now woven inextricably into the fabric of Maharajji’s blanket.

 

‘A ‘ohe hana nui ke alu ‘ia. 

No task is too big when done together by all.

‘Ōlelo No’eau 142

One night, in the quiet around the table that often followed a dinner on the lanai as the hush after sunset set in, Ram Dass asked, In this world, today…What would Hanuman do now? Hanuman, breath of Ram, son of the Wind. We ask this question, in this moment of heartbreak on ground sacred to Ram Dass, now transformed by a fire born of great winds. In Hawaiian, mauli ola is the breath of life or power of healing. Na honua mauli ola describes interbeing, where the health of our body, mind and spirit depends on the health of the body of community, and land. 

Our prayer at this moment is to unite these two life-giving, healing breaths in support of the community and land that nourished Ram Dass’ life for so long. As Ram Dass’ community on Maui, we bow in deep respect to these lands of the Kānaka Maoli, the Akua (divine), and Kūpuna (ancestors), we acknowledge the great forces of the wind — Ka Makani and the rain - Ka Ua. In moments like this, we look to the source — Nānā i ke kumu. We stand with Ke kukui pio ʻole i ke Kauaʻula — the light not extinguished by Kauaʻula, the red wind. 

Kaua’ula is a rain associated with Lāhainā. It is also the name of a wind. Kaua‘ula is the red rain [Ka-ua-ʻula]. It is a strong mountain wind, often destructive, in Lahaina, Maui. Adapted from Hānau Ka Ua, by Colette Leimomi Akana.

Mahalo nui loa, gratitude for your prayers, love, and offerings to Aloha in Action. We all move together as the hearts and hands of Maharajji, Ram Dass, and the Akua.

Aloha and Ram Ram,
Ananda (Danielle Krettek Cobb)
Board Member, Love Serve Remember Foundation
Support Maui via Aloha in Action

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Living: Abstaining from Harming Living Beings


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RIGHT LIVING
Undertaking the Commitment to Abstain from Harming Living Beings
Harming living beings is unhealthy. Refraining from harming living beings is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning the harming of living beings, one abstains from harming living beings; with rod and weapon laid aside, gentle and kindly, one abides compassionate to all living beings. (M 41) One practices thus: “Others may harm living beings, but I will abstain from the harming of living beings.” (MN 8)

This is something that leads to the welfare and happiness of a person in this present life: good friendship. Here, one associates with people—whether young but of mature virtue, or old and of mature virtue—who are accomplished in trust, integrity, generosity, and wisdom; one converses with them and engages in discussion with them. Insofar as they are accomplished (in these things), one emulates their accomplishments. (AN 8.54)
Reflection
Learning to live in harmony with other people is a tremendously valuable skill, and like any skill it can be learned through practice. What is required is a basic commitment to causing no harm, followed by the regular cultivation of gentle and kindly behavior. One important element emphasized here is to choose carefully those you associate with. Good friends are a precious resource and are to be cultivated as a form of practice.

Daily Practice
Just as you get better at tennis by playing with people better than you, so also you become a more virtuous person by associating with people of “mature virtue,” regardless of their age. Seek out people of integrity, generosity, and wisdom whom you can trust and allow their noble qualities to rub off on you. Learn from others how to be a better person and thereby also become a teacher to others by example.

Tomorrow: Restraining Unarisen Unhealthy States
One week from today: Abstaining from Taking What is Not Given

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Questions?
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© 2023 Tricycle Foundation
89 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003


Via Daily Dharma: Nature as Teacher

Nature as Teacher

Nature is the great teacher and always has been. Shakyamuni went to the jungle to find its teachings, Moses up the mountain, Jesus to the desert, and Muhammad to the caves. Sadly, we forget this, so it is important to have a practice that reminds us again. 

Clark Strand, “A Green Meditation Retreat”


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Friday, August 11, 2023

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: Restraining Unarisen Unhealthy States

 


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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 restlessness. (MN 141)
Reflection
We all have the capacity for restlessness, especially as inhabitants of a culture that seems to thrive on it. We are so often encouraged to multitask, to spread our awareness so widely that, like spilled water, it gets increasingly thin. This tendency can be resisted by exercising some restraint. It requires not giving in to the forces that seek to pull us off center and preserving the experience of inner calm and composure.

Daily Practice
Resist the arising of restlessness by cultivating a more focused and peaceful way of inhabiting your world. Don’t jump at everything that demands your attention, don’t allow your awareness to be hijacked by random events, and protect your mindfulness as a sentry might guard a gate. It takes effort to preserve a sense of inner serenity—not the kind of effort that tries harder but that stays centered and is not pulled off balance. 

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.



Tricycle is a nonprofit and relies on your support to keep its wheels turning.

© 2023 Tricycle Foundation
89 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003

Via Daily Dharma: Aligning Life with Practice

Aligning Life with Practice

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. 

Sharon Salzberg, “Sticking with It”


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