Thursday, August 24, 2023

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Action: Reflecting upon Mental Action

 


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RIGHT ACTION
Reflecting Upon Mental 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 mental action is to be done with repeated reflection. (MN 61)

When you wish to do an action with the mind, reflect upon that same mental action thus: “Is this action I wish to do with the mind 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
We are familiar with the expression Think before you act. Here it is suggested, Think before you think! It is not as hard as it sounds. The idea is to pay attention to intention, that function of the mind that decides what to do next or points the actions of the mind in a particular direction. Is it really a good idea to go back over what you should have said in that argument last week? Probably not. Choose a different path.

Daily Practice
By getting in touch with the workings of your intentions, you gain access to the rudder of the ship, so to speak. Learn to notice, not only what you are thinking but also what you are planning. Much of the time we have no access to this, as things are moving so fast or we are so reactive that we don’t feel we are in control of ourselves. But there is an executive function in the mind, and we can learn to notice what it has in mind to do.

Tomorrow: Abstaining from Misbehaving Among Sensual Pleasures
One week from today: Reflecting upon Social Action

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Via Daily Dharma: Find Your Own Path

Find Your Own Path

Although we may get hints from teachers and from the Buddha, each one of us has to find out what path is best for us by following the guidelines of: What is grounding? What is unifying? What is harmonizing? We don’t want to try to imitate or copy others.

Narayan Helen Liebenson, “The Principles and Practices of Shamatha Vipassana”


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Via Templo Zu Lai \\ Curso de Meditação Chan e Darma

Inscrições abertas para o curso de Meditação Chan e Darma – Vagas limitadas.           Abrir no navegador

Curso de Meditação Chan e Darma – Início em 07 de outubro – Vagas limitadas

A Meditação Chan disciplina a mente e desenvolve a potencialidade interior para o auto-conhecimento, além de proporcionar ao praticante maior equilíbrio físico e mental.

 

Neste curso você poderá silenciar estresses e tensões do dia a dia, além de desvendar o libertador caminho apontado pelo Buda, por meio da prática da meditação e do estudo do Budismo Humanista.

 

Local: Templo Zu Lai
Aulas: 07, 14, 21 e 28 de outubro
e 04, 11, 18 e 25 de novembro.
Contribuição: R$ 500,00

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Wednesday, August 23, 2023

Cassandro - Official Trailer | Prime Video

Via FB // As you know, I once was an evangelical megachurch pastor and my pastoral career stretched over many years

     As you know, I once was an evangelical megachurch pastor and my pastoral career stretched over many years. Eventually, I could no longer teach Christian doctrine with a good conscience and realized this teaching was not truly changing people’s lives… and so I walked away from the whole enchilada. 

    Below are 14 things that the misguided religious establishment doesn't want you to know. Speaking for myself and my personal experience, I was not able to see or admit these things to myself. I truly got into ministry initially because I wanted to make a difference and help people, and I relied upon the belief-system I learned as the proper framework to achieve this. It took a lot of post-religion reflection to see the ways this belief-system was hurting people. I offer the below list in hopes that you might disentangle yourself from harmful beliefs and attitudes impacting your life. 14 things the misguided religious establishment doesn’t want you to know: 

1. Toxic religion is rooted in fear, especially fear about the afterlife. It leverages the false doctrine of hell to win converts and demand holiness. The fear of God's disapproval, rejection, abandonment and punishment is another hallmark of toxic religion. 

 2. Clergy have no innate authority. Holding a church leadership position or having a theological degree does not imbue a person with special divine authority or superiority. The terms "anointed", "called", or "chosen" or titles such as "pastor", "priest", "bishop", "elder", "evangelist" or "apostle" do not confer any innate authority on an individual or group. 

3. We hold sacred what we are taught to hold sacred, which is why what is sacred to one community is not sacred to another. 

4. The stories in our sacred books aren’t history, nor were they meant to be. The authors of these books weren’t historians but writers of historical fiction: they used history (or pseudo history) as a context or pretext for their own ideas. Reading sacred texts as history may yield some nuggets of the past, but the real gold is in seeing these stories as myth and parable, and trying to unpack the possible meanings these parables and myths may hold. 

5. Prayer doesn’t work the way you think it does. You can’t bribe God, or change God’s mind through obedience, devotion, or groveling. The underlying theistic premises of prayer are untenable. 

6. Anything you claim to know about God, even the notion that there is a God, is a projection of your psyche. What you say about God—who God is, what God cares about, who God rewards, and who God punishes—says nothing about God and everything about you. If you believe in an unconditionally loving God, you probably value unconditional love. If you believe in a God who divides people into chosen and not chosen, believers and infidels, saved and damned, high cast or low caste, etc. you are likely someone who divides people into in–groups and out–groups with you and your group as the quintessential in-group. God may or may not exist, but your idea of God mirrors yourself and your values. 

7. Nobody is born Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Catholic, Protestant, etc. People are born human and are slowly conditioned by narratives of race, religion, gender, nationality, etc. to be less than human. 

 8. Theology isn’t the free search for truth, but rather a defense of an already held position. Theology is really apologetics, explaining why a belief is true rather than seeking out the truth in and of itself. All theological reasoning is circular, inevitably “proving” the truth of its own presupposition. 

9. Becoming more religious cannot save us. Religion is a human invention reflecting the best and worst of humanity; becoming more religious will simply allow us to perpetuate compassion and cruelty in the name of religion. Because religion always carries the danger of fanaticism, becoming more religious may only heighten the risk of us becoming more fanatical. 

10. Becoming less religious cannot save us. In fact, being against religion can become it’s own fanaticism. Becoming less religious will simply force us to perpetuate compassion and cruelty in the name of something else. Secular societies that actively suppress religion have proven no more just or compassionate than religious societies that suppress secularism or free thought. This is because neither religion nor the lack of religion solely nullifies our human potential to act out of ego, greed, fear, hostility, and hatred. 

11. A healthy religion is one that helps us own and integrate the shadow side of human nature for the good of person and planet, something few clergy are trained to do. Clergy are trained to promote the religion they represent. They are apologists not liberators. If you want to be more just, compassionate, and loving, you must do the personal work within yourself, and free yourself from the conditions that lock you into injustice, cruelty, and hate, and this means you have to free yourself from all your narratives, including those you call “religious.” 

12. Religious leaders claims that their particular understanding and interpretation of their sacred books should be universally accepted. Religious leaders often say, “My authority is the Bible.” It would be more accurate for them to say, “My authority is what they taught me at seminary the Bible means.” People start with flawed or false presuppositions about what the Bible is, such as: the Bible was meant to present a coherent theology about God or is a piece of doctrinal exposition; the Bible is the inerrant, infallible and sole message/"Word" of God to the world; the Bible is a blueprint for daily living. Too often religious leaders make God about having "correct theology." There are a lot of unhappy, broken, hurting, suffering, depressed, lonely people in church with church-approved theology. 

13. If your livelihood depends on the success of your church as an organization, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that you will mostly define and reward Christianity as participation in church structures and programs. Christian living is mostly a decentralized reality or way of life, not a centralized or program-dependent phenomenon. Church attendance, tithing, membership, service, and devoted participation, become the hallmarks of Christian maturity. 

14. You are capable of guiding your own spiritual path from the inside out and don't need to be told what to do. You naturally have the ability, capacity, tools and skills to guide and direct your life meaningfully, ethically and effectively. Through the use of your fundamental human faculties such as critical thinking, empathy, reason, conscience and intuition, you can capably lead your life. You have the choice to cultivate a spirituality that doesn’t require you to be inadequate, powerless, weak, and lacking, but one that empowers you toward strength, vitality, wholeness, and the fulfillment of your highest potentialities and possibilities.

 Jim Palmer


 

Via The Tricycle Community // New Online Course: Freeing the Mind When the Body Hurts

 

Support Tricycle with a donation »
Freeing the Mind When the Body Hurts
With Vidyamala Burch
A brand new Tricycle online course begins September 25, 2023! Freeing the Mind When the Body Hurts is a six-week exploration of bringing the mind to work with the body in order to move from pain, illness, or struggle to greater ease.

The course will offer training in the BE AWARE method, a six-step technique developed by Vidyamala Burch, creator of the Mindfulness-based Pain & Illness Management program and cofounder of the organization Breathworks.

This course will provide you with the tools to:
  • Be more present: You’ll learn to be present with each experience just as it is.
     
  • Cultivate acceptance and kindness: Gently you’ll move closer to difficulties with acceptance and kindness, rather than resistance and aversion.
     
  • Wake up to wonder: Become open to what’s pleasant, even beautiful, in each moment as your awareness becomes more refined and sensitive.
     
  • Allow the flow of change: Everything in life is changing all the time, including experiences of pain that we tend to solidify with our perception. You’ll learn to let it be a changing flow of sensations.
     
  • Relate and connect with others: You’re not alone. Experiences of pain, illness, or difficulty can become a point of empathy rather than a cause of isolation.
     
  • Engage with all of life: By the end of the course, you’ll know how to bring this awareness, kindness, and acceptance into all the moments of your life.
Preview the course »
Each unit contains a selection of talks and meditations along with guidance on how to bring the practices into your daily life. We invite you to engage with the course with an attitude of kindness and patience towards yourself, going at your own pace, and really reflecting on what you're gaining and benefiting as we go along.

Join Vidyamala and fellow practitioners on this journey to free the mind, even when your body hurts.
Learn more and enroll today »


About Vidyamala

Vidyamala Burch OBE is a mindfulness and compassion teacher, coach, speaker, and award-winning author. She developed the Mindfulness-based Pain & Illness Management (MBPM) program and went on to co-found the mindfulness organization Breathworks. Her evidence-based approach has reached over 100,000 people around the world and is recognised by the NHS and health boards globally. Through her work, she hopes to pass on the tools that have helped her to reclaim a full, happy, and meaningful life.


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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from Harsh Speech

 



RIGHT SPEECH
Refraining from Harsh Speech
Harsh speech is unhealthy. Refraining from harsh speech is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning harsh speech, one refrains from harsh speech. One speaks words that are gentle, pleasing to the ear, and affectionate, words that go to the heart, are courteous, and are agreeable to many. (DN 1) One practices thus: “Others may speak harshly, but I shall abstain from harsh speech.” (MN 8)

The monks at Kosambi had taken to quarreling and brawling and were deep in disputes, stabbing each other with verbal daggers. They could neither convince one another nor be convinced by others; they could neither persuade one another nor be persuaded by others. The Buddha then said to them: “What can you possibly know, what can you see, that you take to acting like this? It will lead to your harm and suffering for a long time.” (MN 48)
Reflection
This is such an incisive question: What can you possibly know or see to make you act like this? We think it must be something compelling for someone to turn against their own best interests and harm themselves. What higher purpose justifies this? These brawling and quarreling people were not only stabbing each other with verbal arrows, but by doing so they were also inflicting a lot of harm upon themselves.

Daily Practice
The next time you are engaged in an argument with someone, stop and look inward, examining your state of mind and body. Notice the physical tension and the harsh emotional attitude of the moment. Now ask yourself: Does the issue under dispute really require inflicting damage on myself? Can you feel the harm and suffering involved in such agitated and aversive emotional states? Let it go; you’ll be better off.

Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Mental Action
One week from today: Refraining from Frivolous Speech

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: Whatever Arises

Whatever Arises

By developing the ability to remain peaceably with whatever is arising in the moment, without judgment or reacting, you’re releasing the ropes that keep the mind stuck in the tug of war of dualistic clinging.

Pamela Gayle White, “Simply Hear, Simply Here”


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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - August 23, 2023 💌



"Many things can happen. You can't be afraid of making errors. You may choose the wrong teacher; you may get into a method that's no good. We all make errors. Correct them if you can, without hurting another being's spiritual opportunities. There is another rule for this game: Never use one soul for another. If your journey to God is keeping another being from going to God, forget it. You're never going to get there. It's as simple as that. "

- Ram Dass -

Tina Turner - Nam Myoho Renge Kyo (2H Buddhist Mantra)

What is the Miracle Mantra | Nam Myoho Renge Kyo | Transform Your Life

Via Amigos de Budhismo // FB