Via Dhamma Wheel | Right View: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering

 

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RIGHT VIEW Understanding the Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering And what is the way leading to the cessation of suffering? It is just this noble eightfold path: that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right living, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. (MN 9) One practices mindfulness and full awareness . . . (DN 2)

Reflection Having established that there is an escape from suffering, based on understanding what causes it in the first place, the teachings go on to lay out a path you can walk to get from here to there, from suffering to the end of suffering. It is an integrated path, involving many interrelated components, but at heart it requires the ability to be mindful and fully aware of all that happens in the realm of lived experience. Daily Practice Practice the skill of being mindful in all you do. That is, be aware of what is happening in the moment with an attitude of equanimity, neither attached to nor repelled by anything. Also practice the skill of doing all you do—in body, speech, and mind—with full awareness. That is, be carefully attentive to what you do as you do it. These two practices serve as the right and left steps along the path to the end of suffering. Tomorrow: Cultivating Equanimity One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of Suffering 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: Keep Your Citta Healthy

Keep Your Citta Healthy

Buddhists view everything that enters through the sense doors of the body and mind as a form of nutriment. Just as eating junk food can make your physical body sick, so too can seeing, hearing, and thinking certain things make the citta (heart-mind) sick. Miles Bukiet, “Buddhism in the Age of Smartphones” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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Via GBF: 3 New Dharma Talks

Here are the latest additions to our website and podcast:

The Zen Way of Recovery - Laura Burges

In her signature humorous fashion, Ryuko Laura Burges shares wisdom from her latest book: “The Zen Way of Recovery: An Illuminated Path Out of the Darkness of Addiction.”
Listen in as she reveals her insights on:

• How recovery can unshackle the mind to deepen one’s practice
• The healing power of forgiveness, of self and others
• Why we don’t have to be limited or defined by the ways in which we have been hurt

10 Ways of Transforming Reactivity - Donald Rothberg

What does the Third Noble Truth really promise when it speaks of “an end to dukkha?” Does it mean an end to unpleasant experiences?

In this rich talk, Donald Rothberg shares that the end of dukkha actually means the cessation of our reactivity to unpleasant experiences. He relates the analogy of “the second arrow” to our reactivity (both clinging and aversion) rather than the typical translation of “suffering.”

He introduces 10 guidelines for working with reactivity. 

Pure Land Buddhism and Devotional Poetry - John Del Bagno

John discusses Pure Land Buddhism and reads his poems devoted to Amitābha Buddha.

He describes Pure Land Buddhism as an alternative to self-powered practice, which often engages the willful, striving aspects of our ego. Pureland relies instead on an ‘other power’ to bring us to enlightenment: Amitābha Buddha. This is accomplished through the habit of reciting the Buddha-name, believed to make the attainment of Buddhahood possible in only one lifetime.

Enjoy!

Tom Bruein

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Enjoy 800+ free recorded dharma talks at www.gaybuddhist.org/podcast/

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Mindfulness and Concentration: Establishing Mindfulness of Mind and Abiding in the Third Jhāna

 

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RIGHT MINDFULNESS Establishing Mindfulness of Mind 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)   When the mind is not liberated, one is aware: “The mind is not liberated”. . . One is just aware, just mindful: “There is mind.” And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)

Reflection Consciousness itself is open and empty of defining characteristics. Its function is to reflect like a mirror whatever object presents itself—to simply be aware of it. The mind is bound by the emotions, attitudes, and viewpoints it becomes entangled in, and these bonds change from moment to moment. In meditation one can sometimes distinguish between “just knowing” itself, and the mind’s many other more elaborate co-activities.  Daily Practice The mind is not liberated most of the time, meaning it is bound by various habits, influences, assumptions, projections, and other residue accumulated through past activity. Mindfulness of mind is the practice of just observing the mind, however it naturally manifests in experience. Practice simply noticing what is there, without commentary and without elaboration. Sometimes its bound, and sometimes its free. RIGHT CONCENTRATION Approaching and Abiding in the Third Phase of Absorption (3rd Jhāna) With the fading away of joy, one abides in equanimity; mindful and fully aware, still feeling pleasure with the body, one enters upon and abides in the third phase of absorption, on account of which noble ones announce: “One has a pleasant abiding who has equanimity and is mindful.” (MN 4)      Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects and the Fourth Jhāna 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: Lovingkindness Trumps Fear

Lovingkindness Trumps Fear

Cultivating lovingkindness we become unstoppable in the face of fear. We love our way through the fear. Vanessa Zuisei Goddard, “Four Ways of Looking at Lovingkindness” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation \\ Words of Wisdom - September 24, 2023 💌

“For there is something in us that knows, that knows the harmony, the flow, the total participation in the universe that a tree and a river and snow are all part of. And we know that when we transcend our separateness, the illusion of separateness, our intellect, that reality, we flow. There’s a place that yearns for that, and we look for methods. And we know that when we’re in the middle of a trip – cooking a bouillabaisse, knitting an Afghan, whatever that trip is – we can get moments of that flow.” 

- Ram Dass -


From the recent Here & Now Podcast episode recorded in 1976, "The Awakening of the Soul"

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: Developing Unarisen Healthy States

 

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RIGHT EFFORT Developing Unarisen Healthy States 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 factors of tranquility and concentration. (MN 141)

Reflection Sometime we may find ourselves falling into tranquil and focused states of mind quite naturally, but more often this is a practice that needs to be deliberately cultivated. When we know the value of such states, it is useful to induce them whenever we can. Usually this is just a matter of remembering to do so and then going through certain exercises of focusing on a single object and returning to it consistently when you drift. Daily Practice It is worthwhile calling to mind and developing the awakening factors of tranquility and concentration, grouped together here because each entails the other. A focused mind is naturally tranquil, and a tranquil mind is focused. Get in the habit of putting aside some time—at least 20 minutes—whenever you can, devoting it to accessing and sustaining a state of peaceful alertness, quiet concentration, and focused tranquility. It feels good. Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Mind and Abiding in the Third Jhāna One week from today: Maintaining Arisen Healthy States 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: A Caring Heart Is Powerful

 

A Caring Heart Is Powerful

Like a scared child relaxes and calms down when it is held by a loving parent, our agitated thoughts and emotions become quiet when feeling the security of a caring heart. Radhule Weininger, “The Cave of the Heart” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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