Sunday, January 14, 2024

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

 


TRICYCLE      COURSE CATALOG      SUPPORT      DONATE

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 devoid of desire, one is aware: "The mind is devoid of desire." One is just aware, just mindful: "There is mind." And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)
Reflection
The mind is merely aware of an object, either a sensory or mental object, much like a mirror reflecting accurately whatever comes before it. Emotional states, such as desire, co-arise every moment and flood the mind, often distorting or coloring what is seen, heard, felt, or cognized. Sometimes desire is present, sometimes it is not. Here we are being encouraged to notice when it is not. 

Daily Practice
Our emotional life flickers moment by moment as quickly as our mental life does, and the stream of consciousness is permeated by a stream of attitudes, intentions, and views. By noticing when desire is present and absent, we learn to recognize that it is just a passing state that sometimes occurs and sometimes does not. Practice "not clinging to anything in the world," including the presence or absence of sensory desire.


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)
Reflection
Remember that jhāna practice is not something that can be undertaken lightly or sporadically and usually requires the protected conditions of a retreat center and the guidance of an experienced teacher. The jhānas are mentioned a lot in the early texts and form the core discussion of right concentration. But mostly we just hear the standard formula repeated in various contexts without much detail on how to practice.

Daily Practice
The transition from the second to the third phase of absorption has to do with the mellowing of joy, which is an almost effervescent energetic upwelling of pleasant bodily sensation into an experience of mental and emotional equanimity. The body still experiences pleasure, but the mind settles into an even and balanced awareness of the pleasant feeling tone that is not attached to it in any way.


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.



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

© 2024 Tricycle Foundation
89 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003

Via Daily Dharma: The Unconditioned is Within


Support Tricycle with a donation »
The Unconditioned is Within

We cannot find the unconditioned out in the world. We can only know it in the heart.

Ayya Medhanandi Bhikkhuni, “The Dharma of Snow”


CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

The Dog and the Lion
By Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
To be mindful is to find the root of everything.
Read more »

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - January 14, 2024 💌

 

Are all methods to be avoided? It doesn't seem so. But it does seem useful to see them in perspective. Methods are ships crossing the ocean of existence. If you're halfway across the sea, it's a little silly to decide methods are a bummer if you don't know how to swim; but once you get to the far shore, it would be silly to keep carrying your boat because there is no more water. 

- Ram Dass

Saturday, January 13, 2024

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: Developing Unarisen Healthy States

 


TRICYCLE      COURSE CATALOG      SUPPORT      DONATE
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 investigation of states awakening factor. (MN 141)
Reflection
Here right effort is defined as actively encouraging the better aspects of our character to emerge from unconscious potential to conscious embodiment. We are all capable of kindness, for example. Why not try more often to be kind? We are capable of wisdom; let’s actively try to encourage it. This suggests that happiness—the regular manifestation of healthy mental and emotional states—is something we can make happen through effort.

Daily Practice
The positive mental state singled out in this passage is the second factor of awakening, called the investigation of states. When mindfulness is present, it is natural that the mind takes great interest in experience and investigates its mental and emotional states carefully. See what it feels like to be curious about the detailed textures of your experience and see what you can do to evoke and support this sense of regularly looking closely at your mental states.

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.



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

© 2024 Tricycle Foundation
89 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003

Via Daily Dharma: A Matter of Perspective

 

Support Tricycle with a donation »
A Matter of Perspective

It is the perspective of the sufferer that determines whether a given experience perpetuates suffering or is a vehicle for awakening.

Mark Epstein, “Shattering the Ridgepole” 


CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Tricycle Talks: Radical Acceptance
With Tara Brach
The practice of radical acceptance can transform feelings of unworthiness and isolation into compassion and understanding.
Listen now »