Via GBF - New Talk: "Befriending the Present Moment" with Eve Decker

Sometimes it can be a relief to hear the recognition offered in the First Noble Truth: that suffering exists and everyone experiences it.
 
In addition to this fact, the Buddha taught that suffering can be ended.

All of his teachings on achieving this freedom from suffering fall under two wings: wisdom and compassion.

In this talk, infused with dharma songs, Eve Decker highlights a few of the numerous 'feathers' that make up each of these wings, including:

WISDOM

• Mindfulness - the capacity to inhabit the present moment rather than identify with our thoughts. 

COMPASSION

• Loving Kindness (or befriending)
• Compassion
• Appreciative Joy
• Equanimity

______________

Listen on your favorite podcast player or on the GBF website:

https://gaybuddhist.org/podcast/befriending-the-present-moment-eve-decker/

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from False Speech

 

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RIGHT SPEECH Refraining from False Speech 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) Such speech as you know to be true and correct but unbeneficial and which is also unwelcome and disagreeable to others—do not utter such speech. (MN 58)

Reflection Even if something is true, that does not mean that it should always be said. The important point is whether or not it will be beneficial to speak. If a person is set in their views and what you say is unlikely to make a difference, then it is better to remain silent—all the more so if what you say would cause distress for the other person. But if by speaking up there is a good chance of helping them see more clearly, then go ahead and speak. Daily Practice Every Wednesday we give careful attention to the quality of our speech. Take on the practice of training yourself to become ever more aware of the truthfulness of what you say and ever more careful not to say something misleading or false. It can seem harmless to stretch the truth in small ways, but all speech is on a continuum from wrong speech to right speech, and discerning this  becomes subtler as you become more skillful. Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Bodily Action One week from today: Refraining from Malicious Speech 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: The Place in the Middle

 

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The Place in the Middle Mindfulness is the place in the middle, which is not sucked in and overcome by something; nor is it pushing it away or recoiling from it in fear. Sharon Salzberg, “A Guide to Changing How We Relate to Difficult Emotions” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Don’t Read, Meditate! By Herman Schreuder The Pali suttas and Abhidhamma are excellent, trustworthy sources that are integral to the Theravada Buddhist tradition. But when it comes to developing insight, meditation is best. Read more »

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation -- Words of Wisdom - January 24, 2024 💌

 

I'm explicitly making my life a teaching by expressing the lessons I've learned so it becomes a map for other people. Everybody's life can be like that if they choose to make it so, choosing to reflect on what they've been through and share it with others. -Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: The Root of Compassion

 

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The Root of Compassion Compassion naturally arises when we get a glimpse into another person’s suffering. Lisa Ernst, “Awakening with a Rude Driver” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Miguel Atwood-Ferguson on How Nichiren Buddhism Saved His Life By Stephan Kunze The multi-instrumentalist, composer, and Flying Lotus collaborator talks SGI, Bennie Maupin, and creating mystical soundtracks for cleaning the house.  Read more »

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Lovingkindness

 

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RIGHT INTENTION Cultivating Lovingkindness Whatever you intend, whatever you plan, and whatever you have a tendency toward, that will become the basis on 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 function of lovingkindness is preferring welfare. (Vm 9.93)

Reflection Kindness is a habit, like everything else in our emotional range. It can be learned and reinforced and cultivated, or it can be neglected, abandoned, and suppressed. Why not practice kindness by fostering the welfare of all beings, including yourself? Like any habit, it takes time and patience to interrupt the reflex to blame and hate and to install the new patterns of thought and behavior. But it can be done. So let’s do it! Daily Practice Lovingkindness can be invoked at any time. Look for opportunities to think kindly of other people, to wish them well, and to soften your heart. Do this especially as an antidote if you feel yourself going in the other direction and feeling ill will toward someone. Lovingkindness and ill will cannot coexist in a single mind moment, so you always have a choice to feel friendly or feel hostile in any situation. May you choose wisely. Tomorrow: Refraining from False Speech One week from today: Cultivating Compassion Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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Via FB //

Waking up to the "wild dance of no hope" -- the Bell is ringing. 

The Dakini Speaks My friends, let’s grow up. Let’s stop pretending we don’t know the deal here. Or if we truly haven’t noticed, let’s wake up and notice. 

Look: Everything that can be lost, will be lost. It’s simple — how could we have missed it for so long? 

Let’s grieve our losses fully, like ripe human beings, But please, let’s not be so shocked by them. 

Let’s not act so betrayed, As though life had broken her secret promise to us. Impermanence is life’s only promise to us, And she keeps it with ruthless impeccability. 

To a child she seems cruel, but she is only wild, And her compassion exquisitely precise: 

Brilliantly penetrating, luminous with truth, She strips away the unreal to show us the real. 

This is the true ride — let’s give ourselves to it! 

Let’s stop making deals for a safe passage: 

There isn’t one anyway, and the cost is too high. 

We are not children anymore. 

The true human adult gives everything for what cannot be lost.

 Let’s dance the wild dance of no hope! 

-Jennifer Welwood (via Spring Washam)

Via Daily Dharma: Letting Go with Grace

 

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Letting Go with Grace Holding on always comes at a cost: primarily disappointment, and peripherally, exhaustion, because things are neither lasting nor dependable. Getting what we want is hard enough, but to keep what we have is impossible.  Vanessa Zuisei Goddard, “We Can’t Always Get What We Want (And That’s All Right)” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

I Open The Window By Jane Hirshfield Enjoy this poem from Jane Hirshfield’s latest collection.  Read more » Resilience, Recovery, Repair An Event Series with May We Gather and Tricycle January 24, February 8, and February 22, 2024 This three-part series will feature conversations with community elders and leaders, acclaimed historians, archaeologists, educators, and spiritual teachers exploring 19th-century gender and immigrant experience of Asian Americans, folk religion and spiritual life, and contemporary projects of restoration and repair in California and beyond. Sign up for free to join the conversation beginning January 24! Sign up » Follow Us Forward today's wisdom to a friend »