Sunday, February 25, 2024

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)
 
Breathing in and out, tranquilizing bodily activities … one is just aware, just mindful: "There is a body." And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)
Reflection
Sunday is a good day to get in the habit of spending some time in mindful meditation. When the quality of mind called mindfulness is nurtured and developed, the mind inclines toward contentment, as this passage points out. This might even be a good definition of mindfulness: feeling content with whatever is happening by not wanting it to be anything other than it is.

Daily Practice
The text that teaches meditation begins with learning to breathe in and out, long and short, mindfully, but here it shifts with a more intentional directive. The instruction is to "tranquilize"—calm or relax—the breathing and all bodily activity. In other words, we are now not simply being aware of what is happening but also trying to direct our experience toward deeper and deeper states of calm. With each breath, relax.


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)
Reflection
We dedicate Sundays to practicing mindfulness and concentration. Concentration practice involves focusing the mind on a single object, such as the breath, and returning attention to this focal point whenever it wanders off (which it will surely do often). All forms of meditation involve some level of concentration, so it is a good thing to practice.

Daily Practice
Formal concentration practice, involving absorption (Pali: jhāna) in four defined stages, requires more time and sustained effort than occasional practice generally allows and would benefit from careful instruction by a qualified teacher. You may begin on your own, however, simply by practicing to abandon the five hindrances, since jhāna practice only really begins when these temporarily cease to arise.


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


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Questions?
Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.



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

Via Daily Dharma: Will We Choose Fear or Compassion?

 

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Will We Choose Fear or Compassion?

Every day when we wake up, we have a choice. Will we choose fear or will we choose compassion and love? These are very strong, but I’ve learned in my short 28 years that anger and fear exhaust me, whereas if I do work out of love and compassion and kindness, I’m actually nourished. It’s a sustainable energy. 

Ocean Vuong, “What Scares Writer and Zen Buddhist Ocean Vuong”


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Maya Devi’s Daughters
By Wendy Biddlecombe Agsar
A Theravada monk offers education and opportunity to the girls of Lumbini, the Buddha’s birthplace and one of the four most important pilgrimage sites in Buddhism.
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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation \\ Words of Wisdom - February 25, 2024 💌

 

When you have seen the perfection of form, including the suffering, then that balances the feeling of the human heart, and you see that that perfection includes your human heart’s pain. And then you start to expand to embrace the paradox, and it is a paradox for the mind. The paradox that it’s all perfect, and yet, there is so much suffering and it stinks. And it hurts. 

 - Ram Dass -



  Excerpt from Ram Dass Here & Now – Ep. 245 – Taking off Our Spacesuit

Via White Crane Institute \\ OLA HOFTUN LILLELIEN

 


2000 -

OLA HOFTUN LILLELIEN, born on this date, is a professional handball player who proudly came out as a gay man in April 2022.

Lillelien, 22, plays for the nation of Denmark.  Handball is a very popular sport in Europe, wherein teams play keep away with a ball as they try to toss it in the opposing team’s goal. Think of it as a combination of basketball and soccer.

Lillelien took to Instagram on April 21 to share the emotional revelation with his fans. In coming out, he becomes one of the few openly LGBTQ players in the league.

“I have been thinking for a long time about whether I should publish this post, but I now understand that it is something I want,” he wrote. “Not for my own part, but to be a role model. Not just for young people, but for everyone. About half a year ago, I told my family, friends and teammates that I most likely do not end up with a sweet girl, but a handsome boy. The response was exclusively positive!”

“I say it like the king: Norway is boys who love boys, girls who love girls, and girls and boys who love each other,” Lillelien said, quoting from a speech of acceptance by King Harald V in 2016.

The athlete deliberately published the post on a specific date: "On April 21, 2022, it will be 50 years since loving who you want was decriminalized in Norway," he continued. "This post was not made by me to seek validation or attention, but to proudly thank those who fought before me for my right to love who I want."

"I hope today's society has come to the point where boys and girls don't have to worry about not being accepted for who they are. Being in love with someone isn't sensational, so I hope we've managed that it doesn't turn out to be a big deal."


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Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute

"With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson

Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989!
www.whitecraneinstitute.org

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Saturday, February 24, 2024

Via Tricycle \\ Tricycle’s Buddhist Film Festival!

 

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You're Invited to Tricycle’s Buddhist Film Festival!
Dear Friend, 

We invite you to join us for Tricycle's first Buddhist Film Festival from March 15–24, 2024!

Since you participated in Buddhafest, we believe you’ll find great value in this ten-day festival offering five feature-length films and five short films exploring the rich tapestry of Buddhist thought.

Tickets are $30 for Tricycle subscribers and $40 for general admission. 

Your ticket includes access to the following ten films:
  • The Departure directed by Lana Wilson
  • The Sweet Requiem directed by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam
  • Tukdam: Between Worlds directed by Donagh Coleman 
  • Return to Gandhi Road directed by Yeshe Hegan
  • Geshe Wangyal. With Blessing of the Three Jewels directed by Ella Manzheeva
  • Dust to Light directed by Erika Houle
  • Drapchi Elegy directed by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam
  • Windhorse directed by Sunil Gurung
  • The Altar directed by Moe Myat May Zarchi
  • Waking Up 2050 directed by Ray Choo
You'll be able to watch nine of the films at any point during the festival, PLUS enjoy a live screening of The Departure on Saturday, March 16 at 12:00 P.M. ET followed by a Q&A with director Lana Wilson moderated by Koshin Paley Ellison.

Get your ticket »


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Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: Restraining Unarisen Unhealthy States

 


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RIGHT EFFORT
Restraining Unarisen Unhealthy States
Whatever a person frequently thinks 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
It should not surprise us to hear that a person gradually becomes what they practice being. If you complain a lot about all the things you are discontented with, you will become a more discontented person and more inclined to further discontent. This works in a positive direction also, allowing us to develop healthy mental habits, but this passage focuses on protecting ourselves from our own toxic qualities of mind.

Daily Practice
This passage begins the process of walking us through the five hindrances, qualities of mind that inhibit mental clarity and contribute to suffering. The first of these is restlessness, a quality of mind that is active in some moments and dormant in others. Here we are told to practice the states of mind, primarily calm and tranquility, that prevent restlessness from arising. A calm mind is a healthy mind; practice calming the mind often.

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.

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

Via Daily Dharma: Love Requires Attention

 

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Love Requires Attention

There can be no love without attention. In cultivating attention, we’re cultivating a possibility for intention and a possibility for connection. Connection is all about love.

Anne C. Klein, “Rituals as an Opening to Love”


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Los cinco obstáculos: La mala voluntad
By Vanessa Zuisei Goddard
Vanessa Zuisei Goddard explica que el remedio principal para la mala voluntad es permitir que el agua se calme, que nuestra visión sea expansiva, y lo hacemos dirigiendo sabiamente nuestra atención hacia la bondad amorosa (metta) y cultivándola cuidadosamente.
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