Saturday, April 20, 2024

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: Restraining Unarisen Unhealthy States

 


TRICYCLE      COURSE CATALOG      SUPPORT      DONATE
RIGHT EFFORT
Restraining Unarisen Unhealthy States
Whatever a person frequently thinks about 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 all five unarisen hindrances. (MN 141)
Reflection
Having gone through each of the five hindrances one at a time, we now regard them as a group. At all times, and in no particular order, we want to become sensitive to the harmful effects of sense desire, ill will, restlessness, sluggishness, and doubt, and to work actively to restrain their arising. With the development of certain skills, we can position ourselves wisely so that the conditions that feed these unhealthy states will diminish.

Daily Practice
Cultivate the habit of being sensitive to the five hindrances throughout all activities of daily life. If some particular activity tends to make you restless, like drinking a lot of coffee, you might think about cutting down. If interacting with a particular person provokes your ill will, you might think about seeing them less. It is just a matter of knowing what conditions trigger unhealthy states and working to diminish them. 

Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Body and 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: Let Go of Insights

 

Support Tricycle with a donation »
Let Go of Insights

It is easy to get attached to any insight we have, especially if it is a profound one, but to be truly free, we must also let go of even our most precious realizations.

Santiago Santai Jiménez, “Free from Suffering and Free to Suffer”


CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Thursday, April 18, 2024

Via FB


 

Via Them


 

Via LGBTQ Nation \\\ Anti-LGBTQ+ bills keep failing. Could the tide be turning?


 

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Action: Reflecting upon Bodily Action

 


TRICYCLE      COURSE CATALOG      SUPPORT      DONATE

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

When you have done an action with the body, reflect upon that same bodily action thus: “Has this action I have done with the body led to the affliction of another?” If, upon reflection, you know that it has, then tell someone you trust about it and undertake a commitment not to do it again. If you know it has not, then be content and feel happy about it. (MN 61)
Reflection
While contemplative practice emphasizes remaining in the present moment, there is also value in the skillful use of memory. Reflecting upon past actions is one form of this, when you can review whether you have acted appropriately or not in the past. When you admit your mistakes, you can undertake a commitment to act differently in the future. It is a way of openly acknowledging that you have learned from your mistakes.

Daily Practice
It is healthy to be truthful with yourself about actions you have done in the past that may have caused harm. A sure way to get such deeds out of the shadows and into the light is to share them openly with someone you trust. It is not that the other person will absolve you in some way, but by bringing things into the open you unburden yourself. Try admitting a misdeed to a good friend and see how it makes you feel. It will lighten the load.

Tomorrow: Abstaining from Harming Living Beings
One week from today: Reflecting upon Verbal Action

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 Prison of Thought

 

Support Tricycle with a donation »
The Prison of Thought

Without physical practice, dharma is just words. Words that are understood with our intellect, and that ultimately keep us in the prison of thought.

Matthias Esho Birk, “Parmenides, Descartes, and Awakening”


CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE


Practicing the Four Qualities of the New Saint
By Lama Rod Owens
Guidelines for the modern bodhisattva and steps anyone can use to embody awakened care in their everyday lives.
Read more »

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

Via White Crane Institute \\ CHAVELA VARGAS

 


Chavela Vargas
1919 -

ISABEL VARGAS LIZANO (d: 2012), better known as CHAVELA VARGAS, was a Costa Rican-born Mexican singer. She was especially known for her rendition of Mexican rancheras, but she is also recognized for her contribution to other genres of popular Latin American music. She has been an influential interpreter in the Americas and Europe, muse to figures such as Pedro Almodovar, hailed for her haunting performances, and called "la voz áspera de la ternura", the rough voice of tenderness.

She is featured in many Almodóvar's films, including La Flor de mi Secreto in both song and video. She has said, however, that acting is not her ambition, although she had previously participated in films such as 1967's La Soldadera. Vargas recently appeared in the 2002 Julie Taymor film Frida, singing "La Llorona" (The Weeping Woman). Her classic "Paloma Negra" (Black Dove) was also included in the soundtrack of the film.

Vargas herself, as a young woman, was alleged to have had an affair with Frida Kahlo, during Kahlo's marriage to muralist Diego Rivera. She also appeared in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Babel, singing "Tú me acostumbraste" (You Got Me Used To), a bolero of Frank Dominguez. Joaquin Sabina’s song "Por el Boulevar de los Sueños Rotos" ("Down the Boulevard of Broken Dreams") is dedicated to Vargas.

Her heavy drinking and raucous life took their toll, and she vanished from public life in the 1970s. Submerged in an alcoholic haze, she said, she was taken in by an Indian family who nursed her back to health without knowing who she was. In 2003, she told The New York Times that she had not had a drink in twenty-five years.

In the early 1990s she began singing again at El Habito, the bohemian Mexico City nightclub. From there her career took off again, with performances in Latin America, Europe and the United States. At 81, she announced that she was a lesbian.

“Nobody taught me to be like this,” she told the Spanish newspaper El País in 2000. “I was born this way. Since I opened my eyes to the world, I have never slept with a man. Never. Just imagine what purity. I have nothing to be ashamed of.”

On the eve of her Carnegie Hall debut in 2003, she looked back on how her singing had changed over her career. “The years take you to a different feeling than when you were 30,” she said in an interview with The Times. “I feel differently, I interpret differently, more toward the mystical.”

On the evening of her death in 2012, instead of holding a traditional Mexican wake, friends, fans and musicians gathered in the evening for a musical tribute at Plaza Garibaldi in Mexico City, where Ms. Vargas had spent many a night drinking with Mr. Jiménez. She would have loved it.

 


|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|

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

|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|

 

Via FB \ Ram Dass


 

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from False Speech

 




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, is 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, correct, and beneficial, and which is welcome and agreeable to others—know the time to use such speech. (MN 58)
Reflection
Of course it is important to refrain from false speech, but even right speech is to be wielded carefully. Generally it is appropriate to speak when what you are saying is beneficial—that is, when it is helping people emerge from what is unhealthy and become established on a healthy course. But even in this case there is something to be said for knowing when to speak up and when to remain silent.

Daily Practice
As you pay attention to your own speech patterns, notice if you ever find yourself praising people or telling them what they want to hear as a way of seeking favor. It is good to say things that please people, especially when it is true and beneficial, but you should still take care not to do so frivolously. The basic message here is just to take care to speak skillfully, even when you have positive things to say.

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.



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

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