Sunday Meditation Group
May 25
-"Living Up to Our Potential"
-in making the path that that Buddha teaches, we're making a journey across the river of suffering to the further shore. the three great pillars in this journey are virtue (parami), concentration, insight. as we develop these elements of the path we come closer to the heart. normally, we're a distance from the heart. we're in states of becoming. in these states of becoming we're out of the body, away from the heart. if we hope to know freedom from suffering, happiness of heart, we should have a clear purpose: to unburden the heart, to know the heart, to live from the heart. as we develop in this purpose, this commitment to the heart, we make an effort to do what is necessary, to free the heart from its burdens. we make a noble effort. this effort, in support of the heart, is what will see us through. it will enable us to live up to our potential in this life.
-some things to to remember as we learn to live in a way in which we're "living up to our potential "...
1-in making our journey to the "further shore" we develop the three pillars of virtue, concentration, insight...
-virtue/parami....
-in developing parami, we develop in our connection to the heart.....
-we practice:
-generosity....
-ethical conduct (non-harming)....
-renunciation.....
2- in developing concentration we come closer to the heart....
-we learn to come to, reside in the body....
-in doing so, we withdraw from sense experience ... we withdraw from unskillful mental qualities....
-as the mind stills ...
-we're more able to connect to the heart....
-breath meditation, as the Buddha teaches, brings us closer to the heart....
3-typically we're not present, in the body....
-typically, we in states of what the Buddha called "becoming"....
-states of becoming include:
-being preoccupied with sense experience....
-being preoccuped with thoughts....
-in states of becoming, we're removed from the body....
-we're removed, thusly, from the heart....
4-the practice of insight brings us closer to the heart ....
-we see states of becoming ... we see that the heart is burdened ... that we're cut off from the heart...
-we abandon states of becoming, understanding their profound drawbacks....
-we come to see the unburdened heart....
-the heart that is free....
-the goodness of the heart....
-we come to understand the happiness of the unburdened heart.....
-the happiness of heart is always there....
-it is available to all of us....
-it is the expression of our potential.....
5-as dharma students, our purpose is to free the heart its burdens and to live in the heart....
-if we hope to know happiness in this life, it's important that we develop this purpose....
-it's important that we make a commitment to the heart....
-to abandon whatever we're doing that's creating a burden on the heart....
-to know the happiness of heart....
-to live up to our potential....
-as dharma students, we learn to reflect: what is my intention to take action that is an expression of the awakened heart....?
-reading.....
-"Closer to the Heart" (from Skillful Pleasure)
-"Living Up to Our Potential"
-in making the path that that Buddha teaches, we're making a journey across the river of suffering to the further shore. the three great pillars in this journey are virtue (parami), concentration, insight. as we develop these elements of the path we come closer to the heart. normally, we're a distance from the heart. we're in states of becoming. in these states of becoming we're out of the body, away from the heart. if we hope to know freedom from suffering, happiness of heart, we should have a clear purpose: to unburden the heart, to know the heart, to live from the heart. as we develop in this purpose, this commitment to the heart, we make an effort to do what is necessary, to free the heart from its burdens. we make a noble effort. this effort, in support of the heart, is what will see us through. it will enable us to live up to our potential in this life.
-some things to to remember as we learn to live in a way in which we're "living up to our potential "...
1-in making our journey to the "further shore" we develop the three pillars of virtue, concentration, insight...
-virtue/parami....
-in developing parami, we develop in our connection to the heart.....
-we practice:
-generosity....
-ethical conduct (non-harming)....
-renunciation.....
2- in developing concentration we come closer to the heart....
-we learn to come to, reside in the body....
-in doing so, we withdraw from sense experience ... we withdraw from unskillful mental qualities....
-as the mind stills ...
-we're more able to connect to the heart....
-breath meditation, as the Buddha teaches, brings us closer to the heart....
3-typically we're not present, in the body....
-typically, we in states of what the Buddha called "becoming"....
-states of becoming include:
-being preoccupied with sense experience....
-being preoccuped with thoughts....
-in states of becoming, we're removed from the body....
-we're removed, thusly, from the heart....
4-the practice of insight brings us closer to the heart ....
-we see states of becoming ... we see that the heart is burdened ... that we're cut off from the heart...
-we abandon states of becoming, understanding their profound drawbacks....
-we come to see the unburdened heart....
-the heart that is free....
-the goodness of the heart....
-we come to understand the happiness of the unburdened heart.....
-the happiness of heart is always there....
-it is available to all of us....
-it is the expression of our potential.....
5-as dharma students, our purpose is to free the heart its burdens and to live in the heart....
-if we hope to know happiness in this life, it's important that we develop this purpose....
-it's important that we make a commitment to the heart....
-to abandon whatever we're doing that's creating a burden on the heart....
-to know the happiness of heart....
-to live up to our potential....
-as dharma students, we learn to reflect: what is my intention to take action that is an expression of the awakened heart....?
-reading.....
-"Closer to the Heart" (from Skillful Pleasure)
| skillful_pleasure_closer_to_the_heart_pdf.pdf |
-"The Marvel of the Dhamma" (Ajaan Maha Boowa)
I have heard that on one occasion, the Blessed One was staying at Uruvelā on the bank of the Nerañjarā River at the root of the Bodhi tree — the tree of awakening — newly awakened. And on that occasion he sat at the root of the Bodhi tree for seven days in one session, sensitive to the bliss of release. Then, with the passing of seven days, after emerging from that concentration, he surveyed the world with the eye of an Awakened One. As he did so, he saw living beings burning with the many fevers and aflame with the many fires born of passion, aversion, & delusion.
Then, on realizing the significance of that, he on that occasion exclaimed:
This world is burning.
Afflicted by contact,
it calls disease a 'self.'
By whatever means it construes [anything],
it becomes otherwise than that. Becoming otherwise,
the world is
attached to becoming
afflicted by becoming
and yet delights
in that very becoming.
Where there's delight,
there is fear.
What one fears
is stressful.
This holy life is lived
for the abandoning of becoming.
(Ud 3.10)
The Buddha and the Noble Disciples have Dhamma filling their hearts to the brim. You are a disciple of the Tathagata, with a mind that can be made to show its marvelousness through the practice of making it pure, just like the Buddha and the Noble Disciples. So try to make it still and radiant, because the heart has long lain buried in the mud. As soon as you can see the harm of the mud and grow tired of it, you should urgently wake up, take notice, and exert yourself till you can manage to make your way free. Nibbana is holding its hand out, waiting for you. Aren't you going to come out?
Rebelliousness is simply distraction. The end of rebelliousness is stillness. When the heart is still, it's at ease. If it's not still, it's as hot as fire. Wherever you are, everything is hot and troubled. Once it is still, then it's cool and peaceful wherever you are — cool right here in the heart. So make the heart cool with the practice, because the heat and trouble lie with the heart. The heat of fire is one thing, but the heat of a troubled heart is hotter than fire. Try to put out the fires of defilement, craving, and mental effluents burning here in the heart, so that only the phenomenon of genuine Dhamma remains. Then you will be cool and at peace, everywhere and always.
(Ajaan Maha Boowa)
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May 18
-"The Values of the Dharma Student
-our happiness in this life, the Buddha tells us, depends on our actions. if our actions are driven by craving, clinging, wanting, we'll suffer, we'll experience dukkha, we'll be blocked off from the heart. for this reason, we learn, as dharma students, to practice renunciation, to abandon sense pleasures, to abandon our preoccupation with the pleasures of the world, material gain, possessions. we learn to trade a lesser happiness for a greater happiness. abandoning sense pleasures, we know a quality of tranquility. but we're asked to know an even greater happiness: the happiness of the awakened heart. in tune with the heart, we learn to take action from the heart. this is the action that will bring us true happiness in life. what is our intention to act from the awakened state, from the heart? the dharma student, following the path, seeks to ask this question and live accordingly.
-some things to to remember as you learn to cultivate "the values of the dharma student"...
1-action driven by craving leads to suffering...
-most beings act in accord with their inclination toward craving....
-desire....
-wanting....
-wanting sense pleasures ... material things ... financial gain....
2- as dharma students we seek to take action informed by renunciation....
-we seek to abandon sensuality ... the preoccupation with sense pleasure and material things....
-we seek to abandon our intention to accumulation sense pleasure, sense experience, material things....
-as dharma students, we learn to reflect: what is my intention to abandon sensuality....?
3-the path of the dharma is a spiritual path....
-a path of abandoning sensuality....
-the path is a middle path: we cultivate internal pleasure, instead of the pleasure that comes from external sources....
-we trade a lesser happiness for a greater happiness
4-in following the spiritual path we seek to know a happiness that is not dependent on conditioned things ....
-we seek to know the bliss of tranquility...
-but the path goes beyond tranquility....
-the path leads to the transcendent.....
-the state in which the heart is unburdened.....
-the heart...
-as dharma students, we learn to reflect: what is my intention to know the state in which the heart is unburdened....?
5-we learn, in following the path, to take action that is an expression of the awakened heart....
-if we take action that is an expression of the heart ... we'll know happiness in this life....
-as dharma students, we learn to reflect: what is my intention to take action that is an expression of the awakened heart....?
6- we form our values through our intention.....
-what is our intention....?
-is it our intention to take action in support of craving, desire, wanting....?
-or, is it our intention to take action in support of the awakened heart...?
-we begin develop our values, our intention, asking, what can i do, what actions can i take, that are an expression of the heart...?
-we develop our values, intention, setting our intention: I am going to take action that is an expression of the heart...
-reading.....
-"Seeing the Drawbacks of Feeding on Sense Pleasure" (from The Skill of Living)
-"The Values of the Dharma Student
-our happiness in this life, the Buddha tells us, depends on our actions. if our actions are driven by craving, clinging, wanting, we'll suffer, we'll experience dukkha, we'll be blocked off from the heart. for this reason, we learn, as dharma students, to practice renunciation, to abandon sense pleasures, to abandon our preoccupation with the pleasures of the world, material gain, possessions. we learn to trade a lesser happiness for a greater happiness. abandoning sense pleasures, we know a quality of tranquility. but we're asked to know an even greater happiness: the happiness of the awakened heart. in tune with the heart, we learn to take action from the heart. this is the action that will bring us true happiness in life. what is our intention to act from the awakened state, from the heart? the dharma student, following the path, seeks to ask this question and live accordingly.
-some things to to remember as you learn to cultivate "the values of the dharma student"...
1-action driven by craving leads to suffering...
-most beings act in accord with their inclination toward craving....
-desire....
-wanting....
-wanting sense pleasures ... material things ... financial gain....
2- as dharma students we seek to take action informed by renunciation....
-we seek to abandon sensuality ... the preoccupation with sense pleasure and material things....
-we seek to abandon our intention to accumulation sense pleasure, sense experience, material things....
-as dharma students, we learn to reflect: what is my intention to abandon sensuality....?
3-the path of the dharma is a spiritual path....
-a path of abandoning sensuality....
-the path is a middle path: we cultivate internal pleasure, instead of the pleasure that comes from external sources....
-we trade a lesser happiness for a greater happiness
4-in following the spiritual path we seek to know a happiness that is not dependent on conditioned things ....
-we seek to know the bliss of tranquility...
-but the path goes beyond tranquility....
-the path leads to the transcendent.....
-the state in which the heart is unburdened.....
-the heart...
-as dharma students, we learn to reflect: what is my intention to know the state in which the heart is unburdened....?
5-we learn, in following the path, to take action that is an expression of the awakened heart....
-if we take action that is an expression of the heart ... we'll know happiness in this life....
-as dharma students, we learn to reflect: what is my intention to take action that is an expression of the awakened heart....?
6- we form our values through our intention.....
-what is our intention....?
-is it our intention to take action in support of craving, desire, wanting....?
-or, is it our intention to take action in support of the awakened heart...?
-we begin develop our values, our intention, asking, what can i do, what actions can i take, that are an expression of the heart...?
-we develop our values, intention, setting our intention: I am going to take action that is an expression of the heart...
-reading.....
-"Seeing the Drawbacks of Feeding on Sense Pleasure" (from The Skill of Living)
| skill_of_living_drawbacks_sense_pleasure.pdf |
-"Trading Candy for Gold" (Thanissaro Bhikkhu)
The passion for his resolves is a man's sensuality,
not the beautiful sensual pleasures
found in the world.
The passion for his resolves is a man's sensuality.
The beauties remain as they are in the world,
while the wise, in this regard,
subdue their desire.
(AN 6.63)
If, by forsaking
a limited ease,
he would see
an abundance of ease,
the enlightened man
would forsake
the limited ease
for the sake
of the abundant.
(Dhp 290)
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Anupiyā in the Mango Grove. And on that occasion, Ven. Bhaddiya, Kāḷigodhā's son, on going to the wilderness, to the root of a tree, or to an empty dwelling, would repeatedly exclaim, "What bliss! What bliss!"
A large number of monks heard Ven. Bhaddiya, Kāḷigodhā's son, on going to the wilderness, to the root of a tree, or to an empty dwelling, repeatedly exclaim, "What bliss! What bliss!" and on hearing him, the thought occurred to them, "There's no doubt but that Ven. Bhaddiya, Kāḷigodhā's son, doesn't enjoy leading the holy life, for when he was a householder he knew the bliss of kingship, so that now, on recollecting that when going to the wilderness, to the root of a tree, or to an empty dwelling, he is repeatedly exclaiming, 'What bliss! What bliss!'"
So they went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As they were sitting there, they told him, "Ven. Bhaddiya, Kāḷigodhā's son, lord, on going to the wilderness, to the root of a tree, or to an empty dwelling, repeatedly exclaims, 'What bliss! What bliss!' There's no doubt but that Ven. Bhaddiya doesn't enjoy leading the holy life, for when he was a householder he knew the bliss of kingship, so that now, on recollecting that when going to the wilderness, to the root of a tree, or to an empty dwelling, he is repeatedly exclaiming, 'What bliss! What bliss!'"
Then the Blessed One told a certain monk, "Come, monk. In my name, call Bhaddiya, saying, 'The Teacher calls you, friend Bhaddiya.'"
Responding, "As you say, lord," to the Blessed One, the monk went to Ven. Bhaddiya, Kāḷigodhā's son, and on arrival he said to him, "The Teacher calls you, friend Bhaddiya."
Responding, "As you say, my friend," to the monk, Ven. Bhaddiya, Kāḷigodhā's son, went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, the Blessed One said to him, "Is it true, Bhaddiya that — on going to the wilderness, to the root of a tree, or to an empty dwelling — you repeatedly exclaim, 'What bliss! What bliss!'?"
"Yes, lord."
"What compelling reason do you have in mind that — when going to the wilderness, to the root of a tree, or to an empty dwelling — you repeatedly exclaim, 'What bliss! What bliss!'?"
"Before, when I has a householder, maintaining the bliss of kingship,[1] lord, I had guards posted within and without the royal apartments, within and without the city, within and without the countryside. But even though I was thus guarded, thus protected, I dwelled in fear — agitated, distrustful, & afraid. But now, on going alone to the wilderness, to the root of a tree, or to an empty dwelling, I dwell without fear, unagitated, confident, & unafraid — unconcerned, unruffled, my wants satisfied, with my mind like a wild deer. This is the compelling reason I have in mind that — when going to the wilderness, to the root of a tree, or to an empty dwelling — I repeatedly exclaim, 'What bliss! What bliss!'"
Then, on realizing the significance of that, the Blessed One on that occasion exclaimed:
From whose heart
there is no provocation,
& for whom becoming & non-becoming
are overcome,
he — beyond fear,
blissful,
with no grief --
is one the devas can't see.
(Ud 2.10)
May 11
-"The Heart of Appreciation" (Mother's Day)
-as the Buddha teaches us, it's essential that we learn to cultivate appreciation. appreciation for goodness. the goodness in ourselves, in others, in the world. a profoundly important, elemental, component of appreciation is appreciation for our parents. including, of course, appreciation for our mother. our relationship with our mother has a profound effect in our lives. the karma of this relationship will greatly effect our capacity to know happiness. we should reflect, often, on our gratitude for our mother. in doing so, we remind ourselves that she gave us the gift of life and took care of us when we couldn't take care of ourselves. she went our of her way to help us. our ability to know happiness in this life is related, directly, and profoundly, to our ability to cultivate this quality of appreciation in the heart.
-some things to to remember as you learn to develop "the heart of appreciation"...
1-the Buddha teaches us that we should develop gratitude for our mother...
-this gratitude ... which leads to the heart, to the quality of appreciation, is essential to our ability to know happiness....
-the nature of the conditioned realm is impermanent, inconstant, unpredictable, subject to birth and death....
-we should reflect often on the blessing of our mother....
2- the Buddha teaches the profound karma of our relationship with our parents....
-in terms of cause & effect, the relationship we have with our parents is profoundly important....
-if there is negativity, aversion, resentment ... this will have detrimental effect in our ability to know happiness....
-to the degree that there is appreciation, we will know happiness in life....
3-in cultivating appreciation for our mother, we remember that she gave us the gift of life....
-we would not be here without our parents....
-they gave us the greatest gift we've been given....
-they took care of us when we could not take care of ourselves....
-because of our mother, we have the opportunity to know the goodness of life...
-we have the opportunity to know happiness of heart....
4-meditation practice us enables us to have the equanimity essential to cultivating appreciation....
-meditation enables us to look clearly, objectively at painful emotions/stories that may be habitual in terms of our parents....
-anger, resentment, etc...
-we're able to develop a skillful relationship to these emotions/stories.......
-we're able, over time, to abandon our clinging to these emotions/stories....
-we're able, thusly, to free the heart of its burdens
-meditation enables us to know the heart....
-to cultivate the quality of appreciation.....
-to recognize the blessing/goodness of our mother....
5-if we're able to cultivate appreciation for the goodness of our parents, we'll be able to develop appreciation for the goodness in life....
-recognizing the goodness of our parents....
-we recognize our own goodness ....
-we recognize the goodness in all beings....
-we recognize the goodness in life.....
6- recognizing the goodness in ourselves, we act accordingly.....
-we 'repay' our parents for giving us the gift of life by making the most of our lives....
-expressing our goodness....
-taking action in support of the goodness of all beings....
-living with generosity, love, wisdom.....
-reading.....
-"Skillful Giving" (from The Skill of Living)
-"The Heart of Appreciation" (Mother's Day)
-as the Buddha teaches us, it's essential that we learn to cultivate appreciation. appreciation for goodness. the goodness in ourselves, in others, in the world. a profoundly important, elemental, component of appreciation is appreciation for our parents. including, of course, appreciation for our mother. our relationship with our mother has a profound effect in our lives. the karma of this relationship will greatly effect our capacity to know happiness. we should reflect, often, on our gratitude for our mother. in doing so, we remind ourselves that she gave us the gift of life and took care of us when we couldn't take care of ourselves. she went our of her way to help us. our ability to know happiness in this life is related, directly, and profoundly, to our ability to cultivate this quality of appreciation in the heart.
-some things to to remember as you learn to develop "the heart of appreciation"...
1-the Buddha teaches us that we should develop gratitude for our mother...
-this gratitude ... which leads to the heart, to the quality of appreciation, is essential to our ability to know happiness....
-the nature of the conditioned realm is impermanent, inconstant, unpredictable, subject to birth and death....
-we should reflect often on the blessing of our mother....
2- the Buddha teaches the profound karma of our relationship with our parents....
-in terms of cause & effect, the relationship we have with our parents is profoundly important....
-if there is negativity, aversion, resentment ... this will have detrimental effect in our ability to know happiness....
-to the degree that there is appreciation, we will know happiness in life....
3-in cultivating appreciation for our mother, we remember that she gave us the gift of life....
-we would not be here without our parents....
-they gave us the greatest gift we've been given....
-they took care of us when we could not take care of ourselves....
-because of our mother, we have the opportunity to know the goodness of life...
-we have the opportunity to know happiness of heart....
4-meditation practice us enables us to have the equanimity essential to cultivating appreciation....
-meditation enables us to look clearly, objectively at painful emotions/stories that may be habitual in terms of our parents....
-anger, resentment, etc...
-we're able to develop a skillful relationship to these emotions/stories.......
-we're able, over time, to abandon our clinging to these emotions/stories....
-we're able, thusly, to free the heart of its burdens
-meditation enables us to know the heart....
-to cultivate the quality of appreciation.....
-to recognize the blessing/goodness of our mother....
5-if we're able to cultivate appreciation for the goodness of our parents, we'll be able to develop appreciation for the goodness in life....
-recognizing the goodness of our parents....
-we recognize our own goodness ....
-we recognize the goodness in all beings....
-we recognize the goodness in life.....
6- recognizing the goodness in ourselves, we act accordingly.....
-we 'repay' our parents for giving us the gift of life by making the most of our lives....
-expressing our goodness....
-taking action in support of the goodness of all beings....
-living with generosity, love, wisdom.....
-reading.....
-"Skillful Giving" (from The Skill of Living)
| skillful_giving_skill_of_living_pdf.pdf |
"And how is a person of integrity a person of integrity in the views he holds? There is the case where a person of integrity is one who holds a view like this: 'There is what is given, what is offered, what is sacrificed. There are fruits & results of good & bad actions. There is this world & the next world. There is mother & father. There are spontaneously reborn beings; there are brahmans & contemplatives who, faring rightly & practicing rightly, proclaim this world & the next after having directly known & realized it for themselves.' This is how a person of integrity is a person of integrity in the views he holds."
(MN 110)
"Monks, I will teach you the level of a person of no integrity and the level of a person of integrity. Listen & pay close attention. I will speak."
"As you say, lord," the monks responded.
The Blessed One said, "Now what is the level of a person of no integrity? A person of no integrity is ungrateful & unthankful. This ingratitude, this lack of thankfulness, is advocated by rude people. It is entirely on the level of people of no integrity. A person of integrity is grateful & thankful. This gratitude, this thankfulness, is advocated by civil people. It is entirely on the level of people of integrity."
"I tell you, monks, there are two people who are not easy to repay. Which two? Your mother & father. Even if you were to carry your mother on one shoulder & your father on the other shoulder for 100 years, and were to look after them by anointing, massaging, bathing, & rubbing their limbs, and they were to defecate & urinate right there [on your shoulders], you would not in that way pay or repay your parents. If you were to establish your mother & father in absolute sovereignty over this great earth, abounding in the seven treasures, you would not in that way pay or repay your parents. Why is that? Mother & father do much for their children. They care for them, they nourish them, they introduce them to this world.
But anyone who rouses his unbelieving mother & father, settles & establishes them in conviction; rouses his unvirtuous mother & father, settles & establishes them in virtue; rouses his stingy mother & father, settles & establishes them in generosity; rouses his foolish mother & father, settles & establishes them in discernment: To this extent one pays & repays one's mother & father."
(AN 2.31)
This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Arahant, so I have heard: "Living with Brahma are those families where, in the home, mother & father are revered by the children. Living with the first devas are those families where, in the home, mother & father are revered by the children. Living with the first teachers are those families where, in the home, mother & father are revered by the children. Living with those worthy of gifts are those families where, in the home, mother & father are revered by the children. 'Brahma' is a designation for mother & father. 'The first devas' is a designation for mother & father. 'The first teachers' is a designation for mother & father. 'Those worthy of gifts' is a designation for mother & father. Why is that? Mother & father do much for their children. They care for them, nourish them, introduce them to this world."
Mother & father,
compassionate to their family,
are called
Brahma,
first teachers,
those worthy of gifts
from their children.
So the wise should pay them
homage,
honor
with food & drink
clothing & bedding
anointing & bathing
& washing their feet.
Performing these services to their parents,
the wise
are praised right here
and after death
rejoice in heaven.
(Iti 106)
She's now the only mother you have. You've depended on her ever since you were born: to be your teacher, your nurse, your doctor — she was everything for you. This is the benefaction she gave in raising you. She gave you knowledge; she provided for your needs and gave you wealth. Everything you have — the fact that you have children and grandchildren, nice homes, nice occupations, the fact that you can send your children to get an education — the fact that you even have yourself: What does that come from? It comes from the benefaction of your parents who gave you an inheritance so that your family line is the way it is.
The Buddha thus taught benefaction and gratitude. These two qualities complement each other. Benefaction is doing good for others. When we've received that goodness, received that help: Whoever has raised us, whoever has made it possible for us to live, whether it's a man or a woman, a relative or not, that person is our benefactor.
Gratitude is our response. When we've received help and support from benefactors, we appreciate that benefaction. That's gratitude. Whatever they need, whatever difficulty they're in, we should be willing to make sacrifices for them, to take on the duty of helping them. This is because benefaction and gratitude are two qualities that undergird the world so that your family doesn't scatter, so that it's at peace, so that it's as solid and stable as it is.
(Ajaan Chah)
May 4
-"Faith in the Goodness in Life"
-there is difficulty in life. the conditioned realm is impermanent, inconstant, unpredictable, subject to birth and death. as human beings we are subject to aging, illness, death, separation. as dharma students we're asked to acknowledge and understand the difficult nature of the conditioned realm. our tendency may be to fixate on the difficulty in our human experience and, in turn, involve ourselves in wanting things to be different. in understanding our experience, we develop equanimity and insight. this insight includes, importantly, understanding that there is goodness in life. there is a goodness that transcends conditioned things. it is essential, if we are to know happiness in life, that we come to understand the goodness in life. we learn, as dharma students, to incline to knowing the goodness in life. we develop faith in the goodness in life.
-some things to to remember as you learn to develop "faith in the goodness in life"...
1-the Buddha teaches us that we must develop insight into "suffering & the end of suffering"....
-we understand that there is difficulty in life....
-the nature of the conditioned realm is impermanent, inconstant, unpredictable, subject to birth and death....
-we understand that there is goodness in life....
-there is that which transcends conditioned experience....
-true happiness....
2- our tendency is to fixate on that which is difficult....
-if we fixate on that which is inherently difficult ... we will suffer ... we will never know the goodness in life.......
-this tendency to want the conditioned realm to be different than what it is leads to craving....
-wanting....
-wanting what we don't have....
-not wanting what we have....
-craving, the Buddha tells us, is the root of our suffering....
3-as dharma students we shift away from a preoccupation with conditioned things....
-we learn to decrease our involvement with the things of the world: sense pleasure, material gain, etc....
-we understand that a true happiness is not found in these things....
-a mark of development in dharma practice includes the growth of disenchantment with the "things of the world'....
4-we develop in right view: there is goodness in life....
-the Buddha's path leads us to the understanding that there is goodness in life....
-this goodness is everpresent...
-this goodness can be known........
-in the body....
-we learn to be in tune with the dharma inside....
-our inherent goodness.....
-our task, as dharma students, is to incline to knowing this goodness....
5-we develop faith in the goodness in life....
-faith in awakening....
-awakening ... is awakening to the goodness in life ....
-reading.....
-"Faith in Awakening" (Thanissaro Bhikkhu)
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying at Varanasi in the Game Refuge at Isipatana. There he addressed the group of five monks:
"There are these two extremes that are not to be indulged in by one who has gone forth. Which two? That which is devoted to sensual pleasure with reference to sensual objects: base, vulgar, common, ignoble, unprofitable; and that which is devoted to self-affliction: painful, ignoble, unprofitable. Avoiding both of these extremes, the middle way realized by the Tathagata — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.
"And what is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding? Precisely this Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. This is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding."
(SN 56.11)
"For a lay person, there are these five rewards of conviction. Which five?
"When the truly good people in the world show compassion, they will first show compassion to people of conviction, and not to people without conviction. When visiting, they first visit people of conviction, and not people without conviction. When accepting gifts, they will first accept those from people with conviction, and not from people without conviction. When teaching the Dhamma, they will first teach those with conviction, and not those without conviction. A person of conviction, on the break-up of the body, after death, will arise in a good destination, the heavenly world. For a lay person, these are the five rewards of conviction.
"Just as a large banyan tree, on level ground where four roads meet, is a haven for the birds all around, even so a lay person of conviction is a haven for many people: monks, nuns, male lay followers, & female lay followers."
A massive tree
whose branches carry fruits & leaves,
with trunks & roots
& an abundance of fruits:
There the birds find rest.
In that delightful sphere
they make their home.
Those seeking shade
come to the shade,
those seeking fruit
find fruit to eat.
So with the person consummate
in virtue & conviction,
humble, sensitive, gentle,
delightful, & mild:
To him come those without effluent --
free from passion,
free from aversion,
free from delusion --
the field of merit for the world.
They teach him the Dhamma
that dispels all stress.
And when he understands,
he is freed from effluents,
totally unbound.
(AN 5.38)
-"Faith in the Goodness in Life"
-there is difficulty in life. the conditioned realm is impermanent, inconstant, unpredictable, subject to birth and death. as human beings we are subject to aging, illness, death, separation. as dharma students we're asked to acknowledge and understand the difficult nature of the conditioned realm. our tendency may be to fixate on the difficulty in our human experience and, in turn, involve ourselves in wanting things to be different. in understanding our experience, we develop equanimity and insight. this insight includes, importantly, understanding that there is goodness in life. there is a goodness that transcends conditioned things. it is essential, if we are to know happiness in life, that we come to understand the goodness in life. we learn, as dharma students, to incline to knowing the goodness in life. we develop faith in the goodness in life.
-some things to to remember as you learn to develop "faith in the goodness in life"...
1-the Buddha teaches us that we must develop insight into "suffering & the end of suffering"....
-we understand that there is difficulty in life....
-the nature of the conditioned realm is impermanent, inconstant, unpredictable, subject to birth and death....
-we understand that there is goodness in life....
-there is that which transcends conditioned experience....
-true happiness....
2- our tendency is to fixate on that which is difficult....
-if we fixate on that which is inherently difficult ... we will suffer ... we will never know the goodness in life.......
-this tendency to want the conditioned realm to be different than what it is leads to craving....
-wanting....
-wanting what we don't have....
-not wanting what we have....
-craving, the Buddha tells us, is the root of our suffering....
3-as dharma students we shift away from a preoccupation with conditioned things....
-we learn to decrease our involvement with the things of the world: sense pleasure, material gain, etc....
-we understand that a true happiness is not found in these things....
-a mark of development in dharma practice includes the growth of disenchantment with the "things of the world'....
4-we develop in right view: there is goodness in life....
-the Buddha's path leads us to the understanding that there is goodness in life....
-this goodness is everpresent...
-this goodness can be known........
-in the body....
-we learn to be in tune with the dharma inside....
-our inherent goodness.....
-our task, as dharma students, is to incline to knowing this goodness....
5-we develop faith in the goodness in life....
-faith in awakening....
-awakening ... is awakening to the goodness in life ....
-reading.....
-"Faith in Awakening" (Thanissaro Bhikkhu)
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying at Varanasi in the Game Refuge at Isipatana. There he addressed the group of five monks:
"There are these two extremes that are not to be indulged in by one who has gone forth. Which two? That which is devoted to sensual pleasure with reference to sensual objects: base, vulgar, common, ignoble, unprofitable; and that which is devoted to self-affliction: painful, ignoble, unprofitable. Avoiding both of these extremes, the middle way realized by the Tathagata — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.
"And what is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding? Precisely this Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. This is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding."
(SN 56.11)
"For a lay person, there are these five rewards of conviction. Which five?
"When the truly good people in the world show compassion, they will first show compassion to people of conviction, and not to people without conviction. When visiting, they first visit people of conviction, and not people without conviction. When accepting gifts, they will first accept those from people with conviction, and not from people without conviction. When teaching the Dhamma, they will first teach those with conviction, and not those without conviction. A person of conviction, on the break-up of the body, after death, will arise in a good destination, the heavenly world. For a lay person, these are the five rewards of conviction.
"Just as a large banyan tree, on level ground where four roads meet, is a haven for the birds all around, even so a lay person of conviction is a haven for many people: monks, nuns, male lay followers, & female lay followers."
A massive tree
whose branches carry fruits & leaves,
with trunks & roots
& an abundance of fruits:
There the birds find rest.
In that delightful sphere
they make their home.
Those seeking shade
come to the shade,
those seeking fruit
find fruit to eat.
So with the person consummate
in virtue & conviction,
humble, sensitive, gentle,
delightful, & mild:
To him come those without effluent --
free from passion,
free from aversion,
free from delusion --
the field of merit for the world.
They teach him the Dhamma
that dispels all stress.
And when he understands,
he is freed from effluents,
totally unbound.
(AN 5.38)
April 13
-"Your True Home"
-dharma practice, as the Buddha explains, is a practice of knowing. knowing the reality of our experience. in real time. according to reality. it's a knowing that transcends intellectual knowing. it's a knowing that can not be accomplish by the "thinking mind." although the thinking mind supports us in developing this knowing. this knowing is developed through the body. and ultimately in the heart. we find, in our journey of exploration, that we have a reliable home in the breath, a pleasant abiding in the body. the breath/body is a good home for the mind. but our true home is the heart. the heart is the place of the truth, wisdom, love. it is always there. and we can know it.
-some things to to remember as you learn to come to "your true home"...
1-the path is a path of knowing things according to reality....
-this knowing transcends the limits of intellectual knowing ... the sort of knowing that can be achieved by thinking....
2- we learn, as dharma students, to know things in the body.....
-we understand the reality of our experience through knowing it in the body....
-in real time....
-as the Buddha teaches, "according to reality"....
3-the development of mindfulness of the body is essential to awakening....
-we learn to develop mindfulness of the body through the practice of breath meditation....
-in our meditation it is very important to develop full body awareness....
-for this reason we should try to practice "step 3" of the steps of breath meditation (establishing an abiding in the body) whenever we practice meditation....
4-remembering what's happened in the past has a certain value....
-in practicing meditation ... and in all the postures of our lives ... we seek to abandon unskillful thinking....
-the so-called fermentations...
-thinking informed by unskillful mental qualities.........
-thinking about ourselves, our lives, and the "world"....
-thinking imbued with restlessness....
-thinking that comprises the wandering, daydreaming mind ... including pleasant thoughts of past & future....
-but certain ways of remembering are important....
-we remember our goodness, the goodness of others, the goodness in life ... and, in turn, we cultivate gratitude.....
-we remember what we've learned, as dharma students....
-we remember how we've learned to "know" things according to reality....
-how we've learned to know the breath ... the body ... the heart....
-how we've learned to observe experience ... how we've learned to bring awareness to experience....
5-we find, as dharma students, a good home for the mind....
-the breath is a good home for the mind....
-having a pleasant abiding in the breath/body ... supports us in our efforts to meet the challenges & difficulties in life ....
-ultimately we have a home in the heart....
-the heart is your true home....
-it's true ... always there ... timeless....
-it can be known (according to reality)....
-in the midst of life, we learn to trust in the heart ... to see us through ... to enable us to know a greater happiness.....
-reading.....
-"Nibbedhika Sutta: Penetrative" (AN 6.63)
They awaken, always wide awake:
Gotama’s disciples
whose mindfulness, both day & night,
is constantly immersed
in the body.
(Dhp 299)
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying in Savatthi at Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's monastery. Now at that time a large number of monks, after the meal, on returning from their alms round, had gathered at the meeting hall when this discussion arose: "Isn't it amazing, friends! Isn't it astounding! — the extent to which mindfulness immersed in the body, when developed & pursued, is said by the Blessed One who knows, who sees — the worthy one, rightly self-awakened — to be of great fruit & great benefit."
(MN 119)
"I will teach you the penetrative explanation that is a Dhamma explanation. Listen & pay close attention. I will speak."
"As you say, lord," the monks responded.
The Blessed One said: "And which penetrative explanation is a Dhamma explanation?
"Sensuality should be known. The cause by which sensuality comes into play should be known. The diversity in sensuality should be known. The result of sensuality should be known. The cessation of sensuality should be known. The path of practice for the cessation of sensuality should be known.
"Feeling should be known. The cause by which feeling comes into play should be known. The diversity in feeling should be known. The result of feeling should be known. The cessation of feeling should be known. The path of practice for the cessation of feeling should be known.
"Perception should be known. The cause by which perception comes into play should be known. The diversity in perception should be known. The result of perception should be known. The cessation of perception should be known. The path of practice for the cessation of perception should be known.
"Fermentations[1] should be known. The cause by which fermentations come into play should be known. The diversity in fermentations should be known. The result of fermentations should be known. The cessation of fermentations should be known. The path of practice for the cessation of fermentations should be known
"Kamma should be known. The cause by which kamma comes into play should be known. The diversity in kamma should be known. The result of kamma should be known. The cessation of kamma should be known. The path of practice for the cessation of kamma should be known.
"Stress should be known. The cause by which stress comes into play should be known. The diversity in stress should be known. The result of stress should be known. The cessation of stress should be known. The path of practice for the cessation of stress should be known."
(AN 6.63)
Where Everything Is Music (Rumi)
Don’t worry about saving these songs!
And if one of our instruments breaks,
it doesn’t matter.
We have fallen into the place
where everything is music.
The strumming and the flute notes
rise into the atmosphere,
and even if the whole world’s harp
should burn up, there will still be
hidden instruments playing.
So the candle flickers and goes out.
We have a piece of flint, and a spark.
This singing art is sea foam.
The graceful movements come from a pearl
somewhere on the ocean floor.
Poems reach up like spindrift and the edge
of driftwood along the beach, wanting!
They derive
from a slow and powerful root
that we can’t see.
Stop the words now.
Open the window in the centre of your chest,
and let the spirits fly in and out.
-"Your True Home"
-dharma practice, as the Buddha explains, is a practice of knowing. knowing the reality of our experience. in real time. according to reality. it's a knowing that transcends intellectual knowing. it's a knowing that can not be accomplish by the "thinking mind." although the thinking mind supports us in developing this knowing. this knowing is developed through the body. and ultimately in the heart. we find, in our journey of exploration, that we have a reliable home in the breath, a pleasant abiding in the body. the breath/body is a good home for the mind. but our true home is the heart. the heart is the place of the truth, wisdom, love. it is always there. and we can know it.
-some things to to remember as you learn to come to "your true home"...
1-the path is a path of knowing things according to reality....
-this knowing transcends the limits of intellectual knowing ... the sort of knowing that can be achieved by thinking....
2- we learn, as dharma students, to know things in the body.....
-we understand the reality of our experience through knowing it in the body....
-in real time....
-as the Buddha teaches, "according to reality"....
3-the development of mindfulness of the body is essential to awakening....
-we learn to develop mindfulness of the body through the practice of breath meditation....
-in our meditation it is very important to develop full body awareness....
-for this reason we should try to practice "step 3" of the steps of breath meditation (establishing an abiding in the body) whenever we practice meditation....
4-remembering what's happened in the past has a certain value....
-in practicing meditation ... and in all the postures of our lives ... we seek to abandon unskillful thinking....
-the so-called fermentations...
-thinking informed by unskillful mental qualities.........
-thinking about ourselves, our lives, and the "world"....
-thinking imbued with restlessness....
-thinking that comprises the wandering, daydreaming mind ... including pleasant thoughts of past & future....
-but certain ways of remembering are important....
-we remember our goodness, the goodness of others, the goodness in life ... and, in turn, we cultivate gratitude.....
-we remember what we've learned, as dharma students....
-we remember how we've learned to "know" things according to reality....
-how we've learned to know the breath ... the body ... the heart....
-how we've learned to observe experience ... how we've learned to bring awareness to experience....
5-we find, as dharma students, a good home for the mind....
-the breath is a good home for the mind....
-having a pleasant abiding in the breath/body ... supports us in our efforts to meet the challenges & difficulties in life ....
-ultimately we have a home in the heart....
-the heart is your true home....
-it's true ... always there ... timeless....
-it can be known (according to reality)....
-in the midst of life, we learn to trust in the heart ... to see us through ... to enable us to know a greater happiness.....
-reading.....
-"Nibbedhika Sutta: Penetrative" (AN 6.63)
They awaken, always wide awake:
Gotama’s disciples
whose mindfulness, both day & night,
is constantly immersed
in the body.
(Dhp 299)
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying in Savatthi at Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's monastery. Now at that time a large number of monks, after the meal, on returning from their alms round, had gathered at the meeting hall when this discussion arose: "Isn't it amazing, friends! Isn't it astounding! — the extent to which mindfulness immersed in the body, when developed & pursued, is said by the Blessed One who knows, who sees — the worthy one, rightly self-awakened — to be of great fruit & great benefit."
(MN 119)
"I will teach you the penetrative explanation that is a Dhamma explanation. Listen & pay close attention. I will speak."
"As you say, lord," the monks responded.
The Blessed One said: "And which penetrative explanation is a Dhamma explanation?
"Sensuality should be known. The cause by which sensuality comes into play should be known. The diversity in sensuality should be known. The result of sensuality should be known. The cessation of sensuality should be known. The path of practice for the cessation of sensuality should be known.
"Feeling should be known. The cause by which feeling comes into play should be known. The diversity in feeling should be known. The result of feeling should be known. The cessation of feeling should be known. The path of practice for the cessation of feeling should be known.
"Perception should be known. The cause by which perception comes into play should be known. The diversity in perception should be known. The result of perception should be known. The cessation of perception should be known. The path of practice for the cessation of perception should be known.
"Fermentations[1] should be known. The cause by which fermentations come into play should be known. The diversity in fermentations should be known. The result of fermentations should be known. The cessation of fermentations should be known. The path of practice for the cessation of fermentations should be known
"Kamma should be known. The cause by which kamma comes into play should be known. The diversity in kamma should be known. The result of kamma should be known. The cessation of kamma should be known. The path of practice for the cessation of kamma should be known.
"Stress should be known. The cause by which stress comes into play should be known. The diversity in stress should be known. The result of stress should be known. The cessation of stress should be known. The path of practice for the cessation of stress should be known."
(AN 6.63)
Where Everything Is Music (Rumi)
Don’t worry about saving these songs!
And if one of our instruments breaks,
it doesn’t matter.
We have fallen into the place
where everything is music.
The strumming and the flute notes
rise into the atmosphere,
and even if the whole world’s harp
should burn up, there will still be
hidden instruments playing.
So the candle flickers and goes out.
We have a piece of flint, and a spark.
This singing art is sea foam.
The graceful movements come from a pearl
somewhere on the ocean floor.
Poems reach up like spindrift and the edge
of driftwood along the beach, wanting!
They derive
from a slow and powerful root
that we can’t see.
Stop the words now.
Open the window in the centre of your chest,
and let the spirits fly in and out.
March 30
-"The Verb of Compassion"
-compassion is a quality of heart & mind that informs skillful action. as such, compassion is a form of action. a verb. we develop this action by following certain steps. it is a skill. the skill includes recognizing when there is suffering, in ourselves and in others. then setting skillful intention, through the use of fabrication. then taking action. in cultivating this skill it is essential that we bring awareness to habitual patterns of mind, our past karma. recognizing past karma, bringing awareness to it, is key in our efforts to change, to change our karma, to change our actions. if we do this, we will be able to change our actions. we will be able to transform our lives.
-some things to to remember as you learn to develop action informed by "the verb of compassion"...
1-compassion is an action....
-we develop compassion by taking skillful action, action informed by compassion....
-action informed by the heart's response to suffering....
-the wish for freedom from suffering....
2- we develop action informed by compassion by practicing a skill.....
-the skill includes:
-recognizing suffering....
-in others ... in ourselves....
-cultivating skillful intention....
-using fabrication....
-taking action.....
-monitoring our action to see to it that we're staying to our skillful intention....
3-we seek to practice this skill in all our postures....
-in blatant and subtle ways....
-in regard to ourselves and others....
4-being aware of the habitual patterns of mind is essential to developing action informed by compassion....
-in developing action informed by compassion we are developing skillful action ... we are seeking to abandon our past karma....
-this asks that we are aware of our past karma...
-our habitual patterns of mind........
-in real time....
-developing meditation/concentration/jhana enables us to change our karma....
-we have ease ... we're not thrown so much by past karma.....
-we able to be mindful and alert ... we're able to see past karma in real time....
-we have equanimity ... we have space .... we're able to bring new skillful intention into this space.....
5-we have the ability to change our karma....
-if we don't abandon past karma ... and learn to take action informed by skillful intention ... our hearts will remain burdened....
-we won't know a greater happiness in our lives....
-the good news is ... we can change our karma....
-by following the skills the Buddha teaches....
-if we learn to abandon past karma ... and to cultivate skillful action, action informed by compassion ... we will move toward a greater happiness....
-happiness of heart....
-reading.....
-"Head & Heart Together" (Thanissaro Bhikkhu)
-"Karma" (Thanissaro Bhikkhu)
"Furthermore, there is the case where a monk might say, 'Although compassion has been developed, pursued, handed the reins and taken as a basis, given a grounding, steadied, consolidated, and well-undertaken by me as my awareness-release, still viciousness keeps overpowering my mind.' He should be told, 'Don't say that. You shouldn't speak in that way. Don't misrepresent the Blessed One, for it's not right to misrepresent the Blessed One, and the Blessed One wouldn't say that. It's impossible, there is no way that — when compassion has been developed, pursued, handed the reins and taken as a basis, given a grounding, steadied, consolidated, and well-undertaken as an awareness-release — viciousness would still keep overpowering the mind. That possibility doesn't exist, for this is the escape from viciousness: compassion as an awareness-release.'"
(AN 6.13)
So, instead of promoting resigned powerlessness, the early Buddhist notion of karma focused on the liberating potential of what the mind is doing with every moment. Who you are — what you come from — is not anywhere near as important as the mind's motives for what it is doing right now. Even though the past may account for many of the inequalities we see in life, our measure as human beings is not the hand we've been dealt, for that hand can change at any moment. We take our own measure by how well we play the hand we've got. If you're suffering, you try not to continue the unskillful mental habits that would keep that particular karmic feedback going. If you see that other people are suffering, and you're in a position to help, you focus not on their karmic past but your karmic opportunity in the present: Someday you may find yourself in the same predicament that they're in now, so here's your opportunity to act in the way you'd like them to act toward you when that day comes.
(Thanissaro Bhikkhu)
-"The Verb of Compassion"
-compassion is a quality of heart & mind that informs skillful action. as such, compassion is a form of action. a verb. we develop this action by following certain steps. it is a skill. the skill includes recognizing when there is suffering, in ourselves and in others. then setting skillful intention, through the use of fabrication. then taking action. in cultivating this skill it is essential that we bring awareness to habitual patterns of mind, our past karma. recognizing past karma, bringing awareness to it, is key in our efforts to change, to change our karma, to change our actions. if we do this, we will be able to change our actions. we will be able to transform our lives.
-some things to to remember as you learn to develop action informed by "the verb of compassion"...
1-compassion is an action....
-we develop compassion by taking skillful action, action informed by compassion....
-action informed by the heart's response to suffering....
-the wish for freedom from suffering....
2- we develop action informed by compassion by practicing a skill.....
-the skill includes:
-recognizing suffering....
-in others ... in ourselves....
-cultivating skillful intention....
-using fabrication....
-taking action.....
-monitoring our action to see to it that we're staying to our skillful intention....
3-we seek to practice this skill in all our postures....
-in blatant and subtle ways....
-in regard to ourselves and others....
4-being aware of the habitual patterns of mind is essential to developing action informed by compassion....
-in developing action informed by compassion we are developing skillful action ... we are seeking to abandon our past karma....
-this asks that we are aware of our past karma...
-our habitual patterns of mind........
-in real time....
-developing meditation/concentration/jhana enables us to change our karma....
-we have ease ... we're not thrown so much by past karma.....
-we able to be mindful and alert ... we're able to see past karma in real time....
-we have equanimity ... we have space .... we're able to bring new skillful intention into this space.....
5-we have the ability to change our karma....
-if we don't abandon past karma ... and learn to take action informed by skillful intention ... our hearts will remain burdened....
-we won't know a greater happiness in our lives....
-the good news is ... we can change our karma....
-by following the skills the Buddha teaches....
-if we learn to abandon past karma ... and to cultivate skillful action, action informed by compassion ... we will move toward a greater happiness....
-happiness of heart....
-reading.....
-"Head & Heart Together" (Thanissaro Bhikkhu)
-"Karma" (Thanissaro Bhikkhu)
"Furthermore, there is the case where a monk might say, 'Although compassion has been developed, pursued, handed the reins and taken as a basis, given a grounding, steadied, consolidated, and well-undertaken by me as my awareness-release, still viciousness keeps overpowering my mind.' He should be told, 'Don't say that. You shouldn't speak in that way. Don't misrepresent the Blessed One, for it's not right to misrepresent the Blessed One, and the Blessed One wouldn't say that. It's impossible, there is no way that — when compassion has been developed, pursued, handed the reins and taken as a basis, given a grounding, steadied, consolidated, and well-undertaken as an awareness-release — viciousness would still keep overpowering the mind. That possibility doesn't exist, for this is the escape from viciousness: compassion as an awareness-release.'"
(AN 6.13)
So, instead of promoting resigned powerlessness, the early Buddhist notion of karma focused on the liberating potential of what the mind is doing with every moment. Who you are — what you come from — is not anywhere near as important as the mind's motives for what it is doing right now. Even though the past may account for many of the inequalities we see in life, our measure as human beings is not the hand we've been dealt, for that hand can change at any moment. We take our own measure by how well we play the hand we've got. If you're suffering, you try not to continue the unskillful mental habits that would keep that particular karmic feedback going. If you see that other people are suffering, and you're in a position to help, you focus not on their karmic past but your karmic opportunity in the present: Someday you may find yourself in the same predicament that they're in now, so here's your opportunity to act in the way you'd like them to act toward you when that day comes.
(Thanissaro Bhikkhu)
March 23
-"Four Skills for Cultivating Skillful Thinking"
-as the Buddha realized, if we are going to know a greater happiness, if we are going to make the most of our lives, it is essential to learn to cultivate skillful thinking. all that we are arises, the Buddha teaches us, with our thinking. our path is one of abandoning unskillful thinking and cultivating skillful thinking. the Buddha offers specific guidelines for skillful thinking. the teachings on the four sublime abiding offer a template for cultivate skillful thinking. the practice requires persistence, patience, and resolve. it is a practice that we all can develop; and if we do, it will benefit us greatly.
-some things to to remember as you learn to practice "cultivating skillful thinking"...
1-there are basic guidelines for fabricating skillful thinking....
-as the Buddha explains in the sutta "Two Sorts of Thinking," skill fabrication....
-should be practiced regularly....
-should be kept very simple....
-in fabricating skillful thinking, we should keep the thinking to a few words....
-if we use too much thinking, the mind tires, and there's a tendency to veer into unskillful thinking.....
-the breath is our center....
-we keep the mind on the breath in all postures....
-we fabricate skillful thinking, keeping it simple, when the moment calls for it.....
2- the sublime abidings offer a template for skillful thinking.....
-we seek to cultivate thinking informed by....
-lovingkindness (metta)....
-compassion....
-appreciation....
-equanimity.....
3-skillful thinking includes cultivating skillful intention: intention informed by lovingkindness....
-in cultivating skillful intention....
-in taking action....
-we seek what the mind is like....
-we cultivate skillful intention: intention informed by lovingkindness....
-we fabricate the intention to act with lovingkindness.....
-while acting, we check to see if our intention is informed with lovingkindness....
-when necessary, we re-set the intention.....
4-skillful thinking includes cultivating skillful intention: intention informed by compassion....
-we cultivate skillful intention informed by compassion when there is suffering....
-when we are experiencing suffering....
-when others are experiencing suffering........
-we cultivate skillful intention: intention informed by compassion....
-we fabricate the intention to act with compassion.....
-while acting, we check to see if our intention is informed with compassion....
-when necessary, we re-set the intention.....
5-skillful thinking includes cultivating thinking imbued with appreciation....
-we cultivate thinking informed by appreciation in response to goodness/blessings....
-our goodness....
-the goodness in the world.....
-we remember our blessings....
-in meditation....
-in all postures....
-when we experience goodness ... our own, or the goodness in the world....
-when there is darkness in the mind.....
-the skill includes....
a-reflecting on our blessings....
-the categories of blessings include....
-our goodness....
-generosity....
-virtue....
-skillful effort....
-the goodness of others....
-the goodness of the dharma....
-the preciousness of life....
b-inclining to gratitude.....
c-inclining to appreciation.....
6-skillful thinking includes cultivating thinking imbued with equanimity....
-we cultivate thinking informed by equanimity in response to change/difficulty....
-the inherent difficulty in the conditioned realm....
-illness/aging/death/separation.....
-the skill includes....
-reflecting on the truth of change....
-the truth of illness/aging/death/separation....
-the truth of the inherently unsatisfactory nature of the conditioned realm.....
-reading.....
-"Two Sorts of Thinking" (MN 19)
-"The Road to Nirvana is Paved with Skillful Intentions" (Thanissaro Bhikkhu)
-"Taking Joy" (from The Skill of Living)
-"Four Skills for Cultivating Skillful Thinking"
-as the Buddha realized, if we are going to know a greater happiness, if we are going to make the most of our lives, it is essential to learn to cultivate skillful thinking. all that we are arises, the Buddha teaches us, with our thinking. our path is one of abandoning unskillful thinking and cultivating skillful thinking. the Buddha offers specific guidelines for skillful thinking. the teachings on the four sublime abiding offer a template for cultivate skillful thinking. the practice requires persistence, patience, and resolve. it is a practice that we all can develop; and if we do, it will benefit us greatly.
-some things to to remember as you learn to practice "cultivating skillful thinking"...
1-there are basic guidelines for fabricating skillful thinking....
-as the Buddha explains in the sutta "Two Sorts of Thinking," skill fabrication....
-should be practiced regularly....
-should be kept very simple....
-in fabricating skillful thinking, we should keep the thinking to a few words....
-if we use too much thinking, the mind tires, and there's a tendency to veer into unskillful thinking.....
-the breath is our center....
-we keep the mind on the breath in all postures....
-we fabricate skillful thinking, keeping it simple, when the moment calls for it.....
2- the sublime abidings offer a template for skillful thinking.....
-we seek to cultivate thinking informed by....
-lovingkindness (metta)....
-compassion....
-appreciation....
-equanimity.....
3-skillful thinking includes cultivating skillful intention: intention informed by lovingkindness....
-in cultivating skillful intention....
-in taking action....
-we seek what the mind is like....
-we cultivate skillful intention: intention informed by lovingkindness....
-we fabricate the intention to act with lovingkindness.....
-while acting, we check to see if our intention is informed with lovingkindness....
-when necessary, we re-set the intention.....
4-skillful thinking includes cultivating skillful intention: intention informed by compassion....
-we cultivate skillful intention informed by compassion when there is suffering....
-when we are experiencing suffering....
-when others are experiencing suffering........
-we cultivate skillful intention: intention informed by compassion....
-we fabricate the intention to act with compassion.....
-while acting, we check to see if our intention is informed with compassion....
-when necessary, we re-set the intention.....
5-skillful thinking includes cultivating thinking imbued with appreciation....
-we cultivate thinking informed by appreciation in response to goodness/blessings....
-our goodness....
-the goodness in the world.....
-we remember our blessings....
-in meditation....
-in all postures....
-when we experience goodness ... our own, or the goodness in the world....
-when there is darkness in the mind.....
-the skill includes....
a-reflecting on our blessings....
-the categories of blessings include....
-our goodness....
-generosity....
-virtue....
-skillful effort....
-the goodness of others....
-the goodness of the dharma....
-the preciousness of life....
b-inclining to gratitude.....
c-inclining to appreciation.....
6-skillful thinking includes cultivating thinking imbued with equanimity....
-we cultivate thinking informed by equanimity in response to change/difficulty....
-the inherent difficulty in the conditioned realm....
-illness/aging/death/separation.....
-the skill includes....
-reflecting on the truth of change....
-the truth of illness/aging/death/separation....
-the truth of the inherently unsatisfactory nature of the conditioned realm.....
-reading.....
-"Two Sorts of Thinking" (MN 19)
-"The Road to Nirvana is Paved with Skillful Intentions" (Thanissaro Bhikkhu)
-"Taking Joy" (from The Skill of Living)
| skill_of_living_taking_joy.pdf |
"Abandon what is unskillful, monks. It is possible to abandon what is unskillful. If it were not possible to abandon what is unskillful, I would not say to you, 'Abandon what is unskillful.' But because it is possible to abandon what is unskillful, I say to you, 'Abandon what is unskillful.' If this abandoning of what is unskillful were conducive to harm and pain, I would not say to you, 'Abandon what is unskillful.' But because this abandoning of what is unskillful is conducive to benefit and pleasure, I say to you, 'Abandon what is unskillful.'
"Develop what is skillful, monks. It is possible to develop what is skillful. If it were not possible to develop what is skillful, I would not say to you, 'Develop what is skillful.' But because it is possible to develop what is skillful, I say to you, 'Develop what is skillful.' If this development of what is skillful were conducive to harm and pain, I would not say to you, 'Develop what is skillful.' But because this development of what is skillful is conducive to benefit and pleasure, I say to you, 'Develop what is skillful.'"
(AN 2.19)
"And as I remained thus heedful, ardent, & resolute, thinking imbued with non-ill will arose in me. I discerned that 'Thinking imbued with non-ill will has arisen in me; and that leads neither to my own affliction, nor to the affliction of others, nor to the affliction of both. It fosters discernment, promotes lack of vexation, & leads to Unbinding. If I were to think & ponder in line with that even for a night... even for a day... even for a day & night, I do not envision any danger that would come from it, except that thinking & pondering a long time would tire the body. When the body is tired, the mind is disturbed; and a disturbed mind is far from concentration.' So I steadied my mind right within, settled, unified, & concentrated it. Why is that? So that my mind would not be disturbed.
"And as I remained thus heedful, ardent, & resolute, thinking imbued with harmlessness arose in me. I discerned that 'Thinking imbued with harmlessness has arisen in me; and that leads neither to my own affliction, nor to the affliction of others, nor to the affliction of both. It fosters discernment, promotes lack of vexation, & leads to Unbinding. If I were to think & ponder in line with that even for a night... even for a day... even for a day & night, I do not envision any danger that would come from it, except that thinking & pondering a long time would tire the body. When the body is tired, the mind is disturbed; and a disturbed mind is far from concentration.' So I steadied my mind right within, settled, unified, & concentrated it. Why is that? So that my mind would not be disturbed.
"Whatever a monk keeps pursuing with his thinking & pondering, that becomes the inclination of his awareness. If a monk keeps pursuing thinking imbued with renunciation, abandoning thinking imbued with sensuality, his mind is bent by that thinking imbued with renunciation. If a monk keeps pursuing thinking imbued with non-ill will, abandoning thinking imbued with ill will, his mind is bent by that thinking imbued with non-ill will. If a monk keeps pursuing thinking imbued with harmlessness, abandoning thinking imbued with harmfulness, his mind is bent by that thinking imbued with harmlessness.
"Just as in the last month of the hot season, when all the crops have been gathered into the village, a cowherd would look after his cows: While resting under the shade of a tree or out in the open, he simply keeps himself mindful of 'those cows.' In the same way, I simply kept myself mindful of 'those mental qualities.'
(MN 19)
"There are these five facts that one should reflect on often, whether one is a woman or a man, lay or ordained. Which five?
"'I am subject to aging, have not gone beyond aging.' This is the first fact that one should reflect on often, whether one is a woman or a man, lay or ordained.
"'I am subject to illness, have not gone beyond illness.' ...
"'I am subject to death, have not gone beyond death.' ...
"'I will grow different, separate from all that is dear and appealing to me.' ...
"'I am the owner of my actions, heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir.' ...
"These are the five facts that one should reflect on often, whether one is a woman or a man, lay or ordained."
(AN 5.57)
We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our
thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the
world.
Speak or act with an impure mind
And trouble will follow you
As the wheel follows the ox that draws
the cart.
We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our
thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the
world.
Speak or act with a pure mind
And happiness will follow you
As your shadow, unshakable.
(Dhp I)
Work. Keep digging your well.
Don’t think about getting off from work.
Water is there somewhere.
Submit to a daily practice.
Your loyalty to that
Is a ring on the door.
Keep knocking, and the joy inside
Will eventually open a window
And look out to see who’s there.
(Rumi)
March 16
-"Four Skills for Abandoning Unskillful Thinking"
-as the Buddha, before he became the Buddha, realized, if we are going to awaken, if we are going to know a greater happiness, if we are going to make the most of our lives, it is essential to learn to abandon unskillful thinking. the path the Buddha lays forth offers very basic, practical skills for us to apply in the service of accomplishing this task. if we follow the skills, if we're heedful, ardent, and resolute in our efforts, we can cut down appreciably on unskillful thinking. and if we do, we will certainly know a greater happiness in this life.
-some things to to remember as you learn to practice "abandoning unskillful thinking"...
1-in all postures, in the course of our days, we can practice certain skills in an effort to abandon unskillful thinking....
-typically the mind is pouring our thinking....
-the Buddha called this ongoing thinking "effluents" or "mental fermentations"....
-the goal of the path is, he said, to "end the mental fermentations"..
-this task can be accomplished by practicing certain basic skills....
-in all postures.....
-in our daily lives....
2- heedfulness is the root of these skills.....
-in abandoning unskillful thinking, we're asked to be heedful....
-to pay attention ... to see when we are pursuing thinking.....
-to discern whether the thinking is skillful or unskillful....
-four basic skills for being heedful of thinking.....
3-skill #1....
a)-seeing when we are pursuing thinking ... in a narrative and so forth....
-being heedful....
b)-putting the mind on the breath/body.....
3-skill #2....
a)-seeing when we are pursuing thinking ... in a narrative and so forth....
-being heedful....
b)-observing the thinking....
-with space....
-for 1 or 2 seconds.....
c)-putting the mind on the breath/body.....
3- skill #3....
a)-seeing when we are pursuing thinking ... in a narrative and so forth....
-being heedful....
b)-observing the thinking....
-for 1 or 2 seconds....
c)-questioning the thinking....
-asking a question, such as "is it useful....?"
d)-putting the mind on the breath/body.....….
4-skill #4.....
a)-seeing when we are pursuing thinking ... in a narrative and so forth....
-being heedful....
b)-asking, "what is the mental quality that is driving the thinking".....
c)-bringing awareness to the mental quality....
-ABC....
-Awareness of the mental quality ... as it manifests as felt sense in the body....
-for 1 or 2 seconds....
-Breath....
-Compassion.....
5-in practicing these skills we are heedful, ardent, and resolute.....
-if we are heedful, ardent, and resolute ... we will gradually cut down on unskillful thinking.......
-we will be able to cultivate disenchantment with unskillful thinking....
-reading.....
-"Two Sorts of Thinking" (MN 19)
-"Instructions to Rahula" (MN 61)
-"Two Sorts of Thinking" (from The Skill of Living...)
-"Four Skills for Abandoning Unskillful Thinking"
-as the Buddha, before he became the Buddha, realized, if we are going to awaken, if we are going to know a greater happiness, if we are going to make the most of our lives, it is essential to learn to abandon unskillful thinking. the path the Buddha lays forth offers very basic, practical skills for us to apply in the service of accomplishing this task. if we follow the skills, if we're heedful, ardent, and resolute in our efforts, we can cut down appreciably on unskillful thinking. and if we do, we will certainly know a greater happiness in this life.
-some things to to remember as you learn to practice "abandoning unskillful thinking"...
1-in all postures, in the course of our days, we can practice certain skills in an effort to abandon unskillful thinking....
-typically the mind is pouring our thinking....
-the Buddha called this ongoing thinking "effluents" or "mental fermentations"....
-the goal of the path is, he said, to "end the mental fermentations"..
-this task can be accomplished by practicing certain basic skills....
-in all postures.....
-in our daily lives....
2- heedfulness is the root of these skills.....
-in abandoning unskillful thinking, we're asked to be heedful....
-to pay attention ... to see when we are pursuing thinking.....
-to discern whether the thinking is skillful or unskillful....
-four basic skills for being heedful of thinking.....
3-skill #1....
a)-seeing when we are pursuing thinking ... in a narrative and so forth....
-being heedful....
b)-putting the mind on the breath/body.....
3-skill #2....
a)-seeing when we are pursuing thinking ... in a narrative and so forth....
-being heedful....
b)-observing the thinking....
-with space....
-for 1 or 2 seconds.....
c)-putting the mind on the breath/body.....
3- skill #3....
a)-seeing when we are pursuing thinking ... in a narrative and so forth....
-being heedful....
b)-observing the thinking....
-for 1 or 2 seconds....
c)-questioning the thinking....
-asking a question, such as "is it useful....?"
d)-putting the mind on the breath/body.....….
4-skill #4.....
a)-seeing when we are pursuing thinking ... in a narrative and so forth....
-being heedful....
b)-asking, "what is the mental quality that is driving the thinking".....
c)-bringing awareness to the mental quality....
-ABC....
-Awareness of the mental quality ... as it manifests as felt sense in the body....
-for 1 or 2 seconds....
-Breath....
-Compassion.....
5-in practicing these skills we are heedful, ardent, and resolute.....
-if we are heedful, ardent, and resolute ... we will gradually cut down on unskillful thinking.......
-we will be able to cultivate disenchantment with unskillful thinking....
-reading.....
-"Two Sorts of Thinking" (MN 19)
-"Instructions to Rahula" (MN 61)
-"Two Sorts of Thinking" (from The Skill of Living...)
| two_sorts_of_thinking_skill_of_living_pdf.pdf |
March 9
-"Important Skills"
-the dharma community is a refuge. and it's a place where we learn skills. where we're reminded of the skills we should practice. in the midst of life, in the midst of change, in the midst of disagreeable, stressful experience, we learn to rely on certain skill. one of these important skills includes the practice of bringing simple awareness to our experience of dis-ease, dukkha. the acronym ABC signifies the elements of the skill. we bring awareness to the experience of dis-ease, as it's felt in the body, for a second or two. we center our attention i the breath. we cultivate compassion. another important skill includes inclining to knowing the condition happiness that is always there. awareness itself. as dharma students we learn to incline to knowing the quality of non-clinging, freedom, peace, in all the circumstances of our live, as we go through our days & nights.
-some things to to remember as you learn to practice two "important skills"...
1-being part of a dharma community is essential to our practice....
-in life ... in times of difficulty ... the dharma community is a refuge....
-in the dharma community we learn skills ... skills for life....
-in the dharma community, we're reminded of these basic skills and the benefit in developing them...
2-in times of difficulty, certain very simple skills will support us....
-two important skills are:
-bringing simple awareness to stress/mental dis-ease....
-inclining to knowing true happiness....
2-an important skill includes bringing awareness to stress/dis-ease....
-ABC....
-ABC … bringing simple awareness to dukkha/clinging … is our main practice, in the daily life posture (natural meditation) for being mindful of dukkha/clinging…..
A-Awareness….
-we bring simple awareness to the experience of dukkha/clinging….
-as it manifests in the body … as form…
-for 2 or 3 seconds….
-we see: “it’s like this….”
-we see: “it feels like this….”
B-Breath….
-we center on the breath….
C-Compassion….
-we cultivate compassion….
3- in the practice of bringing simple awareness to experience, we develop wisdom....
-intuitive wisdom….
-if there is space/equanimity in the second or two in which we're aware ... there is potential for knowing....
-knowing in the heart....
-this knowing includes....
-we see non-clinging…..
-we begin see the potential for non clinging….
-seeing the not self nature of that which we're clinging to…..
-in practicing bringing simple awareness to clinging ... we begin to discern that quality of awareness itself….
4-an important skill includes inclining to knowing moments of true happiness.....
-this is a skill....
-a very simple skill.....
-it includes.....
-in the midst of things....
-including disagreeable experience...
-taking a step back from experience....
-grounding in the body ... in the breath....
-asking, is there a happiness that is true....?
-a happiness that is always there ... reliable ... unconditioned....
-or asking a similar question....
-asking, can i know that happiness....?
-inclining to knowing that quality of happines....
-in the heart....
-this quality of true happiness is sometimes known as "awareness itself".....
5-as we practice bringing awareness to dis-ease, we begin to know the quality of awareness.....
-more and more, we're able to be in tune with the quality of awareness itself.......
-we gradually awaken....
-over time, there is less clinging....
-over time, more and more we know non-clinging....
-over time, there is more space ... equanimity ... we're less entangled in our experience....
-over time, little by slowly, we're more inclined to knowing awareness itself....
-listening.....
-"Trust in Awareness" (Peter Doobinin)
-"Awakened Awareness is Like This" (Ajahn Sumedho)
-reading.....
-"Realization" (Ajaan Fuang)
"Whatever you experience, simply be aware of it. You don't have to take after it. The primal heart has no characteristics. It's aware of everything. But as soon as things make contact, within or without, they cause a lapse in mindfulness, so that we let go of awareness, forget awareness in and of itself, and take on all the characteristics of the things that come later. Then we act out in line with them — becoming happy, sad or whatever. The reason we're this way is because we take conventional truths and latch on to them tight. If we don't want to be under their influence, we'll have to stay with primal awareness at all times. This requires a great deal of mindfulness."
(Ajaan Fuang)
"'Your question should not be phrased in this way: Where do these four great elements — the earth property, the liquid property, the fire property, and the wind property — cease without remainder? Instead, it should be phrased like this:
Where do water, earth, fire, & wind
have no footing?
Where are long & short,
coarse & fine,
fair & foul,
name & form
brought to an end?
"'And the answer to that is:
Consciousness without feature,
without end,
luminous all around:
Here water, earth, fire, & wind
have no footing.
Here long & short
coarse & fine
fair & foul
name & form
are all brought to an end.
With the cessation of [the activity of] consciousness
each is here brought to an end.'"
That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, Kevatta the householder delighted in the Blessed One's words.
(DN 11)
Washing my feet, I noticed
the
water.
And in watching it flow from high
to
low,
my heart was composed
like a fine thoroughbred steed.
Then taking a lamp, I entered the hut,
checked the bedding,
sat down on the bed.
And taking a pin, I pulled out the wick:
Like the flame's unbinding
was the liberation
of awareness.
(Thig. 5.10)
-"Important Skills"
-the dharma community is a refuge. and it's a place where we learn skills. where we're reminded of the skills we should practice. in the midst of life, in the midst of change, in the midst of disagreeable, stressful experience, we learn to rely on certain skill. one of these important skills includes the practice of bringing simple awareness to our experience of dis-ease, dukkha. the acronym ABC signifies the elements of the skill. we bring awareness to the experience of dis-ease, as it's felt in the body, for a second or two. we center our attention i the breath. we cultivate compassion. another important skill includes inclining to knowing the condition happiness that is always there. awareness itself. as dharma students we learn to incline to knowing the quality of non-clinging, freedom, peace, in all the circumstances of our live, as we go through our days & nights.
-some things to to remember as you learn to practice two "important skills"...
1-being part of a dharma community is essential to our practice....
-in life ... in times of difficulty ... the dharma community is a refuge....
-in the dharma community we learn skills ... skills for life....
-in the dharma community, we're reminded of these basic skills and the benefit in developing them...
2-in times of difficulty, certain very simple skills will support us....
-two important skills are:
-bringing simple awareness to stress/mental dis-ease....
-inclining to knowing true happiness....
2-an important skill includes bringing awareness to stress/dis-ease....
-ABC....
-ABC … bringing simple awareness to dukkha/clinging … is our main practice, in the daily life posture (natural meditation) for being mindful of dukkha/clinging…..
A-Awareness….
-we bring simple awareness to the experience of dukkha/clinging….
-as it manifests in the body … as form…
-for 2 or 3 seconds….
-we see: “it’s like this….”
-we see: “it feels like this….”
B-Breath….
-we center on the breath….
C-Compassion….
-we cultivate compassion….
3- in the practice of bringing simple awareness to experience, we develop wisdom....
-intuitive wisdom….
-if there is space/equanimity in the second or two in which we're aware ... there is potential for knowing....
-knowing in the heart....
-this knowing includes....
-we see non-clinging…..
-we begin see the potential for non clinging….
-seeing the not self nature of that which we're clinging to…..
-in practicing bringing simple awareness to clinging ... we begin to discern that quality of awareness itself….
4-an important skill includes inclining to knowing moments of true happiness.....
-this is a skill....
-a very simple skill.....
-it includes.....
-in the midst of things....
-including disagreeable experience...
-taking a step back from experience....
-grounding in the body ... in the breath....
-asking, is there a happiness that is true....?
-a happiness that is always there ... reliable ... unconditioned....
-or asking a similar question....
-asking, can i know that happiness....?
-inclining to knowing that quality of happines....
-in the heart....
-this quality of true happiness is sometimes known as "awareness itself".....
5-as we practice bringing awareness to dis-ease, we begin to know the quality of awareness.....
-more and more, we're able to be in tune with the quality of awareness itself.......
-we gradually awaken....
-over time, there is less clinging....
-over time, more and more we know non-clinging....
-over time, there is more space ... equanimity ... we're less entangled in our experience....
-over time, little by slowly, we're more inclined to knowing awareness itself....
-listening.....
-"Trust in Awareness" (Peter Doobinin)
-"Awakened Awareness is Like This" (Ajahn Sumedho)
-reading.....
-"Realization" (Ajaan Fuang)
"Whatever you experience, simply be aware of it. You don't have to take after it. The primal heart has no characteristics. It's aware of everything. But as soon as things make contact, within or without, they cause a lapse in mindfulness, so that we let go of awareness, forget awareness in and of itself, and take on all the characteristics of the things that come later. Then we act out in line with them — becoming happy, sad or whatever. The reason we're this way is because we take conventional truths and latch on to them tight. If we don't want to be under their influence, we'll have to stay with primal awareness at all times. This requires a great deal of mindfulness."
(Ajaan Fuang)
"'Your question should not be phrased in this way: Where do these four great elements — the earth property, the liquid property, the fire property, and the wind property — cease without remainder? Instead, it should be phrased like this:
Where do water, earth, fire, & wind
have no footing?
Where are long & short,
coarse & fine,
fair & foul,
name & form
brought to an end?
"'And the answer to that is:
Consciousness without feature,
without end,
luminous all around:
Here water, earth, fire, & wind
have no footing.
Here long & short
coarse & fine
fair & foul
name & form
are all brought to an end.
With the cessation of [the activity of] consciousness
each is here brought to an end.'"
That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, Kevatta the householder delighted in the Blessed One's words.
(DN 11)
Washing my feet, I noticed
the
water.
And in watching it flow from high
to
low,
my heart was composed
like a fine thoroughbred steed.
Then taking a lamp, I entered the hut,
checked the bedding,
sat down on the bed.
And taking a pin, I pulled out the wick:
Like the flame's unbinding
was the liberation
of awareness.
(Thig. 5.10)
March 2
-"What is Clinging?"
-as the Buddha taught in his first sermon, there is experience in the conditioned realm that is 'stressful'. but if we don't cling to experience, including the experience of emotions, we won't know dukkha. dukkha is the state in which the heart is burdened. it is caused by clinging. our task, therefore, is to abandon clinging. to do this, ultimately, requires understanding. it's essential that we learn to see that what we're clinging to doesn't have to be clung to, it's not-self. and it's essential to understand that the act of clinging is intentional. it's something that we're doing intentionally. the good news is that we can change our intentions, we can put our attention where we choose to put it. as dharma students we learn to develop the intention to refrain from clinging.
-some things to to remember as you develop in understanding of "what is clinging?"...
1-dukkha is caused clinging....
-experience in life may be difficult, stressful, but if we don't cling, we won't experience dukkha....
-dukkha is the state in which the heart is afflicted....
-when the heart is afflicted we're not able to live skillfully, with love, compassion, joy....
-our task, in freeing the heart of its burdens is to refrain from clinging.....
2-it's important to understand what clinging is....
-clinging, the teachings indicate, includes two components....
-intention....
-the intention to cling....
-this intention may be very subtle, hard to see....
-attention....
-putting our consciousness on the object....
-for example, an emotion like worry or anger.....
3-clinging is a function of intention......
-we learn, as dharma students, to begin to see that clinging is something that, in any moment of clinging, we have the intention to engage in....
-we learn to ask, is this something that I am doing with intention....?
-when I cling do I have the intention to cling....?
4-we can change our intentions.....
-we have the capacity to engender intention....
-intention is not fixed.....
-in learning to abandon clinging, we learn to understand that we can free ourselves from clinging by changing our intentions....
-seeing/understanding that clinging is not fixed ... the mind isn't condemned to cling....
-in learning to abandon clinging, we learn to develop the resolve/intention to not cling....
5-consciousness is not fixed.....
-as dharma students, paying attention to our mind, we learn to see that consciousness is not fixed.......
-consciousness is inconstant/not-self....
-understanding that consciousness is not fixed, we begin to understand that we have the ability to put our attention where we choose....
-we learn this through practice.......
-as an example, in our meditation, there might be a loud noise outside the window ... but we can have the intention to keep the mind on the breath....
-as our concentration, strength of mind, develops we see that we can put 0ur minds where we choose....
-reflection: my happiness in this life depends on my ability to put my mind where I choose.....
-reading.....
Setting the Wheel of the Dhamma in Motion (SN 56.11)
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying at Varanasi in the Game Refuge at Isipatana. There he addressed the group of five monks:
"There are these two extremes that are not to be indulged in by one who has gone forth. Which two? That which is devoted to sensual pleasure with reference to sensual objects: base, vulgar, common, ignoble, unprofitable; and that which is devoted to self-affliction: painful, ignoble, unprofitable. Avoiding both of these extremes, the middle way realized by the Tathagata — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.
"And what is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding? Precisely this Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. This is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.
"Now this, monks, is the noble truth of stress: Birth is stressful, aging is stressful, death is stressful; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair are stressful; association with the unbeloved is stressful, separation from the loved is stressful, not getting what is wanted is stressful. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are stressful.
"And this, monks, is the noble truth of the origination of stress: the craving that makes for further becoming — accompanied by passion & delight, relishing now here & now there — i.e., craving for sensual pleasure, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming.
"And this, monks, is the noble truth of the cessation of stress: the remainderless fading & cessation, renunciation, relinquishment, release, & letting go of that very craving.
"And this, monks, is the noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress: precisely this Noble Eightfold Path — right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.
"Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before: 'This is the noble truth of stress.' Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before: 'This noble truth of stress is to be comprehended.' Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before:' This noble truth of stress has been comprehended.'
"Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before: 'This is the noble truth of the origination of stress'... 'This noble truth of the origination of stress is to be abandoned' [2] ... 'This noble truth of the origination of stress has been abandoned.'
"Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before: 'This is the noble truth of the cessation of stress'... 'This noble truth of the cessation of stress is to be directly experienced'... 'This noble truth of the cessation of stress has been directly experienced.'
"Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before: 'This is the noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress'... 'This noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress is to be developed'... 'This noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress has been developed.' [3]
"And, monks, as long as this — my three-round, twelve-permutation knowledge & vision concerning these four noble truths as they have come to be — was not pure, I did not claim to have directly awakened to the right self-awakening unexcelled in the cosmos with its deities, Maras, & Brahmas, with its contemplatives & brahmans, its royalty & commonfolk. But as soon as this — my three-round, twelve-permutation knowledge & vision concerning these four noble truths as they have come to be — was truly pure, then I did claim to have directly awakened to the right self-awakening unexcelled in the cosmos with its deities, Maras & Brahmas, with its contemplatives & brahmans, its royalty & commonfolk. Knowledge & vision arose in me: 'Unprovoked is my release. This is the last birth. There is now no further becoming.'"
That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, the group of five monks delighted at his words. And while this explanation was being given, there arose to Ven. Kondañña the dustless, stainless Dhamma eye: Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation.
And when the Blessed One had set the Wheel of Dhamma in motion, the earth devas cried out: "At Varanasi, in the Game Refuge at Isipatana, the Blessed One has set in motion the unexcelled Wheel of Dhamma that cannot be stopped by brahman or contemplative, deva, Mara or God or anyone in the cosmos." On hearing the earth devas' cry, the devas of the Four Kings' Heaven took up the cry... the devas of the Thirty-three... the Yama devas... the Tusita devas... the Nimmanarati devas... the Paranimmita-vasavatti devas... the devas of Brahma's retinue took up the cry: "At Varanasi, in the Game Refuge at Isipatana, the Blessed One has set in motion the unexcelled Wheel of Dhamma that cannot be stopped by brahman or contemplative, deva, Mara, or God or anyone at all in the cosmos."
So in that moment, that instant, the cry shot right up to the Brahma worlds. And this ten-thousand fold cosmos shivered & quivered & quaked, while a great, measureless radiance appeared in the cosmos, surpassing the effulgence of the devas.
Then the Blessed One exclaimed: "So you really know, Kondañña? So you really know?" And that is how Ven. Kondañña acquired the name Añña-Kondañña — Kondañña who knows.
-"What is Clinging?"
-as the Buddha taught in his first sermon, there is experience in the conditioned realm that is 'stressful'. but if we don't cling to experience, including the experience of emotions, we won't know dukkha. dukkha is the state in which the heart is burdened. it is caused by clinging. our task, therefore, is to abandon clinging. to do this, ultimately, requires understanding. it's essential that we learn to see that what we're clinging to doesn't have to be clung to, it's not-self. and it's essential to understand that the act of clinging is intentional. it's something that we're doing intentionally. the good news is that we can change our intentions, we can put our attention where we choose to put it. as dharma students we learn to develop the intention to refrain from clinging.
-some things to to remember as you develop in understanding of "what is clinging?"...
1-dukkha is caused clinging....
-experience in life may be difficult, stressful, but if we don't cling, we won't experience dukkha....
-dukkha is the state in which the heart is afflicted....
-when the heart is afflicted we're not able to live skillfully, with love, compassion, joy....
-our task, in freeing the heart of its burdens is to refrain from clinging.....
2-it's important to understand what clinging is....
-clinging, the teachings indicate, includes two components....
-intention....
-the intention to cling....
-this intention may be very subtle, hard to see....
-attention....
-putting our consciousness on the object....
-for example, an emotion like worry or anger.....
3-clinging is a function of intention......
-we learn, as dharma students, to begin to see that clinging is something that, in any moment of clinging, we have the intention to engage in....
-we learn to ask, is this something that I am doing with intention....?
-when I cling do I have the intention to cling....?
4-we can change our intentions.....
-we have the capacity to engender intention....
-intention is not fixed.....
-in learning to abandon clinging, we learn to understand that we can free ourselves from clinging by changing our intentions....
-seeing/understanding that clinging is not fixed ... the mind isn't condemned to cling....
-in learning to abandon clinging, we learn to develop the resolve/intention to not cling....
5-consciousness is not fixed.....
-as dharma students, paying attention to our mind, we learn to see that consciousness is not fixed.......
-consciousness is inconstant/not-self....
-understanding that consciousness is not fixed, we begin to understand that we have the ability to put our attention where we choose....
-we learn this through practice.......
-as an example, in our meditation, there might be a loud noise outside the window ... but we can have the intention to keep the mind on the breath....
-as our concentration, strength of mind, develops we see that we can put 0ur minds where we choose....
-reflection: my happiness in this life depends on my ability to put my mind where I choose.....
-reading.....
Setting the Wheel of the Dhamma in Motion (SN 56.11)
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying at Varanasi in the Game Refuge at Isipatana. There he addressed the group of five monks:
"There are these two extremes that are not to be indulged in by one who has gone forth. Which two? That which is devoted to sensual pleasure with reference to sensual objects: base, vulgar, common, ignoble, unprofitable; and that which is devoted to self-affliction: painful, ignoble, unprofitable. Avoiding both of these extremes, the middle way realized by the Tathagata — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.
"And what is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding? Precisely this Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. This is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.
"Now this, monks, is the noble truth of stress: Birth is stressful, aging is stressful, death is stressful; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair are stressful; association with the unbeloved is stressful, separation from the loved is stressful, not getting what is wanted is stressful. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are stressful.
"And this, monks, is the noble truth of the origination of stress: the craving that makes for further becoming — accompanied by passion & delight, relishing now here & now there — i.e., craving for sensual pleasure, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming.
"And this, monks, is the noble truth of the cessation of stress: the remainderless fading & cessation, renunciation, relinquishment, release, & letting go of that very craving.
"And this, monks, is the noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress: precisely this Noble Eightfold Path — right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.
"Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before: 'This is the noble truth of stress.' Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before: 'This noble truth of stress is to be comprehended.' Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before:' This noble truth of stress has been comprehended.'
"Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before: 'This is the noble truth of the origination of stress'... 'This noble truth of the origination of stress is to be abandoned' [2] ... 'This noble truth of the origination of stress has been abandoned.'
"Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before: 'This is the noble truth of the cessation of stress'... 'This noble truth of the cessation of stress is to be directly experienced'... 'This noble truth of the cessation of stress has been directly experienced.'
"Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before: 'This is the noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress'... 'This noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress is to be developed'... 'This noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress has been developed.' [3]
"And, monks, as long as this — my three-round, twelve-permutation knowledge & vision concerning these four noble truths as they have come to be — was not pure, I did not claim to have directly awakened to the right self-awakening unexcelled in the cosmos with its deities, Maras, & Brahmas, with its contemplatives & brahmans, its royalty & commonfolk. But as soon as this — my three-round, twelve-permutation knowledge & vision concerning these four noble truths as they have come to be — was truly pure, then I did claim to have directly awakened to the right self-awakening unexcelled in the cosmos with its deities, Maras & Brahmas, with its contemplatives & brahmans, its royalty & commonfolk. Knowledge & vision arose in me: 'Unprovoked is my release. This is the last birth. There is now no further becoming.'"
That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, the group of five monks delighted at his words. And while this explanation was being given, there arose to Ven. Kondañña the dustless, stainless Dhamma eye: Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation.
And when the Blessed One had set the Wheel of Dhamma in motion, the earth devas cried out: "At Varanasi, in the Game Refuge at Isipatana, the Blessed One has set in motion the unexcelled Wheel of Dhamma that cannot be stopped by brahman or contemplative, deva, Mara or God or anyone in the cosmos." On hearing the earth devas' cry, the devas of the Four Kings' Heaven took up the cry... the devas of the Thirty-three... the Yama devas... the Tusita devas... the Nimmanarati devas... the Paranimmita-vasavatti devas... the devas of Brahma's retinue took up the cry: "At Varanasi, in the Game Refuge at Isipatana, the Blessed One has set in motion the unexcelled Wheel of Dhamma that cannot be stopped by brahman or contemplative, deva, Mara, or God or anyone at all in the cosmos."
So in that moment, that instant, the cry shot right up to the Brahma worlds. And this ten-thousand fold cosmos shivered & quivered & quaked, while a great, measureless radiance appeared in the cosmos, surpassing the effulgence of the devas.
Then the Blessed One exclaimed: "So you really know, Kondañña? So you really know?" And that is how Ven. Kondañña acquired the name Añña-Kondañña — Kondañña who knows.
February 23
-"The Practice of Letting Go"
-the Buddha, in identifying the cause of our suffering, indicates that it's caused by what we're doing. our craving & clinging. it is our responsibility to do what is necessary so that we can alleviate suffering. the practice of letting go is just that, a practice. the Buddha prescribes a 'course of treatment' through which we're gradually freed from suffering. this gradual awakening comprises skillful action and mental training which brings us closer to the heart. the heart, then, lets go. the practice of bringing simple awareness to the moments of clinging supports us in our efforts to understand clinging and, in turn, to know what it's like when there's freedom from it. as dharma students we learn to cultivate moments of freedom. the more we know these moments, the more we'll be aware of their arising. little by slowly, in this way, we come to know that state of freedom. that state in which the heart is unburdened.
-some things to to remember as you learn to engage in "the practice of letting go"...
1-dukkha is caused by something we are doing....
-we are engaged in craving ... in clinging....
-we cling, the Buddha tells us, to sense pleasures, views, habits, and self image....
-on the moment to moment level, our clinging comprises clinging to the five-clinging aggregates....
2-since we are holding on, letting go is our responsibility....
-the heart will let go of its burdens....
-our task, as dharma students, is to train the mind ... so that we come closer to the heart...
3-letting go is a practice......
-this practice includes....
-generosity....
-ethical conduct....
-letting go of unskillful actions.....
-renunciation....
-seclusion.....
-developing concentration/jhana....
-heedfulness of thinking....
-discernment.....
4-bringing simple awareness to clinging is elemental to the practice of discernment.....
-when we experience dukkha, we bring awareness to the experience....
-ABC (Awareness/Breath/Compassion).....
-for a moment....
-if we're able to be aware of the experience of dukkha/clinging, for a moment, with equanimity/space....
-there is understanding....
-we begin to see what it's like when we're clinging ... and, in the moment of awareness, not clinging....
-we begin, in this way, to know moments of non-clinging....
5-if we practice in accord with the dhamma, we will know moments of freedom.....
-it is our task to be alert to the moments of non-clinging ... moments of freedom...
-these may be glimpses of freedom....
-fingersnaps....
-these glimpses, fingersnaps, have extraordinary power....
-they may seem brief ... but they are timeless moments.......
-as dharma students we learn to turn to these moments ... to know them....
-it is through this practice, knowing these moments, moment by moment, that we come to free the heart of its burdens and know the happiness of heart....
-it is essential, therefore, that we develop conviction in these moments....
-and, in turn, see our doubts....
-reading.....
Thousands
Better
than if there were thousands
of meaningless words is
one
meaningful
word
that on hearing
brings peace.
Better
than if there were thousands
of meaningless verses is
one
meaningful
verse
that on hearing
brings peace.
And better than chanting hundreds
of meaningless verses is
one
Dhamma-saying
that on hearing
brings peace.
Greater in battle
than the man who would conquer
a thousand-thousand men,
is he who would conquer
just one --
himself.
Better to conquer yourself
than others.
When you've trained yourself,
living in constant self-control,
neither a deva nor gandhabba,
nor a Mara banded with Brahmas,
could turn that triumph
back into defeat.
You could, month by month,
at a cost of thousands,
conduct sacrifices
a hundred times,
or
pay a single moment's homage
to one person,
self-cultivated.
Better than a hundred years of sacrifices
would that act of homage be.
You could, for a hundred years,
live in a forest
tending a fire,
or
pay a single moment's homage
to one person,
self-cultivated.
Better than a hundred years of sacrifices
would that act of homage be.
Everything offered
or sacrificed in the world
for an entire year by one seeking merit
doesn't come to a fourth.
Better to pay respect
to those who've gone
the straight way.
If you're respectful by habit,
constantly honoring the worthy,
four things increase:
long life, beauty,
happiness, strength.
Better than a hundred years
lived without virtue, uncentered, is
one day
lived by a virtuous person
absorbed in jhana.
And better than a hundred years
lived undiscerning, uncentered, is
one day
lived by a discerning person
absorbed in jhana.
And better than a hundred years
lived apathetic & unenergetic, is
one day
lived energetic & firm.
And better than a hundred years
lived without seeing
arising & passing away, is
one day
lived seeing
arising & passing away.
And better than a hundred years
lived without seeing
the Deathless state, is
one day
lived seeing
the Deathless state.
And better than a hundred years
lived without seeing
the ultimate Dhamma, is
one day
lived seeing
the ultimate Dhamma.
(Dhp VIII)
Thus have I heard. At one time the Lord was staying at Anupiya in the Mango Orchard. At that time the Venerable Bhaddiya, Kaligodha's son, on going into the forest to the foot of a tree or to an empty place, constantly uttered, "Ah, what bliss! Ah, what bliss!"
A number of bhikkhus heard the Venerable Bhaddiya... constantly uttering, "Ah, what bliss! Ah, what bliss!" and the thought came to them: "No doubt, friend, the Venerable Bhaddiya, Kaligodha's son, is dissatisfied with leading the holy life, since formerly when he was a householder he enjoyed the bliss of royalty. And when recollecting that, on going into the forest... he utters, 'Ah, what bliss! Ah, what bliss!'"
Then a number of bhikkhus approached the Lord, prostrated themselves, sat down to one side, and reported this to the Lord.
Then the Lord addressed a certain bhikkhu: "Come, bhikkhu, in my name tell the bhikkhu Bhaddiya, 'The Teacher calls you, friend Bhaddiya.'"
"Very well, revered sir," the bhikkhu replied and approaching the Venerable Bhaddiya, Kaligodha's son, he said, "The Teacher calls you, friend Bhaddiya."
"Very well, friend," the Venerable Bhaddiya replied, and approaching the Lord he prostrated himself and sat down to one side. The Lord then said to him: "Is it true, Bhaddiya, that on going into the forest... you utter, 'Ah, what bliss! Ah, what bliss!'?"
"Yes, revered sir."
"But, Bhaddiya, what do you see that prompts you to do so?"
"Formerly, revered sir, when I was a householder and enjoyed the bliss of royalty, inside and outside my inner apartments guards were appointed; inside and outside the city guards were appointed; inside and outside the district guards were appointed. But, revered sir, although I was thus guarded and protected, I lived fearful, agitated, distrustful, and afraid. But now, revered sir, on going alone into the forest, to the foot of a tree or to an empty place, I am fearless, unagitated, confident, and unafraid. I live unconcerned, unruffled, my needs satisfied, with a mind become like a deer's. Seeing this, revered sir, prompts me, on going to the forest... to utter constantly, 'Ah, what bliss! Ah, what bliss!'"
Then, on realizing its significance, the Lord uttered on that occasion this inspired utterance:
In whom exist no inner stirrings,
Having passed beyond being this or that,
Free from fear, blissful and sorrowless,
The devas are not capable of seeing him.
(Ud 2.10)
Are you looking for me? I am in the next seat.
My shoulder is against yours.
You will not find me in stupas, not in Indian shrine rooms,
nor in synagogues, nor in cathedrals:
not in masses, nor kirtans, not in legs winding around your own neck, nor in eating nothing but vegetables.
When you really look for me, you will see me instantly-you will find me in the tiniest house of time.
Kabir says: Student, tell me, what is God?
He is the breath inside the breath.
(Kabir)
The Rhythm of Life
A Daylong Retreat with Peter Doobinin
Saturday, March 1
New York Insight, 115 W 29 St, 12th Fl, NYC
10am to 4pm
To find out more details and register, visit the NY Insight website.
-"The Practice of Letting Go"
-the Buddha, in identifying the cause of our suffering, indicates that it's caused by what we're doing. our craving & clinging. it is our responsibility to do what is necessary so that we can alleviate suffering. the practice of letting go is just that, a practice. the Buddha prescribes a 'course of treatment' through which we're gradually freed from suffering. this gradual awakening comprises skillful action and mental training which brings us closer to the heart. the heart, then, lets go. the practice of bringing simple awareness to the moments of clinging supports us in our efforts to understand clinging and, in turn, to know what it's like when there's freedom from it. as dharma students we learn to cultivate moments of freedom. the more we know these moments, the more we'll be aware of their arising. little by slowly, in this way, we come to know that state of freedom. that state in which the heart is unburdened.
-some things to to remember as you learn to engage in "the practice of letting go"...
1-dukkha is caused by something we are doing....
-we are engaged in craving ... in clinging....
-we cling, the Buddha tells us, to sense pleasures, views, habits, and self image....
-on the moment to moment level, our clinging comprises clinging to the five-clinging aggregates....
2-since we are holding on, letting go is our responsibility....
-the heart will let go of its burdens....
-our task, as dharma students, is to train the mind ... so that we come closer to the heart...
3-letting go is a practice......
-this practice includes....
-generosity....
-ethical conduct....
-letting go of unskillful actions.....
-renunciation....
-seclusion.....
-developing concentration/jhana....
-heedfulness of thinking....
-discernment.....
4-bringing simple awareness to clinging is elemental to the practice of discernment.....
-when we experience dukkha, we bring awareness to the experience....
-ABC (Awareness/Breath/Compassion).....
-for a moment....
-if we're able to be aware of the experience of dukkha/clinging, for a moment, with equanimity/space....
-there is understanding....
-we begin to see what it's like when we're clinging ... and, in the moment of awareness, not clinging....
-we begin, in this way, to know moments of non-clinging....
5-if we practice in accord with the dhamma, we will know moments of freedom.....
-it is our task to be alert to the moments of non-clinging ... moments of freedom...
-these may be glimpses of freedom....
-fingersnaps....
-these glimpses, fingersnaps, have extraordinary power....
-they may seem brief ... but they are timeless moments.......
-as dharma students we learn to turn to these moments ... to know them....
-it is through this practice, knowing these moments, moment by moment, that we come to free the heart of its burdens and know the happiness of heart....
-it is essential, therefore, that we develop conviction in these moments....
-and, in turn, see our doubts....
-reading.....
Thousands
Better
than if there were thousands
of meaningless words is
one
meaningful
word
that on hearing
brings peace.
Better
than if there were thousands
of meaningless verses is
one
meaningful
verse
that on hearing
brings peace.
And better than chanting hundreds
of meaningless verses is
one
Dhamma-saying
that on hearing
brings peace.
Greater in battle
than the man who would conquer
a thousand-thousand men,
is he who would conquer
just one --
himself.
Better to conquer yourself
than others.
When you've trained yourself,
living in constant self-control,
neither a deva nor gandhabba,
nor a Mara banded with Brahmas,
could turn that triumph
back into defeat.
You could, month by month,
at a cost of thousands,
conduct sacrifices
a hundred times,
or
pay a single moment's homage
to one person,
self-cultivated.
Better than a hundred years of sacrifices
would that act of homage be.
You could, for a hundred years,
live in a forest
tending a fire,
or
pay a single moment's homage
to one person,
self-cultivated.
Better than a hundred years of sacrifices
would that act of homage be.
Everything offered
or sacrificed in the world
for an entire year by one seeking merit
doesn't come to a fourth.
Better to pay respect
to those who've gone
the straight way.
If you're respectful by habit,
constantly honoring the worthy,
four things increase:
long life, beauty,
happiness, strength.
Better than a hundred years
lived without virtue, uncentered, is
one day
lived by a virtuous person
absorbed in jhana.
And better than a hundred years
lived undiscerning, uncentered, is
one day
lived by a discerning person
absorbed in jhana.
And better than a hundred years
lived apathetic & unenergetic, is
one day
lived energetic & firm.
And better than a hundred years
lived without seeing
arising & passing away, is
one day
lived seeing
arising & passing away.
And better than a hundred years
lived without seeing
the Deathless state, is
one day
lived seeing
the Deathless state.
And better than a hundred years
lived without seeing
the ultimate Dhamma, is
one day
lived seeing
the ultimate Dhamma.
(Dhp VIII)
Thus have I heard. At one time the Lord was staying at Anupiya in the Mango Orchard. At that time the Venerable Bhaddiya, Kaligodha's son, on going into the forest to the foot of a tree or to an empty place, constantly uttered, "Ah, what bliss! Ah, what bliss!"
A number of bhikkhus heard the Venerable Bhaddiya... constantly uttering, "Ah, what bliss! Ah, what bliss!" and the thought came to them: "No doubt, friend, the Venerable Bhaddiya, Kaligodha's son, is dissatisfied with leading the holy life, since formerly when he was a householder he enjoyed the bliss of royalty. And when recollecting that, on going into the forest... he utters, 'Ah, what bliss! Ah, what bliss!'"
Then a number of bhikkhus approached the Lord, prostrated themselves, sat down to one side, and reported this to the Lord.
Then the Lord addressed a certain bhikkhu: "Come, bhikkhu, in my name tell the bhikkhu Bhaddiya, 'The Teacher calls you, friend Bhaddiya.'"
"Very well, revered sir," the bhikkhu replied and approaching the Venerable Bhaddiya, Kaligodha's son, he said, "The Teacher calls you, friend Bhaddiya."
"Very well, friend," the Venerable Bhaddiya replied, and approaching the Lord he prostrated himself and sat down to one side. The Lord then said to him: "Is it true, Bhaddiya, that on going into the forest... you utter, 'Ah, what bliss! Ah, what bliss!'?"
"Yes, revered sir."
"But, Bhaddiya, what do you see that prompts you to do so?"
"Formerly, revered sir, when I was a householder and enjoyed the bliss of royalty, inside and outside my inner apartments guards were appointed; inside and outside the city guards were appointed; inside and outside the district guards were appointed. But, revered sir, although I was thus guarded and protected, I lived fearful, agitated, distrustful, and afraid. But now, revered sir, on going alone into the forest, to the foot of a tree or to an empty place, I am fearless, unagitated, confident, and unafraid. I live unconcerned, unruffled, my needs satisfied, with a mind become like a deer's. Seeing this, revered sir, prompts me, on going to the forest... to utter constantly, 'Ah, what bliss! Ah, what bliss!'"
Then, on realizing its significance, the Lord uttered on that occasion this inspired utterance:
In whom exist no inner stirrings,
Having passed beyond being this or that,
Free from fear, blissful and sorrowless,
The devas are not capable of seeing him.
(Ud 2.10)
Are you looking for me? I am in the next seat.
My shoulder is against yours.
You will not find me in stupas, not in Indian shrine rooms,
nor in synagogues, nor in cathedrals:
not in masses, nor kirtans, not in legs winding around your own neck, nor in eating nothing but vegetables.
When you really look for me, you will see me instantly-you will find me in the tiniest house of time.
Kabir says: Student, tell me, what is God?
He is the breath inside the breath.
(Kabir)
The Rhythm of Life
A Daylong Retreat with Peter Doobinin
Saturday, March 1
New York Insight, 115 W 29 St, 12th Fl, NYC
10am to 4pm
To find out more details and register, visit the NY Insight website.
February 16
-"Ultimate Reality"
-meditation practice enables us to see things, as the Buddha puts it, according to reality. the reality of our experience includes worldly experience, specifically our experience of the six senses. as the teachings indicate, all experience of the sense is impermanent. it is subject to disintegration. this is the truth of things. the world is swept away. we attempt however to look for happiness in the experiences of the world, the experiences of the sense. this effort, put toward wanting our experience to be a certain way, leads to suffering. as dharma students, we learn to see the insufficient, unsatisfactory nature of the conditioned realm. in turn, we seek to know that which is unconditioned. this is ultimate reality. the state of true happiness.
-some things to to remember as you learn to know "ultimate reality"...
1-our experience of the world is found in our experience of the six senses....
-including the sense door of the mind....
2-the world is swept away....
-the experience of the world ... the experiences of senses ... is impermanent....
-as the Buddha indicates, the world "disintegrates"....
-the world is empty....
-insubstantial....
-insufficient....
-simply put, the things of the world arise, change, pass ... they can't, by their nature, bring a reliable, true happiness....
3-because we desire the world to be a certain way, we suffer......
-our craving ... our desire to have experience that's agreeable, to not have experience that disagreeable ... leads to clinging ... and to suffering....
-as dharma students, our task is to abandon this craving....
-understanding that experience is largely out of our control....
-there will always be agreeable & disagreeable experience.....
4-recognizing the insubstantial nature of the conditioned realm, we look toward that which is unconditioned.....
-when Buddha came to realize the truth of illness, aging, death, and separation ... insubstantial nature of the world ... he began to question the way he was living....
-he ask, is there a happiness that is not dependent on conditioned things....
-he set out to find if there was, indeed, a timeless, deathless happiness....
-the tendency we have may be to want to analyze our experience, or fix it, or get rid of it....
5-as dharma students, we learn to ask: "is there a happiness that is not dependent on things of the world, on conditioned things?".....
-it is our habit to look for happiness in the world ... in conditioned things ... in the experiences of the senses....
-we think that is is where happiness is found....
-as dharma students, following the Buddha's example, our task is to explore, to look to see if there is a happiness that is not dependent on conditioned things....
-when we know this happiness, according to reality, we know the ultimate reality.......
-reflection.....
-"Is there a happiness that is not dependent on conditioned things....?"
-reading.....
See it as a bubble,
see it as a mirage:
one who regards the world this way
the King of Death doesn't see.
(Dhp XIII)
Loka Sutta: The World
Then a certain monk went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, he said to the Blessed One: "'The world, the world' it is said. In what respect does the word 'world' apply?
"Insofar as it disintegrates, monk, it is called the 'world.' Now what disintegrates? The eye disintegrates. Forms disintegrate. Consciousness at the eye disintegrates. Contact at the eye disintegrates. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the eye — experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain — that too disintegrates.
"The ear disintegrates. Sounds disintegrate...
"The nose disintegrates. Aromas disintegrate...
"The tongue disintegrates. Tastes disintegrate...
"The body disintegrates. Tactile sensations disintegrate...
"The intellect disintegrates. Ideas disintegrate. Consciousness at the intellect consciousness disintegrates. Contact at the intellect disintegrates. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the intellect — experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain — that too disintegrates.
"Insofar as it disintegrates, it is called the 'world.'"
(SN 35.82)
"Great king, there are four Dhamma summaries stated by the Blessed One who knows & sees, worthy & rightly self-awakened. Having known & seen & heard them, I went forth from the home life into homelessness. Which four?
"'The world is swept away. It does not endure': This is the first Dhamma summary stated by the Blessed One who knows & sees, worthy & rightly self-awakened. Having known & seen & heard it, I went forth from the home life into homelessness.
"'The world is without shelter, without protector': This is the second Dhamma summary...
"'The world is without ownership. One has to pass on, leaving everything behind': This is the third Dhamma summary...
"'The world is insufficient, insatiable, a slave to craving': This is the fourth Dhamma summary...
"These, great king, are the four Dhamma summaries stated by the Blessed One who knows & sees, worthy & rightly self-awakened. Having known & seen & heard them, I went forth from the home life into homelessness."
(MN 82)
"'Your question should not be phrased in this way: Where do these four great elements — the earth property, the liquid property, the fire property, and the wind property — cease without remainder? Instead, it should be phrased like this:
Where do water, earth, fire, & wind
have no footing?
Where are long & short,
coarse & fine,
fair & foul,
name & form
brought to an end?
"'And the answer to that is:
Consciousness without feature,
without end,
luminous all around:
Here water, earth, fire, & wind
have no footing.
Here long & short
coarse & fine
fair & foul
name & form
are all brought to an end.
With the cessation of [the activity of] consciousness
each is here brought to an end.'"
That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, Kevatta the householder delighted in the Blessed One's words.
(DN 11)
On April 4, he was strong enough again for me to take him back home. My daughter and I went to pick him up. When we got there, the nurses were helping him get dressed. He was sitting on his bed, and he looked really happy to be going home. He was smiling. He was sitting almost like Buddha, and then he just put his head down. We thought he was meditating, maybe reflecting on his experiences, grateful to be going home. I don't remember who noticed first, who checked his pulse… . In the beginning, of course, I was totally freaked out. There was some kind of code thing, and they brought machines in. I was stunned. But as we realized he was transitioning out of this world and into the next, everything, all of us, just went calm. They turned off the machines, and that room was so peaceful. I put on his music that he liked, Dave Brubeck. We just sat there on the bed together, and I whispered in his ear. I didn't want to leave him. I sat there with him for hours, just holding his hand.
Roger looked beautiful. He looked really beautiful. I don't know how to describe it, but he looked peaceful, and he looked young.
The one thing people might be surprised about—Roger said that he didn't know if he could believe in God. He had his doubts. But toward the end, something really interesting happened. That week before Roger passed away, I would see him and he would talk about having visited this other place. I thought he was hallucinating. I thought they were giving him too much medication. But the day before he passed away, he wrote me a note: "This is all an elaborate hoax." I asked him, "What's a hoax?" And he was talking about this world, this place. He said it was all an illusion. I thought he was just confused. But he was not confused. He wasn't visiting heaven, not the way we think of heaven. He described it as a vastness that you can't even imagine. It was a place where the past, present, and future were happening all at once.
(Chaz Ebert/Esquire Magazine)
-"Ultimate Reality"
-meditation practice enables us to see things, as the Buddha puts it, according to reality. the reality of our experience includes worldly experience, specifically our experience of the six senses. as the teachings indicate, all experience of the sense is impermanent. it is subject to disintegration. this is the truth of things. the world is swept away. we attempt however to look for happiness in the experiences of the world, the experiences of the sense. this effort, put toward wanting our experience to be a certain way, leads to suffering. as dharma students, we learn to see the insufficient, unsatisfactory nature of the conditioned realm. in turn, we seek to know that which is unconditioned. this is ultimate reality. the state of true happiness.
-some things to to remember as you learn to know "ultimate reality"...
1-our experience of the world is found in our experience of the six senses....
-including the sense door of the mind....
2-the world is swept away....
-the experience of the world ... the experiences of senses ... is impermanent....
-as the Buddha indicates, the world "disintegrates"....
-the world is empty....
-insubstantial....
-insufficient....
-simply put, the things of the world arise, change, pass ... they can't, by their nature, bring a reliable, true happiness....
3-because we desire the world to be a certain way, we suffer......
-our craving ... our desire to have experience that's agreeable, to not have experience that disagreeable ... leads to clinging ... and to suffering....
-as dharma students, our task is to abandon this craving....
-understanding that experience is largely out of our control....
-there will always be agreeable & disagreeable experience.....
4-recognizing the insubstantial nature of the conditioned realm, we look toward that which is unconditioned.....
-when Buddha came to realize the truth of illness, aging, death, and separation ... insubstantial nature of the world ... he began to question the way he was living....
-he ask, is there a happiness that is not dependent on conditioned things....
-he set out to find if there was, indeed, a timeless, deathless happiness....
-the tendency we have may be to want to analyze our experience, or fix it, or get rid of it....
5-as dharma students, we learn to ask: "is there a happiness that is not dependent on things of the world, on conditioned things?".....
-it is our habit to look for happiness in the world ... in conditioned things ... in the experiences of the senses....
-we think that is is where happiness is found....
-as dharma students, following the Buddha's example, our task is to explore, to look to see if there is a happiness that is not dependent on conditioned things....
-when we know this happiness, according to reality, we know the ultimate reality.......
-reflection.....
-"Is there a happiness that is not dependent on conditioned things....?"
-reading.....
See it as a bubble,
see it as a mirage:
one who regards the world this way
the King of Death doesn't see.
(Dhp XIII)
Loka Sutta: The World
Then a certain monk went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, he said to the Blessed One: "'The world, the world' it is said. In what respect does the word 'world' apply?
"Insofar as it disintegrates, monk, it is called the 'world.' Now what disintegrates? The eye disintegrates. Forms disintegrate. Consciousness at the eye disintegrates. Contact at the eye disintegrates. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the eye — experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain — that too disintegrates.
"The ear disintegrates. Sounds disintegrate...
"The nose disintegrates. Aromas disintegrate...
"The tongue disintegrates. Tastes disintegrate...
"The body disintegrates. Tactile sensations disintegrate...
"The intellect disintegrates. Ideas disintegrate. Consciousness at the intellect consciousness disintegrates. Contact at the intellect disintegrates. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the intellect — experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain — that too disintegrates.
"Insofar as it disintegrates, it is called the 'world.'"
(SN 35.82)
"Great king, there are four Dhamma summaries stated by the Blessed One who knows & sees, worthy & rightly self-awakened. Having known & seen & heard them, I went forth from the home life into homelessness. Which four?
"'The world is swept away. It does not endure': This is the first Dhamma summary stated by the Blessed One who knows & sees, worthy & rightly self-awakened. Having known & seen & heard it, I went forth from the home life into homelessness.
"'The world is without shelter, without protector': This is the second Dhamma summary...
"'The world is without ownership. One has to pass on, leaving everything behind': This is the third Dhamma summary...
"'The world is insufficient, insatiable, a slave to craving': This is the fourth Dhamma summary...
"These, great king, are the four Dhamma summaries stated by the Blessed One who knows & sees, worthy & rightly self-awakened. Having known & seen & heard them, I went forth from the home life into homelessness."
(MN 82)
"'Your question should not be phrased in this way: Where do these four great elements — the earth property, the liquid property, the fire property, and the wind property — cease without remainder? Instead, it should be phrased like this:
Where do water, earth, fire, & wind
have no footing?
Where are long & short,
coarse & fine,
fair & foul,
name & form
brought to an end?
"'And the answer to that is:
Consciousness without feature,
without end,
luminous all around:
Here water, earth, fire, & wind
have no footing.
Here long & short
coarse & fine
fair & foul
name & form
are all brought to an end.
With the cessation of [the activity of] consciousness
each is here brought to an end.'"
That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, Kevatta the householder delighted in the Blessed One's words.
(DN 11)
On April 4, he was strong enough again for me to take him back home. My daughter and I went to pick him up. When we got there, the nurses were helping him get dressed. He was sitting on his bed, and he looked really happy to be going home. He was smiling. He was sitting almost like Buddha, and then he just put his head down. We thought he was meditating, maybe reflecting on his experiences, grateful to be going home. I don't remember who noticed first, who checked his pulse… . In the beginning, of course, I was totally freaked out. There was some kind of code thing, and they brought machines in. I was stunned. But as we realized he was transitioning out of this world and into the next, everything, all of us, just went calm. They turned off the machines, and that room was so peaceful. I put on his music that he liked, Dave Brubeck. We just sat there on the bed together, and I whispered in his ear. I didn't want to leave him. I sat there with him for hours, just holding his hand.
Roger looked beautiful. He looked really beautiful. I don't know how to describe it, but he looked peaceful, and he looked young.
The one thing people might be surprised about—Roger said that he didn't know if he could believe in God. He had his doubts. But toward the end, something really interesting happened. That week before Roger passed away, I would see him and he would talk about having visited this other place. I thought he was hallucinating. I thought they were giving him too much medication. But the day before he passed away, he wrote me a note: "This is all an elaborate hoax." I asked him, "What's a hoax?" And he was talking about this world, this place. He said it was all an illusion. I thought he was just confused. But he was not confused. He wasn't visiting heaven, not the way we think of heaven. He described it as a vastness that you can't even imagine. It was a place where the past, present, and future were happening all at once.
(Chaz Ebert/Esquire Magazine)
February 9
-"Patience to be Aware"
-patience is one of the ten paramis, qualities that we seek to develop that will enable us to realize freedom from suffering. as such, the cultivation of patience is essential to dharma practice. in meditation we develop tranquility. silence. our task, we might say, is to cultivate silence and then to listen. this sort of listening asks for great patience. impatience, on the other hand, creates disturbance and prevents us from hearing what we need to hear. in our practice, we seek to be mindful of impatience. and, in turn, to incline to patience. patience is an aspect of our goodness. we each have the capacity for patience. in learning to be aware of dukka/clinging it is essential that, in practicing this awareness, we are patient. wisdom, like the lotus flower that grows in the mud, will gradually appear above the surface of the water. gradually it will bloom. gradually, wisdom will come to fruition.
-some things to to remember as you make learn to cultivate the "patience to be aware"...
1-in dharma practice, it is essential to cultivate patience....
-patience is a parami....
-many element of dharma practice, in order to develop, require patience...
-dharma practice, in general, develops gradually ... as such, it ask that we cultivate great patience....
2-it our efforts to cultivate patience, we learn to see impatience....
-in cultivating patience....
-we notice when there is impatience....
-when we have the tendency to disturb the silence...
-when we have the tendency to "jump in" and create a disturbance....
-we incline to patience....
-we have a capacity for patience ... we must learn to incline to it....
3-in practicing reflection, we learn to cultivate patience......
-patience is an essential element to the art of reflection....
-in reflecting, we may ask questions....
-such as, 'how can i move forward in my life with love for myself and all beings.....?"...
-and we seek to live the questions....
-instead of trying to answer ... we practice what we might call "listening"....
-we listen for the "answers"....
-this sort of "listening" asks that we practice patience....
4-in bringing awareness to the ways in which we're clinging, we practice patience.....
-ABC....
-when there is dukkha/clinging, we bring awareness to the experience....
-our task is practice simple awareness....
-the tendency we have may be to want to analyze our experience, or fix it, or get rid of it....
-but our practice is to "just be aware"
-we're asked, accordingly, to be patient, understanding that wisdom will develop gradually if we bring this simple awareness to our experience.....
5-the image of the lotus offers an example of the process of awakening.....
-the lotus grows in the mud .. underwater....
-we don't know when it will emerge, bloom, flower....
-gradually it will flower....
-wisdom - the lotus is the symbol in Buddhism for wisdom - develops like the lotus....
-we have to cultivate patience....
-remembering that impatience causes disturbance and is an impediment to the development of wisdom....
-reading.....
-"Enduring the Disgreeable" (from the chapter on Patience in The Skill of Living)
| enduring_the_disagreeable_skill_of_living_pdf.pdf |
| the_ship_by_peter_doobinin.pdf |
The Blooming Lotus (Udayin the Elder)
As the flower of a lotus,
Arisen in water, blossoms,
Pure-scented and pleasing the mind,
Yet is not drenched by the water,
In the same way, born in the world,
The Buddha abides in the world;
And like the lotus by water,
He does not get drenched by the world.
Lotus (Rabindranath Tagore)
On the day when the lotus bloomed, alas, my mind was straying,
and I knew it not. My basket was empty and the flower remained unheeded.
Only now and again a sadness fell upon me, and I started up from my
dream and felt a sweet trace of a strange fragrance in the south wind.
That vague sweetness made my heart ache with longing and it seemed to
me that is was the eager breath of the summer seeking for its completion.
I knew not then that it was so near, that it was mine, and that this
perfect sweetness had blossomed in the depth of my own heart.
February 2
-"The Rhythm of Your Life"
-the dharma student seeks to know moments of freedom. freedom from suffering & clinging. these moments may appear at different times, their arising is unpredictable. therefore, we have to be alert. this knowing, of course, is felt. we know freedom as a felt experience, in the body, in the heart. these moments are deathless, they transcended birth & death, past and future. they are timeless. as dharma students we seek to live from here. instead of living from the place of craving/desire. we strive for our actions to issue from the heart. from the silence. from the place of emptiness. the form our lives/actions take will be determined by our karma. for everyone the expression of the heart's sure release will take a different form. we each have a path, a particular journey. it is up to us to find our way. to make of our lives a work of art. to find the rhythm of our lives. there is great joy in making this effort, in taking this journey.
-some things to to remember as you make an effort to find "the rhythm of your life"...
1-it is essential to remember our goodness....
-we should make an effort regularly to remember our goodness....
-our merit...
-generosity....
-virtue....
-effort we make to train the mind & heart....
-remembering our goodness, we incline to knowing moments of freedom....
2-it is our task as dharma students to know moments of freedom....
-we seek, as per the duties the Buddha puts forth in the noble truths, to know freedom from suffering/clinging....
-this awareness, as we begin, takes the shape of moments of freedom....
-since we do not know when we'll be able to access these moments, we have to be alert...
-knowing is felt....
-we have a felt sense of this freedom....
3-we seek take action in our lives from this place of non-clinging......
-this awakened action, the opposite of action, informed by craving, begins with intention....
-we develop the intention to take awakened action....
-action from the heart.....
-action aligned with our goodness
4-the form that our actions take is determined by our karma.....
-the Buddha's karma led him to be a teacher....
-for each of us, we have a particular karma that will determine actions we take that are an expression of the heart's sure release....
-our task is to find our path....
-or we could say, to find our rhythm....
5-we should begin immediately to find our path.....
-we might begin by having the intention, as described above, to live from the timeless place....
-to live in tune with our truth.....
-we might, in setting intention, seek to live in the questions....
-to reflect: what can I do that is an expression of my goodness ... my heart...?
-what can i do today...?
-what can i do right now...?
-reading.....
I have heard that on one occasion, when the Blessed One was newly Self-awakened, he was staying at Uruvela on the bank of the Nerañjara River, at the foot of the Goatherd's Banyan Tree.
Then, while he was alone and in seclusion, this line of thinking arose in his awareness: "This Dhamma that I have attained is deep, hard to see, hard to realize, peaceful, refined, beyond the scope of conjecture, subtle, to-be-experienced by the wise. But this generation delights in attachment, is excited by attachment, enjoys attachment. For a generation delighting in attachment, excited by attachment, enjoying attachment, this/that conditionality and dependent co-arising are hard to see. This state, too, is hard to see: the resolution of all fabrications, the relinquishment of all acquisitions, the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Unbinding. And if I were to teach the Dhamma and if others would not understand me, that would be tiresome for me, troublesome for me."
Just then these verses, unspoken in the past, unheard before, occurred to the Blessed One:
Enough now with teaching what only with difficulty I reached. This Dhamma is not easily realized by those overcome with aversion & passion. What is abstruse, subtle, deep, hard to see, going against the flow — those delighting in passion, cloaked in the mass of darkness, won't see.As the Blessed One reflected thus, his mind inclined to dwelling at ease, not to teaching the Dhamma.
Then Brahma Sahampati, having known with his own awareness the line of thinking in the Blessed One's awareness, thought: "The world is lost! The world is destroyed! The mind of the Tathagata, the Arahant, the Rightly Self-awakened One inclines to dwelling at ease, not to teaching the Dhamma!" Then, just as a strong man might extend his flexed arm or flex his extended arm, Brahma Sahampati disappeared from the Brahma-world and reappeared in front of the Blessed One. Arranging his upper robe over one shoulder, he knelt down with his right knee on the ground, saluted the Blessed One with his hands before his heart, and said to him: "Lord, let the Blessed One teach the Dhamma! Let the One-Well-Gone teach the Dhamma! There are beings with little dust in their eyes who are falling away because they do not hear the Dhamma. There will be those who will understand the Dhamma."
That is what Brahma Sahampati said. Having said that, he further said this:
In the past there appeared among the Magadhans an impure Dhamma devised by the stained. Throw open the door to the Deathless! Let them hear the Dhamma realized by the Stainless One! Just as one standing on a rocky crag might see people all around below, So, O wise one, with all-around vision, ascend the palace fashioned of the Dhamma. Free from sorrow, behold the people submerged in sorrow, oppressed by birth & aging.
Rise up, hero, victor in battle! O Teacher, wander without debt in the world. Teach the Dhamma, O Blessed One: There will be those who will understand.
Then the Blessed One, having understood Brahma's invitation, out of compassion for beings, surveyed the world with the eye of an Awakened One. As he did so, he saw beings with little dust in their eyes and those with much, those with keen faculties and those with dull, those with good attributes and those with bad, those easy to teach and those hard, some of them seeing disgrace and danger in the other world. Just as in a pond of blue or red or white lotuses, some lotuses — born and growing in the water — might flourish while immersed in the water, without rising up from the water; some might stand at an even level with the water; while some might rise up from the water and stand without being smeared by the water — so too, surveying the world with the eye of an Awakened One, the Blessed One saw beings with little dust in their eyes and those with much, those with keen faculties and those with dull, those with good attributes and those with bad, those easy to teach and those hard, some of them seeing disgrace and danger in the other world.
Having seen this, he answered Brahma Sahampati in verse:
Open are the doors to the Deathless to those with ears. Let them show their conviction. Perceiving trouble, O Brahma, I did not tell people the refined, sublime Dhamma.
Then Brahma Sahampati, thinking, "The Blessed One has given his consent to teach the Dhamma," bowed down to the Blessed One and, circling him on the right, disappeared right there.
(SN 6.1)
Archaic Torso of Apollo (Rilke)
We cannot know his legendary head
with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso
is still suffused with brilliance from inside,
like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,
gleams in all its power. Otherwise
the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could
a smile run through the placid hips and thighs
to that dark center where procreation flared.
Otherwise this stone would seem defaced
beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders
and would not glisten like a wild beast’s fur:
would not, from all the borders of itself,
burst like a star: for here there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.
Wir kannten nicht sein unerhörtes Haupt,
darin die Augenäpfel reiften. Aber
sein Torso glüht noch wie ein Kandelaber,
in dem sein Schauen, nur zurückgeschraubt,
sich hält und glänzt. Sonst könnte nicht der Bug
der Brust dich blenden, und im leisen Drehen
der Lenden könnte nicht ein Lächeln gehen
zu jener Mitte, die die Zeugung trug.
Sonst stünde dieser Stein enstellt und kurz
unter der Shultern durchsichtigem Sturz
und flimmerte nicht so wie Raubtierfelle;
und brächte nicht aus allen seinen Rändern
aus wie ein Stern: denn da ist keine Stelle,
die dich nicht sieht. Du mußt dein Leben ändern.
-"The Rhythm of Your Life"
-the dharma student seeks to know moments of freedom. freedom from suffering & clinging. these moments may appear at different times, their arising is unpredictable. therefore, we have to be alert. this knowing, of course, is felt. we know freedom as a felt experience, in the body, in the heart. these moments are deathless, they transcended birth & death, past and future. they are timeless. as dharma students we seek to live from here. instead of living from the place of craving/desire. we strive for our actions to issue from the heart. from the silence. from the place of emptiness. the form our lives/actions take will be determined by our karma. for everyone the expression of the heart's sure release will take a different form. we each have a path, a particular journey. it is up to us to find our way. to make of our lives a work of art. to find the rhythm of our lives. there is great joy in making this effort, in taking this journey.
-some things to to remember as you make an effort to find "the rhythm of your life"...
1-it is essential to remember our goodness....
-we should make an effort regularly to remember our goodness....
-our merit...
-generosity....
-virtue....
-effort we make to train the mind & heart....
-remembering our goodness, we incline to knowing moments of freedom....
2-it is our task as dharma students to know moments of freedom....
-we seek, as per the duties the Buddha puts forth in the noble truths, to know freedom from suffering/clinging....
-this awareness, as we begin, takes the shape of moments of freedom....
-since we do not know when we'll be able to access these moments, we have to be alert...
-knowing is felt....
-we have a felt sense of this freedom....
3-we seek take action in our lives from this place of non-clinging......
-this awakened action, the opposite of action, informed by craving, begins with intention....
-we develop the intention to take awakened action....
-action from the heart.....
-action aligned with our goodness
4-the form that our actions take is determined by our karma.....
-the Buddha's karma led him to be a teacher....
-for each of us, we have a particular karma that will determine actions we take that are an expression of the heart's sure release....
-our task is to find our path....
-or we could say, to find our rhythm....
5-we should begin immediately to find our path.....
-we might begin by having the intention, as described above, to live from the timeless place....
-to live in tune with our truth.....
-we might, in setting intention, seek to live in the questions....
-to reflect: what can I do that is an expression of my goodness ... my heart...?
-what can i do today...?
-what can i do right now...?
-reading.....
I have heard that on one occasion, when the Blessed One was newly Self-awakened, he was staying at Uruvela on the bank of the Nerañjara River, at the foot of the Goatherd's Banyan Tree.
Then, while he was alone and in seclusion, this line of thinking arose in his awareness: "This Dhamma that I have attained is deep, hard to see, hard to realize, peaceful, refined, beyond the scope of conjecture, subtle, to-be-experienced by the wise. But this generation delights in attachment, is excited by attachment, enjoys attachment. For a generation delighting in attachment, excited by attachment, enjoying attachment, this/that conditionality and dependent co-arising are hard to see. This state, too, is hard to see: the resolution of all fabrications, the relinquishment of all acquisitions, the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Unbinding. And if I were to teach the Dhamma and if others would not understand me, that would be tiresome for me, troublesome for me."
Just then these verses, unspoken in the past, unheard before, occurred to the Blessed One:
Enough now with teaching what only with difficulty I reached. This Dhamma is not easily realized by those overcome with aversion & passion. What is abstruse, subtle, deep, hard to see, going against the flow — those delighting in passion, cloaked in the mass of darkness, won't see.As the Blessed One reflected thus, his mind inclined to dwelling at ease, not to teaching the Dhamma.
Then Brahma Sahampati, having known with his own awareness the line of thinking in the Blessed One's awareness, thought: "The world is lost! The world is destroyed! The mind of the Tathagata, the Arahant, the Rightly Self-awakened One inclines to dwelling at ease, not to teaching the Dhamma!" Then, just as a strong man might extend his flexed arm or flex his extended arm, Brahma Sahampati disappeared from the Brahma-world and reappeared in front of the Blessed One. Arranging his upper robe over one shoulder, he knelt down with his right knee on the ground, saluted the Blessed One with his hands before his heart, and said to him: "Lord, let the Blessed One teach the Dhamma! Let the One-Well-Gone teach the Dhamma! There are beings with little dust in their eyes who are falling away because they do not hear the Dhamma. There will be those who will understand the Dhamma."
That is what Brahma Sahampati said. Having said that, he further said this:
In the past there appeared among the Magadhans an impure Dhamma devised by the stained. Throw open the door to the Deathless! Let them hear the Dhamma realized by the Stainless One! Just as one standing on a rocky crag might see people all around below, So, O wise one, with all-around vision, ascend the palace fashioned of the Dhamma. Free from sorrow, behold the people submerged in sorrow, oppressed by birth & aging.
Rise up, hero, victor in battle! O Teacher, wander without debt in the world. Teach the Dhamma, O Blessed One: There will be those who will understand.
Then the Blessed One, having understood Brahma's invitation, out of compassion for beings, surveyed the world with the eye of an Awakened One. As he did so, he saw beings with little dust in their eyes and those with much, those with keen faculties and those with dull, those with good attributes and those with bad, those easy to teach and those hard, some of them seeing disgrace and danger in the other world. Just as in a pond of blue or red or white lotuses, some lotuses — born and growing in the water — might flourish while immersed in the water, without rising up from the water; some might stand at an even level with the water; while some might rise up from the water and stand without being smeared by the water — so too, surveying the world with the eye of an Awakened One, the Blessed One saw beings with little dust in their eyes and those with much, those with keen faculties and those with dull, those with good attributes and those with bad, those easy to teach and those hard, some of them seeing disgrace and danger in the other world.
Having seen this, he answered Brahma Sahampati in verse:
Open are the doors to the Deathless to those with ears. Let them show their conviction. Perceiving trouble, O Brahma, I did not tell people the refined, sublime Dhamma.
Then Brahma Sahampati, thinking, "The Blessed One has given his consent to teach the Dhamma," bowed down to the Blessed One and, circling him on the right, disappeared right there.
(SN 6.1)
Archaic Torso of Apollo (Rilke)
We cannot know his legendary head
with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso
is still suffused with brilliance from inside,
like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,
gleams in all its power. Otherwise
the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could
a smile run through the placid hips and thighs
to that dark center where procreation flared.
Otherwise this stone would seem defaced
beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders
and would not glisten like a wild beast’s fur:
would not, from all the borders of itself,
burst like a star: for here there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.
Wir kannten nicht sein unerhörtes Haupt,
darin die Augenäpfel reiften. Aber
sein Torso glüht noch wie ein Kandelaber,
in dem sein Schauen, nur zurückgeschraubt,
sich hält und glänzt. Sonst könnte nicht der Bug
der Brust dich blenden, und im leisen Drehen
der Lenden könnte nicht ein Lächeln gehen
zu jener Mitte, die die Zeugung trug.
Sonst stünde dieser Stein enstellt und kurz
unter der Shultern durchsichtigem Sturz
und flimmerte nicht so wie Raubtierfelle;
und brächte nicht aus allen seinen Rändern
aus wie ein Stern: denn da ist keine Stelle,
die dich nicht sieht. Du mußt dein Leben ändern.
The Spiritual Path
An Evening Talk with Peter Doobinin
Friday, February 7
New York Insight, 115 W 29 St, 12th Fl, NYC
6:30pm to 8:30pm
To find out more details and register, visit the New York Insight website.
January 26
-"True Dhamma"
-the tendency we may have is to want to follow a new path or teaching or way of doing things. but the truths of the heart, the dhamma, are timeless and deathless. the dharma has always been there and will always be there. the Buddha didn't invent the dharma. he found it. and, in turn, he taught a way, a path, by which we might find it. we find the dharma inside us. in the body. in the heart. we learn, as dharma students, in being true to the Buddha's path, to know the dharma. we may come to know it, moment by moment. in our meditation. and in the course of our days. our task is to follow the path of generosity, virtue, renunciation, and meditation, and, in turn, to be alert to the dhamma, that timeless quality. it is from this place, that we seek to live.
-some things to to remember as you learn to know the "true dhamma"...
1-the dhamma is timeless....
-it has always been here, it will always be here....
-it is, therefore, true...
2-the path the Buddha taught leads to the true dhamma....
-the spiritual path of generosity, virtue, renunciation, meditation....
-it is the path the Buddha followed....
-the dhamma, truth, that the Buddha came to know is the same dhamma, truth, that we seek to know....
-a question for us to ask is: is what we're doing, how we're practicing, how we're living, leading us to the true dhamma....?
-to that quality of rhythm....
-to the heart....
-to love
3-we find the dhamma inside......
-in the silence ... in the stillness ... in the simplicity of the present moment....
-we know the dhamma in the body....
-we know the dhamma in the heart the heart.....
4-in breath meditation, we may touch in to the dhamma.....
-in those moments, when concentration is developed, when there is "just breathing"....
-when we let go of "I am breathing" or "my breath"....
-in those moments, perhaps for a fingersnap, we know that timeless quality of dhamma....
-similarly, in walking meditation, when there is "just walking".....
-as the Buddha explains to Ven. Bahiya (see sutta), this kind of practice is a way in to the dhamma....
5-as we begin to know the timeless quality, we incline to it.....
-knowing the dhamma is, as Ajahn Chah said, a cause for its rearising....
-in turn, more and more, we live, take action, from this place....
-from the heart....
-this goodness we develop in knowing and living from the true dhamma is what we leave behind....
-reading.....
-"Tradition and the Individual Talent" (TS Eliot)
-"True Dhamma"
-the tendency we may have is to want to follow a new path or teaching or way of doing things. but the truths of the heart, the dhamma, are timeless and deathless. the dharma has always been there and will always be there. the Buddha didn't invent the dharma. he found it. and, in turn, he taught a way, a path, by which we might find it. we find the dharma inside us. in the body. in the heart. we learn, as dharma students, in being true to the Buddha's path, to know the dharma. we may come to know it, moment by moment. in our meditation. and in the course of our days. our task is to follow the path of generosity, virtue, renunciation, and meditation, and, in turn, to be alert to the dhamma, that timeless quality. it is from this place, that we seek to live.
-some things to to remember as you learn to know the "true dhamma"...
1-the dhamma is timeless....
-it has always been here, it will always be here....
-it is, therefore, true...
2-the path the Buddha taught leads to the true dhamma....
-the spiritual path of generosity, virtue, renunciation, meditation....
-it is the path the Buddha followed....
-the dhamma, truth, that the Buddha came to know is the same dhamma, truth, that we seek to know....
-a question for us to ask is: is what we're doing, how we're practicing, how we're living, leading us to the true dhamma....?
-to that quality of rhythm....
-to the heart....
-to love
3-we find the dhamma inside......
-in the silence ... in the stillness ... in the simplicity of the present moment....
-we know the dhamma in the body....
-we know the dhamma in the heart the heart.....
4-in breath meditation, we may touch in to the dhamma.....
-in those moments, when concentration is developed, when there is "just breathing"....
-when we let go of "I am breathing" or "my breath"....
-in those moments, perhaps for a fingersnap, we know that timeless quality of dhamma....
-similarly, in walking meditation, when there is "just walking".....
-as the Buddha explains to Ven. Bahiya (see sutta), this kind of practice is a way in to the dhamma....
5-as we begin to know the timeless quality, we incline to it.....
-knowing the dhamma is, as Ajahn Chah said, a cause for its rearising....
-in turn, more and more, we live, take action, from this place....
-from the heart....
-this goodness we develop in knowing and living from the true dhamma is what we leave behind....
-reading.....
-"Tradition and the Individual Talent" (TS Eliot)
| eliot_tradition.pdf |
-"The Customs of the Noble Ones" (Thanissaro Bhikkhu)
“And how does a monk remain focused on the body in & of itself?
[1] “There is the case where a monk—having gone to the wilderness, to the shade of a tree, or to an empty building—sits down folding his legs crosswise, holding his body erect and establishing mindfulness to the fore. Always mindful, he breathes in; mindful he breathes out.
“Breathing in long, he discerns, ‘I am breathing in long’; or breathing out long, he discerns, ‘I am breathing out long.’ Or breathing in short, he discerns, ‘I am breathing in short’; or breathing out short, he discerns, ‘I am breathing out short.’ He trains himself, ‘I will breathe in sensitive to the entire body’; he trains himself, ‘I will breathe out sensitive to the entire body.’ He trains himself, ‘I will breathe in calming bodily fabrication’; he trains himself, ‘I will breathe out calming bodily fabrication.’ Just as a dexterous turner or his apprentice, when making a long turn, discerns, ‘I am making a long turn,’ or when making a short turn discerns, ‘I am making a short turn’; in the same way the monk, when breathing in long, discerns, ‘I am breathing in long’; or breathing out long, he discerns, ‘I am breathing out long.’ … He trains himself, ‘I will breathe in calming bodily fabrication’; he trains himself, ‘I will breathe out calming bodily fabrication.’
“In this way he remains focused internally on the body in & of itself, or externally on the body in & of itself, or both internally & externally on the body in & of itself. Or he remains focused on the phenomenon of origination with regard to the body, on the phenomenon of passing away with regard to the body, or on the phenomenon of origination & passing away with regard to the body. Or his mindfulness that ‘There is a body’ is maintained to the extent of knowledge & remembrance. And he remains independent, unsustained by [not clinging to] anything in the world. This is how a monk remains focused on the body in & of itself."
(MN 10)
"Then, Bāhiya, you should train yourself thus: In reference to the seen, there will be only the seen. In reference to the heard, only the heard. In reference to the sensed, only the sensed. In reference to the cognized, only the cognized. That is how you should train yourself. When for you there will be only the seen in reference to the seen, only the heard in reference to the heard, only the sensed in reference to the sensed, only the cognized in reference to the cognized, then, Bāhiya, there is no you in connection with that. When there is no you in connection with that, there is no you there. When there is no you there, you are neither here nor yonder nor between the two. This, just this, is the end of stress."
Through hearing this brief explanation of the Dhamma from the Blessed One, the mind of Bāhiya of the Bark-cloth right then and there was released from effluents through lack of clinging/sustenance. Having exhorted Bāhiya of the Bark-cloth with this brief explanation of the Dhamma, the Blessed One left.
(Ud 1.1)
Burnt Norton (Four Quartets) (TS Eliot)
I
Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation.
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden. My words echo
Thus, in your mind.
But to what purpose
Disturbing the dust on a bowl of rose-leaves
I do not know.
Other echoes
Inhabit the garden. Shall we follow?
Quick, said the bird, find them, find them,
Round the corner. Through the first gate,
Into our first world, shall we follow
The deception of the thrush? Into our first world.
There they were, dignified, invisible,
Moving without pressure, over the dead leaves,
In the autumn heat, through the vibrant air,
And the bird called, in response to
The unheard music hidden in the shrubbery,
And the unseen eyebeam crossed, for the roses
Had the look of flowers that are looked at.
There they were as our guests, accepted and accepting.
So we moved, and they, in a formal pattern,
Along the empty alley, into the box circle,
To look down into the drained pool.
Dry the pool, dry concrete, brown edged,
And the pool was filled with water out of sunlight,
And the lotos rose, quietly, quietly,
The surface glittered out of heart of light,
And they were behind us, reflected in the pool.
Then a cloud passed, and the pool was empty.
Go, said the bird, for the leaves were full of children,
Hidden excitedly, containing laughter.
Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind
Cannot bear very much reality.
Time past and time future
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
January 19
-"The Path of the Heart"
-the Buddha's path is a spiritual path. the elements of this spiritual path include generosity, virtue, renunciation, and meditation. the spiritual path is a path of the the heart. as such, it is a path in which we learn to meet life with love. love is an action. when we take action in this life that is informed by the heart, by love, we know happiness.
-some things to to remember as you develop in your efforts to follow "the path of the heart"...
1-as dharma students we're asked to follow a spiritual path....
-it is by following a spiritual path that we are able to move beyond suffering and know true happiness....
-we seek to live along spiritual lines...
-to this end, we might reflect: what is my commitment to a spiritual path...?
2-there are certain basic elements to the spiritual path....
-the basic elements, as put forth by the Buddha, of the spiritual path....
-generosity....
-abandoning greediness.....
-virtue...
-following, to the best of our ability, the five precepts....
-including the tenets of skillful speech....
-to abandon false speech, divisive speech, abusive speech, idle speech....
-renunciation.....
-to limit or moderate our indulgence in sense pleasure and material gain.....
-to find remove and seclusion from the ways of the world....
-meditation....
-the training of the mind & heart....
-concentration....
-wisdom
3-the purpose of the practice of meditation is to bring us closer to the heart......
-in developing concentration, we come closer to the heart....
-we reside, more and more, in the body....
-we come closer to the heart.....
-in developing wisdom, we come closer to the heart....
-we abandon that which is blocking us from the heart.....
4-the spiritual path is a path of the heart.....
-the path of the heart is a path of love....
-love is not an emotion....
-love is the quality of the heart that informs awakened action....
-love is found in action ... subtle & blatant.....
-reading.....
-"Nobel Peace Prize Lecture" (Dr. Martin Luther King)
This evening I would like to use this lofty and historic platform to discuss what appears to me to be the most pressing problem confronting mankind today. Modern man has brought this whole world to an awe-inspiring threshold of the future. He has reached new and astonishing peaks of scientific success. He has produced machines that think and instruments that peer into the unfathomable ranges of interstellar space. He has built gigantic bridges to span the seas and gargantuan buildings to kiss the skies. His airplanes and spaceships have dwarfed distance, placed time in chains, and carved highways through the stratosphere. This is a dazzling picture of modern man’s scientific and technological progress.
Yet, in spite of these spectacular strides in science and technology, and still unlimited ones to come, something basic is missing. There is a sort of poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance. The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually. We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers.
Every man lives in two realms, the internal and the external. The internal is that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion. The external is that complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms, and instrumentalities by means of which we live. Our problem today is that we have allowed the internal to become lost in the external. We have allowed the means by which we live to outdistance the ends for which we live. So much of modern life can be summarized in that arresting dictum of the poet Thoreau: “Improved means to an unimproved end”. This is the serious predicament, the deep and haunting problem confronting modern man. If we are to survive today, our moral and spiritual “lag” must be eliminated. Enlarged material powers spell enlarged peril if there is not proportionate growth of the soul. When the “without” of man’s nature subjugates the “within”, dark storm clouds begin to form in the world.
********
This call for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one’s tribe, race, class, and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all men. This oft misunderstood and misinterpreted concept so readily dismissed by the Nietzsches of the world as a weak and cowardly force, has now become an absolute necessity for the survival of man. When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response which is little more than emotional bosh. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. This Hindu-Moslem-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief about ultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the First Epistle of Saint John:
Let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone
that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His
love is perfected in us.
Let us hope that this spirit will become the order of the day. As Arnold Toynbee says: “Love is the ultimate force that makes for the saving choice of life and good against the damning choice of death and evil. Therefore the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word.” We can no longer afford to worship the God of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. Love is the key to the solution of the problems of the world.
-from Nobel Lecture (Dr. Martin Luther King)
"Now, Cunda, there are three ways in which one is made pure by bodily action, four ways in which one is made pure by verbal action, and three ways in which one is made pure by mental action.
Skillful Bodily Action
"And how is one made pure in three ways by bodily action? There is the case where a certain person, abandoning the taking of life, abstains from the taking of life. He dwells with his rod laid down, his knife laid down, scrupulous, merciful, compassionate for the welfare of all living beings. Abandoning the taking of what is not given, he abstains from taking what is not given. He does not take, in the manner of a thief, things in a village or a wilderness that belong to others and have not been given by them. Abandoning sensual misconduct, he abstains from sensual misconduct. He does not get sexually involved with those who are protected by their mothers, their fathers, their brothers, their sisters, their relatives, or their Dhamma; those with husbands, those who entail punishments, or even those crowned with flowers by another man. This is how one is made pure in three ways by bodily action.
Skillful Verbal Action
"And how is one made pure in four ways by verbal action? There is the case where a certain person, abandoning false speech, abstains from false speech. When he has been called to a town meeting, a group meeting, a gathering of his relatives, his guild, or of the royalty, if he is asked as a witness, 'Come & tell, good man, what you know': If he doesn't know, he says, 'I don't know.' If he does know, he says, 'I know.' If he hasn't seen, he says, 'I haven't seen.' If he has seen, he says, 'I have seen.' Thus he doesn't consciously tell a lie for his own sake, for the sake of another, or for the sake of any reward. Abandoning false speech, he abstains from false speech. He speaks the truth, holds to the truth, is firm, reliable, no deceiver of the world. Abandoning divisive speech he abstains from divisive speech. What he has heard here he does not tell there to break those people apart from these people here. What he has heard there he does not tell here to break these people apart from those people there. Thus reconciling those who have broken apart or cementing those who are united, he loves concord, delights in concord, enjoys concord, speaks things that create concord. Abandoning abusive speech, he abstains from abusive speech. He speaks words that are soothing to the ear, that are affectionate, that go to the heart, that are polite, appealing & pleasing to people at large. Abandoning idle chatter, he abstains from idle chatter. He speaks in season, speaks what is factual, what is in accordance with the goal, the Dhamma, & the Vinaya. He speaks words worth treasuring, seasonable, reasonable, circumscribed, connected with the goal. This is how one is made pure in four ways by verbal action.
Skillful Mental Action
"And how is one made pure in three ways by mental action? There is the case where a certain person is not covetous. He does not covet the belongings of others, thinking, 'O, that what belongs to others would be mine!' He bears no ill will and is not corrupt in the resolves of his heart. [He thinks,] 'May these beings be free from animosity, free from oppression, free from trouble, and may they look after themselves with ease!' He has right view and is not warped in the way he sees things: 'There is what is given, what is offered, what is sacrificed. There are fruits & results of good & bad actions. There is this world & the next world. There is mother & father. There are spontaneously reborn beings; there are brahmans & contemplatives who, faring rightly & practicing rightly, proclaim this world & the next after having directly known & realized it for themselves.' This is how one is made pure in three ways by mental action.
"These, Cunda, are the ten courses of skillful action. When a person is endowed with these ten courses of skillful action, then even if he gets up at the proper time from his bed and touches the earth, he is still pure. If he doesn't touch the earth, he is still pure. If he touches wet cow dung, he is still pure. If he doesn't touch wet cow dung, he is still pure. If he touches green grass... If he doesn't touch green grass... If he worships a fire... If he doesn't worship a fire... If he pays homage to the sun with clasped hands... If he doesn't pay homage to the sun with clasped hands... If he goes down into the water three times by nightfall... If he doesn't go down into the water three times by nightfall, he is still pure. Why is that? Because these ten courses of skillful action are pure and cause purity. Furthermore, as a result of being endowed with these ten courses of skillful action, [rebirth among] the devas is declared, [rebirth among] human beings is declared — that or any other good destination."
When this was said, Cunda the silversmith said to the Blessed One: "Magnificent, lord! Magnificent! Just as if he were to place upright what was overturned, to reveal what was hidden, to show the way to one who was lost, or to carry a lamp into the dark so that those with eyes could see forms, in the same way has the Blessed One — through many lines of reasoning — made the Dhamma clear. I go to the Blessed One for refuge, to the Dhamma, and to the community of monks. May the Blessed One remember me as a lay follower who has gone to him for refuge, from this day forward, for life.
(AN 10.176)
Choices
We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with an impure mind
And trouble will follow you
As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart.
We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with a pure mind
And happiness will follow you
As your shadow, unshakable.
"Look how he abused me and hurt me,
How he threw me down and robbed me."
Live with such thoughts and you live in hate.
"Look how he abused me and hurt me,
How he threw me down and robbed me."
Abandon such thoughts, and live in love.
In this world
Hate never yet dispelled hate.
Only love dispels hate.
This is the law,
Ancient and inexhaustible.
You too shall pass away.
Knowing this,
how can you quarrel?
How easily the wind overturns a frail tree.
Seek happiness in the senses,
Indulge in food and sleep,
And you too will be uprooted.
The wind cannot overturn a mountain.
Temptation cannot touch the man
Who is awake, strong and humble,
Who masters himself and minds the dharma.
If a man's thoughts are muddy,
If he is reckless and full of deceit,
How can he wear the yellow robe?
Whoever is master of his own nature,
Bright, clear and true,
He may indeed wear the yellow robe.
Mistaking the false for the true,
And the true for the false,
You overlook the heart
And fill yourself with desire.
See the false as false,
The true as true.
Look into your heart.
Follow your nature.
An unreflecting mind is a poor roof.
Passion, like the rain, floods the house.
But if the roof is strong, there is shelter.
Whoever follows impure thoughts
Suffers in this world and the next.
In both worlds he suffers
And how greatly
When he sees the wrong he has done.
But whoever follows the dharma Is joyful here and joyful there.
In both worlds he rejoices
And how greatly
When he sees the good he has done.
For great is the harvest in this world,
And greater still in the next.
However many holy words you read,
However many you speak,
What good will they do you If you do not act upon them?
Are you a shepherd
Who counts another man's sheep,
Never sharing the way?
Read as few words as you like,
And speak fewer.
But act upon the dharma.
Give up the old ways –
Passion, enmity, folly.
Know the truth and find peace.
Share the way.
(Dhp 1)
-"The Path of the Heart"
-the Buddha's path is a spiritual path. the elements of this spiritual path include generosity, virtue, renunciation, and meditation. the spiritual path is a path of the the heart. as such, it is a path in which we learn to meet life with love. love is an action. when we take action in this life that is informed by the heart, by love, we know happiness.
-some things to to remember as you develop in your efforts to follow "the path of the heart"...
1-as dharma students we're asked to follow a spiritual path....
-it is by following a spiritual path that we are able to move beyond suffering and know true happiness....
-we seek to live along spiritual lines...
-to this end, we might reflect: what is my commitment to a spiritual path...?
2-there are certain basic elements to the spiritual path....
-the basic elements, as put forth by the Buddha, of the spiritual path....
-generosity....
-abandoning greediness.....
-virtue...
-following, to the best of our ability, the five precepts....
-including the tenets of skillful speech....
-to abandon false speech, divisive speech, abusive speech, idle speech....
-renunciation.....
-to limit or moderate our indulgence in sense pleasure and material gain.....
-to find remove and seclusion from the ways of the world....
-meditation....
-the training of the mind & heart....
-concentration....
-wisdom
3-the purpose of the practice of meditation is to bring us closer to the heart......
-in developing concentration, we come closer to the heart....
-we reside, more and more, in the body....
-we come closer to the heart.....
-in developing wisdom, we come closer to the heart....
-we abandon that which is blocking us from the heart.....
4-the spiritual path is a path of the heart.....
-the path of the heart is a path of love....
-love is not an emotion....
-love is the quality of the heart that informs awakened action....
-love is found in action ... subtle & blatant.....
-reading.....
-"Nobel Peace Prize Lecture" (Dr. Martin Luther King)
This evening I would like to use this lofty and historic platform to discuss what appears to me to be the most pressing problem confronting mankind today. Modern man has brought this whole world to an awe-inspiring threshold of the future. He has reached new and astonishing peaks of scientific success. He has produced machines that think and instruments that peer into the unfathomable ranges of interstellar space. He has built gigantic bridges to span the seas and gargantuan buildings to kiss the skies. His airplanes and spaceships have dwarfed distance, placed time in chains, and carved highways through the stratosphere. This is a dazzling picture of modern man’s scientific and technological progress.
Yet, in spite of these spectacular strides in science and technology, and still unlimited ones to come, something basic is missing. There is a sort of poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance. The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually. We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers.
Every man lives in two realms, the internal and the external. The internal is that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion. The external is that complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms, and instrumentalities by means of which we live. Our problem today is that we have allowed the internal to become lost in the external. We have allowed the means by which we live to outdistance the ends for which we live. So much of modern life can be summarized in that arresting dictum of the poet Thoreau: “Improved means to an unimproved end”. This is the serious predicament, the deep and haunting problem confronting modern man. If we are to survive today, our moral and spiritual “lag” must be eliminated. Enlarged material powers spell enlarged peril if there is not proportionate growth of the soul. When the “without” of man’s nature subjugates the “within”, dark storm clouds begin to form in the world.
********
This call for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one’s tribe, race, class, and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all men. This oft misunderstood and misinterpreted concept so readily dismissed by the Nietzsches of the world as a weak and cowardly force, has now become an absolute necessity for the survival of man. When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response which is little more than emotional bosh. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. This Hindu-Moslem-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief about ultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the First Epistle of Saint John:
Let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone
that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His
love is perfected in us.
Let us hope that this spirit will become the order of the day. As Arnold Toynbee says: “Love is the ultimate force that makes for the saving choice of life and good against the damning choice of death and evil. Therefore the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word.” We can no longer afford to worship the God of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. Love is the key to the solution of the problems of the world.
-from Nobel Lecture (Dr. Martin Luther King)
"Now, Cunda, there are three ways in which one is made pure by bodily action, four ways in which one is made pure by verbal action, and three ways in which one is made pure by mental action.
Skillful Bodily Action
"And how is one made pure in three ways by bodily action? There is the case where a certain person, abandoning the taking of life, abstains from the taking of life. He dwells with his rod laid down, his knife laid down, scrupulous, merciful, compassionate for the welfare of all living beings. Abandoning the taking of what is not given, he abstains from taking what is not given. He does not take, in the manner of a thief, things in a village or a wilderness that belong to others and have not been given by them. Abandoning sensual misconduct, he abstains from sensual misconduct. He does not get sexually involved with those who are protected by their mothers, their fathers, their brothers, their sisters, their relatives, or their Dhamma; those with husbands, those who entail punishments, or even those crowned with flowers by another man. This is how one is made pure in three ways by bodily action.
Skillful Verbal Action
"And how is one made pure in four ways by verbal action? There is the case where a certain person, abandoning false speech, abstains from false speech. When he has been called to a town meeting, a group meeting, a gathering of his relatives, his guild, or of the royalty, if he is asked as a witness, 'Come & tell, good man, what you know': If he doesn't know, he says, 'I don't know.' If he does know, he says, 'I know.' If he hasn't seen, he says, 'I haven't seen.' If he has seen, he says, 'I have seen.' Thus he doesn't consciously tell a lie for his own sake, for the sake of another, or for the sake of any reward. Abandoning false speech, he abstains from false speech. He speaks the truth, holds to the truth, is firm, reliable, no deceiver of the world. Abandoning divisive speech he abstains from divisive speech. What he has heard here he does not tell there to break those people apart from these people here. What he has heard there he does not tell here to break these people apart from those people there. Thus reconciling those who have broken apart or cementing those who are united, he loves concord, delights in concord, enjoys concord, speaks things that create concord. Abandoning abusive speech, he abstains from abusive speech. He speaks words that are soothing to the ear, that are affectionate, that go to the heart, that are polite, appealing & pleasing to people at large. Abandoning idle chatter, he abstains from idle chatter. He speaks in season, speaks what is factual, what is in accordance with the goal, the Dhamma, & the Vinaya. He speaks words worth treasuring, seasonable, reasonable, circumscribed, connected with the goal. This is how one is made pure in four ways by verbal action.
Skillful Mental Action
"And how is one made pure in three ways by mental action? There is the case where a certain person is not covetous. He does not covet the belongings of others, thinking, 'O, that what belongs to others would be mine!' He bears no ill will and is not corrupt in the resolves of his heart. [He thinks,] 'May these beings be free from animosity, free from oppression, free from trouble, and may they look after themselves with ease!' He has right view and is not warped in the way he sees things: 'There is what is given, what is offered, what is sacrificed. There are fruits & results of good & bad actions. There is this world & the next world. There is mother & father. There are spontaneously reborn beings; there are brahmans & contemplatives who, faring rightly & practicing rightly, proclaim this world & the next after having directly known & realized it for themselves.' This is how one is made pure in three ways by mental action.
"These, Cunda, are the ten courses of skillful action. When a person is endowed with these ten courses of skillful action, then even if he gets up at the proper time from his bed and touches the earth, he is still pure. If he doesn't touch the earth, he is still pure. If he touches wet cow dung, he is still pure. If he doesn't touch wet cow dung, he is still pure. If he touches green grass... If he doesn't touch green grass... If he worships a fire... If he doesn't worship a fire... If he pays homage to the sun with clasped hands... If he doesn't pay homage to the sun with clasped hands... If he goes down into the water three times by nightfall... If he doesn't go down into the water three times by nightfall, he is still pure. Why is that? Because these ten courses of skillful action are pure and cause purity. Furthermore, as a result of being endowed with these ten courses of skillful action, [rebirth among] the devas is declared, [rebirth among] human beings is declared — that or any other good destination."
When this was said, Cunda the silversmith said to the Blessed One: "Magnificent, lord! Magnificent! Just as if he were to place upright what was overturned, to reveal what was hidden, to show the way to one who was lost, or to carry a lamp into the dark so that those with eyes could see forms, in the same way has the Blessed One — through many lines of reasoning — made the Dhamma clear. I go to the Blessed One for refuge, to the Dhamma, and to the community of monks. May the Blessed One remember me as a lay follower who has gone to him for refuge, from this day forward, for life.
(AN 10.176)
Choices
We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with an impure mind
And trouble will follow you
As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart.
We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with a pure mind
And happiness will follow you
As your shadow, unshakable.
"Look how he abused me and hurt me,
How he threw me down and robbed me."
Live with such thoughts and you live in hate.
"Look how he abused me and hurt me,
How he threw me down and robbed me."
Abandon such thoughts, and live in love.
In this world
Hate never yet dispelled hate.
Only love dispels hate.
This is the law,
Ancient and inexhaustible.
You too shall pass away.
Knowing this,
how can you quarrel?
How easily the wind overturns a frail tree.
Seek happiness in the senses,
Indulge in food and sleep,
And you too will be uprooted.
The wind cannot overturn a mountain.
Temptation cannot touch the man
Who is awake, strong and humble,
Who masters himself and minds the dharma.
If a man's thoughts are muddy,
If he is reckless and full of deceit,
How can he wear the yellow robe?
Whoever is master of his own nature,
Bright, clear and true,
He may indeed wear the yellow robe.
Mistaking the false for the true,
And the true for the false,
You overlook the heart
And fill yourself with desire.
See the false as false,
The true as true.
Look into your heart.
Follow your nature.
An unreflecting mind is a poor roof.
Passion, like the rain, floods the house.
But if the roof is strong, there is shelter.
Whoever follows impure thoughts
Suffers in this world and the next.
In both worlds he suffers
And how greatly
When he sees the wrong he has done.
But whoever follows the dharma Is joyful here and joyful there.
In both worlds he rejoices
And how greatly
When he sees the good he has done.
For great is the harvest in this world,
And greater still in the next.
However many holy words you read,
However many you speak,
What good will they do you If you do not act upon them?
Are you a shepherd
Who counts another man's sheep,
Never sharing the way?
Read as few words as you like,
And speak fewer.
But act upon the dharma.
Give up the old ways –
Passion, enmity, folly.
Know the truth and find peace.
Share the way.
(Dhp 1)
January 12
-"Moving Beyond Emotions"
-emotions, including painful emotions, are part of life. as conditioned phenomena, they have an "unsatisfactory" nature. which is to say, they can't offer us a reliable happiness and, if we cling to, they conduce to suffering/dukkha. as dharma students, we're asked to understand the impermanent, conditioned, unreliable, unsatisfactory nature of emotions. we learn, as we bring awareness to emotions, to become less invested in them, to give them less weight. we learn, in turn, to put more emphasis on the qualities of the heart. we learn that we can choose, and we learn to choose love.
-some things to to remember as you explore your efforts in "moving beyond emotions"...
1-stressful emotions are unavoidable conditions of life....
-as human beings, we will experience difficult, painful emotions....
-but if we are able to refrain from clinging, our heart will remain open...
-if we don't cling, we won't experience dukkha/suffering....
2-in our practice, we learn to be aware of emotions according to reality....
-we learn to be mindful of emotions, seeing that they are....
-impermanent....
-inconstant.....
-not-self....
-conditioned....
-unreliable....
-unpredictable....
-out of our control.....
-unsatisfactory.....
-they conduce to clinging ... and dukkha/suffering.....
3-as we see into the truth of what emotions are, we cultivate disenchantment......
-we recognize the drawbacks of emotions....
-we don't give so much weight to emotions....
-we become more and more disinclined to grasp on to.....
-we understand that emotions are merely sensations, in the body....
-they are "empty" ... without substance.....
4-it's useful to see how we react to emotions.....
-do we engage in forms of reactivity...?
-disliking the emotion....
-not wanting the emotion....
-despair/anguish about the emotion.....
5- in our practice we learn to move beyond emotions....
-we understand that we're better off, in this life, if we invest in the qualities of the heart....
-compassion....
-love....
-joy.....
-we learn to see that the qualities of the heart are more beneficial....
-reliable....
-true....
-conduce to happiness....
6- we assert the qualities of the heart through intention....
-we choose to abandon emotional states ... and to cultivate the heart....
-we choose the heart through intention.....
-we assert "skillful intention".....
-reading.....
-"Setting the Wheel of the Dharma in Motion" (SN 56.11)
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying at Varanasi in the Game Refuge at Isipatana. There he addressed the group of five monks:
"There are these two extremes that are not to be indulged in by one who has gone forth. Which two? That which is devoted to sensual pleasure with reference to sensual objects: base, vulgar, common, ignoble, unprofitable; and that which is devoted to self-affliction: painful, ignoble, unprofitable. Avoiding both of these extremes, the middle way realized by the Tathagata — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.
"And what is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding? Precisely this Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. This is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.
"Now this, monks, is the noble truth of stress: Birth is stressful, aging is stressful, death is stressful; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair are stressful; association with the unbeloved is stressful, separation from the loved is stressful, not getting what is wanted is stressful. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are stressful."
(SN 56.11)
"It is not in his personal emotions, the emotions provoked by particular events in his life, that the poet is in any way remarkable or interesting. HIs particular emotions may be simple, or crude, or flat. The emotion in his poetry will be a very complex thing, but not with the complexity of the emotions of people who have very complex or unusual emotions in life. One error, in fact, of eccentricity in poetry is to seek for new human emotions to express; and in this search for novelty in the wrong place it discovers the perverse. The business of the poet is not to find new emotions, but to use the ordinary ones and, in working them up into poetry, to express feelings which are not in actual emotions at all.
***********
Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things.
-TS Eliot ("Tradition and the Individual Talent")
On one occasion the Blessed One was staying among the Ayojjhans on the banks of the Ganges River. There he addressed the monks: "Monks, suppose that a large glob of foam were floating down this Ganges River, and a man with good eyesight were to see it, observe it, & appropriately examine it. To him — seeing it, observing it, & appropriately examining it — it would appear empty, void, without substance: for what substance would there be in a glob of foam? In the same way, a monk sees, observes, & appropriately examines any form that is past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle; common or sublime; far or near. To him — seeing it, observing it, & appropriately examining it — it would appear empty, void, without substance: for what substance would there be in form?"
(SN 22.95)
Teacher Support
Donations to support the teacher, Peter Doobinin, can be made via PayPal by using the address: [email protected]
(If using PayPal, this is the preferred method; please use the "personal/family & friends" function.)
Donations can also be made through Zelle using the email address: [email protected]
Information about making a donation using a credit card or by check are found on the Support page.
Thanks for your generosity!
-"Moving Beyond Emotions"
-emotions, including painful emotions, are part of life. as conditioned phenomena, they have an "unsatisfactory" nature. which is to say, they can't offer us a reliable happiness and, if we cling to, they conduce to suffering/dukkha. as dharma students, we're asked to understand the impermanent, conditioned, unreliable, unsatisfactory nature of emotions. we learn, as we bring awareness to emotions, to become less invested in them, to give them less weight. we learn, in turn, to put more emphasis on the qualities of the heart. we learn that we can choose, and we learn to choose love.
-some things to to remember as you explore your efforts in "moving beyond emotions"...
1-stressful emotions are unavoidable conditions of life....
-as human beings, we will experience difficult, painful emotions....
-but if we are able to refrain from clinging, our heart will remain open...
-if we don't cling, we won't experience dukkha/suffering....
2-in our practice, we learn to be aware of emotions according to reality....
-we learn to be mindful of emotions, seeing that they are....
-impermanent....
-inconstant.....
-not-self....
-conditioned....
-unreliable....
-unpredictable....
-out of our control.....
-unsatisfactory.....
-they conduce to clinging ... and dukkha/suffering.....
3-as we see into the truth of what emotions are, we cultivate disenchantment......
-we recognize the drawbacks of emotions....
-we don't give so much weight to emotions....
-we become more and more disinclined to grasp on to.....
-we understand that emotions are merely sensations, in the body....
-they are "empty" ... without substance.....
4-it's useful to see how we react to emotions.....
-do we engage in forms of reactivity...?
-disliking the emotion....
-not wanting the emotion....
-despair/anguish about the emotion.....
5- in our practice we learn to move beyond emotions....
-we understand that we're better off, in this life, if we invest in the qualities of the heart....
-compassion....
-love....
-joy.....
-we learn to see that the qualities of the heart are more beneficial....
-reliable....
-true....
-conduce to happiness....
6- we assert the qualities of the heart through intention....
-we choose to abandon emotional states ... and to cultivate the heart....
-we choose the heart through intention.....
-we assert "skillful intention".....
-reading.....
-"Setting the Wheel of the Dharma in Motion" (SN 56.11)
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying at Varanasi in the Game Refuge at Isipatana. There he addressed the group of five monks:
"There are these two extremes that are not to be indulged in by one who has gone forth. Which two? That which is devoted to sensual pleasure with reference to sensual objects: base, vulgar, common, ignoble, unprofitable; and that which is devoted to self-affliction: painful, ignoble, unprofitable. Avoiding both of these extremes, the middle way realized by the Tathagata — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.
"And what is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding? Precisely this Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. This is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.
"Now this, monks, is the noble truth of stress: Birth is stressful, aging is stressful, death is stressful; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair are stressful; association with the unbeloved is stressful, separation from the loved is stressful, not getting what is wanted is stressful. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are stressful."
(SN 56.11)
"It is not in his personal emotions, the emotions provoked by particular events in his life, that the poet is in any way remarkable or interesting. HIs particular emotions may be simple, or crude, or flat. The emotion in his poetry will be a very complex thing, but not with the complexity of the emotions of people who have very complex or unusual emotions in life. One error, in fact, of eccentricity in poetry is to seek for new human emotions to express; and in this search for novelty in the wrong place it discovers the perverse. The business of the poet is not to find new emotions, but to use the ordinary ones and, in working them up into poetry, to express feelings which are not in actual emotions at all.
***********
Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things.
-TS Eliot ("Tradition and the Individual Talent")
On one occasion the Blessed One was staying among the Ayojjhans on the banks of the Ganges River. There he addressed the monks: "Monks, suppose that a large glob of foam were floating down this Ganges River, and a man with good eyesight were to see it, observe it, & appropriately examine it. To him — seeing it, observing it, & appropriately examining it — it would appear empty, void, without substance: for what substance would there be in a glob of foam? In the same way, a monk sees, observes, & appropriately examines any form that is past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle; common or sublime; far or near. To him — seeing it, observing it, & appropriately examining it — it would appear empty, void, without substance: for what substance would there be in form?"
(SN 22.95)
Teacher Support
Donations to support the teacher, Peter Doobinin, can be made via PayPal by using the address: [email protected]
(If using PayPal, this is the preferred method; please use the "personal/family & friends" function.)
Donations can also be made through Zelle using the email address: [email protected]
Information about making a donation using a credit card or by check are found on the Support page.
Thanks for your generosity!
January 5
-"Beginning to Live"
-as we move forward in life, our view of things often narrows. our view of the world, others, and of course ourselves. our way of looking at things become more and more narrow, the more we cling. in dharma practice, as we learn to abandon clinging, we begin, little by slowly, to widen our view of things. we begin to know the truth of things. we begin to realize the great potential that lies in every moment of life. the potential for unexcelled happiness. the happiness of heart.
-some things to to remember as you embrace the notion that you're "beginning to live"...
1-we may have lost that 'sense of possibility' that we felt when we were younger....
-in our younger days, as we set out in life, we may have been imbued with a sense of possibility....
-the world seemed open...
-life seem filled with possibilities....
-but as time went on, we may have gradually lost that sense of possibility.....
-our view of life, and its potential, may have come more and more limited.....
2-our view of things becomes more and more limited as we engage more and more in clinging....
-what changes, we come to learn, as dharma students, is our view of life, not life itself....
-our view of life becomes more limited as we engage in clinging....
-clinging to....
-sense pleasures.....
-views & opinions....
-social conventions....
-self image.....
3-as we abandon clinging, we come to recognize the truth of the dharma......
-we recognize the boundless potential in every moment....
-the potential for happiness of heart....
4-the happiness of heart is deathless....
-it is deathless ... boundless ... timeless...
-for this reason, life is imbued, by its nature with endless possibility for love, joy, happiness....
-reading.....
April 16. Away! Away!
The spell of arms and voices: the white arms of roads, their promise of close embraces and the black arms of tall ships that stand against the moon, their tale of distant nations. They are held out to say: We are alone—come. And the voices say with them: We are your kinsmen. And the air is thick with their company as they call to me, their kinsman, making ready to go, shaking the wings of their exultant and terrible youth.
April 26. Mother is putting my new secondhand clothes in order. She prays now, she says, that I may learn in my own life and away from home and friends what the heart is and what it feels. Amen. So be it. Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.
April 27. Old father, old artificer, stand me now and ever in good stead.
(James Joyce/The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man)
To the sick the doctors wisely recommend a change of air and scenery. Thank Heaven, here is not all the world. The buckeye does not grow in New England, and the mockingbird is rarely heard here. The wild goose is more of a cosmopolite than we; he breaks his fast in Canada, takes a luncheon in the Ohio, and plumes himself for the night in a southern bayou. Even the bison, to some extent, keeps pace with the seasons cropping the pastures of the Colorado only till a greener and sweeter grass awaits him by the Yellowstone. Yet we think that if rail fences are pulled down, and stone walls piled up on our farms, bounds are henceforth set to our lives and our fates decided. If you are chosen town clerk, forsooth, you cannot go to Tierra del Fuego this summer: but you may go to the land of infernal fire nevertheless. The universe is wider than our views of it.
***********
I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one. It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves. I had not lived there a week before my feet wore a path from my door to the pond–side; and though it is five or six years since I trod it, it is still quite distinct. It is true, I fear, that others may have fallen into it, and so helped to keep it open. The surface of the earth is soft and impressible by the feet of men; and so with the paths which the mind travels. How worn and dusty, then, must be the highways of the world, how deep the ruts of tradition and conformity! I did not wish to take a cabin passage, but rather to go before the mast and on the deck of the world, for there I could best see the moonlight amid the mountains. I do not wish to go below now.
I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
***********
I do not say that John or Jonathan will realize all this; but such is the character of that morrow which mere lapse of time can never make to dawn. The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.
-Thoreau (from Walden/Conclusion)
-"Beginning to Live"
-as we move forward in life, our view of things often narrows. our view of the world, others, and of course ourselves. our way of looking at things become more and more narrow, the more we cling. in dharma practice, as we learn to abandon clinging, we begin, little by slowly, to widen our view of things. we begin to know the truth of things. we begin to realize the great potential that lies in every moment of life. the potential for unexcelled happiness. the happiness of heart.
-some things to to remember as you embrace the notion that you're "beginning to live"...
1-we may have lost that 'sense of possibility' that we felt when we were younger....
-in our younger days, as we set out in life, we may have been imbued with a sense of possibility....
-the world seemed open...
-life seem filled with possibilities....
-but as time went on, we may have gradually lost that sense of possibility.....
-our view of life, and its potential, may have come more and more limited.....
2-our view of things becomes more and more limited as we engage more and more in clinging....
-what changes, we come to learn, as dharma students, is our view of life, not life itself....
-our view of life becomes more limited as we engage in clinging....
-clinging to....
-sense pleasures.....
-views & opinions....
-social conventions....
-self image.....
3-as we abandon clinging, we come to recognize the truth of the dharma......
-we recognize the boundless potential in every moment....
-the potential for happiness of heart....
4-the happiness of heart is deathless....
-it is deathless ... boundless ... timeless...
-for this reason, life is imbued, by its nature with endless possibility for love, joy, happiness....
-reading.....
April 16. Away! Away!
The spell of arms and voices: the white arms of roads, their promise of close embraces and the black arms of tall ships that stand against the moon, their tale of distant nations. They are held out to say: We are alone—come. And the voices say with them: We are your kinsmen. And the air is thick with their company as they call to me, their kinsman, making ready to go, shaking the wings of their exultant and terrible youth.
April 26. Mother is putting my new secondhand clothes in order. She prays now, she says, that I may learn in my own life and away from home and friends what the heart is and what it feels. Amen. So be it. Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.
April 27. Old father, old artificer, stand me now and ever in good stead.
(James Joyce/The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man)
To the sick the doctors wisely recommend a change of air and scenery. Thank Heaven, here is not all the world. The buckeye does not grow in New England, and the mockingbird is rarely heard here. The wild goose is more of a cosmopolite than we; he breaks his fast in Canada, takes a luncheon in the Ohio, and plumes himself for the night in a southern bayou. Even the bison, to some extent, keeps pace with the seasons cropping the pastures of the Colorado only till a greener and sweeter grass awaits him by the Yellowstone. Yet we think that if rail fences are pulled down, and stone walls piled up on our farms, bounds are henceforth set to our lives and our fates decided. If you are chosen town clerk, forsooth, you cannot go to Tierra del Fuego this summer: but you may go to the land of infernal fire nevertheless. The universe is wider than our views of it.
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I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one. It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves. I had not lived there a week before my feet wore a path from my door to the pond–side; and though it is five or six years since I trod it, it is still quite distinct. It is true, I fear, that others may have fallen into it, and so helped to keep it open. The surface of the earth is soft and impressible by the feet of men; and so with the paths which the mind travels. How worn and dusty, then, must be the highways of the world, how deep the ruts of tradition and conformity! I did not wish to take a cabin passage, but rather to go before the mast and on the deck of the world, for there I could best see the moonlight amid the mountains. I do not wish to go below now.
I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
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I do not say that John or Jonathan will realize all this; but such is the character of that morrow which mere lapse of time can never make to dawn. The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.
-Thoreau (from Walden/Conclusion)
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