Everyday Dhamma

"Which is greater: the little bit of dust I have picked up with the tip of my fingernail, or the great earth?"

[bhavanasociety]

“And what, bhikkhus, are the five aggregates?  Whatever kind of form there is, whether past, future, or present, internal or external, gross or subtle, inferior or superior, far or near:  this is called the form aggregate.  Whatever kind of feeling there is  …  this is called the feeling aggregate.  Whatever kind of perception there is …   this is called the perception aggregate.  Whatever kind of volitional formations there are …  these are called the volitional formations aggregate.  Whatever kind of consciousness there is, whether past, future, or present, internal or external, gross or subtle, inferior or superior, far or near:  this is called the consciousness aggregate.  These, bhikkhus, are called the five aggregates.”

48 (6) Aggregates.  Part III.  Chapter I. 22 Khandhasamyutta. Connected Discourses on the Aggregates.  http://www.wisdompubs.org/book/connected-discourses-buddha

[rainbowtwo]

Facing Difficulties

‘While trying to avoid difficulty may be natural and understandable, it actually doesn’t work. We think it makes sense to protect ourselves from pain, but our self-protection ends up causing us deeper pain. We think we have to hold on to what we have, but our very holding on causes us to lose what we have. We’re attached to what we like and try to avoid what we don’t like, but we can’t keep the attractive object and we can’t avoid the unwanted object. So, counterintuitive though it may be, avoiding life’s difficulties is actually not the path of least resistance: it is a dangerous way to live.

If you want to have a full and happy life, in good times and bad, you have to get used to the idea that facing misfortune squarely is better than trying to escape from it.’

- Norman Fischer, Training in Compassion: Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong.

[rainbowtwo]

Mind as Mirror

‘It is said that to be enlightened we must live in the eternal. Now, that infinitely small and therefore infinitely great point of time is called the present moment. The Universe exists only in that moment, and it is said that the wise man moves with it, clinging neither to the past nor to the future, making his mind like the mirror that reflects everything instantly as it comes before it, yet making no effort to retain the reflection when the object is removed. “The perfect man,” says Chuang-tzu, “employs his mind as a mirror. It grasps nothing; it refuses nothing. It receives, but does not keep.”’

- Alan Watts, Become What You Are.

[thecompassionateone]

What is happening in the here and now is new. It takes a lot of courage to move away from the tendency to build our reality out of memory and open the heart and mind to a much vaster reality, a universe that is not limited by the past.

Ajahn Sundara, Walking the World, p. 19.

[everydaydhamma]

I am often asked when talking about racism in Buddhist circles to be specific, give examples. In part, this longing emerges from the reluctance of white people in power to accept, and see clearly by opening their eyes, that white supremacy informs the shaping of Buddhist communities, individual interactions, publications, etc. That reluctance can only be transformed in spiritual practice, not by proof. There is never enough proof.

bell hooks, "Waking up to Racism"

[emilyanneblogs]

[zenmister]

The Power of Observation

To create change in your life and in the world, the first thing to do is to observe where you are.  Merely by observing something, you change that thing. That is not so obvious with something like a table, or a star in the sky, but in your life, it is easy to observe.

Observe your breath. Watch your inhale and exhale. Try not to affect your breath as you observe it. Try to watch it without changing it. Impossible. The same is true of your thoughts.  If you consciously observe your own thinking, your thinking will change.  Try not to control your thinking, or judge your thinking, just observe your thoughts and see how their patterns change.

It is difficult to observe your thoughts without judging them.  Most thoughts are followed by a judgement, good, bad, true, false, strange.  These judgements are also thoughts to be observed.  As you observe your thoughts, you will notice habits and patterns in your thinking. Because you observe them, those patterns will change.

It is impossible to observe without interfering. If you try to observe things without interfering, you will notice things fall into harmony. See for yourself.

[rainbowtwo]

Question Everything

‘Practice makes extraordinary demands of us. It requires that we take nothing for granted, that we accept nothing on faith alone. If we practice with diligence and honesty, then we must question everything about ourselves; we must challenge our most basic beliefs and convictions, even those we may have about the dharma itself.’

- Larry Rosenberg, The Right to Ask Questions.

[rainbowtwo]

Vividly Alive

‘The basic point of mindfulness is to be completely, totally in touch with what happens in your body and the environment around you. You are not reduced to an inanimate clod of earth while you are meditating. You may feel your pulse or your heartbeat. You feel your breathing. You hear sounds and see sights. You feel vividly that you are alive.’

-Chogyam Trungpa, Mindfulness in Action: Making Friends with Yourself through Mediation and Everyday Awareness.

[stardust-seedling]

You deal with your shit in Zen by sitting with it. By breathing right into it. You don’t try and ignore it with pleasant thoughts or lofty ideas, and you don’t try and bury it with solutions. You deal with it, you work with it; one breath at a time. You hold it right there, in your breath. You don’t try and breathe it out; you don’t try and breathe it in. You keep it suspended in your diaphragm like a burning hot coin. Your problems won’t change; only you can change. That’s the point.

Steve Krieger (via stardust-seedling)

[pyotokroto]

The Buddah Head http://flic.kr/p/67gvfj

[rainbowtwo]

A Contemplation

‘I contemplated my greed for peace. And I did not seek tranquility anymore.’

- Ajahn Sumedho, Teachings of a Buddhist Monk.

[rainbowtwo]

Inner Wealth

‘When we’re in tune with our inner wealth - the qualities of compassion, contentment, patience, and so on - it’s endless, it’s timeless. Those are the qualities that we’re born with. Everybody. The whole process of meditation is all about trying to dig into the inner wealth, to access it.’

- Trinley Thaye Dorje, Diamond-like Resolve.

[purplebuddhaproject]

With intuitive wisdom we will be able to see clearly the ways of the world. Everything in the world is our teacher.

Ajahn Chah (via purplebuddhaproject)

[abiding-in-peace]

Awareness is your refuge: Awareness of the changingness of feelings, of attitudes, of moods, of material change and emotional change: Stay with that, because it’s a refuge that is indestructible. It’s not something that changes. It’s a refuge you can trust in. This refuge is not something that you create. It’s not a creation. It’s not an ideal. It’s very practical and very simple, but easily overlooked or not noticed. When you’re mindful, you’re beginning to notice, it’s like this.

Ajahn Sumedho (via abiding-in-peace)

[rainbowtwo]

Meditation: Returning Home to Ourselves

'Meditation is not what we think it is: it is not peacefulness or bliss or even a technique for insight or enlightenment. In its widest sense, meditation is an open and creative way of returning home to ourselves, a way in which the mystery that we actually are can have its full expression. meditation is not limited to a particular technique or posture; any open-ended spiritual or creative exercise can be a form of meditation.

Formal sitting meditation practice, as done in Zen or other schools of Buddhism (and in other traditions too), is a powerful way to foster this open, creative engagement with ourselves. In formal sitting practice we practice the journey of return in a literal way, returning awareness to the breath, to the body, to the present moment, when ever it strays away. Most simply understood, formal sitting meditation is the effort to return to the concrete feeling of being alive, a feeling that is always with us but that we almost never notice, so preoccupied are we with our problems and issues.

Meditation in general, and formal sitting meditation in particular, is radically simple. There’s almost nothing to it. Letting go, coming back - that’s all. The only difference between meditation and nonmeditation is that when we meditate we are not grasping anything or trying to do anything; instead, we are releasing ourselves to our lives, with trust that our lives are all we need. A monk once asked Zen Master Zhaozho what meditation is. “It is nonmeditation,” he answered, “How can meditation be nonmeditation?” the monk asked, “It’s alive!” was Zhaozho’s response.’

- Norman Fischer, Sailing Home: The Spiritual Journey as an Odyssey of Return.

[rainbowtwo]

'For some years before his enlightenment night, Buddha tried all sorts of extreme practices. He meditated on bliss, peace and happiness. When this did not produce the lasting change he sought, he meditated on spaciousness, consciousness, nothingness, and on a state called...