December Dhamma sharing Greetings and good wishes for the New Year |
|
|
Dear Friend, I hope you are well, happy and peaceful. The festive season can be joyful, or it can be lonely and sad. We know that it may be a time of counting the blessings, warm and safe and surrounded by family and friends for many, while for others right now it is a time of great suffering, trauma and loss. However it is for you, may the goodwill of this holiday manifest all around you and within you. May we continue to develop tender hearts of compassion for the suffering in the world, rejoice in the goodness that is apparent and maintain loving kindness and peace as wise response to every situation. |
|
|
In this time of the returning of the light, may the light of wisdom illuminate us like the sun, shining in a clear winter sky, piercing the fog and making the way clear. |
|
|
The New Year is an excellent time for reflection and for refining intentions going forward. With intentional harm and destruction happening in the human world around us, can we learn each day from the Buddha's timeless teachings on conflict and its causes? How we can enable peace and well being? |
|
|
Excerpts from Cūḷa Assapura Sutta, Majjhima Nikaya 40 There are some who have not given up covetousness, ill will, irritability, hostility, disdain, contempt, jealousy, stinginess, deviousness, deceit, corrupt wishes and wrong view. These stains, defects, and dregs are grounds for rebirth in places of loss, and are experienced in bad places. As long as they have not given these up, they do not practise in the way that is proper . . . Such a person may be compared to a kind of knife called ‘dead-born’ double-edged whetted with yellow arsenic that has been covered and wrapped in a patchwork cloth. And there are some who have given up covetousness, ill will, irritability, hostility, disdain, contempt, jealousy, stinginess, deviousness, deceit, corrupt wishes and wrong view . . . When they have given these up, they are practising in the way that is proper I say. They see themselves purified from all these bad, unskilful qualities. Seeing this, joy springs up. Being joyful, rapture springs up. When the mind is full of rapture, the body becomes tranquil. When the body is tranquil, they feel bliss. And when blissful, the mind becomes immersed in stillness. They meditate spreading a heart full of love, of compassion, of gladness and of equanimity in all directions - to the north, the south the east and the west - above, below, across, around and everywhere - they spread a heart full of love to the whole world - abundant, expansive, limitless, free of enmity and ill will. Suppose there was a lotus pond with clear, sweet, cool water, clean with smooth banks delightful. Then along comes a person whether from the east, west, north, or south struggling in the oppressive heat weary, thirsty, and parched. No matter what direction they come from, when they arrive at that lotus pond they would alleviate their thirst and heat exhaustion. |
|
|
What friends is Right Intention? The intention of renunciation intention of non-ill will and intention of non-cruelty This is Right Intention |
|
|
Dhamma talk - Bringing Peace, Avoiding Conflict |
|
|
" . . . So this mindfulness, this meditation, is really a continuous practice for us through our lives. Every time we react to anything, boom! - OK, what's going on? What's going on? How can I attend to this? And to attend to it is to attend with kindness. You know? Oh there's suffering, ohh, suffering. Let me see if I can really bear witness to this . . . What do I feel? What is being felt? What's happening? Just breathing it in, breathing it out and just observing the pain and suffering, the disquiet, the dis-ease . . . And then it has a chance to disentangle itself and come to peace. It will pass away, in short. Anything that arises passes. And if we are able to lend our attention to that process then we can really witness that fully. And see the end of suffering. See the end of suffering here, and then we can extend that to the world around us . . ." |
|
|
Excerpts from Sāmagāmasutta Majjhima Nikaya 104 There are these six roots of disputes What six? 1. Irritability and hostility 2. offensiveness and contempt 3. jealousy and stinginess 4. deviousness and deceit 5. corrupt wishes and wrong view 6. attachment to views, holding them tight, and refusing to let them go Such qualities lead to a lack of respect and reverence for others They create disputes which are for the hurt and unhappiness of people, for the harm, hurt, and suffering of gods and humans If you see any of these roots of disputes in yourselves or others, you should try to give up these bad things If you don’t see them, you should practice so that they don’t come up in the future |
|
|
And there are six warm-hearted qualities that make for fondness and respect, conducing to inclusion, harmony, and unity, without quarrelling What six? 1. One consistently treats others with bodily kindness, both in public and in private 2. One consistently treats others with verbal kindness, publicly and privately 3. One consistently treats others with mental kindness, publicly and privately 4. One shares without reservation any material possessions gained by legitimate means, even the food one is about to eat - using them in common with others 5. One lives according to moral precepts . . . refraining from harm, from theft, from lying and from intoxicants . . . both in public and in private. These precepts are unbroken, impeccable, spotless, and unmarred. They are liberating, praised by sensible people, not mistaken, and they lead to peace 6. One lives according to the view that is noble and emancipating, and delivers one who practises it to the complete ending of suffering These six warm-hearted qualities make for fondness and respect conducing to inclusion, harmony, and unity without quarrelling, attachment to views holding them tight, and refusing to let them go |
|
|
On a personal note . . . Earlier this month I had the opportunity, thanks to the generosity of Beatenberg meditation centre, to attend a Dhamma teachers' gathering there in Switzerland. It was a rich time of sharing and support. I came away grateful for the wider European Buddhist community. The first two days we had dark skies and heavy snow, the first of the season. The sun came out on our last full day together and we ventured forth to walk single file through the two feet of sparkling sublime whiteness in a pristine landscape under a deep blue sky. Joy! Here are some photos of our precious few days together. |
|
|
May all beings be peaceful, happy and well May all beings be safe May all beings be free from suffering |
|
|
|
|
