 Post |
Page number 5
Mettāsutta (Kp 9)
Alexander Hipple “Those who are skilled in the meaning of scriptureshould practice like this so as to realize the state of peace.Let them be able and upright, very upright,easy to speak to, gentle and humble; content and unburdensome,unbusied, living lightly,alert, with senses calmed,courteous, not fawning on families. Let them not do the slightest thingthat others might blame with reason.May they be happy and safe!May all beings be happy! Whatever living creatures there arewith not a one left out—frail or firm, long or large,medium, small, tiny or round, seen or unseen,living far or near,those who have been bornand those about to be born—may all beings be happy! Let none deceive another,nor look down on anyone anywhere.Though provoked or aggrieved,let them not wish pain on each other. Even as a mother would protect with her lifeher child, her only child,so too for all creaturesunfold a boundless heart. With love for the whole world,unfold a boundless heart:above, below, all round,unconstricted, without enemy or foe. When standing, walking, sitting,or lying down while yet unweary,keep this ever in mind;for this, they say, is a divine meditation in this life. Avoiding harmful views,virtuous, accomplished in insight,with desire for sensual pleasures dispelled,they never return to a womb again.” —Kp 9 EmailURLViews: 55
Check out the Dhamma Friends Discord
David James Bennison One of the benefits of Discord is that it allows there to be rooms where folks can join and voice chat. You don’t need to call anyone and it operates like a virtual space where members can join and talk about the dhamma. I have been hosting Saturday night sangha meetings and there are also several forms where people can post. One of my favorites is for sharing wholesome thoughts to help remember to gladden the mind. Here is a link to the Dhamma Friends discord if you are interested in an open space to share Dhamma. https://discord.gg/qQ2Mquk5dn EmailURLViews: 69
We can all be winners
Cathal Costello CostelloI learned something from a nun that i felt like sharing. I just stopped a moment and asked myself why does she always ask for me to give other people things she makes/cooks? I’m not even sure she thinks about the way i’ll explain but she always makes something and then asks someone to offer it, instead of offering it herself which is interesting because here in thailand merit and merit making is such a big deal that anyone will happily jump on the immediate opportunity to ‘gain merit’ and I was confused about her but eventually realized that for her, her generosity is that she gives other people the opportunity to practice generosity, she has also said she’d been in temples for 17 years so she probably picked up a few good things and that in itself showed me that giving others the opporunity to grow is such a big deal, so profound that it goes right into the fundamental design of the sangha relationship to the laypeople, it is entirely about support, about helping each other from the point we’re at, whereas in the west it’s about who can win, who can be the best and who can be perfect, and if that’s true then the dissatisfaction of not being good enough is going to affect us and everyone around us, instead of happily enjoying where we are at and happily practicing the good way. It seems when it comes to the Dhamma, it is impossible to teach in one sense, but it is possible to teach the intellectual stuff and give people an environment to realize it themselves. We can in many ways refine our behaviours to both completely benefit from each other instead of the western way that always someone will be a loser, why don’t we just all be winners? EmailURLViews: 49
Noble Conversation
BrettIn pursuit of more skillful speech, especially with teachers and members of the Sangha, yesterday I downloaded the freely available book Noble Conversation, by Ajahn Thanissaro. https://www.dhammatalks.org/ebook_index.html It’s amazing to have these free books available and I am very thankful to have found them at this time. On a 10 day retreat in 2013, I wasn’t really supposed to read books but one book that went with me was Right Mindfulness, by Ajahn Thanissaro (Thanissaro Bhikkhu at the time). It was worth taking with me. These books are distributed free of charge. EmailViews: 45
7 motivating tips for practitioners
PietroDN Be confident in your skills and abilities. They are the foundation of every situation and the most reliable tools you have to build, act, react, and create. Be unshakable in every situation. Be active. Don’t dwell on the circumstances or the odds of success. Just takethe first step and the path will reveal itself. If you want to change your life, you don’t have to settle for or trust external opinions. They are simply reflecting the reality of the present moment. Try it for yourself. If you keep affirming your reality and vision, things will change for the better, but you won’t have any confirmation. However, if you stop doing so, things will start to fall apart very quickly. You are the one who has to believe in yourself. If you fall, dust yourself off and start again. Learn meditation and how to breathe properly. Meditation can teach you how to control your thoughts and emotions. You must learn how to use your breath to control your inner state and make it wholesome at all times. Don’t try to understand reality. For the most part, inputs are just inputs that we can allow to pass through and not even register. See thoughts as thoughts, feelings as feelings, and sensations as sensations. See things for what they are, regardless of your habit of labeling them as something different than they actually are. EmailURLViews: 50
Mission statement – letter to Alex
PietroDNDear alex, today i had a beautiful and inspiring conversation with dhammarato with the purpose of clarifying the points about the mission statement for the OSF, in addition to the recordings that he will make available for transcription, i took some notes with what i regarded as important and could be helpful for the document. We started from the concept of triple gem, in which dhammarato said that the most important of the three is actually the sangha, that in fact had originated at the time of the Buddha, when bhikkhus started to get along in nobility and friendship with one another. The triple gem is in fact being friend on the inside, friend on the outside and so developing the qualities of the buddha. In fact we heard many times how buddhism and dharma is based upon friendship, noble friendship. So then we came to the mission itself, which is about networking for people who want to join or continue to stay on the path, facilitating them with some structure as a reference point and facilitating major life changes that many people are going through in their lives. In fact the OSF will reach: Monks (ajahn, – some names are in the recording) who already teach the noble dharma to add sangha to their teaching equation. Affirmed western teacher to bring in the dana orientation But also: aspiring teachers or teachers that want to get established, so that they can find a context of support and reference point trough “eastern oriented” existing buddhist structures The idea is to remove the exchange of money But also: people who want to go to asia, to give them support finding facilities, friends, monks, noble monks and learn from the asian perspective. But also: people who just google dharma Then we went again through the importance of friendship on how the OSF will bring together different buddhist traditions and people will have the possibility to get along for similarities rather than arguing on the differences, accumulated by the movement of change that is going through their lives. Here some other features of the website: website meetings, groups, spread the dharma, contact teachers, meet and greet—meet friends and stay. western community. website helping people find temples, clubs, organizations near them and map it. profile of volunteers with bio. donation Here some values: Morality (came after wisdom) Joy, friendship To say that the community is already forming, and this website will facilitate. In the end, personally I would say that this is the opportunity for people to jump, or follow the stream. change ther lives, let go of their job and the bank account and jump right in completely. Dhammarato picks up new people, but there will come a point when he will not have the power to help us further, and so the network will be of primary importance. again for this reason is a pleasure for me to help build and develop the sangha. HAVE A GREAT DAY, SEE YOU SOON FRIEND! EmailURLViews: 49
Join the discord!
Cathal Costello Costello Join the discord to chat with other people on the path, ask questions and get answers; https://discord.gg/8ZZC7gyrYB EmailURLViews: 32
First jhana is all you need
PietroDN And so now i Wake up, take a look, make a change. I stop right here, right now, whatever thing i am doing, i can remember to consciously stop and see: what is happening right now? How do i feel? Which thoughts am i having? And then enter the doors of the senses, how do my clothes feel on my skin ? And the feet on the floor? The butt on the chair? Can I take some deep breaths and remind myself how much I can feel good with very little, because I believe that is enough, that I have arrived, that there is nothing to do and nowhere to go? I can be alive here and now, i let the chest expand with inhalation and going back with exhalation, such a gift that It is! Feeling safe, secure, wholesome on the inside , and satisfied. Then first jhana arises, I come to the state of the plateau, my homebase, the always on time train of the present moment. And I let go of the worries, the neediness, the complaining,and the wanting for something more , for something next. Here the fire of the wholesome has started, from a little sparkle of intention, now the logs are on fire and it warms me up, what a joy to nourish it and keep it alive! I will abide in the wholesome, I will get to know my mind and its mysteries because from here everything looks more clear and the clouds of doubt are far away , blown by the winds of conscious decision. Right effort and awesome thoughts in line, born one after another, from the womb of nourishment and awareness of my sweetest behalf, the one i call when i need to come to understand that this moment is all i have and i will be relaxed and chilled, swimming in an ocean of wholesomeness. My safe environment is a state of mind that doesn’t need boundaries to be protected, that I don’t have to put a guard on it and that I don’t have to defend my security. Is an expanded light of softness that embraces all there is right here right now. Such a delight to abide in first jhana Such a delight to be here and now In noble wisdom I trust, and I let myself flow in the stream of the never ending present moment. EmailURLViews: 41
A-Buddhist-Charter-Buddhadasa
https://opensanghafoundation.org/ [pdfjs-viewer url=”https://opensanghafoundation.org/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/A-Buddhist-Charter-Buddhadasa.pdf” attachment_id=”7993″ viewer_width=100% viewer_height=800px fullscreen=true download=true print=true] EmailURLViews: 74
Call the Buddha
Cathal Costello Costello The Buddhas phone number . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlCrpgpoBsM&t=674s 875444 8 fold noble path 7 factors of enlight 5 Powers 5 faculties 4 foundations of mindfulness 4 basis of psychic power 4 right efforts EmailURLViews: 39
palichanting
[pdfjs-viewer url=”https://opensanghafoundation.org/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/palichanting_urw_csx_short.pdf” attachment_id=”8007″ viewer_width=100% viewer_height=800px fullscreen=true download=true print=true] Views: 75
Benefits of giving
style=”font-family: Arial;”> https://opensanghafoundation.org/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/AN.5-35%20D%C4%81n%C4%81nisa%E1%B9%81sasutta%20The%20Benefits%20of%20Giving.txt Views: 34
Teacher Training
[pdfjs-viewer url=”https://opensanghafoundation.org/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Teachers Training.pdf” attachment_id=”663″ viewer_width=100% viewer_height=800px fullscreen=true download=true print=true] Views: 39
Only One Buddhism
ONLY ONE BUDDHISM We are all One Mahayana, Western Buddhism and Theravada and all the Buddhisms all have the same taist, the taist of freedom. Buddhism really has no variety, It’s all about stop hurting style=”font-family: Arial;”> One buddhism Views: 32
A Short Visit to Sunyata
A Short Visit to Sunyata Sunyata – a small forest thai wat in Sixmilebridge, Co. Clare, Ireland – by Cathal I came to Sunyata for 5 days (1/12/2022-5/12/2022) and I was very impressed by how such a small monastery can have such a big impact. The schedule ran like the other wats in this forest thai tradition (with Ajahn Chah) such as Chithurst, Amavarati – there was about 3 hours work to be done the entire day with everything being ran off of dāna, breakfast, lunch, tea and the two daily hour pujas I attended. In the barren countryside of Ireland it’s very personal experience in polarity to the busyness of other wats, there was 3 other guys in the entire place so I was left alone for most of the day to the chatters of my mind, which proved to be a new experience and a very insightful to see my mind in such social seclusion. There was no monastics about although recently Ajahn Succito resided a while for a self- retreat, there are generally lay visitors coming and going and a couple dedicated long-term laypeople who stick around who worked quite a bit to maintain the place and keep up the handling of retreats and so on. It still somehow felt like a Sangha with those guys, we openly could talk and relate to each other on many levels of personal experience in life and our experiences in meditation, it felt really nice to be able to find a place in my home country who practiced, sharing connections and places to meet Sangha is pretty solid. The place itself is really very simple and after roaming around it is easy to tell they’ve spent a lot of time cultivating a very aesthetically beautiful place with a bit of land for herbs and vegetables, you have your room in a dormitory (although the entire dorm will likely be your room if you’re not in some retreat/event) and do whatever you want. There are free books to read if you like and a comfortable hall to sit in during the common showery cold Irish days and the only thing you’ll be disturbed by is a dog and a few cats. There is literally nothing to do and nowhere to go. (welcome to anapanasati) After the morning reflection, work begins, you will be likely off to do your own task and it is very nice to practice working meditation as that is something quite mentioned in this tradition, to approach absolutely everything with mindfulness even the most mundane of things. (where I saw my mind prefers to be the most active). It is good to bring any kind of dāna you can whether that be some groceries from the nearby town of Sixmilebridge or donations, this is a very small place and generally they have to do their own shopping from retreat donations, but don’t worry if you can’t because there is plenty of food to go around. Being no monastics has its downside of not being able to talk about your practice or observe long-term practitioners who can make great friends or teachers, so I suggest if you are a point you’d like a self- retreat this is definitely a good place to go or to join during some kind of retreat where you’ll be amongst more people, or to be in contact with the lay-manager as to when monastics are coming and going. I’ll absolutely be back and for anyone in Ireland this is certainly a place you’ll be glad to be able to visit often. Views: 40
Views: 231
