dhammadasa
Views: 12
dhammadasa
Views: 22
dhammadasa
Views: 5
dhammadasa
All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone." Blaise Pascal "Another student once told me that he can accept that life and death are happening in each moment of our daily life. that life and death inter-are. but he wondered whether it is possible for us to continue after our body disintegrates. He asked, 'How can the brain imagine after it disintegrates, and, therefore, how can we conceive of a continuation?' If you look deeply in the present moment, you can see. Each of my students carries me within himself or herself. Right now in the city of Moscow, someone is breathing and smiling. That is me." Thich Nhat Hahn "If you know the characteristics of what is skillful and unskillful in physical and verbal behavior, you already see where to practice in order to give up what is unskillful and do what is good. When you give up wrong and set yourself right, the mind becomes firm, unswerving, concentrated. This concentration limits wavering and doubt as to body and speech. With the mind collected, when forms or sounds come, you can contemplate and see them clearly. By not letting your mind wander, you will see the nature of all experiences according to the truth. When this knowledge is continuous, wisdom arises. Virtue, concentration, and wisdom, then, can be taken together as one. When they mature, they become synonymous—that is the Noble Path. When greed, hatred, and delusion arise, only this Noble Path is capable of destroying them." Achaan Chah "Many people have misunderstood this point, believing that the Buddha's teachings on non-attachment require that one relinquish one’s attachment to the path of practice as quickly as possible. Actually, to make a show of abandoning the path before it is fully developed is to abort the entire practice. As one teacher has put it, a person climbing up to a roof by means of a ladder can let go of the ladder only when safely on the roof. In terms of the famous raft simile [§§113-114], one abandons the raft only after crossing the flood. If one were to abandon it in mid-flood, to make a show of going spontaneously with the flow of the flood’s many currents, one could drown." Thanissaro Bhikku "Only when we look dispassionately can we begin to see." Thich Nhat Hahn "Our problems today are no longer as simple as those encountered by the Buddha. In the twenty-first century, we will have to practice meditation collectively — as a family, a city, a nation, and a community of nations. The Buddha of the twenty-first century — Maitreya, the Buddha of Love — may well be a community rather than an individual. Sanghas that practice loving kindness and compassion are the Buddha we need. We can prepare the ground for bringing that Buddha to life, for our sake and for the sake of countless others, by transforming our own suffering and cultivating the art of Sangha-building. It is the most important work we can do." Thich Nhat Hahn "[Buddhanussati] Recollection of the Buddha This fine report of the Blessed One's reputation has spread far & wide: He is a Blessed One a Worthy One a Rightly Self awakened One consummate in knowledge & conduct one who has gone the good way knower of the cosmos unexcelled trainer of those who can be taught teacher of human & divine beings; awakened; blessed" Source: The Complete Book of Pâli Chanting "Samsara and suchness are not different. They have the same ground. The wave does not have to do anything to become water. It is already water. It has had nirvana in it for a long time. Just like the water, you don’t have to look for nirvana. When you are able to see through the eyes of interbeing and interdependence, you touch the nature of nirvana within yourself." Thich Nhat Hahn "So this is what you think of me: “The Blessed One, sympathetic, seeking our well-being, teaches the Dhamma out of sympathy.” Then you should train yourselves—harmoniously, cordially, and without dispute—in the qualities I have pointed out, having known them directly: the four frames of reference, the four right exertions, the four bases of power, the five faculties, the five strengths, the seven factors for Awakening, the noble eightfold path." MN 103 "The Buddha is recorded as saying that anyone who gets rid of tanhā (ignorant desire) is someone who eats time. Usually it's time that devours; it devours people and all other living things. Would anyone who puts an end to desire, that one turns around and eats time, which means that time becomes a small matter, something to smile at, an inconsequential matter that can't eat or bite us." Ajahn Buddhadasa Bhikku
Views: 5
dhammadasa
Dana Teachers listed with the Open Sangha Foundation as individual instruction do not charge students fixed amounts but rather accept donations from them. This means that students can contribute what they are able to based on their circumstances. This is dana in action. Dana, which translates as ‘sharing’ or ‘generosity’ in English, is an important and rich concept across the Buddhist traditions, not least in how it relates to the teaching and learning of the Dharma. From the time of the Buddha to the present day, monastic sanghas do not charge for access to the teachings. Instead teachings are offered as a gift, as dana, with an open and compassionate heart to those that seek them. In response to this priceless gift, people in turn have supported their teachers, out of generosity, out of dana, and from a place of responsibility and so ensured that their teachers can continue to share the practices and teachings. Traditionally, this would take the form of offering food, clothing or medicine to the monks and nuns. While this traditional paradigm is still the norm in most heritage Buddhist cultures and communities, it is an aspect of the teachings that has been neglected by some as Buddhism has spread globally in the 20th and 21st centuries. Instead the Buddhadharma is often taught and learnt in something more akin to a capitalistic paradigm. This paradigm creates barriers to the Dharma, limiting who can access it, and alters the nature of the transmission in a potentially problematic way. In the Open Sangha Foundation we are encouraging and supporting teachers to teach within a traditional dana based context to whatever extent they feel moved and able to. For this model to flourish outside of heritage Buddhist cultures though both teachers and students of the Buddhadharma need to train in and trust in each others’ generosity. This acting from generosity then has the potential to form an integral part of our Dharma practice, as teachers and students, and allows us to divest ourselves from modern naratives of separation and take on greater responsibility in our relationships and in our lives. https://youtu.be/kQvlHo9aYQY
Views: 1
dhammadasa
Views: 41
dhammadasa
Views: 49
Dhamma Dasa
Views: 43
Dhamma Dasa
Views: 44