Cattāri Brahmavihārā

Posted by: Michael | 08/04/2015

Unsettled

Tonight we fly to Costa Rica for bacon and, as usual on the eve of such trips, my anxiety level is higher than normal. There is, of course, the ever present fear of flying but it is the attachment I have to the business, to making sure everything is under control, that produces the most upset.

Fortunately, my base level fear of flying can be por to good use because it provides the necessary affective accompaniment to recollection of death: when the moment is upon me how ready will I be to get go off my job, my family and my identity? Like it or not, all of these things will pass away and by reflecting on this we can at least gain the correct perspective.

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Posted in Anicca, Buddha, Buddhism, Dhamma, Theravada | Tags: death, impermanence, la morte

Posted by: Michael | 08/03/2015

What Justice?

Whether it’s the news of another atrocity perpetrated by a police officer on someone in their custody or the apparent disregard of the person who has manipulated and used those for whom I care, I find I am overwhelmed by a sense of the iniquity and a desire to see justice done. And what do I get in return for my ostensible concern for others and my desire to see the accused punished? A sullied mind, a blackened heart and the kamma that goes along with them.

It seems to me that the right question to ask here is not where this need for fairness confess from but where it will lead me. Rather than working to ensure that the world operates by my own sense of justice, can I have more faith in the law of kamma? Can I work to help the victims and let the aggressors (real or imagined) deal worth their own kamma? To me, this is what is meant by equanimity and it is something that I need to pay all the more attention to.

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Posted in Buddha, Buddhism, Daily Practice, Dhamma, Theravada, Upekkha | Tags: equanimity, fairness, injustice, manipulation

Posted by: Michael | 08/01/2015

A Strange Inversion

Today, as I ran my errands I was on the lookout for a victim. I scanned the usual places: the corner of 14th St and 1st Ave, all along 14th St to Broadway, even down on St. Mark’s and Astor place all to no avail. Strangely, on a beautiful day like today all I saw were well-to-do tourists and NYU students. Now, that in itself should be a cause for mudita to arise and, if I were slightly more mindful during my walk, I might have remembered that but I was on a mission to find someone to impose my charity upon.

It is a strange inversion to suddenly find oneself seeking the company of the homeless and destitute and finding a sudden warmth in one’s heart just thinking about them but there it is. I am kind of uncomfortable, even now, sharing this as it seems almost too self-congratulatory but the joy I felt when realizing that I didn’t have to find the most obvious of mercy cases to whom to give convinced me that sharing would be appropriate.

So, there I was, still in search of someone to whom to give when an older gentleman offered me a card to some new restaurant or something. I politely declined but then it struck me: here is a man in his fiftie, standing in the hot sun and giving out promo cards all day long. I looked and saw he nothing to drink and surely he couldn’t go get anything himself. So, that settled it: I walked into a store and bought him a bottle of water. His acceptance of the gift was well-worth it and he gave me an even greater gift in return by showing me that I need not limit my generosity to only the “worst cases” I find. May he be well, happy and peaceful! Sukhitaa hontu!

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Posted in Buddha, Dana, Dhamma, Theravada | Tags: abhaya-cariya, Buddha, Buddhism, dana, Dhamma, Theravada

Posted by: Michael | 08/01/2015

Nary a Moment’s Health

212. Nakulapita said to the Lord: “Lord, I am a broken down old man, aged; I have reached the end of my years. Rarely am I able to see the Lord and the monks so worthy of respect. Therefore, let the Lord cheer and comfort me so that it will be to my welfare and happiness for a long time.”
“It is true, householder; what you say is true. For one carrying about the body, to claim even a moment’s health would be foolishness. Therefore, you should train yourself, thinking: ‘Though
my body be sick, my mind shall not be sick.’ This is how you should train yourself.”

Samyutta Nikaya III.2

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Posted in Buddha, Buddha Vacana, Buddhism, Dhamma, Theravada | Tags: aging, death, sickness

Posted by: Michael | 07/30/2015

Understanding the Teachings

211. Those who take a discourse rightly, conforming to both the letter and the spirit, they are responsible for the good and the welfare of many, for the good, the welfare and the happiness of gods and men. Moreover, they create great good and help establish the Dhamma.

Anguttara Nikaya I.69

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An issue has arisen quite suddenly that had caused one of my longtime acquaintances in the Dhamma to separate from the community which he helped found. Although the reasons for this are not entirely clear to me I believe it has much to do with being attached to certain viewpoints or perspectives on the Dhamma. Sadly, or is a phenomenon I have seen time and again and to which none of its are immune.

I have parted ways with groups and teachers based on my own understandings of the Teachings only to later cone to the opinion that, even if I still don’t agree with their views, I yet want to maintain the friendship and fellowship of people dedicated to the Dhamma. So, I have somewhat softened over the years and have learned that the skills I learned in college as a philosophy major should be checked at the door of the Dhamma if I hope to make real progress along the path.

What do I mean? Simply that if my thinking is imbued with greed and hatred then it doesn’t matter how high or lofty my understanding of the Dhamma may seem because I am still missing the point. Throughout my days at university I embodied a certain academic arrogance and perpetrate acts of intellectual violence in my peers and professors whenever I could. Shamefully, I was most often motivated by a desire to be right and prove others wrong rather than pursuing a truth that I did not believe existed. I am forever grateful to the Tisarana for saving me from myself and wish the best to all of us caught in a thicket of views.

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Posted in Buddha, Buddha Vacana, Buddhism, Dhamma, Theravada | Tags: conflict, parting ways, schism, views

Posted by: Michael | 07/29/2015

I Should Know Better

I know how highly the Blessed One praised giving so why is it that I find my heart closing and contracting the moment I have allowed my mindfulness to lapse? If it were a matter of faith I could understand my deeply conditioned reticence to give bit I know from firsthand experience the joy that heartfelt giving produces. In short, I really should know better.

Watching the movements of the heart and the flickerings of thought this morning as I walked to the train I saw that one of the major hindrances to giving was the fear of interacting with the sleeping homeless (really, it is the fearof interacting with anyone). Along with this was my equally strong aversion towards their physical appearance and, the final stumbling block I was able to see in the heart was my own greed. This last hindrance was not, however, the greed that clenches the fist around one’s wallet but rather a miserliness with one’s time. I knew I had to get to work so I just didn’t have time to offer food or drink to someone who has gone without for who knows how many hours. Sad to say but it sounds pretty petty when I see it in black and white.

As a result I would like to make an aditthana to offer food or drink to someone at least once a day for the next 30 days. Obviously they don’t have to accept but I do want to train myself in real generosity and wear away at the conditioning of lifetimes that prevents me from practicing dana parami.

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Posted in Aditthana, Buddha, Buddhism, Dana, Dhamma, Parami, Theravada | Tags: caridad, carità, charity, generosidad, generosità, generosity, training

Posted by: Michael | 07/28/2015

Simplicity

209. Let one control speech and mind
And do no wrong deed with the body.
If the home is well stocked with goods,
Let one have faith, be gentle.
Share his goods with others and speak kindly.

Samyutta Nikaya I.42

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Posted in Buddha, Buddha Vacana, Buddhism, Dhamma, Theravada | Tags: amabilidad, amicizia, gentileza, gentilezza, gentleness, kindness, sharing

Posted by: Michael | 07/27/2015

Daily Suffering

I had intended to post about something altogether different than what I now find myself writing but I suppose that really is exactly as it should be. I am beginning to a new dietary schedule inspired by a conversation with a kalyanamitta who recounted his own mother’s practice of not eating after six pm. Because I have been wanting to practice more restraint around eating for both my own physical and spiritual health it seemed to me that eating only between the hours of 9am and 5pm was a sensible alternative to attempting to keep to the monastic rule of not eating after noon.

But, I have digressed; my reason for bringing up my new practice was simply to say that I may be a little more sensitive and people than I normally would when fortified with a full stomach. As a result, upon seeing a young man sitting in a half empty and dirty Dunkin Donuts listlessly typing away on his MacBook I was immediately struck by what I perceived to be the intense suffering of his situation. As is clear to me on writing this, my intuition of the situation is not supported by the facts of perception but, for a moment at least, I felt a true and painful connection that servedtocommunicate his desperation and pain. Then again, this could have all been in mind and had no relationship to the man’s interior reality.

The next person for whom I felt an deep and mysterious sympathy was a young, twenty-something professional in a suit and tie worth a pair of iPhone ear buds walking confidently to his train. I can’t explain what it was about him that elicited my feelings of compassion but I got the feeling that he had a stressful job where he was rarely appreciated despite doing his best to succeed (I mean or was 5:45 am and he was already on his way to work). I know that I’m not articulating myself quite as well as I’d like and perhaps it isn’t possible to convey the meaning of stock intimations in words but I would hope that these two glimpsed into the daily sufferings of strangers would serve to open my heart just a little more today and all the rest that follow.

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Posted in Buddha, Buddhism, Dhamma, Dukkha, Theravada | Tags: daily suffering, sofferenza quotidiana, sufrimiento cotidiano

Posted by: Michael | 07/25/2015

Failing Well

This morning, as I was dribbling my morning coffee and checking my work emails, I thought that it might be nice to listen to a Dhamma talk as well. I happened upon a good talk by Ajahn Amaro in which he touched on the idea of learning how to fail well. Speaking to this, he got upon the very real obsession that many of us have with succeeding and being the “best” at whatever we do. And, although the Venerable seemed to think this was a particularly American trait, I think anyone can identify with the feeling of not being good enough. I know that I, personally, have been afflicted with this obsession and have suffered dearly for it. But, what does it mean to fail well?

For me, the idea of learning to fail has everything to do with not giving up and succumbing to negativity when we don’t immediately succeed or when we fail unexpectedly at something we have been working towards. in this case of precepts and practices, I find I take failures exceptionally hard and it is here that I need to learn to accept my shortcomings, learn from them and then move on rather than wallowing in self reproach.

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Posted in Buddha, Buddhism, Dhamma, Theravada | Tags: failing, failure, remorse, reproach

Posted by: Michael | 07/25/2015

Lest We Forget

205. These five things should often be contemplated by both women and men, by both householder and home leaver. What five?
“(1) Old age can come to me; I have not got beyond old age.
(2) Sickness can come to me: I have not got beyond sickness.
(3) Death can come to me; I have not got beyond death.
(4) I must be separated and parted from all that is dear and beloved to me.
(5) I am the result of my own deeds, the heir to deeds – deeds are the source, the kin and the foundation.
Whatever deed I do, whether good or bad, I shall become heir to that.”

These five things should often be contemplated by both women and men, by both householder and home-leaver.

Anguttara Nikaya III.71

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Posted in Buddha, Buddha Vacana, Buddhism, Dhamma, Theravada | Tags: Five Subjects for Frequent Recollection