Cattāri Brahmavihārā

Posted by: Michael | 10/25/2013

Prayer and Well-wishing

I was listening to something today and happened to hear someone talking about the benefits of prayer for people convalescing or undergoing surgery. I seem to recall that this is a hotly contested idea but for whatever reason my interest was piqued because the mind made an instant association with the impact of metta upon others. As I pondered it on my way to the train I tried to thinnk of specific occurrences in the Canon where the Lord Buddha spoke about the effects of metta on other beings but, aside from the Discourse on the Benefits of Metta, the only thing that came to mind was the encounter with the bull-elephant Nalagiri. As inspiring as it is it still wasn’t quite what I was looking for but what has continued to hold my interest is the idea of praying for others’ well-being, praying that they be free of suffering, etc.

How, really, is this so different from radiating loving kindness? I am interested to explore this idea of metta pervasion qua a form of prayer especially as it can help me to open my mind and heart to others who are trying to practice a life of harmlessness and purity within their own (largely theistic) traditions. May all beings be free of suffering and the causes of suffering.

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Posted in Dhamma | Tags: metta, prayer, well-wishing

Posted by: Michael | 10/24/2013

May I Be Unmoved by Gain and Loss

I have been noticing just how easily I am dragged about by the nose when it comes to my work. Day in and day out I have been as if chained to the ups and downs of the day:How much did we earn? How far behind are we? It has truly become unbearable. Luckily for me, however, the Dhamma is still here and I have the good fortune to have enough confidence in it to turn to it for help.

Upekkha. A perfection, the highest of the brahmaviharas but also a much needed attitude when dealing with the vicissitudes of life. I never thought of myself as overly preoccupied with money but, without quite realizing, I became the person I vilified as a teenager and young adult. Sure, it is fear not greed that motivates me butdoes that really matter? I don’t know but what is certain is that I only cause myself more suffering by making myself dependent on such things for my happiness.

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Posted in Buddha, Buddhism, Daily Practice, Dhamma, Dukkha, Theravada, Upekkha | Tags: Dhamma, equanimity, upekkha

Posted by: Michael | 10/23/2013

A Question of Fatigue

Last night and today I have been plagued by a sense of fatigue that I have used to justify a slackness in my practice. Phenomenologically speaking, it matters not whether my lack of energy is largely physiological because my approach to it should be fundamentally the same. My question is this: even when tired and low on energy should I force myself to do formal mediation? Is there enough benefit that it outweighs the potential harm? I think I will take this question with me throughout the day and see what comes up.

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Posted in Buddha, Buddhism, Daily Practice, Dhamma, Gratitude, Theravada | Tags: fatigue, sloth and torpor, tiredness

Posted by: Michael | 10/21/2013

Maturing Practice

Lately it seems to me that I am having a much easier time improvising with my practice than in the past. I don’t know if this is evidence of a process of maturation or simply another momentary delusion as I stumble about in the dark trying to make my way towards Nibbana but it is certainly the case. I believe this largely has do to with a better understanding of the lim?its of practicing by rote and the need to be clear about one’s intentions and expectations whenever starting a period of meditation. Actually focusing on my intentions with the practice has renewed my interest and opened new doors and avenues for development.

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Posted in Buddha, Buddhism, Daily Practice, Dhamma, Formal Meditation, Practice at Work, Theravada | Tags: maturation, practice

Posted by: Michael | 10/20/2013

The Four Immeasurables

Yesterday’s episode has had me thinking about which practices might be the most effective to help me to work with these deeply rooted defilements. It almost seems like my practice lies incribed along the path of a pendulum’s swing going from more explicity breath-centered to brahma vihara practices. And it seems that when my heart tells me that more kindness and compassion is needed I often go looking to Mahayana practices for inspiration. And, this time at least, I found some good recommendations for practice from a Gelug monk here in NYC named Ven. Phuntsok.

In short, part of the way he describes the practice of metta is that we actually need to engage the beings in our lives in a true spirit of love and concern. In other words, we don’t simply try to maintain a general sense of loving-friendliness in our hearts passively but we actively wish them well by imagining what we might do in the moment to bring them happiness. Maybe it shouldn’t seem so revolutionary to me and I should have been doing it all along but it never occurred to me. Practicing with it for less than a day has been difficult as I come up against my against my own laziness and resentment but it’s precisely what I need to be doing.

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Posted in Buddha, Buddhism, Daily Practice, Dhamma, Formal Meditation, Gratitude, Metta, Theravada | Tags: brahma viharas, daily life, Gelug, metta

Posted by: Michael | 10/19/2013

Snapped – Happy Uposatha

Today is Pavarana Day, the end of the Vassa or Rains Retreat for the bhikkhu and bhikkhuni Sangha so it is a special day indeed. Unfortunately for me, I feel as if I have not been up to the task of overcoming the defilements and have let anger win the day. So, after a long morning and afternoon out with the kids at soccer, ballet and then a Fall Festival at my son’s school we were waiting on the the platform for the N train back to Manhattan (don’t ask me why everything we do is in Brooklyn and yet we insist on living in Manhattan). My daughter has a little freak out about her brother stealing her water bottle which soon ends but we then hear three girls or young women either in their late teen or early twenties saying (purposefully loudly how the would slap the sh*t out of their kid if they acted in a similar way.

Now, at first I was going to let it roll off but my wife asked me just what exactly they said. I tried to pass it off by saying nonchalantly that they were just kids themselves with no idea of what child-rearing is but she continued to engage me and smile aggressively at them. The girls kept talking and at some point I snapped. I lost it. I retorted loudly something to the effect of”You know what’s rude? You know what bad manners are? You are perfect examples of bad manners and rudeness?” Although I never let an obscenity cross my lips I was aflame with anger. Both they and my defilements had won.

Thinking about it now it’s obvious they wanted something to happen and I gave it to them along with my peace of mind. The question really is what is my practice worth if it can’t deal with these kinds of assaults? Obviously, not much. If anything what it shows me is that I still have much to learn and that I need badly to reign in this mind and tame it.

Sabbath, Shabbat, Sabbat, Uposatha (teachingresearcher.wordpress.com)
The Importance of Sangha. ~ Barry H. Gillespie (elephantjournal.com)
Reincarnation Through Common Sense -The Book (omtimes.com)

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Posted in Buddha, Buddhism, Daily Practice, Dhamma, Dukkha, Forgiveness, Parenting, Theravada, Uposatha | Tags: Art, brooklyn, Brooklyn Bridge, Dharma, manhattan, Sangha, United States, uposatha, Vassa

Posted by: Michael | 10/18/2013

Certainty

Walking through Union Square Station, mired in frustration, fear and aversion the thought occurred to me: if nothing else it is certain that you will die. If business goes well I will die. If business goes poorly I will still die. Having done what is within my power to care for and support my wife and children what more can be done? My only legacy and all that I can take with me is my kamma so why do forget so easily?

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Posted in Buddha, Buddhism, Dhamma, Maranasati, Restlessness and Remorse, Theravada | Tags: certainty, death, kamma

Posted by: Michael | 10/17/2013

Leaving Work

Working for myself has given me a number of freedoms and advantages I would not ever have had otherwise but it has brought with it a number of challenges as well. Because much of my job is related to marketing there is no real way for me to set daily goals. As such, I often find myself wondering if have done enough during the course of a day and often use sheer exhaustion as my only gauge. Basically I work until I can work no more or external circumstances compel me to put it down. Healthy? Well, it certainly doesn’t feel like it is.

As I left the house and walked to catch the bus to the train to BK to pick up my son I realized that although my body had quit working my mind had not yet let go. It is a strange phenomenon and, despite having been plagued by it for years, I don’t believe I ever took a step back and saw it objectively until now. I almost feel like I need to make some kind of an internal acknowledgement that I am leaving work and that I will now be giving my complete attention to wharever it is I am doing then. Funny thing, this mind.

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Posted in Dhamma | Tags: Anxiety, Attention, working

Posted by: Michael | 10/16/2013

Cultivating an Attitude of Upekkha

I seem to have entered a period where much of my Dhamma contemplation and thinking about the practice is centered on or related to meeting my an experience with an intention to be unmoved by pleasure and pain. Yes, that may sound strange but I think it begins to make a kind of pre-verbal sense if you have ever had the experience (in meditation primarily although I imagine there must be yogi/nis who notice this during daily life) of standing above the flood sensations and thoughts. I suppose, like everything else we learn, it is a calling to mind of that feeling and that kind of attention that helps to assure the mind that equanimity can be had, it is real.

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Posted in Buddha, Buddhism, Daily Practice, Formal Meditation, Parenting, Practice at Work, Theravada, Upekkha | Tags: equanimity, upekkha

Posted by: Michael | 10/16/2013

Eid Mubarak

For those of you who may have been keeping tabs, I have quite the complicated homelife with regard to religion. When I my wife and I let it be known that we planned to marry part of the deal was that I convert to Islam. This was, of course, many moons ago and I don’t know if I would have made the decision so lightly were I to face it now but my practice was much less developed and defined and I was able to gloss over things that I would today view as breaches of precepts. The point is that now and forever in the eyes of her family and even to my otherwise Buddhist wife, I am a Muslim who fasts and celebrates the religious holidays. Somehow I manage to get away without praying but the rest is always an uncomfortable dance because I have found my refuge and it is in the Tisarana.

Nothwithstanding, there was something quite beautiful that the imam said during the khutbah that got me thinking. Islam has a lot to say about noble qualities of the heart like gratitude and filial piety but all of it is, of course, takes its meaning from Allah. Still, I think an attitude of gratitude and appreciation to all beings is a beautiful thing to help cultivate an open heart.

Anyway, let me get to the point: imagine if you woke up tomorrow with only those things you were truly grateful for. In other words, everything in your life for which you hadn’t stopped to appreciate would be gone. What would you be left with?

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Posted in Buddha, Buddhism, Daily Practice, Gratitude, Theravada | Tags: appreciation, gratitude, Islam, khutbah