Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Without good motivation...

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
Without good motivation, science and technology, instead of helping, bring more fear and threaten global destruction. Compassionate thought is very important for humankind.
- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 29, 2012 ~ Toppling the "I" Throne

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 29, 2012

Toppling the "I" Throne



The ego must be dethroned, its arrogance must be dismantled, and we must begin, before it is too late, to listen to the ensuing silence. All of this is about becoming who we are in the deepest sense and about surrendering to what creation is asking of us and needing from us just now.
 
- Reginald Ray, "Looking Inward, Seeing Outward"

Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection...click below

http://www.tricycle.com/meditation-buddhist-practices/calm-abiding-shamatha/looking-inward-seeing-outward

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Not by harming life...

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
Not by harming life Does one become noble. One is termed noble For being gentle To all living things.
- Dhammapada, 19, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 28, 2012 ~ Who We Really Are

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 28, 2012

Who We Really Are



The life that flows through each of us and through everything around us is actually all connected. To say that, of course, means that who I really am cannot be separated from all the things that surround me. Or, to put it another way, all sentient beings have their existence and live within my life.
 
- Kosho Uchiyama Roshi, "The Bodhisattva Vow: Eight Views"

Monday, February 27, 2012

A monk asked...

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
A monk asked, All of the buddhas and all of the buddadharmas come forth from this sutra. What is this sutra? Qinshan said, Forever turning.
- Zens Chinese Heritage

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 27, 2012 ~ Maintaining Skillful Intentions

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 27, 2012

Maintaining Skillful Intentions



We may be powerless to change the past, but we do have the power to shape the present and the future by what we do, moment to moment, right now. And in maintaining our intention to be as skillful as possible in thought, word, and deed, we’ll find the only true refuge there is.
 
- Thanissaro Bhikku, "What We've Been Practicing For"

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 26, 2012 ~ Building Unconditional Openness

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 26, 2012

Building Unconditional Openness



Whether we’re seeking inner peace or global peace or a combination of the two, the way to experience it is to build on the foundation of unconditional openness to all that arises. Peace isn’t an experience free of challenges, free of rough and smooth—it’s an experience that’s expansive enough to include all that arises without feeling threatened.
 
- Pema Chodron, "Unlimited Friendliness"

Saturday, February 25, 2012

There's but little breath...

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
There's but little breath left on the boundary of this life and next. Not knowing if I'll be here next morning, why try to trick death with life-schemes for a permanent future?
- Milarepa, "Drinking the Mountain Stream"

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 25, 2012 ~ The Heart-Essence of Buddhist Meditation

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 25, 2012

The Heart-Essence of Buddhist Meditation



Meditation, simply defined, is a way of being aware. It is the happy marriage of doing and being. It lifts the fog of our ordinary lives to reveal what is hidden; it loosens the knot of self-centeredness and opens the heart; it moves us beyond mere concepts to allow for a direct experience of reality.
 
- Lama Surya Das, "The Heart-Essence of Buddhist Meditation"

Friday, February 24, 2012

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 24, 2012 ~ Awakening to Direct Experience

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 24, 2012

Awakening to Direct Experience



The work of Buddhism is to awaken, to come out of the sleepy dreams and notions of reality that we hold to be true and replace them with a direct experience of what is more accurately occurring. To awaken in this way, we need to become conscious of what’s actually going on at the very depths of our experience.
 
- Will Johnson, "Full Body, Empty Mind"

What is meant by nonduality...

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
What is meant by nonduality, Mahatmi? It means that light and shade, long and short, black and white, can only be experienced in relation to each other; light is not independent of shade, nor black of white. There are no opposites, only relationships. In the same way, nirvana and the ordinary world of suffering are not two things but related to each other. There is no nirvana except where the world of suffering is; there is no world of suffering apart from nirvana. For existence is not mutually exclusive.
- Lankavatara Sutra

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Without love...

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
Without love we could not survive. Human beings are social creatures, and a concern for each other is the very basis of our life together.
- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 23, 2012 ~ The Power of Observation

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 23, 2012

The Power of Observation



Although meditation is not thinking, it can be clear awareness of thinking. Thought can be a very useful object of meditation. We can turn the great power of observation onto thought in order to learn about its inherent nature, becoming aware of its process instead of getting lost in its content.
 
- Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein, "Working with Thoughts"

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Something I have begun to look into, for your consideration...

http://lifeofsaintissa.blogspot.com/

Life of Saint Issa


Discovered in Tibet and translated by Nicolas Notovitch

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 22, 2012 ~ Just Sitting

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 22, 2012

Just Sitting



Just sitting means just that. That 'just' endlessly goes against the grain of our need to fix, transform, and improve ourselves. The paradox of our practice is that the most effective way of transformation is to leave ourselves alone. The more we let everything be just what it is, the more we relax into an open, attentive awareness of one moment after another.
 
- Barry Magid, "Leave Yourself Alone"

Those of superior faculties...

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
Those of superior faculties and great wisdom get the point right off the bat--guidance doesn't mean gum-beating and lip-flapping. Truly awakened people with clear eyes would just laugh. The great masters of India and China only met mind to mind--from the first, there was never any "mind" to attain. But if you make a rationale of mindlessness, that is the same as having a certain mentality.
- Ying-an

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 21, 2012 ~ Being Here and Now

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 21, 2012

Being Here and Now


 When we meditate, we relate to that unsettling, ineffable commodity: the present. We train in letting go of thoughts and feelings as they arise, and settle back into the present: that gap between two concepts—past and future—that don’t actually exist. We’re simply being, here and now.
 
- Pamela Gayle White, "The Pursuit of Happiness"

Monday, February 20, 2012

Jesus and Buddha as Brothers

A lengthy but worthwhile read. Namaste' Brothers and Sisters _/|\_

Jesus and Buddha as Brothers - Beliefnet.com
www.beliefnet.com

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 20, 2012 ~ Creating Space

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 20, 2012

Creating Space


 As we meditate, we simply sit straight and watch the breath. So what does that do? It creates space. In fact, the technique itself is just a trick. The main point is to recognize all these thoughts and distractions that are constantly bombarding us. We still get angry, but we know that we are angry. When we are angry and know it, the anger has a lot of humor. With that kind of anger, we have more control.
 
- Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, "Do Nothing"

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 19, 2012 ~ The Patience of Cultivation

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 19, 2012

The Patience of Cultivation



When you plant seeds in the garden, you don’t dig them up every day to see if they have sprouted yet. You simply water them and clear away the weeds; you know that the seeds will grow in time. Similarly, just do your daily practice and cultivate a kind heart. Abandon impatience and instead be content creating the causes for goodness; the results will come when they’re ready.
 
- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Meditator's Toolbox"

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 18, 2012 ~ Fear is not the Enemy

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 18, 2012

Fear is not the Enemy



There are many ways to meditate on fear. One is to wait until it appears adventitiously. Another is to invite it in—when we send out invitations we can be a little better prepared for who shows up at the party. Perhaps for both methods of approach the first thing to bear in mind is that fear is not the enemy—it is nature’s protector; it only becomes troublesome when it oversteps its bounds. In order to deal with fear we must take a fundamentally noncontentious attitude toward it, so it’s not held as a problem, but as a visitor. Once we take this attitude, we can begin to work with fear.
 
- Amaro Bhikkhu, "Inviting Fear"

Friday, February 17, 2012

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 17, 2012 ~ Change Your Relationship to Pain

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 17, 2012

Change Your Relationship to Pain


You change your relationship to the pain by opening up to it and paying attention to it. You 'put out the welcome mat.' Not because you’re masochistic, but because the pain is there. So you need to understand the nature of the experience and the possibilities for, as the doctors might put it, 'learning to live with it,' or, as the Buddhists might put it, 'liberation from the suffering.' If you distinguish between pain and suffering, change is possible.
 
- Jon Kabat-Zinn, "At Home in Our Bodies"

Thursday, February 16, 2012

A mantra is not like a prayer...

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
A mantra is not like a prayer to a divine being. Rather, the mantra is the deity, is enlightenment, immediately manifest.
- Lorne Ladner, "Wheel of Great Compassion"

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 16, 2012 ~ Developing Creative Awareness

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 16, 2012

Developing Creative Awareness


"It is essential that you cultivate the twin elements of concentration and inquiry in your meditation. Concentration will bring stability, stillness, and spaciousness; inquiry will bring alertness, vividness, brightness, and clarity. Combined, they will help you to develop creative awareness, an ability to bring a meditative mind to all aspects of your daily life."
 
~Martine Batchelor, "A Refuge into Being"

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 15, 2012 ~ Opportunity for Play

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 15, 2012

Opportunity for Play



"The key to maintaining your inspiration in the day-to-day work of meditation practice is to approach it as play—a happy opportunity to master practical skills, to raise questions, experiment, and explore."
 
- Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "The Joy of Effort

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 14, 2012 ~ An Open Heart

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 14, 2012

An Open Heart


As we become more inwardly free from our conditioning and our fears, the love and connection that are possible in relationships tend to flow through us more naturally. As our defenses are lowered, our heart opens, and there is a natural desire to give from the generosity of the heart. We discover that genuine happiness in relationships is not a product of having our expectations met or getting what we want but rather it is the consequence of freely giving in order to bring happiness to another.
 
- Ezra Bayda, "Giving Through Relationships"

Monday, February 13, 2012

If we're looking...

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
If we're looking for outer conditions to bring us contentment, we're looking in vain.
- Ayya Khema, "Be An Island"

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 13, 2012 ~ Every Breath is a Fresh Breath

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 13, 2012

Every Breath is a Fresh Breath



"Watching impartially opens the mind to realize that there is no way that we can stop this flux even for a fraction of a second. We experience the freshness of life. Every moment is a new moment. Every breath is a fresh breath. Every tiny little thing is living and dying every fraction of a second. "
 
~Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, "Wisdom Arising"

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 12, 2012 ~ Inhabit Your Body

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 12, 2012

Inhabit Your Body



As we inhabit our body with increasing sensitivity, we learn its unspoken language and patterns, which gives us tremendous freedom to make choices. The practice of cutting thoughts and dispersing negative repetitive patterns can be simplified by attending to the patterns in the body first, before they begin to be spun around in the mind.
 
~Jill Satterfield, "Meditation in Motion"

Your true nature is...

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
Your true nature is something never lost to you even in moments of delusion, nor is it gained at the moment of Enlightenment. It is the Nature of the Suchness. In it is neither delusion nor right understanding. It fills the Void everywhere and is intrinsically of the substance of the One Mind.
- "The Zen Teachings of Huang Po," translated by John Blofeld

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 11, 2012 ~ Natural Curiosity

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 11, 2012

Natural Curiosity



"Take time to be with something you love in nature that brings out your natural curiosity and delight, It may be a wild iris, the shimmering luminescence of water in a stream, the patterns and colors of a butterfly's wing. Let yourself be drawn to it. Engage your senses. Are you touched by the sense of wonder?"
 
~Mark Coleman, "A Breath of Fresh Air"

Friday, February 10, 2012

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 10, 2012 ~ No Magic Solutions

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 10, 2012

No Magic Solutions



"If there’s one lesson that runs through pretty much every Buddhist tradition, it’s this: there are no magic solutions. Our belief in magic solutions that may happen some day in the future keeps us from doing what we really need to do right here and right now."
 
~Brad Warner, "A Minty Fresh Mind"

Crush your sense of self-allure...

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
Crush your sense of self-allure like an autumn lily in the hand. Nurture only the path to peace --Unbinding-- as taught by the One Well Gone.
- Dhammapada, 20, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Subhuti asked: "What does buddha mean?"...

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
Subhuti asked: "What does buddha mean?" The Buddha answered: "Buddha is reality. One who thoroughly comprehends all the factors of existence is a buddha."
- Prajnaparamita

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 9, 2012 ~ Awakening, Step by Step

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 9, 2012

Awakening, Step by Step



"As you walk, cultivate a sense of ease. There’s no hurry to get anywhere, no destination to reach. You’re just walking. This is a good instruction: just walk. As you walk, as you let go of the desire to get somewhere, you begin to sense the joy in simply walking, in being in the present moment. You begin to comprehend the preciousness of each step. It’s an extraordinarily precious experience to walk on this earth."
 
~Peter Doobinin, "Awakening, Step by Step"

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 8, 2012 ~ Wisdom Arising

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 8, 2012

Wisdom Arising



"We train the mind to see things as they happen, neither before nor after. And we don’t cling to the past, the future, or even to the present. We participate in what is happening and at the same time observe it without clinging to the events of the past, the future, or the present. We experience our ego or self arising, dissolving, and evaporating without leaving a trace of it. We see how our greed, anger, and ignorance vanish as we see the reality in life."
 
~Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, "Wisdom Arising"

And those who have no mental vigilance...

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
And those who have no mental vigilance, Though they may hear the teachings, ponder them or meditate, With minds like water seeping from a leaking jug, Their learning will not settle in their memories.
- Sntideva, "Bodhicaryvatra"

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 7, 2012 ~ Gentle Meditation

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 7, 2012

Gentle Meditation

"Although we are not often taught this, the most skillful way through an impasse in meditation is to become aware of it and of what holds it together and keeps it running. To do this, you need to keep doing the meditation instructions that have gotten you to this point, but instead of following them “harder,” try approaching them in a softer, gentler manner. Do them loosely, and don’t do them all of the time."
 
~Jason Siff, "The Problem with Meditation Instructions"

Due to having faith...

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
Due to having faith one relies on the practices, Due to having wisdom one truly knows. Of these two wisdom is the chief, Faith is the prerequisite.
- Nagarjuna, "Precious Garland 5"

Monday, February 6, 2012

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 6, 2012 ~ Cutting Through Anger

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 6, 2012

Cutting Through Anger



"Mental noting takes us in a very different direction from getting lost in a story: “Oh, this anger is so miserable; I am such a terrible person because I’m always angry; this is just how I will always be,” and so on. Instead, we simply say to ourselves, “anger, anger”—and cut through all of that elaboration, the story, the judgment, the interpretation."
 
~Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein, "Emotions and Hindrances"

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 5, 2012 ~ Living with the World

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 5, 2012

Living with the World



"We are not called upon as Buddhists to deny the world, and certainly not to escape from it. We are called to live with it, and to make our peace with all that is. The world of worries we wish to escape from in the beginning of Buddhist practice is found to be enlightenment itself in the end."
 
~Clark Strand, "Worry Beads"

Let us not talk of karma...

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
Let us not talk of karma, but simply of responsibility toward the whole world.
- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Imagine All the People"

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 4, 2012

Cooling Emotional Fires



"Anger, annoyance, and impatience deplete energy. Patient effort strengthens our resources. We need to practice cooling emotional fires and alleviating fierce disruptions from our lives. The benefits of developing greater patience will be felt in all our relationships: intimate, casual, professional, as well as that all-important relationship, the one we have with ourselves."
 
~Allan Lokos, "Cooling Emotional Fires"

In one who has gone the full distance...

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
In one who has gone the full distance, is free from sorrow, is fully released in all respects, has abandoned all bonds: no fever is found. The mindful keep active, dont delight in settling back. They renounce every home, every home, like swans taking off from a lake.
- Dhammapada 7, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Friday, February 3, 2012

A man was rowing...(Thich Nhat Hanh)

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
A man was rowing his boat upstream on a very misty morning. Suddenly, he saw another boat coming downstream, not trying to avoid him. It was coming straight at him. He shouted, "Be careful! Be careful!" but the boat came right into him, and his boat was almost sunk. The man became very angry, and began to shout at the other person, to give him a piece of his mind. But when he looked closely, he saw that there was no one in the other boat. It turned out that the boat just got loose and went downstream. All his angel vanished, and he laughed and he laughed.
- Thich Nhat Hanh, "Being Peace"

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 3, 2012 ~ Finding Sense in Sensation

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 3, 2012

Finding Sense in Sensation

"Whether pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral, gross or subtle, every sensation shares the same characteristic: it arises and passes away, arises and passes away. It is this arising and passing that we have to experience through practice, not just accept as truth because Buddha said so, not just accept because intellectually it seems logical enough to us. We must experience sensation’s nature, understand its flux, and learn not to react to it."
 
~S. N. Goenka, "Finding Sense in Sensation"

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Acquisitions truly are...

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
A devata said: "One who has sons delights in sons, One with cattle delights in cattle. Acquisitions truly are a man's delight; Without acquisitions one does not delight." The Buddha answered: "One who has sons sorrows over sons. One with cattle sorrows over cattle. Acquisitions truly are a man's sorrows; Without acquisitions one does not sorrow."

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 2, 2012 ~ The Refuge of Sitting

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 2, 2012

The Refuge of Sitting

"It is important to sit with the clear intention to be present. At the same time, we need to let go of expectations. In a very real sense, what happens when we sit is none of our business. The practice is to accept whatever arises instead of trying to control our experience. What we can control is our wise effort to be present with what is."
 
~Narayan Liebenson Grady, "The Refuge of Sitting"

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 1, 2012 ~ Watering the Seeds of Good Intentions

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 1, 2012

Watering the Seeds of Good Intentions



"Metta practice is the cultivation of our capacity for lovingkindness. It does not involve either positive thinking or the imposition of an artificial positive attitude. There is no need to feel loving or kind during metta practice. Rather, we meditate on our good intentions, however weak or strong they may be, and water the seeds of these intentions. When we water wholesome intentions instead of expressing unwholesome ones, we develop those wholesome tendencies within us."
 
~Gil Fronsdal, "May We All Be Happy"

Pulling up My robes...

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
Pulling up My robes, I draw magic water From the spring and let it surge, To scrub clogs and headcloth. Smokey. Haze breaking over fir and bamboo, Clears and concentrates The mind and spirit.
- Chien Chang, "The Clouds Should Know Me By Now"