Tricycle Daily Dharma April 5, 2013

Seeing Possibility in Suffering Being intolerant of suffering, in the Buddhist sense, does not mean that we reject it or fight against it. It means that we stop and look at it, not morbidly, but with faith in the possibility of living a joyful and peaceful life. - Gil Fronsdal, "Living Two Traditions"

Tricycle Daily Dharma April 3, 2013

Nirvana Right Now Maybe we think that nirvana is a place where there are no problems, no more delusions. Maybe we think nirvana is something very beautiful, something unattainable. We always think nirvana is something very different from our own life. But we must really understand that it is right here, right now. - Maezumi Roshi, “Appreciate Your Life”

Tricycle Daily Dharma April 2, 2013

Spacious Mind Most of our suffering comes from habitual thinking. If we try to stop it out of aversion to thinking, we can’t; we just go on and on and on. So the important thing is not to get rid of thought, but to understand it. And we do this by concentrating on the space in the mind, rather than on the thought. - Ajahn Sumedho, “Noticing Space”

Tricycle Daily Dharma April 1, 2013

A Kind Heart In order to cultivate a truly loving and kind heart, we need to develop the practices that cultivate and strengthen forgiveness and the natural compassion within us. Our ability to forgive allows us to make space for our ability to meet suffering—our suffering as well as the suffering of others—with a kind heart. - Gina Sharpe, “The Power of Forgiveness”

Tricycle Daily Dharma March 31, 2013

The Truth about Pleasure The truth is, we don’t really want to be free from desire or to admit that clinging to the pleasures of the senses—the taste of delicious food; the sound of music, gossip, or a joke; the touch of a sexual embrace—ends unavoidably in disappointment and suffering. We don’t have to deny that pleasant feelings are pleasurable. But we must remember that like every other feeling, pleasure is impermanent. - Bhante Gunaratana, "Desire and Craving"

Tricycle Daily Dharma March 30, 2013

The Sound of Silence Silence is something that comes from your heart, not from outside. Silence doesn’t mean not talking and not doing things; it means that you are not disturbed inside. If you’re truly silent, then no matter what situation you find yourself in you can enjoy the silence. - Thich Nhat Hanh, “The Heart of the Matter”

Tricycle Daily Dharma March 29, 2013

Experiencing Impermanence 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”