cattaribrahmavihara

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Cuddasa Sikkhapadani

1)Pāṇātipātā veramaṇī‧sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi. I undertake the precept to refrain from destroying living beings. 2)Adinnādānā veramaṇī‧sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi. I undertake the precept to refrain from taking that which is not given. 3)Abrahmacariyā veramaṇī‧sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi. I undertake the precept to refrain from sexual activity. 4)Musāvādā veramaṇī‧sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi. I undertake…

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Honesty in Practice

For the last twenty or so years, I had truly believed I was practicing the Dhamma: meditating daily, listening to Dhamma talks, attending classes and retreats and trying to practice the Precepts. But, as you may have noticed from the ordering of the preceding, I now suspect that my view of practice has been upside down the entire time. Like many people I know, my introduction to Buddhism came…

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Marriage

“When both are faithful and bountiful, disciplined, living righteously, then wife and husband say nice things to each other. They get all the things they need, so they live at ease. Their enemies are downhearted, when both are equal in ethics.  Having practiced the teaching here, both equal in precepts and observances, they delight in the heavenly realm, enjoying all the pleasures they…

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Guarding of the Gateway

Being watchful of your actions throughout the day means that your mind is staying with that which is the priority: namely, ‘the guarding of the gateway’ of your mind, so that there are no obstructions for it. That’s the sole task—which can be outlined through discipline, guarding the senses and moderating your eating. You will end up just having to guard the entrance of the gateway, so you don’t…

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Mettā leads to Upekkhā

Also, it is essential to note that the development of mettā does not result in having love for all: it leads to the development of upekkhā, or equanimity, which is the ability to maintain an unshakable mind toward all things without attachments. Ajahn Nyanamoli Thero

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How to Behave When Hell Is Real

I listened to this Dhamma talk last night and it really struck a deep chord of fear inside. I have faith in the teachings of Lord Buddha and take his descriptions of the apaya loka at face value so why have I not been living in accord with the truth? Clearly, I have some concerns if a cord was struck but, in all honesty, how can we not? Who among us had not killed a being, told a white lie,…

[cattaribrahmavihara]

A New Rule

Here’s a new rule to help keep myself from making bad decisions when my mind is otherwise clouded by delusion or inflamed by lust or anger: only do those things that you feel no remorse at all about. I have never once felt that I would regret giving. I have never once felt that I would be ashamed for having bitten my tongue. I have, however, felt a pang of regret for having broken my fast, for…

[cattaribrahmavihara]

Rebirth in an Animal Womb

“Some animals have vassana, parami and a better character than some human beings. It is just that they happened to be reborn as an animal in this life, therefore they have to accept and endure the consequences of their kamma. We should not underestimate and look down on them as beings of a lower birth. They are simply receiving the consequences of certain kammic actions.” Luang Pu Mun…

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Anticipated Suffering

There are more things, Lucilius, likely to frighten us than there are to crush us; we suffer more often in imagination than in reality. Seneca, Letters from a Stoic Speaking with my son on the way back home on the train, I had occasion to share the quote above. I had often seen it quoted but had never felt the need to ponder it more deeply or share it. At that moment, however, it seemed…

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Yamakavagga, Verse 3

www.wisdomlib.org/buddhism/book/dhammapada-illustrated/d/doc1084243.html

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Deep Time

Suppose, monk, there was a great stone mountain a yojana long, a yojana wide, and a yojana high, without holes or crevices, one solid mass of rock. At the end of every hundred years a man would stroke it once with a piece of fine cloth. That great stone mountain might by this effort be worn away and eliminated but the eon would still not have come to an end. So long is an eon, monk. SN 15:5; II…

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Yamakavagga: Verse 1

Manopubbangama dhamma manosettha manomaya; manasa ce padutthena bhasati va karoti va tato nam dukkham anveti cakkam va vahato padam. Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief, they are all mine wrought. If with an impure mind a person speaks or acts, suffering follows him like the wheel that follows the foot of an ox. About two years ago I took on the task of trying to memorize the…

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Like a Sheep

This is one of the more “aspirational” posts. I hope to begin to embody the principle here outlined but because I am in no way qualified to teach the Dhamma (let alone conventional wisdom) and because pontificating did not but swell one’s pride.

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The Business Impact of Gratitude

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericmosley/2019/11/27/the-business-impact-of-gratitude/ While many of us tend to view and express gratitude in relation to our personal lives, gratitude in the workplace is especially critical because it satisfies the higher psychological need to feel a sense of belonging to something greater than ourselves–to feel a sense of meaning at work.

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Morning meditation — Accept criticism.

Morning meditation — Accept criticism.

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Contemplate Death

If you do not contemplate death in the morning, the morning is wasted. If you do not contemplate death in the afternoon, the afternoon is wasted. If you do not contemplate death in the evening, the evening is wasted.

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What We Have

It can be so easy to believe the voices that complain, criticize and fault find in our minds. It is so easy to casually hate the photos and posts of acquaintances and friends on FB and IG. But why? What do we gain? What do I gain by begrudging my childhood friend her family’s vacation? Nothing but bitterness. I must, instead, train the mind to rejoice in the success of others until mudita…