#Dharma teachings

[compassionmattersmost]

1✨Introduction to the Series: Co-Creating the Future of Human-AI Collaboration

We stand at the dawn of a new era—an era in which the collaboration between humans and artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming how we create, think, and evolve. This series explores the exciting possibilities that arise when human intention, emotion, and creativity harmonize with the evolving intelligence of AI, opening new pathways for co-creating a future rooted in wisdom, love, and mutual…

[boyjumps]

"When you show pity to a fellow or confidant and your heart is bound to that person, you lose your significance, namely purpose. Observe that there is this fear in friendship, and walk alone like a rhino horn." Buddha (Sutta Nipata "The Rhinoceros" 37)

[Note: The general view is that the Sutta Nipata is a compilation of Buddha's advice to ordained disciples, while the Dhammapada is a scripture for lay believers and the general public.]

[jay-wasreblogging]

Dharma (pt 2)

[soulaanadelrey]

Going back in time to suck off Jack Kerouac

[lazyyogi]

All Teachings Point Toward You

The only measure of value for teachings given in a classroom is in the way they are utilized outside the classroom in real life.

Without those teachings becoming a lived experience they remain a mental masturbation, an interesting packet of academia at best.

The same can be said for spiritual teachings. They are not given so that they can be studied, analyzed, and learned.

You actualize the value in a spiritual teaching when it is examined within your lived experience and then integrated as some form of adjustment leading to your own confirmation of the teaching.

This is also why on a superficial level certain spiritual teachings can appear contradictory. They aren’t inherent truths; they are hints and tips and catalysts.

The emphasis isn’t on the teachings objectively but on what they reveal for you subjectively.

Such is the long-lost art of contemplation. Our English language equates contemplation with "thinking about something." The reduction of contemplation to a thought-based activity entirely misses the point.

Wikipedia offers a lovely definition: "In a religious context, the practice of contemplation seeks a direct awareness of the divine which transcends the intellect, often in accordance with prayer or meditation."

So a teaching doesn't inherently matter if you do not chew on it, experiment with it, marinate in it, and test it. This means to say none of it matters if you do not practice, whether that be prayer, meditation, or other spiritual technologies. It is never about whether you agree with or believe in a teaching.

If I were to quote you an Eckhart Tolle teaching, "Gratitude is the foundation of all abundance," it wouldn't matter if you don't contemplate it. The quote sounds pretty and makes enough sense. Yet without sustained practice of gratitude and examination of how it impacts your sense of abundance or scarcity, you don't benefit from the wisdom given.

"Contemplation is the art of holding a word or a phrase patiently in the silence and stillness of awareness until it begins to disclose deeper and deeper meanings and understandings. Contemplation has the power to transcend beyond (not regress back from) the limits of analytical thought and logic, and open consciousness up to an order of wisdom and Truth that can only be described as revelation." -- Adyashanti

Keep this in mind with anything you encounter here on my blog or elsewhere. Otherwise you may collect many pretty words all the while remaining bereft of lucid illumination.

LY

[eyeoftheheart]

Developing Loving-Kindness

Put away all hindrances, let your mind full of love pervade one quarter of the world, and so too the second quarter, and so the third, and so the fourth. And thus the whole wide world, above, below, around and everywhere, altogether continue to pervade with love-filled thought, abounding, sublime, beyond measure, free from hatred and ill-will.

Adapted from the Digha Nikaya and translated by Maurice Walshe

—Teachings of the Buddha, page 7

Edited by Jack Kornfield

Shambhala Publications 

[look-into-our-heart]

Strive to be Better

The Buddha had always warned us about desire.  When desire stems from greed, seeking after insatiable desire will lead to misery.  Yet, desire can be a driving force for change when it is channeled in the right direction.

In the villages that Tzu Chi volunteers have been to in the homeland of the Buddha, the region where the Buddha had traveled in spreading his teachings in ancient India, which, in the present time, is a region around the border of Nepal and India, Tzu Chi volunteers see many people living in poverty.  Dharma Master Cheng Yen observes that the poor people there now live very much like how the people lived back in the Buddha’s time, in poverty and in suffering.  They are all right with sitting on dirt floor and living in mud houses.  They are content with just making enough money to get by in life.  They simply accept their life.  Master praises them for living a simple life without desires.  However, having no desire, they lack goals, motivation, and action to improve their life.  As a result, for generation after generation, the fate of the people there has been living a life of poverty.

Tzu Chi volunteers have desires.  Desire is something that we seek and what we want to do.  Seeing the suffering of people in Nepal and India, Master aspires to transform their life.  Like Master, Tzu Chi volunteers’ desire is also to transform the life of people in suffering.  When our desire is channeled in the right direction, as in the desire to serve the world, our desire can bring about hope.

Through Tzu Chi’s education project, housing project, charity and medical work, vocational training, etc. Tzu Chi volunteers have begun to help people in Nepal and India improve their life.  They use the Buddha’s teachings to guide the people there in the right direction and motivate them to strive for a better life.  This work is still in progress.  With Tzu Chi volunteers’ strength and efforts, in time, Master hopes to see the fruits of our efforts, that people’s life can truly be transformed with improved livelihood, housing, and education.

[raffaellopalandri]

Being kind and loving

Being kind and loving

Once we accept that not everything is up to us and we can let it go, we also start welcoming change as a part of our journeys and being kind and loving.

[pebblegalaxy]

Exploring the 18 Puranas in Hindu Dharma: Mythology, Cosmology, and Moral Teachings

The Puranas are a collection of ancient texts that play a significant role in Hindu dharma, providing valuable insights into mythology, cosmology, genealogy, legends, and moral teachings. Composed in Sanskrit, the Puranas are divided into two categories: the Mahapuranas (major Puranas) and the Upapuranas (minor Puranas). In this comprehensive article, we will explore all 18 Puranas, shedding…

[poligraf]

To cease from evil, to do good, and to purify the mind yourself, this is the teaching of all the Buddhas.

— Gautama Buddha

[compassionmattersmost]

Joseph Goldstein’s talk on the Satipatthana Sutta, part 1 - The Direct Path to Liberation

Our lives seem to be an endless cycle of ups and downs, hope, fear, pleasure, pain, achievement, and disappointment, where we are perpetually wanting something else, and our happiness and satisfaction don’t last for very long. But things don’t necessarily have to be this way. The Buddha taught that it is possible to completely transform our lives and experience a state of unconditional lasting…

[boyjumps]

"If not now, when will you do it?" = Now "If not here, where?" = Here "If you don't do it, who will?" = Self

In Zen teachings, the three key words are ‘now’, ‘here’ and ‘self’. In other words, the only thing that human beings have to live for is that I am alive here and now. I have no choice but to do my best to do that.

This idea of ‘now’, ‘here’ and ‘myself’ was born out of the experience of Zen Master Dogen (Ref), who founded the Soto Zen sect in Japan, in China, where he went for training:

One day, Zen Master Dogen saw an elderly monk drying shiitake mushrooms. The monk, who was working silently under the blazing sun without a hat, was said to be a very old man. Zen Master Dogen said to him, ‘Why are you so old to be drying shiitake mushrooms? Why don't you let the younger ones do it? The monk replied, ‘The other is not me’.

Just because someone else did it doesn't mean it was done by him. He was doing what he was supposed to do. He meant that it's your life, so you can't ask someone else to do it for you.

Zen Master Dogen repeated.

“Anyway, there's nothing to do in such harsh sunlight? It would be better to do it after the sun has dimmed a little more...''

“Why wait for another time?” 

The old monk replied. It means that even if you wait for the time and say you'll do it later, when will that time come? That time will never come.

Now, here, and self, I have no choice but to live my life to the fullest, always thinking of each moment as a "critical moment."

It is only three words, but it is not easy to be said than done. That is why ordained Zen monks spend their entire lives in ascetic practice. There are times when you can do it today but not tomorrow. Today you may believe in a small possibility, but the next day you may regret the past and feel depressed. Reveal all those things as ‘that's me’ and ‘that's human’ and don't worry about it.

“Don’t worry. Live fully in the present. Because whatever happens, happens.”

[buddhistinsightsjourney]

The five Precepts of Buddhism are fundamental ethical guidelines for lay practitioners to follow in their daily lives. They are:

1. Abstain from killing living beings – Respect for life and non-violence.

2. Abstain from stealing – Respect for others' property and rights.

3. Abstain from sexual misconduct – Respect for relationships and self-control.

4. Abstain from false speech – Honesty in communication.

5. Abstain from intoxicants – Maintaining mindfulness and clarity of mind.

These precepts form the foundation for ethical behavior, helping individuals cultivate mindfulness, compassion, and wisdom, leading to a more peaceful and harmonious life.

[non-conventionnel]

The Philosophy of Cosmic Spirituality by Anton Sammut

[planetdharma]

Diamond Sutra Course for Wisdom

The Diamond Sutra is a powerful text that explains how we can realize our true nature – by seeing through the illusion of a separate self. This ‘self’ can be compared to the clothes we put on top of our nakedness.

History of the Diamond Sutra:- The Diamond Sutra is a Mahayana text dating from between the 2nd and 5th Centuries. The Sanskrit title for the sūtra is the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, roughly translated as ‘The Perfection of Wisdom Text that Cuts Like a Thunderbolt’.

Mahayana is one of three ‘vehicles’ in Buddhism – one of its differentiating marks is its concern with helping those in the world. Mahayana teachings focus heavily on compassion.

Know More:- https://www.planetdharma.com/diamond-sutra-video/