Best Of
Re: Insight on the Eightfold Path
I stepped off the Path, and became over-involved with personal matters I considered vital and essential to my progress and existence.
I was wrong. While they did - and still do - require some attention, I no longer permit them to overwhelm me, or centrally occupy my attention.
I began to follow The Walk of Peace, on Facebook (which I hold in contempt, like WhatsApp and Instagram) and was horrified to learn one of the monks lost his lower leg in an accident that occurred about a month into the Walk.
His extraordinarily matter-of-fact attitude, positivity, calmness and acceptance, did much to jolt me out of my materialistic stupor.
I'm now reading "The Mindful Path - combining psychotherapy and Buddhist Practices" by Michael Jones, Ph.D. implementing the 8-fold Path, from a psychotherapeutic angle.
I'm loving every line, as it explores all Eight Factors in depth, and how to best implement them practically.
J'y suis; J'y reste.
The Bitch is back. 🥰🙏
federica
Re: Space - the final frontier
What surprised me recently was to read that Australia is wider than the moon, by about 600km!
federica
Re: Experience of mantra practice
Experience of mantra practice
Thus have I experienced:
In practical terms, mantras and chants are used to clear mental clutter and then focus the mind.
When I used to attend Dharma talks, our Geshe came to the island once a month to teach. We always began and ended with a chant or mantra. The visits stopped a few years ago.
I start each meditation with a greeting to the universal wisdom and compassion the mind opens to, and I end with gratitude for the experience.
Shoshin1
Re: Can the mind be conditioned into enlightenment?
@mindatrisk said:
Maybe you already do the best that you can with what you have. But I suspect not based on the responses I've had here.
So you just decide to jump in with a number of strongly worded motivational posts, based on a ‘suspicion’. Seems rather gung-ho to me, I have to say. I spend a fair amount of time thinking about how best to serve the world, and I believe it is a very hard task to know someone well enough to assess their talents and say whether they are being used to their maximum capacity.
Jeroen
Re: Can the mind be conditioned into enlightenment?
@mindatrisk said:
I am not self-righteous at all. I am trying to understand why the good people do not wish to do good in a world of so much suffering.
I am missing...
How you are ascertaining that anyone doesn't or isn't wishing to do as much good as you do or think they should?
How anyone thinks that the most reasonable means for addressing the suffering of others can be achieved without first showing some mastery over ones own suffering?
How frequently we all see the wish to help others become the excuse for not equally trying to address the harder work of taking responsibility for our own?
How little this conversation is helping anyone?
In the end, meditation can illuminate the fallacy of anyone being able to suffer or alleviate any suffering, in isolation from anyone else.
When I've found myself charging at a windmill as a sacred duty, sometimes the most help that I ended up providing has occurred by understanding how much of that charge was actually against that windmill and how much was really just my means of charging away from a much more scary opponent within.
how
"Walk For Peace" monks in the US from Texas to Washing D.C.
Happy New Year to all!!!
The “Walk for Peace” monks are a group of about 19–24 Venerable Monks starting from the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth, Texas, walking 2,300 miles to Washington, D.C. to promote peace, loving‑kindness, compassion, unity, and inner peace. They began their pilgrimage on October 26, 2025, accompanied by Aloka the Peace Dog, who has become a social‑media icon.
Below is the link to the live Google map showing where the venerables are now:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1WDMDOholPxRUjCSK3mbX5NdMuQKWYtc
There are many videos about this online on youtube, tiktok, etc.
Today is their 71st day of "Walk For Peace". The Venerable Monks are currently in Georgia.
During their lunch and night‑rest stops each day, they share practices of forgiveness, compassion, and mindfulness with those who gather.
May we all be peaceful, may we all be happy, and may we all be well.
/\/\/\Amituofo/\/\/\
NMADDP
Re: Ploggers of the world...unite!
I have continued but am limited by my back. Today I will try to buy the telescopic thingy and enough accesories so that I am ready should anyone want to join.
It continues to be a most relaxing but also illuminating activity. It's like my mind relaxes since it's a very simple activity but then I actually notice more than usual what my mind is doing without trying to interfere too much, as @how suggested. Meditation, basically, but more effective than formal sitting for me at this time. I benefit from the monkey having something to do while I observe or just focus on the activity.
The unexpected or unpredicted happened! Of course everyone went to the large open public space to fire New Year fireworks!
I attach a photo of today's 1 hour effort. As you can see, I found a supermarket trolley which greatly improved my efficiency. I had no trash bags today so left the trolley by the big dumpsters.
The main noticing today was on the power of perspective/refraiming. It rained so everything was wet and I only had running shoes. 1) 'Oh no, everything is wet, how miserable, and my shoes will get wet!' 2) 'Actually, what a blessing, at least none of the unexploded fireworks will explode in my hand + things are pretty much clean!'. 
marcitko
Re: Season's Greetings From Down under
Nowadays, Christmas and many other so-called religious holidays have become a money-making capitalist enterprise, nothing more, nothing less. For me it is just another day, nothing special, and if the weather is good I go to the beach to worship the sun and the sea.
Where I work, we help people sort out their debts by working with clients and their creditors. It is a free service, and we also operate the local food bank.
In the lead-up to Christmas each year, we set aside a room at the office where people can donate children’s Christmas presents for families who are struggling financially. The local Rotary club also donates supermarket cards so families can buy essential items.
About a week before Christmas, families with children begin coming in to choose presents and receive a supermarket card. At the same time, people continue to come in daily for food assistance.
For many of our clients, putting food on the table each week is already a struggle. This time of year simply adds another layer of stress for families who are barely making ends meet.
Shoshin1
Re: Poem for the day
Any empire built upon deceit and destruction is no more than a shadow. It may exude power for a time. but power is not greatness. No matter how powerful a nation is it can never be truly great if it does not serve it's people.
look upon the powerful nations - they lack greatness when their own people are suffering,
Look upon the Great nations, be they large or small. Even though they may lack outward power, they serve their people. Denmark is a Great nation, as is Singapore, as is Canada.
Currently, Russia and the United States are powerful nations. But, because they do not serve their people, confusing power for greatness, they lack the grace, the humanism which is the hallmark of true greatness. They are wandering in the hallways of illusion and darkness, their leaders trapped in the blindness of their own vanity and greed.
The truly great person respect both self and others. A Great person celebrates both his or her own successes and that of others, freely. A great person feels others' losses as if their own, comforting them, sharing their pain, honoring and supporting their recovery.
Peace to all
Lionduck
I'm Thankful For...
Its Thanksgiving in the US, the day we celebrate eating too much food and football 😏. Part of that tradition in many families is taking turns before the meal to say what we're thankful for.
This year I'm thinking of my health and how grateful I am that at the age of 52 with a physically demanding job that my body and my health is still quite good. It allows me to continue to make a good enough living without stressing me out and I feel comfortable purchasing insurance with a high deductible. The recent budget standoff and government shutdown in the US was a fight over the insurance market place subsidies, I will be paying about 250% more next year, but it won't break the bank as a single person in good health and a 20 year old mortgage. But for a family or someone needing a more expensive plan it will make a negative impact.
So I'm thankful that my health continues to be good. I've also lost 10 pounds over the past few months, I think mostly through reducing sweeteners.
person