Best Of
Re: Does reading about spirituality make any sense?
Reading about spirituality does not produce sprituality.
Spirituality is NOT an intellectual, cognitive, nor verbal activity. It is an activity that arises from mindful awareness of THIS moment, Here and Now ... only. The purpose of meditation is to train our mind TO be mindful, but the insights come when we can recapture that mindfulness when NOT meditating.
But meditation is WORK and if reading about spirituality helps motivate you TO do your meditation, then reading about spirituality is helpful .. even though it doesn't do anything itself.
“Nirvana is beyond concepts.” Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, “What Makes You (Not) a Buddhist”
“There is nowhere to arrive except the present moment.” Thich Nhat Hanh
“To be enlightened is to be completely here and now, completely alert and available for the Present, because that is the only place you are ever going to BE in”. Alan Watts
Re: Change is Inevitable ...(Levels of) Suffering Optional
It is our desire for happiness and permanency that IS the major cause or our discontent.
Buddhism is not about becoming "happy" but about learning to relax and accept life AS it IS. And the more you drop your agendas, the more you start to become aware of the richness and vibrancy of each moment of Life. You begin to smile more, and start to become curious and observant.
You also begin to be aware that just like you, all beings wish to be happy and not have any unhappiness. And this awareness gives rise to a sense of kinship with all, generating both ease and compassion .. and eradicating our sense of isolation from others and from Life.
And when bad things happen, you relax anyway, since tensing up only makes pain feel stronger. You remind yourself of the First Noble Truth and the humor of thinking we are the ONLY person alive who is exempt from any suffering. And then we relax, knowing that even THIS ... too ... will pass. Nothing is permanent, and what is bothering us will not last.
In one of the beginning classes the local Lama gave (back in the year 2000) told us he was going to give us a Very Important Mantra ... one that would work for ALL situations. The entire class held their breath and learned forward in rapt anticipation. The Lama then shrugged his shoulders, raised his palms up, smiled and said, "What's the Big Deal?) and laughed.
Since 95% of how we feel arises automatically from whatever kinds of subconscious emotional patterns we have previously fed INTO our brain, happiness really IS a state of mind, and as such it will come only from within.
When we make a "big deal" out of something we will feel a "big deal".
“It isn't the things that happen to us in our lives that cause us to suffer, it's how we relate to the things that happen to us that causes us to suffer.” Pema Chödrön
Buddhism ends up being a way to change all reaction patterns, gaining freedom from both desires and aversions, even as they continue to stream out of our alive living brain in endless flows. There may yet be MORE to this slow progression, but even after 25 years I am not yet enlightened enough to know if there IS more.
That's the wonderful thing about Buddhism .. it is a lasting journey into discovery and increasing improvement .. and who KNOWS where it will end up .. until you end up there?
Change is Inevitable ...(Levels of) Suffering Optional
The world as we know it is shifting from an old comfort-zone illusion into a more challenging one.
Dharma practice remains the same, flowing with change as it always has.
The world is changing in unsettling ways.
Dharma practice is not shaken by the change.
Dharma practice is designed for times like these.
Just some food for thought to ponder...
Shoshin1
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