Best Of
Re: There is no purpose, only love
Maybe there is no purpose, only love.
"Then spoke Yajnavalkya:
In truth, it is not for the love of a husband that a husband is dear;
but for the love of the Soul in the husband that a husband is dear.
In truth, it is not for the love of a wife that a wife is dear;
but for the love of the Soul in the wife that a wife is dear.
In truth, it is not for the love of children that children are dear;
but for the love of the Soul in children that children are dear.
In truth, it is not for the love of riches that riches are dear;
but for the love of the Soul in riches that riches are dear.
In truth, it is not for the love of religion that religion is dear;
but for the love of the Soul in religion that religion is dear.
In truth, it is not for the love of power that power is dear;
but for the love of the Soul in power that power is dear.
In truth, it is not for the love of the heavens that the heavens are dear;
but for the love of the Soul in the heavens that the heavens are dear.
In truth, it is not for the love of the gods that the gods are dear;
but for the love of the Soul in the gods that the gods are dear.
In truth, it is not for the love of creatures that creatures are dear;
but for the love of the Soul in creatures that creatures are dear.
In truth, it is not for the love of the all that the all is dear;
but for the love of the Soul in the all that the all is dear." — Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad
"Searching all directions
with your awareness,
you find no one dearer
than yourself.
In the same way, others
are thickly dear to themselves.
So you shouldn’t hurt others
if you love yourself." — SN 3.8
"Cultivate an all-embracing mind of love For all throughout the universe, In all its height, depth and breadth — Love that is untroubled And beyond hatred or enmity. As you stand, walk, sit or lie, So long as you are awake, Pursue this awareness with your might: It is deemed the Divine State here." — Khp 9
"Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.— Romans 13.8
"Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love." —John 4:7-8.
"I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." — John 13:34-35
"Love, and do what you will: whether you hold your peace, through love hold your peace; whether you cry out, through love cry out; whether you correct, through love correct; whether you spare, through love do you spare: let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good." — Augustine's Homilies on the Gospel of John
"You will not enter Paradise until you believe, and you will not believe until you love one another. Shall I inform you of something which, if you do, you will love one another? give greetings (peace) amongst yourselves." — Sahih Muslim 54
"Love is the law, love under will." – Book of the Law 1.57
"When we commit to love in our daily life, habits are shattered. We are necessarily working to end domination. Because we no longer are playing by the safe rules of the status quo, rules that if we obey guarantee us a specific outcome, love moves us to a new ground of being. This movement is what most people fear. If we are to galvanize the collective longing for spiritual well-being that is found in the practice of love, we must be more willing to identify the forms that longing will take in daily life. Folks need to know the ways we change and are changed when we love. It is only by bearing concrete witness to love’s transformative power in our daily lives that we can assure those who are fearful that commitment to love will be redemptive, a way to experience salvation.
...
Dominator thinking and practice relies for its maintenance on the constant production of a feeling of lack, of the need to grasp. Giving love offers us a way to end this suffering—loving ourselves, extending that love to everything beyond the self, we experience wholeness. We are healed. The Buddha taught that we can create a love so strong that, as Salzberg states, our 'minds become like a pure, flowing river that cannot be burned.' Such love is the foundation of spiritual awakening." — Toward a Worldwide Culture of Love
Jason
Re: Development of the internal well
My take is that when the inner well runs dry, in some way you haven’t taken enough rest. You may have been too much in the mind, or done too much meditating. It’s better to do what comes naturally, maybe clear the garden and make that your meditation.
Jeroen
Re: Development of the internal well
When I was training in karate a long time ago my Sensei said that when you are in a fight you never try to save your energy because you think you will need it later in the fight when you are getting tired. She said that you put everything you have into every instant of a fight and continually draw in new energy from the universe. I think it is the same with the "internal well" you are talking about.
I understand how it is to feel that you are running on empty and have given all you have to give, but I think the solution is not to give less and try to avoid emptying your well, but instead to figure out how to draw what you need from your surroundings and to refill the well as you go. I admit I am not always able to do that, am still working on the technique all these years later. The Guest House poem above has helped me a great deal through the years.
zorro
Re: Recognising bad food and drink
Sounds like a way of eating that seems to be getting some traction called intuitive eating.
person
Re: My Don'ts And Dos
That seems like a fair approach to the Dhamma, I heard it said once that all of the Buddhas teachings could be found from just one.
Jeroen
My Don'ts And Dos
What I don't do:
- I don't, through personal effort, try to follow the 8FP
- I don't, though personal effort, try to keep Precepts
What I do:
- Meditate. Shamatha, to be precise.
From discussion with senior students, mentors, and respected teachers, I've come to believe:
- to make a personal effort to do these things, introduces an element of self that is counterproductive to realization
- The Buddha, according to tradition, didn't "keep" precepts or the 8 elements of the path. He meditated.
- Shamatha has been taught to me as a "complete practice", and will lead to enlightenment.
- As enlightenment approaches, the 8FP and Precepts will fall into line and manifest as a result, naturally, and not by any personal effort on my part.
- Enlightenment and Buddhahood is the result of meditation.
Your mileage may differ and I respect that. This is just what I do and don't do
Re: Development of the internal well
Not sure if this is helpful and I certainly don't often live up to it, but a helpful notion to me over the years has been the understanding that the things that are beneficial in the long run are often unpleasant or difficult in the short term and vis versa, things pleasant in the moment often lead to worse outcomes in the future.
To maybe get even a bit more hardcore. A lesson I've been working to take more to heart lately is to embrace the struggle. George Mumford, the person who coached the likes of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, as well as others, says "no struggle, no swag". A sort of modern take on "no mud, no lotus". I like comfort and try to avoid stress and difficulty to a large degree, but when life forces me to engage and struggle I often come out better for it in the end.
But all that is in balance, coming from a place of someone who has dedicated much time to a spiritual understanding and inner development, rather than a rat racing, productivity maximizer.
person
Re: Development of the internal well
No thing remains the same... situations which one may perceive as wholesome or unwholesome are ever changing.... in a constant state of flux...
This too shall pass @FleaMarket
The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
Rumi
Shoshin1
Re: Development of the internal well
An internal well,
a stability experienced within an ever shifting landscape,
a slaker of thirst in a waterless desert,
a touch stone of calm when entropy comes calling,
selflessness drawn upon where a self fears to tread,
a candle in the darkness, the compass upon the path,
are among the endless descriptions
of where some respite from life's suffering can be accessed
in accord with a pilgrims particular practices.
and while all are promissory experiences of what the path walker is heading towards, the likelihood of those promises ultimately bearing fruit also depends on the practitioner not becoming attached to them, despite how overtly helpful they might seem to be.
Treat it as you would any other phenomena in a meditative practice.
Allowing it to unfold on its own, without grasping after it, rejecting it or deliberately ignoring it, will remove it from the equation of suffering's potential.
how