Struggle

The struggle between what we want most (our values) and what we want now (our desires) is real. Recognizing this is the first step to making wiser choices!

~ Light Watkins

Poem by Jane Kenyon

James,

A simple verse below by Jane Kenyon. I found it recently. It reminds me of my impermanence, and reminds me to find the dharma door (the teaching, the lesson) in what is coming up now...including the imperative to try to acknowledge and accept it with kindness. And to smile with gratitude for what I have.  Chick

Otherwise
by Jane Kenyon

I got out of bed
on two strong legs.
It might have been otherwise.

I ate cereal, sweet
milk, ripe, flawless peach.
It might have been otherwise.
I took the dog uphill
to the birch wood.
All morning I did
the work I love.

At noon I lay down
with my mate. It might
have been otherwise.
We ate dinner together
at a table with silver
candlesticks. It might
have been otherwise.

I slept in a bed
in a room with paintings
on the walls, and
planned another day
just like this day.
But one day, I know,
it will be otherwise.

on Dukkah

 
We keep suffering because we don't notice we are suffering. We keep running because we don't know we keep running from our suffering. 
stop running to feel what we are feeling...the exploration of suffering and the end of suffering. 
There is one thing the Not seeing of which keeps you bound is suffering, is dukkha. 
Being perpetually dissatisfied...

To move like we are with someone at their deathbed.
Chritina Feldman...'Compassion'...a quote from this book: 
despair, indifference... pain of separation 
compassion

Freedom of my mind

https://insig.ht/AFaIPfHGRRb

March 16, 2025: Hugh Byrne on the Beloved Community (alternate re-post)

 Live Session Summary, Sunday, March 16, 2025: It was good to be with you for our live session today. The focus of the session was on the Buddha’s teaching that all of us have the capacity to awaken—even those causing great harm—and that for the sake of our happiness and for the well-being of all we should not exclude anyone from our heart or from our vision of the beloved community.

Here are some of the main themes, poems, and quotes from today’s Live session: I spoke about a view that is common in many traditions of distinguishing between ‘good’ people and ‘bad’ people—the righteous vs the sinners; the chosen people vs the non-believers—and how these views can perpetuate divisions if we believe that our happiness depends on defeating or destroying those who do not think or believe the way we do. In contrast to these views, the Buddha’s teachings see all of us as having the capacity to wake up, to see things clearly—particularly to see what causes suffering and how we can find an end to suffering. So, the most salient distinction is not between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ but between wisdom, or clear seeing, and confusion or ignorance—not seeing things as they truly are and remaining swept up in delusion and suffering. The outgrowth of this understanding is to see those who are caught up in suffering, perhaps causing great harm to themselves and others, as deserving of our compassion as suffering beings. So, we do not make them into enemies even though we may disagree strongly with them and resist the harm they are causing. I shared Thich Nhat Hanh’s reflection that all of us have within us seeds of kindness, compassion, peace, generosity, and other wholesome qualities; we also have seeds of hatred, cruelty, greed, and other harmful qualities. Our happiness and freedom depend on cultivating the beneficial qualities and not nurturing the unskillful ones. I also shared quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and Ajahn Chah that counsel us not to make anyone into an enemy: • “We must make it clear that it is injustice which we seek to defeat and not persons who may happen to be unjust. We have before us the glorious opportunity to inject a new dimension of love into the veins of our civilization. Our motto must be, ‘Freedom and justice through love.’ Not through violence; not through hate; no not even through boycotts; but through love. As we struggle for freedom in America it may be necessary to boycott at times. But we must remember as we boycott that a boycott is not an end within itself; it is merely a means to awaken a sense of shame within the oppressor and challenge his false sense of superiority. But the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the beloved community. (M.L. King, ‘The Role of the Church in Facing the Nation’s Chief Moral Dilemma,’ 25 April 1957) • “I've seen too much hate to want to hate, myself, and every time I see it, I say to myself, hate is too great a burden to bear. Somehow we must be able to stand up against our most bitter opponents and say: We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will and we will still love you.... But be assured that we'll wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and one day we will win our freedom. We will not only win freedom for ourselves; we will appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory.” (M.L. King, ’A Christmas Sermon for Peace’, Dec 24, 1967) • “If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” • “The enemy is delusion’ (Ajahn Chah) When we view human actions and human suffering through the lens of all of us being part of the beloved community and no one being excluded from our wish to alleviate suffering, then we avoid creating a world of ‘us’ vs ‘them’ that only serves to perpetuate suffering. We can oppose what we see as harmful, resisting cruelty, inhumanity, and dishonesty without making those causing the harm into an enemy. In this way, we can resist harmful actions without perpetuating division and conflict, which is essential if we are to break the cycle of separation and suffering. Poems I shared include: • ‘Walker’ by Antonio Machado. • “Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn, a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter. If your mind isn't crowded with ten thousand things, this is the best season of your life.” (Wu Men) • “The birds have vanished into the sky and now the last cloud drains away. We sit together the mountain and me, until only the mountain remains.” (Li Po) • ‘Clearing’ by Martha Postlethwaite; excerpts from ‘The Guest House’ by Rumi and ‘Peace is this moment without judgment’ by Dorothy Hunt Wishing you a good week ahead and I look forward to seeing you next Sunday, March 23 at 9am eastern for our next live session. Warmly, Hugh 🙏🏻 💜 🌻

On presence or la prestance

https://insig.ht/aDqV5ekFRRb

The greatest communication is usually how we are rather than what we say. 

~ Joseph Goldstein

true happiness

https://www.stillwatermpc.org/dharma-topics/true-happiness-is-impermanent-but-it-can-be-renewed/

True Happiness Is Impermanent but It Can Be Renewed

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Image Caption: Calligraphy by Thích Nhất Hạnh.

 

Dear Still Water Friends,

Decades ago when I was struggling to find meaningful work, I came across a description of the word “vocation” that changed my life. It was a passing comment in a book whose title I no longer remember: Vocation is “the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” The quote was attributed  to the Presbyterian theologian Frederick Buechner. The memory of that quote and its impact on me arose as I was reflecting on this week’s focus on the Second Mindfulness Training: True Happiness.

For me, Thầy’s (Thích Nhất Hạnh’s) “true happiness” is essentially the same as Buechner’s “deep gladness,” and the great issue many of us are struggling with now is “How can we mindfully respond to the increased suffering that we believe is occurring, or is about to occur, in our lives, the lives of those we love, in our country, and everywhere on earth?” The ongoing challenge for each of us is to identify actions that both generate true happiness and reduce the suffering that is in us and all around us. And to do that, it is important that we deeply understand true happiness.

The Second Mindfulness Training, as revised by Thầy in 2012, is:

True Happiness
Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression, I am committed to practicing generosity in my thinking, speaking, and acting. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others; and I will share my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in need. I will practice looking deeply to see that the happiness and suffering of others are not separate from my own happiness and suffering; that true happiness is not possible without understanding and compassion; and that running after wealth, fame, power and sensual pleasures can bring much suffering and despair. I am aware that happiness depends on my mental attitude and not on external conditions, and that I can live happily in the present moment simply by remembering that I already have more than enough conditions to be happy. I am committed to practicing Right Livelihood so that I can help reduce the suffering of living beings on Earth and stop contributing to climate change.

In a clarifying 2005 Dharma talk entitled “True Happiness” Thầy addresses three pivotal teachings that are pertinent to our understanding and practice of the Second Mindfulness Training. (Note: the subheadings are mine. The indented text is from Thầy’s talk.)

1. Happiness is a practice

We should distinguish between happiness and excitement, and even joy. Many people in the West, especially in North America, think of excitement as happiness. They are thinking of something, or expecting something that they consider to be happiness, and, for them, that is already happiness. But when you are excited you are not really peaceful. True happiness should be based on peace, and in true happiness there is no longer any excitement. …

You have to cultivate happiness; you cannot buy it in the supermarket. It is like playing tennis: you cannot buy the joy of playing tennis in the supermarket. You can buy the ball and the racket, but you cannot buy the joy of playing. In order to experience the joy of tennis you have to learn, to train yourself to play. In the same way, you have to cultivate happiness.

 2. Happiness is not something we get 

So we learn that happiness is not something we get after we obtain the so-called conditions of happiness: namely, the material and emotional comforts. True happiness does not depend on these comforts; nothing can remove it from you. When we come to a practice center, we are looking to learn how to cultivate true happiness.

3. Happiness is impermanent

Impermanence means that everything is changing, including the happiness that you are experiencing. The step you are making allows you to get in touch with the Kingdom of God, with the Pure Land of the Buddha, with all the wonders of life that bring happiness. But that happiness is also impermanent. It lasts only for one step; if the next step does not have mindfulness, concentration, and insight, then happiness will die. However, you know that you are capable of making a second step which also generates the three powers of mindfulness, concentration, and insight, so you have the power to make happiness last longer. Happiness is impermanent; we know the law of impermanence, and that is why we know that we can continue to generate the next moment of happiness. Just as when we ride a bicycle, we continue to pedal so that the movement can continue.

Happiness is impermanent but it can be renewed, and that is insight. You are also impermanent and renewable, like your breath, like your steps. You are not something permanent experiencing something impermanent. You are something impermanent experiencing something impermanent. Although it is impermanent, happiness is possible; the same with you. And if happiness can be renewed, so can you; because you in the next moment is the renewal of you. You are always changing, so you are experiencing impermanence in your happiness and in yourself.

This Thursday evening, after our meditation period and our recitation of the Five Mindfulness Trainings, we will explore together how our understanding of true happiness might guide our responses to the challenges we face in our lives and our world. 

• What does true happiness (or deep gladness) mean to you?
• What practices help you generate it?
• How might a more wholehearted practice of true happiness inform how you greet and respond to difficulties and challenges?

You are warmly invited to join us.

Below is an excerpt from Thầy on true happiness and interbeing, and an excerpt from the Frederick Buechner book that contains his description of vocation. (With the help of the internet I found it for the first time this week.)

Many blessings,
Mitchell 

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From a Thích Nhất Hạnh Dharma Talk on True Happiness, September, 2005

The Insight of Interbeing

Happiness is no-self, because the nature of happiness is interbeing. That is why you are not looking for happiness as an individual. You are making happiness with the insight of interbeing. The father knows that if the son is not happy then he cannot be truly happy, so while the father seeks his own happiness, he also seeks happiness for his son. And that is why the first two sentences have a wonderful meaning. Your mindful steps are not for you alone, they are for your partner and friends as well. Because the moment you stop suffering, the other person profits. You are not cultivating your individual happiness. You are walking for him, for her, you are walking for all of us. Because if you have some peace in you, that is not only good for you but good for all of us.

With that mindful step, it might look as though you are practicing as an individual. You are trying to do something for yourself. You are trying to find some peace, some stability, some happiness. It looks egoistic, when you have not touched the nature of no-self. But, with insight, you see that everything good that you are doing for yourself you are doing for all of us. You don’t have a self-complex anymore. And that is the insight of interbeing.
 

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From Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC by Frederick Buechner

VOCATION

It comes from the Latin vocare, “to call,” and means the work a person is called to by God.

There are all different kinds of voices calling you to all different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than of society, say, or the superego, or self-interest.

By and large a good rule for finding out is this: The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you need to do and (b) that the world needs to have done. If you really get a kick out of your work, you’ve presumably met requirement (a), but if your work is writing cigarette ads, the chances are you’ve missed requirement (b). On the other hand, if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony, you have probably met requirement (b), but if most of the time you’re bored and depressed by it, the chances are you have not only bypassed (a), but probably aren’t helping your patients much either.

Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.

 

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Beloved Community - March 16, 2025 - H Byrne - on creating the Beloved community - via wisdom and compassion.

Finding peace within ourselves, and then able to go into the world without reactivity, without reproducing the hostility...

The bodhisattva path...not only to find peace within ourselves, but also to find peace in the world... a core part of our awakening but also to awake awaking in others.  'We are each other'. To recognize the interdependence of all of us...awakening all of us not just ourselves as individuals... this is the creation of the 'beloved community'.  MLK. No one is excluded. including those who we see as causing harm. 

To see a different way of seeing ourselves a driving in this world. Its easy to exclude others, to see separation. If it's us and them, there will be suffering. Any creation: the believers, the non-believers., the just and the unjust.. we then build in conflict and division. With the us/them... there can be a lot of hatred in the 'peace movement'...'we are right, they are wrong'...in the wisdom teachings, it's possible to work towards a compassionate world without creating more division, without excluding others from the community. 

Rather than polarity of good/evil, wisdom / ignorance, understanding/ not understanding. Getting 'rid' of them is not the answer. to see differences as the truth that we are all on a p ath of awakening...we all have Buddha nature...Quakers talk about it as 'each of us the capacity of Godliness'.  Truth is we never l ose that capacity to wake up.  MLK: 'NO ONE IS EXCLUDED FROM THE BELOVED COMMUNITY.  Our goal is not to defeat our opponent...it is injustice we seek to defeat not people who act unjustly.  Freedom and justice through love, not through hate. Not through boycotts... the end is reconciliation...the end is redemption.. ' NOT TO DESTROY those who have different views...but to include.  Hate is too great a burden to bear. match your capacity to inflict suffering, by our capacity to endure capacity...and in the process we will convert you. 

Not just about winning the political victory..but also about winning over the other. 

Solzinitzyn: If only it were all so simple...evil people out there committing evil deeds... the line dividing good and evil cuts through every human being and who is willing to destroy a piece of their own heart. 

Per Buddha, the challenge is not the duality of good people v evil people, but rather seeing and not seeing. Finding the way to free their own heart, vs. not being able to free their own heart. If MLK can do this in his struggle with the KKK, we can do it too. Doing this with an open heart, with a compassionate heart...without this, we will keep reproducing the suffering...the mark of shallowness...thinking we can defeat the other. 

the way out is to cultivate the 'open heart'...TNH...we all have seeds within us... seeds of cruelty, anger'...also have seeds of kindness, gratitude and love within us...which seeds are we going to nurture. These seeds whichever type are watered, we will reap what we water: equanimity...compassion or anger and hate. WE START WHERE WE ARE. We work where we have the greatest agency (Sister True Dedication).

Clarissa Pinkola Estes: Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once..but to mend the world that is within our reach. What is the part of the world that is within our reach? How do I cultivate my own clinging...what can I do to let go of my clinging...what can I do to help a family member? something that is within my reach. 

The energy is delusion: Ajahn Chah...we're looking for happiness in places it cannot be found.