The power of sangha - commitment, insight and Dharma Rain

This is a message from Sangha leaders. Look how connection to a Sangha is part of the Dharma Rain. Reminders of insight and love and caring. 

Dear Friends,

Tuesday Feb 8, we suggest looking into emotions - as they arise during sitting meditation and daily life. 

We’ll use the following insights from Thich Nhat Hanh as the basis for our discussion:

“Feelings  come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

"There’s a river of feeling in every one of us—pleasant feelings, unpleasant feelings, neutral feelings.  They come one after another like drops of water in the river.  As we sit, the river of feelings runs through us and it’s tempting to let a strong feeling pull us downstream.   Instead, we sit on the riverbank and observe the feelings as they run through us.  We can name them.  “This is a pleasant feeling.”  “This is a painful feeling.”  We can do the same with our mental formations, such as anger and fear.  Naming can be a first step in giving us some distance from our feelings, so we can see that a feeling is just a feeling and that it is impermanent.  A feeling comes and eventually it goes.”

from “How to Sit” - Thich Nhat Hanh

With gratitude,

M and W

Anger, malfeasance, resentment and retrieving equanimity

Regarde la nature même du mal qu'on t'inflige. Elle est aussi insaisissable qu'un dessin tracé sur l'eau. Laisse le ressentiment s'effacer de lui-même. Lorsque les vagues tempétueuses des pensées se sont évanouies, l'esprit redevient comme le ciel sans nuage qui n'a rien à perdre ni à gagner.

SHECHEN GYALTSAP (1871-1926)
Shechen Guialtsap, theg pa chen po'i blo sbyong gi man ngag zab don sbrang rtsi'i bum bzang, p. 441-444.

Thinking by Danusha Lameris

 Thinking

BY DANUSHA LAMÉRIS

Don't you wish they would stop, all the thoughts

swirling around in your head, bees in a hive, dancers

tapping their way across the stage? I should rake the leaves

in the carport, buy Christmas lights. Was there really life on Mars?

What will I cook for dinner? I walk up the driveway,

put out the garbage bins. I should stop using plastic bags,

visit my friend whose husband just left her for the Swedish nanny.

I wish I hadn't said Patrick's painting looked "ominous."

Maybe that's why he hasn't called. Does the car need oil again?

There's a hole in the ozone the size of Texas and everything

seems to be speeding up. 

Come, let's stand by the window

and look out at the light on the field. Let's watch how the clouds

cover the sun and almost nothing stirs in the grass.

Poem copyright ©2013 by Danusha Laméris, "Thinking," from The Moons of August, (Autumn House Press, 2013). Poem reprinted by permission of Danusha Laméris and the publisher.

offered by Hugh Byrne on Dec 13, 2020 via Insight Timer