How to surf on asphalt (poem)

instruction makes no sense

what is there to say?

    when hanging hang

    when breathing breathe

    when surfing surf

the tao is the way

not getting in my own way

    wide the way

    slide the way

    ride the way

away

i'd rather ride a mat

when i sit i've sat

no waves

no sharks

no surf

just pound the cushioned turf

i'm scraped smooth on sand

because when sand sands it's sand

so to reveal the man

who mans the helm a mantle

who lights the light a candle

burned out

a way

away

How to let go a little

Better to watch the Watcher than do the doing.

It's fun to be human, to run and jump like a reindeer in leaps and bounds, but not everyone is cut out for parkour. It's a dangerous sport.

If only there were a way to fly cross legged, winning our ability to levitate back, not relying on vimanas or space pods and animal mounts like godlings.

If we take a seat and let go, something happens. We're not steering. What arises arises, while we stay calm and breathe, just breathe. We come to the mat to see. The guide, teacher, sayadaw will explain and give instructions about how to utilize what comes up. First, we sit so that it can come up.

I can ride anything.

But all that sitting, before things get moving in the mind and memory, might seem a drag. What if there were a magic carpet made of flexible wood and nonslip sandpaper to stand on? Where might it take us?

Standing on water on floating fiberglass sounds like a dream. What if a wave comes or what if a growing shark thinks I'm chum? The others yell, "My beach!" and want to fight like they're a blond gang of sand thugs on the water and I've got no battery. Ask MIT scholar Trump.

What does it mean to "surf"

All nouns seem to be verbs abstracted and conceptualized. We walk (verb) on a walk (noun). The walk is the thing, and walking is the action we do on that thing. We smoke (verb) some smoke (noun). We surf (verb) the surf (noun, the waves crashing on the sand).

Surfing means "riding it out." Riding what out? The surf. We surf the surf, ride the waves, skim the surface, and coast the tumult, gliding over the flood coming at us.

That is a good description of "meditating." What is meditation (jhana)? It is meditating (verb), the doing of meditation (absorbing in the meditative absorptions, being so involved and single-minded (attentive) that everything else is ignored temporarily.

Sit. Stand on water. Or ride the asphalt, a smooth surface that doesn't jam up the trucks (skateboard wheels).

Pick a wide roadway with a mild decline, in a park, parking lot, or on a quiet street and let it all hang loose. Hang out and ride out. What does it mean to "hang"? It means stay loose while remaining upright. The best way to sit for meditation is not stiff as a rod, but to hang like a shirt on a hanger, loose and draping in a relaxed way. The shirt is not on the ground, so it keeps its shape.

It's held up by the idea of a rod above it that holds it up effortlessly. The shirt hangs itself up then completely lets go, drops the wrinkles, kinks, and creases.

Ten digit relax as does the eleventh protrusion, just letting all eleven be, just hanging there. The proboscis is a good focal point, right at the tip. That's where breath is breathing. (What is breathe other than the breathing? We think it's what's being breathed, the breath. It can be all three. It's all breath. What's breath without breathing? It's meaningless.

• A Verb for Nirvana? (accesstoinsight.org) nibbuti
• Dhr. Seven, Pfc. Sandoval, Doggone, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly

How to meditate w/ Yongey Mingyur (TED Talk)

Ven. Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche (TED), Dec. 19, 2022; Amber Larson (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

How to tap into awareness | Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche | TED

(TED) Meditation asks us to slip into a state of serene presence, this moment. But why does something that sounds effortless often feel so difficult? In this lighthearted invitation, Tibetan Buddhist monk and spiritual leader Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche shares three steps to help us accept the ebb and flow of our emotions and learn to meditate anytime and anywhere. #TEDTalks #TED #meditation

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Alan Watts on Taoism: "not forcing" (audio)

Alan Watts: principle of "not forcing" (wu wei)

(Motiv Mate) British Eastern Philosopher/Spiritual Entertainer Alan Watts expounds on the topic of Wu Wei or "the principle of not forcing anything in life."

COMMENT: (Alyria Tutoring) "Words my martial arts master told me I will always live by: 'When you’re feeling you cannot force; when you’re forcing you cannot feel.'”

Zen Riddles for Millennials (video)

College Humor, 5/12/15; Alan Watts; Pat Macpherson, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Zen has koans (lit. "public case") or paradoxical "riddles" to derail the ordinary assumptions of our thinking process and thereby free the mind of obsessive loops in discursive thinking. For example, "In order to move out of your parents' basement, you must first move into your parents' basement."

Western British-Californian Spiritual Entertainer Alan Watts on Zen koans

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CAST: Guru: Cary Mizobe. Millennial: Zac Oyama. CREW: Director: Matthew Pollock. Producer: Michele Santoro. Writer: Brian Murphy. Cinematography: Idan Menin. Editor: Nicky Young. President of Original Content: Sam Reich. Vice President of Production/Executive Producer: Spencer Griffin. Director of Production: Sam Sparks. Director of Post Production: Michael Schaubach. Production Manager: Sam Kirkpatrick. Art Director: Rachel Aguirre. 1st Assistant Director: Jordan Little. Production Coordinator: Shane Crown. 1st Assistant Camera: Giselle Gonzalez. 2nd Assistant Camera/DIT: Brian White. Gaffer: Jacob Abrams. Key Grip: Matt Toledo. Best Boy Electric: Kevin Campbell. Driver/Swing Grip: Massimo Bordonaro. Production Sound: David Beede of Iceman. AUDIO: Assistant Editor: Amy Vanderlip. Assistant Editor: Jeffrey Vega. Post Production Supervisor: Evan Watkins. Post Production Manager: Stephanie Zorn. Head Assistant Editor: Phil Fox. Production Legal: Karen Segall. Production Accountant: Christine Rodriguez. Assistant Production Accountant: Shay Parsons. Second Assistant Production Accountant: Rebecca Call. Production Assistant: Scott Tammel. Production Assistant: John Horan. Intern: Isaac Park. Intern: Andrea Chrunyk.

When practice become effortless (Ajahn Chah)

Ajahn Chah (ajahnchah.org) via Ven. Sujato, Ellie Askew, Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

When one's mind is in line with the Dharma, there is no one who is diligent and there is no one who is lazy. It’s a matter of how the mind is conditioned.

The practice of insight (vipassana) keeps flowing automatically without laziness or diligence. It’s a state that is self-sustaining, fueled by its own energy.

Once the mind has these characteristics, it means one no longer has to be "the doer" in the practice.

 

It could be said that it’s as if one has finished all the work one has been doing and the only thing left is for one to leave things to themselves and watch over the mind.

One does not have to be someone who is doing something anymore. There is still mental activity occurring.

One experiences pleasant and unpleasant sense contact according to one's karmic accumulations, but one sees it as "just that much" [a pinch of grass trimmings].

• The one in training goes beyond training to enlightenment.

What is "Happiness"? (Dukkha Girl, Pt. 1)

Ellie Askew, Aloka (Thabarwa Center), Dhr Seven, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Perplexity used to be but now it's Ellie Askew, Wisdom Quarterly's very own Dukkha Girl

Someone asked me about my vision of happiness. Here is what I explained from the perspective of a Buddhist nun:

Real happiness exists in minds free of liking, disliking, and delusion. This special kind of mind appears when one is able to do what is good and beneficial and when one’s life is useful to others. 

This is not the happiness we normally pursue. Usually we seek our happiness from sense pleasure coming through our senses -- eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body. When sense organs come into contact with pleasant sights, sounds, fragrances, flavors, or touch sensations, this contact brings pleasant feelings to mind.

We are left with the impression that life is for getting pleasant feelings and the pleasure derived from them. It is a "reasonable" conclusion given that the nature of pleasure is that it feels "good."

We are left to conclude that if our senses are pleasing us, we are being successful. The more continuous our experience of pleasant sensations, the more we think we have been successful in our endeavor at "acquiring" happiness.

I can "meditate" it all away.

Actually our mind wants something more. We don’t know exactly what or where to find it, so we travel to see beautiful sights, eat to find pleasing flavors, and so on. This is all for sense pleasure, which only lasts as long as the contact does, so we have to search for and seize it again and again.

We end up spending our lives in this exhausting pursuit, usually fighting others for limited resources. We have to find a way to earn an income to buy activities and pleasures. We must often endure much hardship for this, and we are led to think it’s what we should do.

Even the happiness we get using time with our family and friends is pleasure by way of the senses. These things seem to be what life is for, because they feel good and bring us some satisfaction if only for a short while.

Things are not bad. But are they not distracting us from pursuing the highest happiness that has nothing to do with sense pleasures?

Wonderful as sense pleasures are for a time, if we make them our sole aim, our minds/hearts will remain dependent on things and people for happiness.
 

To find real and lasting happiness, we have to aim at it. Not needing to be happy is a form of real happiness, a form of contentment.

If instead we just do what is really good and really beneficial, good and beneficial results will come.

In this way, without pursuing (out of craving, grasping, and clinging) happiness on purpose, it arises naturally. We do not need to hanker or seek after anything. We need only to do actions (karma, merit) that are good and beneficial.

When this happiness comes, it comes by itself

Our actions of thought, word, and deed are causing the results of our lives -- life after life -- actions that start in the mind with intention, our will or motivation. By doing beneficial actions and avoiding harmful ones, the mind becomes very powerful. This is a natural result. It happens without our willing it to happen, as a consequence of causes and conditions, intentions and actions.

CONTINUED IN PART II

What is Buddhist "meditation" really?

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Teri Mei, Crystal Quintero, Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly

Meditation mudra (hand pose or gesture) with mala (bead necklace) (flickr.com)

.

Thai Dhammakaya (dimc.net)

The meditation instructor said, "Let's pay more attention to this" pointing all around. "Instead of spacing out and going away, stay."

That was the instruction, "Stay"? Does he know how uncomfortable it is here? It seems he does. He's meditated much more than we have and more successfully. "Stay"? He assures us there are many valuable things for us to learn in this dimension, in this illusory reality, in this here-nowness of time and space.

We are certainly here for one or more reasons. And somehow, by our previous karma, we choose to be here.

• PHASES OF THE MOON: MoonGiant.com Calendar

Am I in trance yet? Whiskey & Yoga

It's hard to know for sure. But does it not sometimes seem that it is a punishment to be on Earth now under this government? Even then, of course, it is certainly a "learning" experience. At times it is even a flower-filled paradise. Many, many living beings wish to come here -- devas from sagga, hungry spirits from the Realm of Ghosts, narakas (hellions in worlds of misery unutterable), titans from space, nagas (reptilians) from their underworld and sea.

Well, we are here. So let's be here now. To "BE HERE NOW" (Dr. Timothy Leary/Ram Dass) is the best American-English definition of Buddhist mindfulness and basic meditation.
 

Yesterday when we visited Lu Mountain in preparation for the world's largest Buddhist Relics Exhibition (coming to Los Angeles September 2015) our teacher wanted to tell us that the Chinese word chan is very interesting.

What is chan as in Chan Buddhism or Chan Meditation? Ch'an can be defined Rosetta Stone style in three other languages: Japanese zen, Sanskrit dhyana, English "meditative absorption" and somewhat misleadingly "trance," Tibetan bsam gtan, Korean seon, Vietnamese thiền.

Chan by way of the Four Supreme Abodes

It is one of my favorite words because in Pali (the only exclusively Buddhist language) it is jhana. It is so important that everyone uses it but so important that no one seems to know what it means. Therefore, it is translated as "meditation," more technically as "serenity or tranquility meditation" (samatha bhavana).

It is the basis of the Buddha's teaching, but the Buddha did not stop there: On top of a solid foundation of serenity (itself based on the Four Divine Abidings or Brahma Viharas -- loving-kindness, compassion, altruistic joy, and unbiased equanimity) the Teachings say to set up fourfold mindfulness (on body, feelings, mind [conscious states], and mental phenomena). Then this will be fruitful to produce/reveal enlightenment.

It doesn't matter who you used to be. What matters is who you become [now].

 
In any language, it refers to "meditative absorption," varying states of effortless-concentration (in the sense of not trying, not straining, not stressing but just allowing, see jhanasadvice.com) when the mind/heart coheres and is restored to its original purity and luminosity.

This may be the momentary clarity of consciousness people get glimpses of via entheogens (chemicals like DMT that release or "elicit the divine within") and NDEs (near death experiences). That is to say, that's what it sounds like when people who do not meditate well talk about their trips and visions, which they are not ready for and usually do not benefit much from because they do not have control by virtue of a solid foundation in serenity meditation/samadhi, peace of mind, joy (pīti) and happiness (sukha), which all come from virtue (sila), Tibetan Buddhist "basic goodness," ethical-morality, the Five Precepts.
.
But how, HOW?

So it starts with virtue in life, then one goes to the mat, sits comfortably, then what? This is where an answer gets tricky: There are many ways to say it, to explain it, but none will make sense until one does it. Does what? Starts with virtue, moves to the mat, sits comfortably, and cultivates serenity, that's what. One way is to breathe because by being attentive to (mindful of, nonjudgmentally aware of) the breath that is happening by itself without trying to change it, one is immediately pulled into present time. Then one will be in present space. One will be here now.

And because of virtue, the mind/heart will settle. And with gentle persistence it will absorb (enter what the Buddha called jhana and dhyana). And to say anything more sets one up for frustration and failure because of expectations. Let go. Let go of expectations. Let go of everything. Just remain attentive to what is without judgment or involvement but just observation). What is? Whatever is. When is? NOW.

Now is all there is, and all that is could only be now. Just ask Eckhart Tolle or Byron Katie or better yet a literally enlightened being, a noble person (arya), like Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw or Ajahn Jumnien or Ajahn Brahm or Sayalay Susila or Ven. Dipankara Theri...or that person in the mirror waiting to shine.

The ancient Temple of Baalshamin in Palmyra is destroyed by US/CIA-created ISIS/ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant)

Wisdom Quarterly returns from summer vacation with new team spirit and more help.

"Effort" to practice Buddhism (sutra)

Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Ven. Nyanatiloka Thera, Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines (4th Edition edited by Ven. Nyanaponika, BPS.lk)

The Buddha in gold, brass, and stone, Thailand (MarmaladeToast flickr.com)

  

Under a sprawling pipal tree -- bodhi!

The Four Right Efforts (samma-padhāna), which together form the sixth factor of the Noble Eightfold Path, are the effort: (1) to avoid, (2) to overcome, (3) to develop, and (4) to maintain. That is to say:

One endeavors, strives, makes an effort to avoid unwholesome states (generally, those states motivated by greed, hatred/fear, or delusion/wrong view) that are not yet present.

One endeavors to overcome unwholesome states that arise. 

One develops wholesome states (generally, those motivated by nongreed, nonhatred/nonfear, and nondelusion) -- such as the Seven Factors of Enlightenment.

 

One endeavors to maintain (and consummate, bring to culmination, fruition) wholesome states that have arisen. 

SUTRA 

"Numerical Discourses of the Buddha" (Anguttara Nikaya)

Intensive sitting meditation is one kind of striving (meditationguidance.com)

 
"The meditator rouses the will to avoid the arising of harmful, unwholesome things not yet arisen... to overcome them... to develop wholesome things not yet arisen... [and] to maintain them, without allowing them to disappear, to bring them to growth, to maturity, and to the full perfection of development. One makes (a balanced) effort, rouses energy, exerts mind/heart, and strives" (AN IV, 13).  
 
NOTE: It is critical to bear in mind that overexertion is not right effort. The Buddha did not succeed under the Bodhi tree by overexerting as so many assume by not reading carefully. It is exactly because of struggling and overexertion that he could not succeed. Only when Siddhartha relaxed and began making a balanced-effort, which included the purifying meditative-absorptions (jhanas) he had fearfully been avoiding for years, did he finally reach the path to insight and enlightenment. He let go, allowed bliss of absorption and, remaining attentive, emerged to practice Dependent Origination -- the systematic pursuit of the 12 causal links that make up suffering. Siddhartha had set originally off to find the solution to the problem of suffering, so he asked: "Why is there suffering?" The practice of Dependent Origination answers this question through mindful application, insight-practice (vipassana), which begins as the fourfold setting up of mindfulness (on body, feelings, mind, and mind states). In this connection, the Buddha once taught a famous lute player to neither over-tighten nor under-tighten the strings of the instrument. Balance is the way to get the right sound -- balance between overexerting and underexerting.

Hi, I'm meditating (Kirsten Johnson)

(1) "What now, O meditators, is the effort to avoid? Perceiving a form, or a sound, or an odor, or a taste, or a bodily or mental impression, the medtitator neither adheres to (clings to, is entranced by) the whole nor to its parts. And one strives to ward off that through which harmful and unwholesome things might arise, such as greed and sorrow, if one remained with unguarded senses. And one watches over the (six) senses, restrains the senses. This is called the effort to avoid.

 

(2) "What now is the effort to overcome? The meditator does not retain any thought of sensual lust, or any other harmful, unwholesome states that may have arisen. One abandons them, dispels them, destroys them, causes them to disappear. This is called the effort to overcome.

 

(3) "What now is the effort to develop? The meditator develops the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, bent on solitude, on detachment, on extinction, and ending in liberation (deliverance, emancipation, nirvana), namely: mindfulness, keen investigation of phenomena, energy, rapture, tranquility, concentration (collectedness of mind), and equanimity. This is called the effort to develop.

 

OK, breaktime! (Vincenzo Rossi/flickr)

(4) "What now is the effort to maintain? The meditator keeps firmly in mind (attention) a favorable object of concentration, such as the mental image (nimitta) of [light, or the cemetery meditations of] a skeleton, a (very repulsive) corpse infested with worms, a corpse blue-black in color, a festering corpse, a corpse riddled with holes, a corpse swollen up. [In this way, one frequently given to lust is temporarily freed of lust so insight may dawn and permanently free one of hindrances, fetters, and defilements.] This is called the effort to maintain" (AN IV, 14).

Future Dangers (sutra)

Wisdom Quarterly translation (Anagata Bhayani Sutras)

Time bells and Buddhas in Borobudur, Indonesia (H. Koppdelaney/H-K-D/Flickr.com)

  
Monastics, there are five future dangers. They are enough, when considered, for one living apart -- heedful, ardent, determined -- to live well. So one will attain the unattained, reach the unreached, realize the unrealized. What are the five?

    

1. At present I am young, dark-haired, endowed with the blessings of youth, in the prime (first stage) of life. 

  

But a time will come when this body will be beset by old age. Overcome with old age and decay, it is difficult to pay attention to the Buddha's teachings. It is difficult to reside isolated, withdrawn.

   

Before this unwelcome, disagreeable, displeasing thing happens, let me make an effort for the attaining the unattained, reaching of the unreached, realizing unrealized so that -- endowed with that Dharma -- I will live in peace even when old. This is the first future danger.

  

2. One reminds oneself, At present I am free from disease and discomfort, endowed with strong digestion. But a time will come when this body will be beset with some illness. When one is overcome with illness, it is difficult to pay attention to the Buddha's teachings....
    
Before this unwelcome, disagreeable, displeasing thing happens, let me make an effort for the attaining the unattained, reaching of the unreached, realizing unrealized so that -- endowed with that Dharma -- I will live in peace even when ill. This is the second future danger.

   

Famine

Famine strikes everywhere (mtholyoke.edu)

3. One reminds oneself, At present food is plentiful and alms are easy to come by. It is easy to maintain oneself by gleanings and patronage. But a time will come when there is famine: Food is scarce, alms are hard to come by, and it is not easy to maintain oneself. When there is famine, people will congregate where food is plentiful. There they will live struggling crowded together.

   

When one is living crowded together, it is not easy to pay attention to the Buddha's teachings. It is not easy to reside isolated, withdrawn. Before this unwelcome, disagreeable, displeasing thing happens, let me first make an effort to attain, reach, and realize the unrealized so that -- endowed with that Dharma -- I will live in peace even when there is famine. This is the third future danger.

   

Savage groups invade other countries (TV.com)

4. One reminds oneself, At present people are in harmony, on friendly terms, free of quarreling, mixing like milk and water, viewing one another with affectionate eyes. But a time will come when there is an invasion by savage groups. Taking power they will surround the country. Due to this, people will congregate where it is safe. There they will live struggling crowded together.

  

When one is crowded together, it is difficult to pay attention to the Buddha's teachings. It is difficult to reside isolated, withdrawn. Before this unwelcome, disagreeable, displeasing thing happens, let me first make an effort to attain, reach, and realize the unrealized so that -- endowed with that Dharma -- I will live in peace even when there is an invasion. This is the fourth future danger.

   

5. One reminds oneself, At present the community (Sangha) lives in harmony, is on friendly terms, is free of quarreling, abiding in comfort with a single recitation (of the rules of self-discipline). But a time will come when the community splits.

  

When it is split, it is difficult to pay attention to the Buddha's teachings. It is difficult to reside isolated, withdrawn. Before this unwelcome, disagreeable, displeasing thing happens, let me first make an effort to attain, reach, and realize the unrealized so that -- endowed with that Dharma -- I will live in peace even when the community is split. This is the fifth future danger.
   

These are just enough, when considered, for one -- heedful, ardent, and determined -- to live for attaining the unattained, reaching the unreached, realizing the unrealized.

   

Five further future dangers

In search of solitude (presscluboftibet.org)

1. One reminds oneself, I am now living alone, secluded, in the wilderness where a snake may bite me, a scorpion sting me, a crawling thing pierce me. And I would die. This death would be an obstruction for me. So let me make an effort for the attainment, reaching, and realization of what is yet to be realized [for the sake of wisdom and liberation]. This is the first future danger.

  

2. One reminds oneself, I am now living alone, secluded, in the wilderness where

• I might fall,
• Improperly digested food might afflict me,
• Bile might be aggravated,
• Phlegm might be aggravated,
• Piercing bodily winds might be aggravated.

And I would die. This death would be an obstruction for me. So I should strive and put forth effort for attaining, reaching, and realizing what is yet to be realized. This is the second future danger.

  

3. One reminds oneself, I am now living alone, secluded, in the wilderness where vicious beasts might attack. And I would die. This death would be an obstruction for me. So let me make an effort for attaining, reaching, and realizing what is yet to be realized. This is the third future danger.

  

4. One reminds oneself, I am now living alone, secluded, in the wilderness where I might run into youthful thugs bent on crime. And I would die. This death would be an obstruction for me. So let me make an effort for attaining, reaching, and realizing what is yet to be realized. This is the fourth future danger.

  

5. One reminds oneself, I am now living alone, secluded, in the wilderness where there are vicious [nonhuman, spirit] beings that might attack. And I would die. This death would be an obstruction for me. So let me make an effort for attaining, reaching, and realizing what is yet to be realized. This is the fifth future danger.

    

Yet another five future dangers

Could the military-banking elite ruin the 99%?

[The Buddha taught:] Five dangers will arise in the future. Remain alert to them, and strive to get rid of them. What five? 
   
1. In the future there will be monastics who are undeveloped in skillful conduct, virtue, mind (heart), and wisdom. They will fully ordain as monastics others yet will be unable to discipline them in terms of higher virtue, higher mind, and higher wisdom. They, too, will remain undeveloped in skillful conduct, virtue, mind, and wisdom.

From corrupt Dharma comes corrupt discipline; from corrupt discipline comes corrupt Dharma. This, disciples, is the first danger that will arise in the future. Be alert to it, and work to get rid of it.
   

2. In the future there will be monastics undeveloped in skillful conduct, undeveloped in virtue, undeveloped in mind, undeveloped in wisdom. They will take on students yet will be unable to discipline them in higher virtue, mind, and wisdom.

They, too, will be undeveloped in skillful conduct, virtue, mind, and wisdom. They will take on students yet will be unable to discipline them in higher virtue, mind, and wisdom. They, too, will remain undeveloped in skillful conduct, virtue, mind, and wisdom.

   

From corrupt Dharma comes corrupt discipline, and from corrupt discipline comes corrupt Dharma. This, disciples, is the second danger that will arise in the future. Be alert to it, and work to get rid of it.

  

Next time, a bigger pretext for war?

3. In the future there will be monastics undeveloped in skillful conduct, virtue, mind, and wisdom who, when giving a talk on higher Dharma or a discourse of questions and answers, will fall into dark mental states without being aware of it. 

From corrupt Dharma comes corrupt discipline, and from corrupt discipline comes corrupt Dharma. This, disciples, is the third danger that will arise in the future. Be alert to it, and work to get rid of it.

4. In the future there will be monastics undeveloped in skillful conduct, virtue, mind, and wisdom. They will not listen when discourses (sutras) composed of the Tathagata's words -- deep, profound, transcendent, impersonal -- are being recited.

They will not lend ear, will not set their hearts on knowing, will not regard these teachings as worth grasping or mastering.

   

But they will listen when literary works -- works of poets, elegant in sound and rhetoric, the work of outside teachers, words of disciples -- are recited as discourses.

   

They will lend ear and set their hearts on knowing them. They will regard these teachings as worth grasping and mastering. 

   

From corrupt Dharma comes corrupt discipline, and from corrupt discipline comes corrupt Dharma. This, disciples, is the fourth danger that will arise in the future. Be alert to it, and work to get rid of it.

   

Reflecting lay life  (Woutertje010/flickr.com)

5. In the future there will be monastics undeveloped in skillful conduct, virtue, mind, and wisdom. They will become monastic elders (theras) living in luxury, lethargic, foremost in falling back, shirking the duties of solitude and (mental and physical) withdrawal.
  

They will fail to make an effort to attain the unattained, reach the unreached, realizing the unrealized. They will become an example for later generations, who will become luxurious in their living, lethargic, foremost in falling back, shirking the duties of solitude and withdrawal, who will fail to make an effort to attain the unattained, reach the unreached, realize the unrealized. 

From corrupt Dharma comes corrupt discipline, and from corrupt discipline comes corrupt Dharma. This, disciples, is the fifth danger that will arise in the future. Be alert to it, and work to get rid of it.

  

These are the five dangers that will arise in the future. Be alert to them, and work to get rid of them.

Echart Tolle: What is Meditation?

Eckhart Tolle discusses the the meaning of meditation.

Middle Path Reflections

Kashmir Birk

"Give me a man that is not passion's slave and
I will wear him in my heart's core"
Shakespeare Hamlet, Act III: Scene 2

The "middle path" is a Buddhist construct. But middle in the Buddhist context does not mean compromise, concession, conflict-avoidance, or tolerating being average. Middle in the Buddhist tradition means to sit in the core of a problem or situation and to realize it fully, without being affected or infected by it.

The middle path is the ability to walk through the battlefield surrounded by noise, confusion, and destruction confronting our reality by remaining emotionally still and intellectually neutral. Being still does not mean to do nothing, and neutral is not the same as being neutered, only to remove attachment to self, the obstruction of needing to justify oneself or seek approval from ourselves or anyone else for that matter.

Taking the middle path means sitting with our current reality in the here and now. Not to be caught in a past we can never fully know or a future that is yet to be. The middle path is clear when we free ourselves of attachment and still see ourselves in our own drama.

Japanese rock gardening: simplicity and emptiness and time for reflection

The middle path is our "true north." The truth emerges out of our own mind and body, because there is a practical wisdom that sits quietly underneath our chattering mind, bound by the chain of memory and cursed by the habit of neediness.

The measure of a leader, it is said, is his or her ability to act freely and do what should be done even if people expect it, the more if they do not. They act without being consumed by what others think is right or wrong, without having to prove to themselves or others that they were right.

Taking the middle path means sitting with the current reality, exploring a situation, seeing an opportunity/problem from multiple, even conflicting, perspectives without angst. It requires us to see multiple points of view without being emotionally, physically, intellectually embroiled in what is seen.

The painter who paints with effortless strokes, the musician who plucks a sonorous note or harmony out of the air, the friend who says only what needs to be said, the lover's glance that says it all, the engineer who sees the simplest path in a mass of complexity, the cricketer who hits the ball in the sweet spot of the bat and snaps it into the perfect corner of the circle -- that is the middle path. It is emergent, it is uncontrolled, it is the sum of all our practice, all our learning, all our non-yearning.

The middle path is simple but it far from easy. The middle path is our inner voice. The middle path is the sacred space where we breathe our breath and where the earth breathes in harmony with us.