What comes before mindfulness? Right effort

What is the meaning of Right Effort in Buddhism? (LotusBuddhas)

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What Comes Before Mindfulness? Right Effort and the Buddhist Path to Enlightenment

Effective Effort: How to Inner Garden

Western Theravada Buddhist monk Ajahn Sona (the abbot of Birken Forest Buddhist Monastery, British Columbia) published a paperback late in 2023. It has 5 out of 5 stars with 8 ratings, asking: What comes before the practice of mindfulness?

It's not a trick question, even though mindfulness is always in season, always of benefit [if done correctly and not practiced incorrectly while thinking it's mindfulness, which is where people get in trouble.]

Ajahn Sona answers just as one might think the Buddha would. Right Effort comes before mindfulness.

• 

  Noble (Aryan) = "Enlightening"

  [Only this isn't exactly true. The Noble or Ennobling (Enlightening) Eightfold Path, in spite of its name, is not a step-by-step guide to practice. One does not one day wake up, develop Right View, and then carry on through the remaining seven factors. It's nothing like that. Every factor supports every other factor. They co-arise, to a greater or lesser degree, simultaneously. They interdepend. They mutually support. So just as one is practicing fourfold Right Effort -- one is carrying on mindfully and boosting all of the other factors right at that moment.

1. the effort to prevent the arising of unwholesome states (eliminating harmful and unwholesome mental states that have already arisen);
2. the effort to generate wholesome states (like the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, guarding the sense doors, restraining the sense faculties);
3. the effort to maintain wholesome mental states that have already arisen;
4. the effort to keep these states free of delusion, to develop, increase, cultivate, and perfect them.]

Back cover of book

Right Effort is a sadly neglected factor of the Noble Eightfold Path. There are endless retreats about "mindfulness," but the sixth factor of the path, Right Effort, is woefully underappreciated and not talked about enough in Buddhist circles.

It's one of the most inspiring and beautiful of the path factors, full of so many clear instructions about how to navigate in the inner world and in the outer world.

Ajahn Sona teaching at Birken Forest

This Dharma book is an attempt to bring Right Effort out of the shadows of its glamorous sister, beautiful Right Mindfulness, by going back to the basic sutras of the Pali language canon and examining the language of the Buddha around this essential training.

[Remember, if one were practicing Right Effort correctly, one would be practicing mindfulness. and the practice of Right Mindfulness is essential to the Buddha's practice as a whole.]

• BOOK: What Comes Before Mindfulness? Right Effort and the Buddhist Path to Enlightenment
• Who is Ajahn Sona? Books, biography, latest update
• Ajahn Sona (Birken); Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Sex trafficking: "Sound of Freedom" (7/4)

Angel.com/tickets, 2023; Skrillex "Equinox"; Ashley Wells, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Sound of Freedom in theatres on July 4th

Hey, Kids, what's up? Want some candy?

(Angel Studios) Sound of Freedom is based on the incredible true story. It shines light on the darkest of places.

After rescuing a young boy from ruthless child sex traffickers, a federal agent learns the boy’s sister is still captive and decides to embark on a dangerous mission to save her from being raped.

With time running out, he quits his job and journeys deep into the Colombian jungle, putting his life on the line to free her from a fate worse than death.

• This film will be exclusively in theaters on July 4th, 2023, with tickets at angel.com/sof

The film stars Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ, The Count of Monte Cristo) who plays the lead role of Tim Ballard.

Academy Award winner Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite) plays Katherine Ballard, and Bill Camp (Lincoln, 12 Years a Slave) plays “Batman” — Ballard’s right-hand man.

The film is produced by Eduardo Verástegui and directed by Alejandro Monteverde. Share this film with the world by Paying it Forward at angel.com/pay-it-forward...

Help get this film to a nearby theater near by expressing interest at Angel.com/freedom.

DISCLOSURE: Sound of Freedom is “testing the waters” to gauge investor interest in an offering under Regulation Crowdfunding. No money or other consideration is being solicited, and if sent, will not be accepted. No offer to buy the securities can be accepted, and no part of the purchase price can be received until the offering statement is filed and only through an intermediary's platform. A prospective purchaser's indication of interest is non-binding. Find Sound of Freedom at instagram.com/soundoffree... Follow Angel Studios at instagram.com/angelstudio...

Jhana: The Treasure Within (video)

Ajahns Sona and Sudanto, June 29, 2020; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Jhana (1): The Treasure Within

The best way to sit is to sit. Stay on one object.

(Ajahn Sona) Talk 1 in a series of six on the development of jhāna (meditative absorption, ecstatic meditation, zen, right-concentration, samadhi), March 2020, Birken Forest Buddhist Monastery, British Columbia.

And join American monk Ajahn Sudanto from Washington state's Pacific Hermitage for his show, Morning Coffee, a discussion and Q&A related to these talks.

• Ajahn Sona Podcast (anchor.fm)

USA, Inc. remains a British colony (video)

Barnabas Nagy, 3/25/19; Pfc. Sandoval, Pat Macpherson, S. Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Real History of America: The USA is a British Colony and a Corporation to this day (Part 4)

I'm not kidding.

The "American War of Independence" was a hoax, for it never resulted in American independence. The British monarchy still rules the USA behind the scenes, and it owns all of its citizens and lands to this day. The USA, like all other countries, is not actually a country. It's a legal corporation. Three cities rule the world (see Empire of the City): Washington DC (in the "District of Columbia") is the military headquarters, London the banking headquarters, and the Vatican (the "Holy See," which is neither part of Rome nor Italy) the spiritual headquarters. All three have an obelisk. The Vatican, though nominally catholic ("universal") and still an extension of the Holy Roman Empire via the modern, post-Mithra [the Christ-like "god" the site was built for and worshipped for generations prior to switching over to Jesus-worship] Catholic Church, has ancient 3D printed statues as well as an Egyptian obelisk and other booty from around the world, all misappropriated and incorporated under Caesar's Messiah, the remaking of Rome as Emperor Constantine's world-conquering empire.

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#BarnabasNagy #FakeHistory #America #Tartaria #MudFlood

Why is Washington the District of Columbia?

Aplanetruth.info, August 4, 2015; Pfc. Sandoval, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

WARNING: Shocking research results by white male may offend Freemasons, Jews, the popes, Roman Catholics, occultists, et al!

Why is US capital Washington named the "District of Columbia"?

Very few people in the United States know why our federal government is named the "District of Columbia." A "district," like district attorney, is a subset of a greater whole. So what greater whole is the District of Columbia a part of that has the president, the Congress, and Supreme Court under its jurisdiction? And why the name "Columbia," an ancient Greek goddess, instead of another C, such as "Columbus"? The answers are very disturbing to all who assume we are free sovereign beings in a free country. We are anything but. Music by Drew Cummings.

• Part II: All Roads Still Lead to Rome: Origins of US Gov't
• Part III: Occult Origins of the UNITED STATES INC. Banking, Law, and Monetary Systems 
• The Whole Six Pak of Truth (tabublog.com)

"A Tale for the Time Being" (audio)

Wisdom Quarterly; NPR.org; Goodreads.com

“A time being is someone who lives in time, and that means you, and me, and every one of us who is, or was, or ever will be” (Ruth Ozeki).
 
In Tokyo, 16-year-old Nao [Now] has decided there’s only one escape from her aching loneliness and her classmates’ bullying. But before she ends it all, Nao first plans to document the life of her great grandmother, a Buddhist nun who’s lived more than a century. A diary is Nao’s only solace -- and will touch lives in ways she can scarcely imagine.

• LISTEN NOW (NPR review)

Across the Pacific Ocean, we meet Ruth, a novelist and Buddhist priestess living on a remote island who discovers a collection of artifacts washed ashore in a Hello Kitty lunchbox -- possibly debris from the devastating 2011 tsunami [and Fukushima nuclear fallout catastrophe]... More

un-Happy Columbus Day! (video)

Ashley Wells, Xochitl, CC Liu, Pfc. Sandoval, Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; RTAmerica (10/11/10)

 

Did "Indians" want invaders? (easiersaid.net)

Christopher Columbus was a titan or ogre (asura or yakkha) credited with the "founding" of a well populated continent that came to be called the "New World" by Europeans inhabiting the Old World.
  
It's been 520 years since he, whose name in indigenous tongues is too horrible to utter, "discovered" a shortcut to India -- a land named "America" after Vespucci, when he certainly would have preferred Columbia, like Washington's "D.C." (District of Columbia).
  
WARNING: Graphic reenactments of genocide! (Kuumbajah) "The Legacy of Christopher Columbus, A Short Account in Technicolor: Memory One of Ceiba de Cuba, De Sus Raíces"

 

Peanuts by Charles Schultz (planebuzz.com)

What did he do that he is so reviled by indigenous peoples today? His crimes against humanity are legion -- systematic rape, child molestation, torture, biological warfare (intentionally disseminating small pox), spreading venereal disease, drug abuse, alcohol, internecine warfare, causing famine, stripping the land and tribes of gold, murder, and genocide.

Chris, the mercenary soldier-of-fortune also known by the euphemism "explorer," invaded the continent before other European empires. His historic accomplishment is honored every year in the U.S. with a federal holiday. "Columbus Day" is held on the second Monday of October, which means no work or school for most Americans.

  

(nuheightzcinema)

  

Asuras: real monsters (babylonrising)

Indigenous and Native groups suggest a more realistic view of history: How did Columbus conquer the First Nations and consolidate an empire in the Americas? Not only were there Asiatic Native Americans, as exist today, but there were GIANT hybrids (real-life nephilim) here as well. The Smithsonian knows it, and archeologists know it, but the public is kept in the dark. Most giants and Sasquatch and hybrid humanimals were disposed of or sent into hiding, to the relief of ordinary-sized humans. The truth of their existence is not acknowledged even today. But indigenous lore is replete with stories of their existence and a long history of interaction with native peoples.

   
(Crass5231) "Where Next, Columbus?" by Crass from the album "Penis Envy"
"...Marx had an idea from the confusion of his head, Then there were a thousand more waiting to be led. The books are sold, the quotes are bought, You learn them well and then you're caught. Anothers left, anothers right, Another's peace, another's fight. Mussolini had an idea from the confusion of his heart, Then there were a thousand more waiting to play their part. The stage was set, the costumes worn, And another's empire of destruction born...." More

  

The sinister reality has led to a national movement to renounce Columbus Day. It may well become Indigenous People's Day or Genocidal Remembrance Day or maybe Where Next Columbus Day. A new movie based on a book by Democracy Now's Juan Gonzalez on the history of US polices and Latinos in the face of empire has just opened in theaters.

(LINK) "Harvest of Empire"

• Anti-Imperialist March over US's Afghan invasion
• Oakland's anti-war organizing (Facebook)
• VIDEO: A People's History with Howard Zinn 
• RDIO: Human-powered music, new Napster or Inc?

Dalai Lama to open Canadian monastery

Secret is Out – Dalai Lama will open monastery in Canada
Ray Van Eng

It is being built in Richmond, British Columbia and is expected to open in July of 2010. A Tibet style Thrangu Monastery in Canada is being built at 8140 No. 5 Road, Richmond, B.C. It will be finished by July of this year. And the secret is out – according to two unidentified sources that told me, the Thrangu Monastery in Canada will be opened by the 14th Dalai Lama on July 25, 2010. As of May 1, 2010 the construction work is largely completed. Craftsmen and workers are busy putting final touches on the magnificent edifice. Cleaning crews are also diligently preparing the building to be occupied once it opens. More>>

• MONASTERY PHOTOS (RayVanEng)
• Dalai Lama marks half a century in Dharamshala
  NEW DELHI (AFP)— Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on May 1, 2010 marked half a century living in a northern Indian hill station that he has made his residence since fleeing his homeland. The Dalai Lama escaped Tibet in 1959 in disguise on horseback to start a life in exile in India after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
• Thai PM may dissolve Parliament

Cryptozoology group to explore lake

Cryptozoology group exploring cause of strange waves on lake

A British Columbia lake received the attention of the B.C. Scientific Cryptozoology Club this past weekend, looking to identify what might be a large lake-dwelling animal. Years of sightings of strange waves have prompted the investigation.

Cameron Lake is a long, narrow lake surrounded by steep mountains on Vancouver Island. For the past several years, people have reported seeing a strange wake on the lake. Bridget Hovarth photographed the wake in 2007. John Kirk, a co-founder of the B.C. Scientific Cryptozoology Club (BCSCC) told the media.

“Our organization has received reports coming from Cameron Lake since 2004. Witnesses have been describing what looks like a dark creature in the lake.” More>>

Karma and Rebirth video (Theravada view)

Buddhist Philosophy and Meditation adult education course recorded live at the Vancouver School Board, British Columbia, Canada (November, 2008).

The speaker, Brian Ruhe, is a former Buddhist monk. He is also the author of the book Freeing the Buddha (Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, India) and has been teaching Buddhism for 12 years. The topic is not being widely taught in a direct manner by Buddhist monks, nuns, or lay teachers in the West. So Ruhe has posted these videos to spread and make widely known these important Buddhist teachings.

• More information: theravada.ca