Showing posts with label inner peace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inner peace. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Mandy Kahn: Peace not opposite of war


Peace is not the opposite of war
Mandy Kahn (edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly)
We went LIVE in person in the PRS Library for the first and only time so far.

Inner peace begins when... (Tiny Buddha)
Peace is not the opposite of war. When true peace is present, war does not begin. When people who live in a war-ravaged society arrive at a place of true peace, they first tend to notice the absence of war. They are surprised to see that war is not there, so they say: "This state is the opposite of war."

But peace is not the opposite of war. What they are noticing when they enter the state of peace, the peace state, is the absence of war. We use this shorthand until we are hamstrung by it, defining peace as absence. But to define peace by what is not there is to fail to understand what IS there.

What is there? In the peace state, what is there is the experience of honoring all beings.

Let's bury them alive? War gives IDF meaning
What is there is an experience of deep and sustained compassion—a caring for all others as well as self.

What is there is an awareness that one’s true nature is loving and peaceful with a conscious, vibrant experience of one’s loving and peaceful nature.

What is there is a deep remembering of the interconnectedness (intermeshed oneness) of all beings.

When genocide is caught on film (NYT)
What is there is a natural honoring of our earth.

In this loving experience of compassion-without-end, war simply does not begin.

It is not that war is not allowed in the peace state—it’s that no one in the peace state ever chooses it. War not beginning is a result of what is present in the peace state. It is not that the "absence of war" is present, it’s that compassion-for-all-beings is present. And when compassion-for-all-beings is present, war is never present.

Definition
War Force  Gives Us Meaning
Defining peace as the opposite of war is like saying, "What’s notable about Los Angeles is that it’s not San Francisco." It’s like saying, "What we know about Los Angeles is that it is the place where the Golden Gate Bridge is not; therefore, Los Angeles is the opposite of the place where the Golden Gate Bridge is." This is nonsense.

This would be like teaching our children, "There is the Golden Gate Bridge, and there is Los Angeles, which is where the Golden Gate Bridge is not." Then our children would grow up to say, "Yes, Los Angeles, that’s the place where the Golden Gate Bridge is not!"

To associate peace with one thing that is not present in the peace state is to be distracted from what is there.

What is inherently present in the peace state is compassion-without-end, the honoring of all beings, the honoring of earth, a sense of the connectedness of all human beings, the knowledge of one’s inherent true nature, and the feeling of love-without-limits and without-end, unconditional love (Buddhist metta, Ancient Greek love).

These presences are all inherent aspects of peace. When we begin to think of peace in terms of its presences, we begin to understand what peace is, how to build it, how to sustain it, and how to share it.

An experience of peace
Then a wave of bliss came over me: metta
How do we know that we are having an experience of peace? We know we are in the peace state when we feel peace’s presences—love-without-end, compassion-without-end, a connection to all others, an awareness of our own loving and peaceful true nature, and an inherent honoring of the earth.

As a result of these presences, we act in ways that are respectful of self and others concurrently. These actions are a result of what we know when we are in the peace state, what we remember we are when we are in the peace state.

Misdefined peace
"Let that sh*t go," the Awakened One might say
When we make the mistake of defining peace as "the opposite of war," what is really happening is that we are confusing peace, a state in which war does not begin, and a ceasefire.

A ceasefire is an action taken as a step to end a war. Peace and ceasefire are two very different things. The fact that we have used one word to mean both indicates our fundamental confusion about the true nature of peace.

A "ceasefire" can only exist in a place where fighting is a possibility. In the peace state, fighting never begins. Therefore, a ceasefire cannot exist in the peace state. Conflating peace and ceasefire has created profound confusion—one of the greatest of our time.

That’s what makes this moment so powerful. We can begin, right NOW, to learn what peace is—to learn what is present when peace is. We can begin to understand the difference between peace and ceasefire, and to separate them as distinct. Once they are separated, we can begin to learn about peace free of confusion.

See you Wednesday for a guided meditation
Once we have begun to separate peace and ceasefire, we can begin to engage with true peace, as it is, without its power being dampened by the idea that it is a dance in-and-out of war.

A ceasefire is simply a part of the cycle of belligerence. The peace state is infinitely more powerful than any ceasefire. To equate peace with a ceasefire is to reduce peace’s power. To separate the concept of peace from the concept of a ceasefire is to return peace’s power to us.
Mandy Kahn's Peace Class goes live every Wednesday evening at 6:00 pm (Pacific Time) on Zoom. It is free to attend. To sign up, visit: eventbrite.com/e/peace-class-with-mandy-kahn. To get Mandy Kahn's free weekly peace emails, visit: mandykahn.com.
  • Mandy Kahn (text); Sum of Some Books (War and Peace summary); Dhr. Seven (ed.), Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly

Thursday, April 30, 2026

Contentment heals stress, anxiety, depression?


Plutchik dyads: emotions
(Mind Frequency) Tibetan Zen sounds to destroy unconscious blockages: heal stress, anxiety, and depression [by the practice of progressive relaxation, letting go, giving, surrendering, turning inward with dispassion and radical allowing rather than resistance and strain].

The practice of "contentment" or santosha in Sanskrit and santutthi in Pali, is counterintuitive as it defuses the situation, the looming threat, the internal monologue of neediness and paucity, replacing it with everything being good right here right now just as it is.
Plutchik Wheel shows contentment
BUDDHIST CONTENTMENT 
(Pāli santutthi) is freedom from anxiety, wanting, craving, clinging.

It is a wondrous virtue mentioned in many prominent Buddhist sutras like the Metta Sutta ("Discourse on Loving-Kindness"), Mangala Sutta ("Discourse on Blessings"), and so on. In the Dhammapada (Verse 204), contentment is said to be the greatest wealth:
  • "Health is the most precious gain and contentment the greatest wealth. A trustworthy person is the best kin and nirvana the highest bliss" (based on Bhikkhu Bodhi translation).
I'm good. Can you tell?
In the "Discourse on the Traditions of the Noble Ones" (Ariya Vamsa Sutta, AN 4:28), the Buddha mentions that the noble ones (beings along any of the seven stages* of enlightenment are content with any old robes, any old almsfood, and any old lodgings.
  • *Yes, seven stages, not four, as detailed in the Vimutti Magga or Path of Freedom, which the Buddha frequently condensed into four main stages, distinguishing various types of stream enterers, popularized by the wider reach of the Vissudhi Magga or Path of Purification).
"Having cast away all deeds (karma),
Who could obstruct one?
Like an ornament wrought of finest gold,
Who is fit to find fault with such a one?" [43] Source

SUTRA: Contentment in the tradition of the noble ones
Dhr. Seven based on a translation by Ven. Thanissaro (accesstoinsight.org), Ariya Vamsa Sutta, "Discourse on the Traditions of the Noble Ones" (AN 4:28)

"There are four traditions of the noble ones, longstanding, ancient, unadulterated from their inception, free of suspicion, held faultless by wandering ascetics (shramans) and temple priests (Brahmins) who know and see. What are the four?
 
1. "A [Buddhist] monastic is content with any old robe cloth and speaks in praise of such contentment.*
  • [*bhikkhu/bhikkhuni (samana) being rooted in the idea of "rag-picker" from the practice of selecting discarded and donated cloth for the stitching of saffron-dyed, patchwork robes and "alms-gatherer" for collecting donated food sufficient for survival in a dana economy such as existed in the ancient world even before "India" or "Great Bharat" came into being, and "wandering ascetic" (wild shaman, pilgrim, shramana) content with any resting place].
"One abstains from doing anything unseemly or inappropriate for the sake of acquiring such robe cloth. Not getting cloth, one remains without agitation. Getting cloth, one uses it without being tied to it, without infatuation, free of guilt, perceiving danger [seeing the drawbacks of attachment or clinging] and discerning an escape from such dangers.
 
"One avoids exalting oneself or disparaging others on account of such contentment with robe cloth. In this one is skillful, energetic, vigilant, [conscientious and] mindful.
 
"This, meditators, is said to be a monastic who stands firm in the ancient and original traditions of the noble ones.
 
2. "Furthermore, a monastic is content with any old almsfood and speaks in praise of such contentment. One avoids doing anything unseemly or inappropriate for the sake of acquiring almsfood. Not getting almsfood, one remains without agitation. Getting almsfood, one uses it without being tied to it, without infatuation, free of guilt, perceiving danger [the drawbacks of being attached or clinging] and discerning an escape from such dangers.
 
"One avoids exalting oneself or disparaging others on account of one's contentment with any old almsfood. In this one is skillful, energetic, vigilant, and mindful.

"This, meditators, is said to be a monastic who stands firm in the ancient and original traditions of the noble ones.

.
3. "Furthermore, a monastic is content with any old lodgings and one speaks in praise of such contentment. One avoids doing anything unseemly or inappropriate for the sake of acquiring lodgings.
 
"Not getting lodgings, one remains without agitation. Getting lodgings, one uses them without being tied to them, without infatuation, free of guilt, perceiving danger [the drawbacks of attachment and clinging] and discerning an escape from such dangers.

"One avoids exalting oneself or disparaging others on account of such contentment with lodgings. In this one is skillful, energetic, vigilant, and mindful.
 
"This, meditators, is said to be a monastic standing firm in the ancient and original traditions of the noble ones.

4. "Furthermore, a monastic finds pleasure and delight in developing [skillful qualities], finds pleasure and delight in abandoning [unskillful qualities]. One avoids exalting oneself or disparaging others on account of such pleasure and delight in developing and abandoning.

"In this one is skillful, energetic, vigilant, and mindful. This, meditators, is said to be a monastic who stands firm in the ancient and original traditions of the noble ones.

"These are the four traditions of the noble ones, long-standing, ancient, unadulterated from their inception, free of suspicion, understood as faultless by wandering ascetics and Brahmins who know and see.

Be content and bliss you'll find.
"Furthermore, a monastic upholding these four traditions of the noble ones, if living in the east, conquers displeasure [discontent] rather than being conquered by displeasure.

"If one lives in the west...north...south, one conquers displeasure rather than being conquered by displeasure. Why? It is because the wise one endures [remains content through] both pleasure and displeasure."

This is what the Blessed One (the Buddha) said. Having said it, he concluded by reinforcing it more tersely:

Displeasure [discontentment] does not conquer the Noble One.
Displeasure does not suppress. Rather, the Noble One
conquers displeasure by enduring it.

Having cast away all deeds (karma), who could obstruct?
Like an ornament wrought of finest gold, who is fit to find fault?
Even the devas praise such a one, even by Brahma [the Supreme] is one praised.

Tuesday, April 28, 2026

Peace Class: Self-Love is World Service

LIVE for the first time a month ago. Mandy Kahn (mandykahn.com) Earth Day, April 22
 
Peace Class, Wednesdays, 6:00 pm on Zoom
Friends, Peace Class meets Wednesday nights. Join in via Zoom at 6:00 pm (Pacific). 
This is the text of the talk delivered at last week's class:
 
Self-love is world service
By Mandy Kahn at PRS, Earth Day 2026, edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Holy Doors: Poems of Mandy Kahn
When we are kind to ourselves, when we have compassion for ourselves, when we love ourselves without reserve, we create the conditions in which to most easily evolve.

All of this evolution is towards a more peaceful and loving version of the [conventional] self.
 
Self-love creates a state in which one can hear the voice of our higher self and also feel that voice in the heart.
 
That higher voice points to the path ahead. The path ahead is always evolving [becoming] towards a more loving version of self. Self-love creates a kind of quiet in the mind/heart.

Lower mind
 
Not sex but symbolism of union
The lower mind is the place of judgment. That which is not love, that which is harsh, is loud in the lower mind. Self-love is the antidote to this loud voice. It balances and heals the harshness, restoring a kind of homeostasis, a calm, equitable ground [dzogchen]. Self-love creates neutrality in the self. It creates openness, and openness is peace. Into the true openness of peace, the presence of universal love, universal kindness, universal knowing arrives.

Tibetan Dharmacakra - Ground (Dzogchen)
All those who walk with universal love walk in service to all beings.

So self-love creates the conditions for one to more easily become peace, and into that peace of the self, the great wisdom of universal loving-kindness arrives. And the individual into which it arrives now carries it as a remarkable offering for all.

Higher mind

It is as if self-love builds the room. The empty room is peace. And universal love always arrives to fill it. Put simply:
This peace flows from the individual consciousness into the collective consciousness, where it heals that which has not been loved which has remained there as residue.
  • ["One-pointedness of mind/heart (cittass'ekaggatā), Ven. Visakha, is called concentration (samādhi, stillness, coherence)" (MN 44).]
Flower power made in the USA
When peace has flowed into the collective consciousness and has healed that which is not-love that is there, new possibilities emerge for humankind.
  • Old wounds are healed.
  • Old grievances are healed.
  • And more people, no longer held in bondage by old grievances, are able to hear their higher selves' voice, which is a loving voice.
  • And more people, hearing their highest voice, choose to act in love.
  • And things begin to change.
  • Old patterns suddenly end.
  • There is more harmony between people.
  • There is more peace.
  • And that peace, felt by any one person, enters the collective consciousness and heals another layer of what is there
    • calling to be loved,
    • calling to be witnessed,
    • calling to be healed,
    • calling to be honored for all that it is, exactly as it is.
  • Peace does that.
  • [EDITORIAL NOTE: When Goenka talks about observing sensations (feelings) in the body, he says to observe each one “AS IT IS.” The Pali phrase he uses is “yathā-bhūta.” Buddhist Sanskrit (tathātā) akin to the Chinese term rú zhēn (如眞) “suchness.”]
It's as if our hearts were burning as one at BM.
So all is honored, all is healed, and another wave of people feel called to lean into that voice at the center of their chests, their own heart's voice, the voice of a higher self, a voice that speaks of their purpose. That voice is loving, the font of love at the center of each being, what we can call the heart's voice. So it is better perceived, easier to hear and learn from.

An act of service to the world
Earth and every living being on it is so much more beautiful and unbelievable close up.
 
Our self-love is an ACT [karma] of service (sevā) to the world. Is builds our peace first, and our peace builds all peace.

Yes, it builds our neutrality (equanimity, unbiased looking on, upekṣā), which allows us to hear our higher voice. The peace it builds in our own heart/mind travels into the collective consciousness, where it heals and creates new opportunities for future peace, our own and the peace of others.

The "peacening" process
.
Goddess Sophia (Wisdom)
Our self-love powers this whole peacening [pacifying, cooling, slaking, quenching towards the highest peace of all, which is Nirvana or the "nirvanering"] process.
  • Our self-love is local -- planetary service to others.
  • Our self-love is holy.
  • Our self-love is a holy offering that changes things.
  • It changes us and everything else at once.
  • It loves us and everything into wholeness.
  • It loves you, it loves me, it loves everyone and everything at once (immediately, instantly, timelessly, akāliko). [The Gnostics knew it.]
  • Boho chicGirl in Yellow; text by Mandy Kahn, edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly, Earth Day 2026

Monday, February 23, 2026

Pinocchio Day: Pineal Gland (3rd Eye) Boy


Crown, brow, throat chakras (Rajasthan 18th century)
The fruits of monastic life?
The attainment of these six higher powers or knowledges is mentioned in a number of sutras (Buddhist discourses), most famously the "Fruits of Monastic Life Discourse" (Samaññaphala Sutta, DN 2) [8].
The attainment of the first four (of eight) meditative absorptions (jhanas) is considered to be a prerequisite for the attainment of the higher powers [5].

The sixth type is the ultimate goal of Buddhism, which is the end of all suffering and the destruction of all ignorance [9].

According to the Buddha, indulgence in these supranormal powers or abhiññās should be avoided, as they can easily distract one from the ultimate goal of enlightenment [4] and liberation.

  • Sire, those who have penetrated to a direct understanding of the Four Noble [Ennobling, Enlightening] Truths, seen the truths, understood the Teaching, who have crossed over from perplexity to the Four Fruits of Recluseship and, having obtained the bliss of these fruits, share these fruits with others who are practicing rightly — practitioners such as these, sire, are called fruit-vendors in the Blessed One's City of Dhamma. More (I.B. Horner, Bodhi Leaves 130, BPS)
Similarly, the Three Knowledges or Wisdoms (tevijja or tivijja) are:
  1. "Remembering one's former abodes or rebirths" (pubbe-nivāsanussati);
  2. The "divine eye" (dibba-cakkhu), the ability to see with inner vision not dependent on the external eyes; and,
  3. The "extinction of mental defilements and intoxicants" (āsavakkhaya) [10].
The Three Knowledges are mentioned in numerous sutras, including the Maha-Saccaka Sutta (MN 36) in which the Buddha describes how he obtained each of these Three Knowledges respectively on the first, second, and third watches of the night of his great awakening (bodhienlightenment).

These forms of special knowledge are typically listed as arising after the attainment of the fourth meditative absorption (jhana) [11], which is the first of four immaterial absorptions. More


Happy Pinocchio Day (Feb. 23rd)

Le avventure di Pinocchio.
Storia di un burattino
 (1883)
Pinocchio Day is celebrated on February 23rd every year. The day marks the anniversary of the release of the Disney film of the same name in 1940. Disney’s “Pinocchio” went on to become a global sensation due to its familiarity as a folk tale in Europe. It was based on the 1883 Italian book The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. “Pinocchio” followed as Disney studio’s second animated feature-length film after “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” The animated film follows a puppet named Pinocchio in his attempt to become a real human.

History of Pinocchio Day
La statua del pinocchione di Collodi
The Adventures of Pinocchio” was originally published in a serialized format under the name “The Story of a Puppet” in a weekly magazine, starting on July 7, 1881. The popularity of the series led to all the installments being compiled and published as a novel in 1883. Since then, the misadventures of Pinocchio have become deeply ingrained into the cultural zeitgeist. The book is now considered a canonical piece of children’s literature. The character of Pinocchio has either featured in or been referenced in many pieces of popular fiction since. Source: nationaltoday.com
  • Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit; NationalToday.com, Feb. 23, 2026

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Peace Walk ends: Buddhist monks reach DC

Aloka: So we turn around and start to walk back now? There are so many people I want to see.
TODAY'S LIVESTREAM





Venerable Buddhist monks touch hearts during Walk for Peace in Virginia en route to DC
(ABC 7 News - WJLA) Feb. 6, 2026: “If you’re not at peace, where are we?" said Caroline County resident Sue Iszczenko while she and her daughter Kayla waited for the venerable Buddhist monks to walk past them on their route from Texas to Washington, D.C., promoting inner and world peace.


Hi, I'm Aloka the Peace Dog
In a time defined by [Trump] turmoil, with a nation fractured, hundreds came from far and wide, gathering roadside in rural Caroline County to witness 20 Buddhist monks [and a dog named Aloka] journey a portion of 2,300 arduous miles – from Texas to D.C. – advocating for harmony in a world gone haywire. More: wjla.com/news/local/venerable...


So sweet — when Buddhist monks walking for peace make everyone smile
(AmeriScope) Feb. 5, 2026: Some moments don’t need to be explained. We see them — and we smile spontaneously. This video captures one of those moments. It is so sweet in its simplicity that Americans naturally slow down and feel lighter, even if for just a moment.

 
Nothing here is planned. Nothing is performed. The sweetness comes from small, human interactions — the kind that happen when kind people are present and open. A smile appears unexpectedly. Gestures are genuine. Someone pauses, not because they have to but because they want to.

These moments change the world little by little because inner peace expresses as world peace. They change the moment. As part of the Walk for Peace, scenes like this appear along the road — not loud or dramatic, just quietly heartwarming. People notice without trying. They react without thinking. And suddenly, the space is warmer.


Aloka the Peace Dog is the big star walking
This movement isn’t about distance, destination, or purpose. It’s about feeling. It’s about how sweetness shows up when no one is trying to impress or persuade.
  • What is the way to such "sweetness"? The Buddha taught four sublime meditations called the Four Supreme Abidings:
  1. loving-kindness (metta)
  2. compassion (compassion)
  3. joy in the joy of others (mudita)
  4. unbiased looking on (upekkha)
It happens when people are simply themselves. In a world that often feels rushed and heavy, moments like this land differently. They do not demand attention. They invite a smile. Sometimes that’s enough. This is a reminder that kindness doesn’t always look serious. Sometimes, it just looks sweet.

What was the last small moment that made you smile without expecting it? #PeaceWalk #AlokaDog #Texas #WashingtonDC #SweetMoments #EverydayJoy #LittleThingsMatter #FeelGoodVideo #WarmMoments #LifeAsItIs
  • Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Sayalay Aloka (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly