Dear Friends, The sixth factor of the eightfold path is right or wise effort. Gil Fronsdal describes this factor succinctly as follows: Right Effort involves four different ways we can apply ourselves. When it comes to our inner thoughts, feelings, and states, we can (1) prevent, (2) overcome, (3) arouse, or (4) maintain these inner experiences. Far from… Read More »
Dear Friends, There’s a reason sila is a practice rather than a set of rules – it’s a way we can explore where we can grow and cultivate. When you reflect on sila, maybe you’re like me – I tend to notice many of the ways I fall short. To counteract this negativity bias, it’s also important to… Read More »
Dear Friends, In a course on the eightfold path I took with BCIMS a couple years ago, the reflection document included this reminder: “the practice of Right Livelihood is not an effort to live up to an externally imposed set of rules in order to not be shamed, but an ongoing inquiry into how to better align with… Read More »
Dear Friends, The fifth factor of the eightfold path is usually translated as right (or wise) livelihood. This can look at not only how we earn a living, but also how we support ourselves in the world, how we conduct ourselves, and how we use resources. This can also include our family responsibilities of raising children or taking… Read More »
Dear Friends, As mentioned earlier, right intention includes the intention for non-cruelty, and to aid this intention, we can cultivate compassion. Compassion also guides our actions in this world. Here is a beautiful meditation from Jack Kornfield, which I find helps my heart open to compassion for others. Heart Wisdom – Ep 125 – ‘Just Like Me’ Guided… Read More »
Dear Friends, Jill Shepherd has a meditation called “Investigating skillful behaviour skilfully” (13 minutes) that explores wise action:https://www.dharmaseed.org/talks/39015/ With good wishes,Andrea
Dear Friends, In talking about right action, Gil mentions we can look at what we can refrain from doing, and we can cultivate the positive motivations. Ideally the negative and positive sides of Right Action work together. By restraining harmful actions, we have the opportunity to consider and experience behaviors that promote well-being for ourselves and others. For… Read More »
Dear Friends, The fourth factor is right (or wise) action. This is a practice of avoiding harm through our physical actions. The Buddha once gave instructions to his son, Rahula. He started by asking, “What is the purpose of a mirror?” to which Rahula replied, “It’s for checking your reflection.” The Buddha then says, “In the same way,… Read More »
Dear Friends, In keeping with the theme in Rosemerry’s poem I shared yesterday, here is a guided meditation from Oren. Guided Meditation: Tone and Learning to be a Good Friend (31 minutes, including a preamble):https://www.dharmaseed.org/talks/61493/ If you can cultivate a kinder tone in your self-talk, does that impact your speech with others? With good wishes,Andrea
Dear Friends, Oren Jay Sofer has previously offered a summer class on Wise Speech, which blends mindfulness and nonviolent communication. In this summer’s class, the first week’s practice suggestions included this reflection: Be mindful of your inner narrative. Are you aware of thinking? How do you speak to yourself? Is it truthful, kind, helpful, and appropriate? I think… Read More »
Dear Friends, With right view, we understand that actions have consequences, and that suffering is caused by the way we cling. Right intention helps aim towards cultivating less suffering by renouncing grasping, and cultivating goodwill and compassion. So with our hearts and minds thus aligned, we can now take this intention into the world. So enters the next… Read More »
Dear Friends, Right intention includes abandoning ill-will and cultivating goodwill (metta, also known as loving kindness). There are many ways to practice metta. You may be familiar with using phrases directed toward a benefactor, self, friend, neutral person, difficult person, and all beings. (See this post from 2021 for a discussion on this practice.) There’s also a practice… Read More »
Dear Friends, Kim Allen did a series of talks in August 2022 on the topic of desire and letting go, which relates well to this exploration on the right intention of renunciation. One of the meditations from that week was Guided Meditation: Simplicity (30 minutes), which you can find here:https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/16856 Or if you have a favorite mediation on… Read More »
Dear Friends, On the theme of the right intention of renunciation, Phillip Moffitt says, “the ultimate purpose of skillful renunciation practices is to help you regain a connection to the sacred.” He provides some examples of what to practice. Here is a brief snippet of the each of the three renunciations he mentions, with a link to the… Read More »
Dear Friends, The second path factor is right (or wise) intention, sometimes translated as wise thought, resolve, or Gil uses the word consideration. It is the bridge between our views and how we act in the world. Right intention has three parts, to counter the three kinds of wrong intention. (See MN 19 Two Kinds of Thought) We’ll… Read More »
