Dmitry will lead us in discussion and some interactive exercises exploring the topics of anger and using nonviolent communication to resolve conflicts.
The Fourth of the Five Mindfulness Trainings: Loving Speech and Deep Listening
Aware
of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen
to others, I am committed to cultivating loving speech and
compassionate listening in order to relieve suffering and to promote
reconciliation and peace in myself and among other people, ethnic and
religious groups, and nations. Knowing that words can create happiness
or suffering, I am committed to speaking truthfully using words that
inspire confidence, joy, and hope. When anger is manifesting in me, I
am determined not to speak. I will practice mindful breathing and
walking in order to recognize and to look deeply into my anger. I know
that the roots of anger can be found in my wrong perceptions and lack
of understanding of the suffering in myself and in the other person. I
will speak and listen in a way that can help myself and the other
person to transform suffering and see the way out of difficult
situations. I am determined not to spread news that I do not know to be
certain and not to utter words that can cause division or discord. I
will practice Right Diligence to nourish my capacity for understanding,
love, joy, and inclusiveness, and gradually transform anger, violence,
and fear that lie deep in my consciousness.
practicing mindfulness in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh
This Sunday, January 20th
The Third Mindfulness Training: True Love
Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I am committed to cultivating responsibility and learning ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families, and society. Knowing that sexual desire is not love, and that sexual activity motivated by craving always harms myself as well as others, I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without true love and a deep, long-term commitment made known to my family and friends. I will do everything in my power to protect children from sexual abuse and to prevent couples and families from being broken by sexual misconduct. Seeing that body and mind are one, I am committed to learning appropriate ways to take care of my sexual energy and cultivating loving kindness, compassion, joy and inclusiveness – which are the four basic elements of true love – for my greater happiness and the greater happiness of others. Practicing true love, we know that we will continue beautifully into the future.
Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I am committed to cultivating responsibility and learning ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families, and society. Knowing that sexual desire is not love, and that sexual activity motivated by craving always harms myself as well as others, I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without true love and a deep, long-term commitment made known to my family and friends. I will do everything in my power to protect children from sexual abuse and to prevent couples and families from being broken by sexual misconduct. Seeing that body and mind are one, I am committed to learning appropriate ways to take care of my sexual energy and cultivating loving kindness, compassion, joy and inclusiveness – which are the four basic elements of true love – for my greater happiness and the greater happiness of others. Practicing true love, we know that we will continue beautifully into the future.
This Sunday, January 6th
Marge will be facilitating this Sunday and will lead the group in deeply contemplating the First Mindfulness Training, Reverence for Life. Whether or not you have participated in a ceremony to take the 5 Mindfulness Trainings, looking deeply at them can help guide us in our daily lives. Please read the information below, taken from the Plum Village website, and consider how this training speaks to you or what meaning it may have in your life. We will consider the other 4 in future sangha gatherings.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings
The Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world. To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate the insight of interbeing, or Right View, which can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair. If we live according to the Five Mindfulness Trainings, we are already on the path of a bodhisattva. Knowing we are on that path, we are not lost in confusion about our life in the present or in fears about the future.
First Mindfulness Training: Reverence For Life
Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I am committed to cultivating the insight of interbeing and compassion and learning ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, or in my way of life. Seeing that harmful actions arise from anger, fear, greed, and intolerance, which in turn come from dualistic and discriminative thinking, I will cultivate openness, non-discrimination, and non-attachment to views in order to transform violence, fanaticism, and dogmatism in myself and in the world.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings
The Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world. To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate the insight of interbeing, or Right View, which can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair. If we live according to the Five Mindfulness Trainings, we are already on the path of a bodhisattva. Knowing we are on that path, we are not lost in confusion about our life in the present or in fears about the future.
First Mindfulness Training: Reverence For Life
Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I am committed to cultivating the insight of interbeing and compassion and learning ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, or in my way of life. Seeing that harmful actions arise from anger, fear, greed, and intolerance, which in turn come from dualistic and discriminative thinking, I will cultivate openness, non-discrimination, and non-attachment to views in order to transform violence, fanaticism, and dogmatism in myself and in the world.
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