EFFECTS OF RIGHT RESTRAINT: full moon - Sunday 7th September 2025
It is good to restrain the eye. It is good to restrain the ear. It is good to restrain the nose. It is good to restrain the tongue.
DHAMMAPADA v. 360
There is so much happening in our world about which we can easly feel angry. If we try hard to not feel angry because the Buddha taught restraint is good, it is likely that anger won’t disappear; it will hide away in unawareness and resurface at another time. The Buddha did indeed teach that restraint is good. He also taught that mindfulness is good. If our efforts to be mindful are merely a mental exercise and are not including the fire we feel in our hearts when we are enraged, we may well fail. Mindfulness practice means we aim to feel the anger without becoming lost in it. Similarly with fear. Can we feel fear without becoming lost in fear. The cultivation of restraint is not the same as repression.
Q: What Can I Do About My Unhappiness?
(approx 11 minutes) Q: I have everything in terms of material concerns, however I am still fundamentally unhappy. What can I do about it? Materialists, stories, gratification, desire, wanting, dissatisfied, fire, burnt, theory, approximation, discipline attention, slow down, meditation, counting breathing, craft, wood lath, pottery, crochet, smartphone, interest, begin again.
FOR GOODNESS SAKE: full moon – Saturday 12th April 2025
Having performed a wholesome deed it is good to repeat it, again and again. Be interested in the pleasure of wholesomeness. The fruit of accumulated goodness is contentment.
DHAMMAPADA v. 118
What is our first response when we are feeling challenged? Perhaps something along the lines of, ‘How do I handle this?’ or ‘What should I do to fix this?’ We then set about trying to make ‘right’ a situation that we view as ‘wrong’. Understandable as this response is, it doesn’t always work. Some situations we can’t make ‘right’. When this happens, if we are not careful, we can find ourselves feeling helpless and frustrated. From the perspective of Buddhist practice there is always something we can do that makes a positive difference. As simplistic as it might first appear, it is always possible to generate goodness. Don’t underestimate the potential benefit of even a small moment of positivity. And remember, this goodness is not supposed to get rid of the frustration or the anger. We are not talking here about denying the pain and indulging a naive addiction to positivity. Accumulated goodness is a source of strength that can help us take responsibility for the way we feel. Indeed, facing intense challenges with a well-stocked storehouse of goodness is much less risky.
Q: "How can we learn to really let go of deep trauma?"
(approx. 12 minutes) KEYWORDS: “When you've been affected by a deep personal trauma that results in emotional responses such as ' betrayal', 'deep disappointment ', 'ingratitude', and so forth, how can we learn to really 'let go'?” (approx. 12 minutes) KEYWORDS: 'How can we wisely address our impacted body mind states? Whilst the head can come to a better place, the heart continuously struggles. How can we move beyond regret, and the deluded self?'Vibhavatanha, printing press, self-improvement, in-breath, victims, denied dukkha, Vulture’s Peak, backlog, overwhelmed, sadness, anger, good friends, exercise routine, singing, compassion.
Q: When We Chant, 'May All Beings Be Happy', Does That Mean The Only Good Is Happiness?