Heart Intelligence: full moon - Monday 2nd February, 2026
To harm living beings
who, like us, seek contentment,
is to bring harm to ourselves.
Dhammapada 131
We all have some familiarity with the open-hearted state, that is warm and caring. We probably also have some familiarity with the opposite, the heart that has contracted and grown cold. Obviously, the company of those who show respect for others, who appreciate their concerns and needs, is more agreeable than the company of those who are self-obsessed. So why are we not all focussed on cultivating that which brings mutual benefit? Partly at least it is because of a lack of inner awareness. Those who harm others are not aware that they are obstructing their own well-being. They are lost in ideas of right and wrong and have forgotten to listen to their hearts’ intelligence. All beings suffer and want to be free from suffering.
RIGHT COMMUNICATION: full moon – Wednesday 12th February 2025
As a beautiful flower
with a delightful fragrance is pleasing,
so is wise and lovely speech
when matched with right action.
DHAMMAPADA v. 52
More communication is not the same thing as meaningful communication. The developers of social media have worked hard to persuade us that the more we interact and share, the better. The allure of the idea of harmonious relationships is hard to resist. Evidence, however, indicates that more talking and sharing is not always helpful. If our communications are not carefully considered, they readily lead to less harmonious relationships. The current polarisation of societies attests to this. If we don’t adequately invest in developing integrity and intentional composure – sila and indriya samvara – then we are vulnerable to being defined by the values of those around us. Sadly, and increasingly, this means the values of the casual culture. There are many who believe that being relaxed is the way to contentment. Obviously, feeling perpetually stressed is not desirable, but overcompensating by being casual about everything is also not working. Spending even a small amount of time each day in intentional quietude, disciplining attention, could, perhaps, help replace casual communication with wise speech.
BEYOND OVERWHELM: full moon – Monday, August 19th, 2024
“By endeavour, vigilance,
restraint and self-control,
let the wise make islands of themselves
which no flood can overwhelm.”
DHAMMAPADA v 25
When so much of the world that surrounds us focusses on the opposite of restraint, it can be difficult to not feel overwhelmed by sense impressions. Where the Buddha highlights the need to develop restraint, it is not because he wants us to feel like a failure. Rather, he is pointing directly at that which is worth investing in. We have a limited amount of attention. In what do we invest our attention? The values of the ‘casual culture’ encourage us to invest in distractions which can serve the purpose of temporarily relieving us from fear and confusion. The values encouraged by our wise teachers serve an altogether different purpose. The virtues of vigilance and restraint, for example, equip us with resilience and stability, so that even when we do encounter chaos we won’t have to be defined by it.