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Heart News

Align - Love - Thrive

Our heart team proudly curates a set of teachings, practices and information each month and season to help you live a life of balance, alignment and connection: Yoga! Click through regularly to explore, learn and grow on the path. 

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October 2024: The Face of Compassion

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Sangha, 

 

A delightful entrance into October, y'all!

 

An invitation to incline your mind toward the in and of-dwelling potentials or attitudes of the human heart! These are our innermost wealth - a basic instinct of our psychology, physiology and neurology. They are not outside of us, they are not something to be given to us and they are never up for negotiation. Each is equal in their belonging, like the four directions of a compass. In the language of Pali, used by the Buddha, these attitudes are referred to as the 4 sides or faces of the heart: metta (loving-kindness), karuna (compassion), mudita (empathic joy) and upekkha (equanimity). The Hindu (the wellspring from which Buddhism came) deity Brahma (the archetype representing the totality of the divine) is said to dwell (vihārā) in these four attitudes, thus they are called the Brahmavihārās, or “divine abidings.”

 

With this in mind, consider that joy, and a lack of it, are not primarily created by the material/ phenomenal world or physical body - they are within us and thus are first decisions or attitudes of the mind. While karma or action is a concept that predates the Buddha, he was clear in his reference to it as the cause of action: intention. He taught that while each of us have amassed lots of karma from past and present activity, karma itself is liable to change. Each moment presents an opportunity to take an appropriate and supportive action - to think, speak and act in a skillful way that will steer us from the clinging and delusion that keeps us and others caught in unnecessary suffering. There is no path to joy, joy is the path.

 

How we place our attention matters and will ultimately determine the quality of our lived experience. With a little bit of inspiration, intention and practice, we strengthen our ability to incline our attention directly through the heart, becoming heart-centered and connected. From this perspective we will feel able and motivated to choose to repair, heal and socially harmonize.

 

This month we bring our focus and practice to the second of the attitudes: karuna or compassion. Compassion stretches well beyond sympathy. In the most basic of terms, it is the unbounded and universal wish for all of us to be happy and free from unnecessary suffering. This is our capacity to see the difficulties that all living beings experience and respond with a genuine desire to alleviate that difficulty. Even if we cannot directly do anything, we can, at the same time, realize that without trying, our wish for things to be better and more peaceful has grown to accommodate the ache. This wish, as basic as it seems, is one of the most powerful tools we humans possess. 

 

The source of unnecessary suffering is belief in a separate self. Cultivating compassion is a practice that helps us overcome self-centeredness, leading us back to the reality of interconnectedness. In this work, we present ourselves with the opportunity to not only feel but also grow compassion for ourselves, loved ones, and eventually all people. In seeing clearly our connectedness, it is possible for us to deepen that connection to others by bringing them benefit. The most excellent connection we could possibly make would be to cultivate the heart of compassion for them and to think of ways we can reduce their suffering. Reflecting on our connection to these beings, we must engender a level of compassion that cannot bear their suffering to endure any longer. This great, unbearable compassion is extremely important. Without it, we might be able to feel a compassionate sensation in our minds from time to time, but this sensation will not bring forth the full power of compassion. It cannot form the basis of a comprehensive practice nor the power necessary to alchemize suffering into relief.

 

Even as we understand that compassion is innate and so important, we will also at times find it is quite difficult to fully and genuinely incorporate it into our experience. What prevents us from cultivating our heart of compassion further is conditioning and hardwired mental afflictions that suggest that we are flawed, lonely, forgotten or left out. Emotions such as jealousy, hatred and anger inflict the greatest harm on our path to authentic compassion. For this reason, we must take an honest look at the emotions arising and ask ourselves, is this emotion benefiting me (and you)? Or is it of no benefit at all? We need to engage in a detailed, introspective analysis. If our investigation reveals that these negative emotions are of no benefit, the vital next step is for us to create a fresh outlook on how the energy of emotions can become universally beneficial. We need to make our journey back to heart center, aligning self to the proper nervous system so that the brahmavihārās arise naturally for us to encounter them. Here is our chance to redirect the course! The inspiration is palpable and gives rise to intention. Intention steers the practice. Practice reveals realization. In realization we actualize!

 

You are the buddha! You are not the mental affliction, you are the compassion in the background. You are not the weather, but the attending and limitless sky. May you rouse the enthusiasm to ask the questions that will steer you to brighter horizons. May your practice create supportive conditions so you are less apt to forget and much more quick to return to the truth. We are in this together, unable to be taken apart; we are one. Our desires to be happy, safe, seen and loved are universal. We are love - wide awake, mobile and profoundly feeling. What a gift - let's seize it!

 

Happy returns, again and again!

 

Hands to heart,

Meg Lucks

El Getsu En Dō "Brilliant Moon, Way of the Circle"

 

PS: One million heaps of gratitude for all of the Zen ordination support. I have never felt so profoundly filled and surrounded by light. Gassho!

Past Newsies:

October 2024: Compassion

September 2024: Brahmavihara

August 2024: Being Upright

July 2024: Rhythm + Repose

June 2024: Intimacy

May 2024: Vulnerability

April 2024: The Art of Mindfulness

March 2024: The Eightfold Path

February 2024: Enlightened Society

January 2024: This Meaningful Life

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December 2023: Bodhichitta

November 2023: Prajnaparamita2

October 2023: Prajnaparamita

September 2023: Om Mani Padme Hum

August 2023: Mahamrtyunjaya

July 2023: Gayatri

June 2023: Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

May 2023: Om Santih, Santih, Santih

April 2023: Om Gam Ganapatye Namaha

March 2023: Om Purnam Adah, Purnam Idam

February 2023: Om Namah Shivaya

January 2023: Sat Nam

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December 2022: Self-love as Dharma

November 2022: Practice is the Antidote

October 2022: Happiness is the Path

September 2022: Taking Your Seat

August 2022: A Crowded Mind Leaves no Space for a Peaceful Heart

July 2022: Yoga is the Journey of the Self...

June 2022: Practice and All is Coming

May 2022: The Altruistic Intention

April 2022: Being Mudra

March 2022: Receptive Listening

February 2022: There is No Enlightenment Outside of Daily Life

January 2022: The Source of a True Smile is an Awakened Mind

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December 2021: The Practice of Touching the Earth

November 2021: Rejuvenation: Nourish Your Entire Being

October 2021: Contemplative Interbeing

September 2021: The Nobility of Silence

August 2021: Dissolve Your Fixation with Self

July 2021: Let's Linger

June 2021: I am in the Flow of the Universe

May 2021: Lighten Up

April 2021: We Travel the Path in Good Company

March 2021: Om Mani Padme HumM

February 2021: Embodied Dharma

January 2021: "Everything can be a 'that'; everything can be a 'this' " 

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December 2020: I Am a Sanctuary

November 2020: In the One is The All

October 2020: Ready, Set, Rest

September 2020: Attract Beauty Today, Create Tomorrow 

August 2020: Refuge in One and blogging by the sangha

July 2020: Awaken Your Voice 

June 2020: The Spirit of Sangha 

May 2020: Just as You Are 

April 2020: The Next Buddha is Sangha

March 2020: You and I Are Essentially Infinite and blogging bits by Heather Kolvenbach

February 2020: Mudita: Taking Delight in the Happiness of Others and blogging bits by Amy Griebenow

January 2020: I am 

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December 2019: Give the Gift of Presence 

November 2019: We are All Royalty by Roy Grant

October 2019: Rekindle the Heart 

September 2019: Where Your Intention Goes, Energy Flows 

August 2019: Come Home & Be Anywhere 

July 2019: Paradise is Now 

June 2019: Let Peace Be Your Superpower 

May 2019: Play is our Pathway to Possibility 

April 2019: Give Yourself Room to Bloom 

March 2019: Living Your Highest Truth 

February 2019: Out of Love, Our Path Can Lead us to Serve

January 2019: True Belonging is the Spiritual Practice of believing in and belonging to yourself...

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