Letting Go (An Act of Renunciation)
Channel: SF Dharma Collective
Date: 26/07/2023

Augusta Hopkins leads Spiritual Friends Sangha’s Mindful Mondays' group in a guided meditation Plum Village style as well as a reading of the Discourse on Turning the Wheel of the Dharma.

The evening began with a sharing of this beautiful Plum Village Song, Little Star,  https://youtu.be/CF9QPW0g25E and lots of conversation about the various experiences we each had in receiving the song. (The actual song as well as the challenges in technology and how we each responded to that.) 

Enjoy a guided meditation à la Thich Nhat Hanh
(https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mBRCP82_0Z30d4PqrKCViBxmDNlEJEx2aMuNwjmf__E/edit?usp=sharing) 
was followed by a reading of the Discourse on Turning the Wheel of the Dharma, Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, Samyutta Nikāya 56.11 as translated by Thich Nhat Hanh, with some slight adaptations from Augusta (Practitioners instead of Monks or Bhikkhus; They for Kondañño's pronoun).

followed by a few minutes of silence and the reminder that:
 "Mindfulness does not care what it is mindful of" ~Carol Wilsom
 "Mindfulness is always mindful of something" ~Thich Nhat Hanh

Here is an excerpt of the Sutta Translation: https://plumvillage.org/library/sutras/discourse-on-turning-the-wheel-of-the-dharma

“Here, practitioners, is the Noble Truth of suffering [DUKKHA]. Birth is suffering. Old age is suffering. Sickness is suffering. Death is suffering. Sorrow, grief, mental anguish, and disturbance are suffering. To be with those you dislike is suffering. To be separated from those you love is suffering. Not having what you long for is suffering. In other words, to grasp the Five Aggregates [Five Heaps, Five Skandhas or Khandhas: FORM, FEELING (pleasant, unpleasant + neither pleasant nor unpleasant, what we call neutral), PERCEPTION, MENTAL FORMATIONS AND CONSCIOUSNESS] as though they constitute a self is suffering.

“Here, practitioners, is the Noble Truth of the cause of suffering [TANHA]. It is the desire to be born again, delight in being born again, attached to the pleasures found in this and that. There is the craving for sense pleasures, for becoming, and for not becoming any more.

“Here, practitioners, is the Noble Truth of ending suffering [NIRODHA]. It is the fading away and ending of craving without any trace. It is giving up, letting go of, being free from, and doing away with craving.

“Here, practitioners, is the Noble Truth of the Path that leads to the end of suffering [MAGGA]. It is the Noble Eightfold Path of Right View, Right Thinking, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Diligence, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration."

Some of the limbs of the Noble the Eightfold Path have more than one translation:
Right view or understanding (Samma ditthi)
Right intention, thinking or thought (Samma sankappa)
Right speech (Samma vaca)
Right action (Samma kammanta)
Right livelihood (Samma ajiva)
Right effort or diligence (Samma vayama)
Right mindfulness (Samma sati)
Right concentration (Samma samadhi)

Two notes:
"Right" in this case is not about right + wrong. It is upright, as in righting a ship. Wise is a more common current translation of the Pali word SAMMA.  And the four parts of the Four Noble Truths each have an action associated with them:

DUKKHA (suffering, unsatisfactoriness) is to be known
TANHA (thirst, craving) is to be relinquished, released, let go of
NIRODHA (cessation) is to be realized
MAGGA (the Noble Eightfold Path) is to be practiced

May you enjoy your practice. Thank you for your kind attention.

#ThichNhatHanh #buddhism #engaged #plumvillage #mindfulness #Sangha #dukkha #tanha #nirodha #magga #FourNobleTruths #EightfoldPath #augustahopkins #SpiritualFriendsSangha #SFSangha 

🌺 Join Augusta every Monday at 5:30 at the SF Dharma Collective, 2929 24th Street, or online via Zoom: https://sfdharmacollective.org/events/r/hybrid-mindful-mondays-with-augusta-hopkins

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