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Feelings depend on our mental state; objects by themselves do not have pleasantness or unpleasantness. It is the mind that labels them pleasant or unpleasant. If the object is pleasant, a mental state of craving develops. The wish to sense again and again, the same object that led to a pleasant feeling ensues. This pattern, reinforced by desire and strengthened by repetition, results in clinging.

- Dharma Talk, Tricycle Magazine, Clinging: Untangling the habits that keep us in the loop. (By Bhante Henepola Gunaratana) Winter 2024

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Our culture conditions us to think that we are not whole until we find our person.

- Bunny Michael

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A fixation on happiness inevitably amounts to a never-ending pursuit of “something else”-a new house, a new relationship, another child, another pay raise. And despite all of our sweat and strain, we end up feeling eerily similar to how we started: inadequate.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A counter intuitive approach to living a good life. / Mark Manson

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You may salivate at the thought of a problem-free life full of everlasting happiness and eternal compassion, but back here on earth the problems never cease. Seriously, problems don’t end. Disappointment Panda just dropped by. We had margaritas, and he told me all about it: problems never fucking go away, he said - they just improve.

- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A counter intuitive approach to living a good life. / Mark Manson

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The desire for a more positive experience is itself a negative experience. And, paradoxical, acceptance of one’s negative experience is itself a positive experience.

- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A counter intuitive approach to living a good life. / Mark Manson 

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Our crisis is no longer a material; it’s existential, it’s spiritual. We have so much fucking stuff and so many opportunities that we don’t even know what to give a fuck about anymore.

- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach To Living A Good Life / Mark Manson

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The quiet, empty space of zazen reveals the mind’s addiction to imagining the future and reminiscing about the past. It helps us understand how dwelling in a time other than the present starts to churn the ego: anxieties arise, desires become distractions, and to do things well is nearly impossible. But when there is no idea of time, there are no expectations, and desires do not become a problem.

- The Time Is Now: Select wisdom from sources old and new

By Les Kaye - SUMMER 2011 -Tricycle.org

From Joyously Through the Days by Les Kaye,

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If our mind is somewhere else, it means we are trying to be someone else, not who we are in the present moment. However, by practicing awareness, we can train ourselves to respond to distractions in a positive way and increase our capacity to give full attention to the task or relationship before us.

- The Time Is Now: Select wisdom from sources old and new

By Les Kaye - SUMMER 2011 -Tricycle.org

From Joyously Through the Days by Les Kaye,

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Anicca; - impermanence

a compound word consisting of "a" meaning non-, and "nicca" meaning "constant, continuous, permanent

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At first, grieving for something or someone we’ve lost may look like clinging, but it’s actually a process of acknowledging our loss, which allows us to heal from the pain and loosen our grip on the past.

Bhante Sumano

One Thing For Sure, Lessons in grief from a rescue chicken.

Tricycle.org, summer 2022

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But to be overly busy cannot possibly bring peacefulness. It cannot bring contentment. It cannot bring a heart full of love; it cannot bring a heart that can actually bring the mind to meditation.

- There’s No Need to be Busy

Ayya Khema on making time to do nothing

Ayya Khema Fall 2022

Tricycle.org

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“Forget about enlightenment, just become a nicer person, this is already a difficult practice.”

— Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

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All feelings come and go, and are by their nature ephemeral. But if we don’t train our minds to see that, we end up riding life like the old roller coaster at Coney Island that threatened to hurl people from their seats every now and again.

Tricycle.org

Pilar Jennings, “Fear”

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“samsara is nirvana.”

Samsara typically means our everyday, ordinary life: setting the alarm, getting up, making the coffee, coming to the Zendo, going to work, coming home.

- Bodhisattvas Have More Fun, The delights of living a life of service

By Roshi Pat Enkyo O'Hara, Tricycle.org

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The living wage in the United States is $16.54 per hour, or $68,808 per year, in 2019, before taxes for a family of four (two working adults, two children), compared to $16.14 in 2018. The minimum wage does not provide a living wage for most American families. A typical family of four (two working adults, two children) needs to work nearly four full-time minimum-wage jobs (a 75-hour work week per working adult) to earn a living wage

A Calculation of the Living Wage 

New Living Wage Data for Now Available on the Tool, 

Written by Ms. Carey Ann Nadeau on 03/03/2020

https://livingwage.mit.edu/articles

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Buddhism offers us two complementary perspectives that can guide us in our engagement with the world. One pertains to our way of understanding ourselves, the other to our relationship with other living beings. These two perspectives are, respectively, the wisdom of selflessness and universal compassion. Though distinct, the two are closely bound, and in their unity they provide a potent antidote to our current perilous drift.

- The Need of the Hour

A new vision and scale of values are necessary measures for safeguarding our world.

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi

Tricycle.org