What’s blocking your Right Intention? What seems to block you from intending goodwill and loving-kindness to others? Chances are it’s one of the three unwholesome roots: delusion, greed, and aversion. Delusion is the inability to see things clearly. That’s what we’re trying to get away from…
One thing I’m learning as I attempt to practice Right Intention: there is joy in staying in your lane. As you might imagine, it feels a little overwhelming to try to be mindful of every intention throughout the day. It’s a big undertaking just to notice…
Firefighters, Bodhisattvas, and compassion. I know; it seems like these don’t go together. But read on, dear ones. We’ve been learning about Right Intention this month, and we’ve talked about how we can clarify our right intentions by practicing renunciation, good will, and harmlessness. Today, I…
The Buddha taught that three forms of right intention can help us practice well, and today we’re talking about the third: harmlessness. Bhikkhu Bodhi describes the intention of harmlessness as “thought guided by compassion, aroused in opposition to cruel, aggressive, and violent thoughts.” So compassion is…
The Buddha taught that the path of Right Intention was threefold: the intention of renunciation, good will, and harmlessness. In today’s post we’re going to look at Right Intention as good will. When we cultivate good will, we expand our lovingkindness to all. And one way…
The Buddha taught that Right Intention is three-fold, so today I want to talk about Right Intention as renunciation. I know renunciation sounds harsh. (Nobody ever hears the phrase, “I renounce you!” as a good thing.) We conjure images of not having any fun, giving up…
This month, we will practice the second step on the Eightfold Path: Right Intention. The wheel of the Eightfold Path comprises three sections: wisdom, morality, and consciousness. Right View and Right Intention together make up the “wisdom” section of the wheel. When these combine, they counteract…
So, the interesting thing about doing these projects is that I never know what’s going to come up as I practice. This past week, what keeps coming up for me all over the place- in books, in my thoughts, on social media- is the strange overlap…
Bhante Gunaratana calls Right View skillful understanding. On the wheel of the Eightfold Path, Right View and Right Intention comprise the section devoted to wisdom. In wisdom, we apply a skillful understanding of ourselves and the world. Gunaratana explains that this is why ignorance includes both…
Richard Rohr says that all great spirituality is about letting go. In a statement that feels very much like a summary of the Second Noble Truth, he describes letting go as “the struggle to forgive reality for being exactly what it is right now.” Much like…