Mike here... feeling burnt out today. Let's take another look at SN 45.8, especially the section on Right Effort, and see if I can take some motivation from it.

https://virtualsangha.org

https://suttacentral.net/sn56.11/en/bodhi?lang=en&reference=main&highlight=false

Join our Buddhist Discord: https://virtualsangha.org

Mike reads the discourse on non-self, and the heart sutra.

Maybe you've heard of the Eightfold Path: Right view, right intent, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

But have you heard of the Threefold Training? This divides the Eightfold Path into three sections:

• Paññā (wisdom, as in wise view and wise intention),
• Sīla (moral ethics, as in ethical speech, ethical action, and ethical livelihood), and
• Samadhi (meditative practice, such as meditative effort, meditative mindfulness, and meditative concentration).

When those three are perfected, the path is realized, and freedom (vimutti) is attained.

In this sutta, the Buddha teaches about these four things: Panna, Sila, Samadhi, and Vimutti.

Read along: https://suttacentral.net/an4.1/en/kovilo?lang=en&layout=linebyline&reference=main¬es=sidenotes&highlight=false&script=latin

Join our Buddhist Discord: https://virtualsangha.org/

The Buddha spends a night in the woods, confronting fear.

https://suttacentral.net/mn4/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=plain&reference=none¬es=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin

Is "the path" endless?

https://suttacentral.net/sn51.15/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=plain&reference=none¬es=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin

https://suttacentral.net/mn21/en/sujato

Even is someone is trolling your Discord server, you should train like this: ‘My mind will not degenerate. I will blurt out no bad words. I will remain full of sympathy, with a heart of love and no secret hate. And with them as a basis, we will meditate spreading a heart like the earth to everyone in the world—abundant, expansive, limitless, free of enmity and ill will.’ That’s how you should train.

Mike gave his "Milk and Water" talk via Zoom to his friends at the Phap Nguyen Temple.

---

How do you handle difficult conversations or situations, both inside and outside of the practice community?

One of the phrases that helps me is "Dear friend, I love you more than I love being right."

I hope we will always love each other more than we love the sound of our own voices, and that we will always be honest, especially to ourselves, about our intentions in any conversation: are we seeking mutual understanding, or are we seeking to win some kind of one-sided victory?

How do you handle difficult conversations or situations, both inside and outside of the practice community?

One of the phrases that helps me is "Dear friend, I love you more than I love being right."

I hope we will always love each other more than we love the sound of our own voices, and that we will always be honest, especially to ourselves, about our intentions in any conversation: are we seeking mutual understanding, or are we seeking to win some kind of one-sided victory?

https://virtualsangha.org/milk-and-water-harmony-in-the-sangha/

The Buddha answers a trick question, and teaches about Right Speech.

• If something is not true and/or beneficial, don't say it.
• If something is true and beneficial, then depending on whether it will be liked or disliked by other people, know when to speak in the proper time.

Additional resources on Right Speech:

• https://zenstudiespodcast.com/right-speech/
• https://www.deepdharma.org/beliefs/right-speech/