Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Via 2012 Healing the Planet 2012 / FB:

Happiness arises as a result of different causes and conditions. If you harm someone out of anger, you may feel some superficial satisfaction, but deep down you know it was wrong. Your confidence will be undermined. However, if you have an altruistic attitude, you’ll feel comfortable and confident in the presence of others.

~ His Holiness XIV Dalai Lama
Image : Google
Happiness arises as a result of different causes and conditions. If you harm someone out of anger, you may feel some superficial satisfaction, but deep down you know it was wrong. Your confidence will be undermined. However, if you have an altruistic attitude, you’ll feel comfortable and confident in the presence of others.

~ His Holiness XIV Dalai Lama
Image : Google

Via JMG: SAN FRANCISCO: Voters May Consider Renaming Airport For Harvey Milk


 
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is considering a ballot measure which would rename the airport for slain LGBT rights icon Harvey Milk.
A charter amendment sponsored by Supervisor David Campos would put the question of creating Harvey Milk-San Francisco International Airport on San Francisco’s November ballot. If five of Campos’ colleagues agree to submit the proposed name change to voters and the amendment goes through in the fall, the city would become home to the world’s first airport honoring an openly gay person, said Milk’s nephew, Stuart Milk. Milk, who runs an international gay rights foundation in his uncle’s memory, said that adding an airport to the list of public venues named for Harvey Milk would mark a milestone since flights to and from San Francisco International serve 68 countries where homosexuality is illegal.
The wingnuts are gonna love this one. (Image via Harvey Milk Foundation)


Reposted from Joe

JMG HomoQuotable - Nathaniel Frank


"Any step a gay person takes to hide their identity that they wouldn't take to hide the fact that they're, say, Irish, vegetarian or left-handed is probably not a neutral quest for privacy but reflects their own doubt about just how OK it is to be gay. Foster's reluctance to just pull an Ellen ('Yep, I'm gay'), and her tortured speech, with its resentful tone and its ultimate avoidance of the 'L' word, made being gay and coming out seem tortured things in themselves.

"Still, gay people are born with the unique burden of disclosure, one that is supremely unfair. Coming out is never just a single act but a constant obligation if one is to assure that people don't assume that they're straight. We're always encountering new people who won't know, hence stuffing us back into the closet and reimposing the burden of coming out. And for years the world has berated and punished us not only for being gay but for being honest. [snip]  How hard it is to get it perfect. If there's one thing LGBT people should agree on, it's the importance of compassion, and of not bullying our own." - Nathaniel Frank, writing for the Huffington Post.


Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: GOP Rep Backs WY Marriage Bill


GOP state Rep. Keith Gingery is one of the cosponsors of a marriage equality bill just proposed in Wyoming.  Yes, Wyoming.
Laramie Democratic Rep. Cathy Connolly filed legislation late Monday afternoon that would create a path for gay couples to form civil unions or get married. The dual approach already has won the backing of Reps. Ruth Ann Petroff, R-Jackson, and Gingery. Both Teton County lawmakers said they would prefer to see gay marriage allowed in Wyoming but are willing to debate whether civil unions might be a better way to go.  “It’s a basic human rights and fairness issue,” Petroff said Monday. “It’s a basic constitutional issue. There should just be no reason why same-sex couples shouldn’t have the same rights as everyone else.” Gingery is the chairman of the judiciary committee, which will be the first to debate the bills. He said the issue poses a legal problem that state officials need to resolve. “The population of gay couples in the state is increasing, and the law is not very clear about what rights they have,” he said. Gingery, who is Catholic, says the question of whether to allow same-sex couples to get married in Wyoming isn’t a religious issue. If passed, the laws wouldn’t affect church policy, he said.
Same-sex marriage bills have failed in the Wyoming legislature in 2007, 2009, and 2011.


Reposted from Joe

Via Gay Politics Report:

  • GOP insiders want party to ditch marriage topic, poll finds
     
  • A National Journal poll of 99 Republican Party insiders finds that just 11% want the GOP to actively oppose marriage rights for same-sex couples. More than a quarter of respondents want the party to support marriage equality, and nearly half said the party should avoid the topic altogether. "We can’t be a party that supports a zone of personal freedom and then try to use federal power to curtail it. Plus, we increasingly look prejudiced, and not a little stupid, on this issue," said one respondent. National Journal/Political Insiders Poll (1/10) LinkedInFacebookTwitterEmail this Story

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:


Daily Buddhist Wisdom






The king said: 'Nagasena, he who escapes reindividualization [rebirth], is it by reasoning that he escapes it?' 'Both by reasoning, your Majesty, and by wisdom, and by other good qualities.' 'But are not reasoning and wisdom surely much the same?' 'Certainly not. Reasoning is one thing, wisdom another. Sheep and goats, oxen and buffaloes, camels and asses have reasoning, but wisdom they have not.' 'Well put, Nagasena!'
- Milindapanha 32

Via Vida Rz / FB:

Vida Rz shared Karmapa Supporters's photo.
Turning our attention toward light and hopefulness ~ 17th Karmapa

While we are living and remaining in this world, if we only pay attention to darkness and hopelessness, we will not see anything but darkness. But if we turn our attention toward light and hopefulness, then even if we have only a little hope, we will eventually be able to find a way to reach the light. For this reason, the world environment and all the beings in it are not all bad. The beings in the world are not unilaterally vicious, and the external world is not exclusively poisonous and polluted. If we make efforts with a courageous heart, we can transform the world into a pure realm. We can transform the beings in the world so that they become the beautiful and majestic deities present within their minds.

(from: Teachings before a Medicine Buddha empowerment - India, December 2007)

Posted by Kagyu Samye Dzong Venezia

Turning our attention toward light and hopefulness ~ 17th Karmapa

While we are living and remaining in this world, if we only pay attention to darkness and hopelessness, we will not see anything but darkness. But if we turn our attention toward light and hopefulness, then even if we have only a little hope, we will eventually be able to find a way to reach the light. For this reason, the world environment and all the beings in it are not all bad. The beings in the world are not unilaterally vicious, and the external world is not exclusively poisonous and polluted. If we make efforts with a courageous heart, we can transform the world into a pure realm. We can transform the beings in the world so that they become the beautiful and majestic deities present within their minds.

(from: Teachings before a Medicine Buddha empowerment - India, December 2007)

Posted by Kagyu Samye Dzong Venezia

Via LGBT News / FB:



Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 15, 2013

The Ultimate Reflection

The Buddha exhorted his disciples to reflect on death a lot—to use it as the ultimate prompt to practice now, in this moment; to practice every day. To stoke the fire before it’s too late. To prepare ourselves to make skillful choices in the moment when we leave this body. The same things that impede meditation are those that cloud our view at death: pain and emotional distraction. The better we master these fetters in life, the better chance we have of forgoing them at death.
- Mary Talbot, "How Buddhists Can Prepare to Die"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 16th, 2013
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Monday, January 14, 2013

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:


Daily Buddhist Wisdom






Ashamed of what's not shameful, not ashamed of what is, beings adopting wrong views go to a bad destination. Seeing danger where there is none, and no danger where there is, beings adopting wrong views, go to a bad destination.
- Dhammapada, 22, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 14, 2013

Adversity's Blessing

When empathy spontaneously arises, we sense the power of love as a blessing revealed by adversity. How embarrassing it is to see how preoccupied we have been with our own petty concerns! Seeing how affection stirs people to acts of selflessness inspires us to extend ourselves as well. With loving kindness we see the needs of others and respond.
- Judith L. Lief, "Welcome to the Real World"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 15th, 2013
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 January 14, 2013

Adversity's Blessing


When empathy spontaneously arises, we sense the power of love as a blessing revealed by adversity. How embarrassing it is to see how preoccupied we have been with our own petty concerns! Seeing how affection stirs people to acts of selflessness inspires us to extend ourselves as well. With loving kindness we see the needs of others and respond.

- Judith L. Lief, "Welcome to the Real World"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 15th, 2013
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member

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Sunday, January 13, 2013

Via The Barking Atheist / FB:


Via The Other 98% / FB:


Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 13, 2013

Knowing When to Speak

Saying things you shouldn’t say or speaking much more than is necessary brings a lot of agitation to the mind. The other extreme, complete silence, or not speaking up when it is useful or necessary, is also problematic. Applying right speech is difficult in the beginning; it takes practice. But if you practice every time you talk to someone, the mind will learn how to be aware, to understand what it should or should not say, and to know when it is necessary to talk.
- Sayadaw U Tejaniya, "The Wise Investigator"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 14th, 2013
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Rachel Maddow On Jeanne Manford

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 12, 2013

Compassionate Action

When we are energized with anger we often do things that worsen our situation. Being compassionate does not mean being passive. We can actively work to counteract injustice and harm, but we do so with compassion, not self-righteous anger. With compassion, our positive efforts can be sustained for a long time and will be effective.
- Thubten Chodron, "Working with Anger"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 13th, 2013
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Friday, January 11, 2013

Via JMG: Buzzfeed Interviews Edith Windsor


Go read Chris Geidner's wonderful interview with DOMA heroine Edith Windsor. No excerpts here, just go read it.


Reposted from Joe

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

Daily Buddhist Wisdom






Those who regard non-essence as essence and see essence as non-, don't get to the essence, ranging about in wrong resolves. But those who know essence as essence, and non-essence as non-, get to the essence, ranging about in right resolves.
- Dhammapada 11-12, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 11, 2013

Facing Fear

To willingly reside in our distress, no longer resisting what is, is the real key to transformation. As painful as it may be to face our deepest fears, we do reach the point where it's more painful not to face them. This is a pivotal point in the practice life.
- Ezra Bayda, "Bursting the Bubble of Fear"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 12th, 2013
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