Tuesday, April 30, 2013

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Tricycle Daily Dharma April 30, 2013

Learning How to Live

Not only is it of profound importance for each of us to understand in a deep way the law of impermanence but it’s also quite practical. It’s not merely metaphysical or something to be argued about in philosophy seminars and coffee shops. Learning the law of impermanence can be done there, too, but the Buddhist teaching is designed to help us learn how to live.  
- Larry Rosenberg, “The Weather is Just the Weather”
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Sunday, April 28, 2013

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Tricycle Daily Dharma April 28, 2013

Taming the Monkey Mind

Your thoughts run around like a wild horse and your feelings jump about like a monkey in the forest. When the monkey and horse step back and reflect upon themselves, freedom from all discrimination is realized naturally.  
- Dogen, "Instructions for the Tenzo"
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Saturday, April 27, 2013

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Tricycle Daily Dharma April 27, 2013

On Not Playing the Victim

One of the worst kinds of elevation of the self is playing the victim. There are times when we actually are victims, when actual blame is appropriate, but to take on the identity of a victim and be stuck blaming is something else. Surprisingly, it is actually a subtle form of elevation—I’m not responsible, you are. This is giving up all freedom.   
- Nancy Baker, "The Seventh Zen Precept"
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Thursday, April 25, 2013

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Tricycle Daily Dharma April 25, 2013

You Are Not Your Pain

You can’t go preventing pleasure and pain, you can’t keep the mind from labeling things and forming thoughts, but you can put these things to a new use. If the mind labels a pain, saying, 'I hurt,' you have to examine the label carefully, contemplate it until you see that it’s wrong: the pain isn’t really yours. It’s simply a sensation that arises and passes away, that’s all.  
- Upasika Kee Nanayon, "Tough Teachings To Ease The Mind"
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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

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Tricycle Daily Dharma April 24, 2013

Forgiving Past Harms

Most of us find it very difficult to forgive individuals who have hurt us deeply. Why should we forgive them? Although we sometimes make others feel uncomfortable when we express our anger toward them, we are the ones who wind up suffering the most when we do so. Maintaining anger is similar to picking up a red-hot piece of coal to throw at someone—whether we hit our target or not, we are the ones who get burned.  
- Matthew Flickstein, "Forgiveness"
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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Via JMG: COLOMBIA: Bogota Mayor Unfurls Pro-Gay Banner As Senate Considers Marriage


Colombia's Senate is expected to vote down its marriage equality bill today after a debate which is scheduled to begin within the hour of this writing.  Despite that prediction, today Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro ordered the above banner to be unfurled over city hall as LGBT activists demonstrated outside. Watch the debate and vote live here.  More photos from the pro and anti-gay sides can be found on the Twitter feed of US-based activist and Colombia native Andres Duque.


Reposted from Joe

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Tricycle Daily Dharma April 23, 2013

Becoming Intimate with your Neurosis

The teacher serves as a mirror but also encourages your ability to trust in yourself. You begin to trust in your basic goodness instead of identifying with your neurosis. There’s a shift of allegiance. Then the obstacles begin to seem temporary, and what’s permanent is the wisdom. To the degree that you become intimate with your neurosis—not acting-out and not repressing—to that degree you discover your wisdom.  
- Pema Chödrön, “Unconditionally Steadfast”
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Daily Buddhist Wisdom






Do not underestimate your ability.
- Geshe Chekawa, in Advice From a Spiritual Friend

Monday, April 22, 2013

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Daily Buddhist Wisdom






Arouse your will, supreme and great, Practice love, give joy and protection; Let your giving be like space, Without discrimination or limitation. Do good things, not for your own sake But for all the beings in the universe; Save and make free everyone you encounter, Help them attain the wisdom of the way.
- Prajnaparamita

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Tricycle Daily Dharma April 22, 2013

Gateway to Happiness

We are constantly encouraged to reject what is unpleasant, disappointing or difficult. 'What's all this suffering? Let's be happy! Have fun!' But our suffering is not our enemy. It is only through a relationship with my pain, my sadness, that I can truly know and touch the opposite—my pleasure, my joy, and my happiness.  
- Claude AnShin Thomas, “Conceptions of Happiness”
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Sunday, April 21, 2013

President Bill Clinton speaks out against DOMA at the #glaadawards


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Tricycle Daily Dharma April 21, 2013

Riding the Highs and Lows of Life

Skillful attitudes of mind are the key to facing potentially explosive situations and the ongoing highs and lows of life and practice. In fact, recognizing these attitudes and cultivating their antidotes is the foundation for all spiritual growth. By cultivating skillful attitudes of mind, we will respond to more and more of life with awareness and wisdom.  
- Steve Armstrong, "Got Attitude?"
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Saturday, April 20, 2013

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Tricycle Daily Dharma April 20, 2013

The Mind's Buddha

Trying to find a Buddha or enlightenment is like trying to grab space. Space has a name but no form. It's not something you can pick up or put down. And you certainly can't grab it. Beyond this mind you'll never see a Buddha. The Buddha is a product of your mind. Why look for a Buddha beyond this mind?  
- Bodhidharma, "The Snaggletoothed Barbarian"
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Friday, April 19, 2013

Rassurez-vous - Fear Not


Full Performance of "You Have More Friends Than You Know"



Via JMG: Rio De Janeiro State Legalizes Marriage


The Brazilian state of Rio De Janeiro has become the tenth in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage. Marriages conducted in any of these ten states are recognized nationwide. Same-sex marriage is also legal in the national capital of Brasilia. (Tipped by JMG reader Afonso)


Reposted from Joe

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States wants you to know that you as a gay person are not welcome in their community:

January 3, 2011

To the American Bahá’í community

Dearest Bahá'í Friends,

The National Spiritual Assembly understands that homosexuality is a subject of
particular interest and concern to many in this country and is, therefore, moved to share
with you a letter dated October 27, 2010, written on behalf of the Universal House of
Justice on this topic. A copy of the letter—addressed to an American Bahá’í—was
received by our Assembly, and the Supreme Body has kindly granted us permission to
share it with you:

...With respect to your question concerning the position Bahá’ís are to
take regarding homosexuality and civil rights, we have been asked to convey
the following.

The purpose of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh is the realization of the organic
unity of the entire human race, and Bahá’ís are enjoined to eliminate from
their lives all forms of prejudice and to manifest respect towards all.
Therefore, to regard those with a homosexual orientation with prejudice or
disdain would be against the spirit of the Faith. Furthermore, a Bahá’í is
exhorted to be “an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression”, and it
would be entirely appropriate for a believer to come to the defense of those
whose fundamental rights are being denied or violated.

At the same time, you are no doubt aware of the relevant teachings of the
Faith that govern the personal conduct of Bahá’ís. The Bahá’í Writings state
that marriage is a union between a man and a woman and that sexual
relations are restricted to a couple who are married to each other. Other
passages from the Writings state that the practice of homosexuality is not
permitted. The teachings of Bahá’u’lláh on personal morality are binding on
Bahá’ís, who strive, as best they can, to live up to the high standards He has
established.

In attempting to reconcile what may appear to be conflicting obligations,
it is important to understand that the Bahá’í community does not seek to
impose its values on others, nor does it pass judgment on others on the basis
of its own moral standards. It does not see itself as one among competing
social groups and organizations, each vying to establish its particular social
agenda. In working for social justice, Bahá’ís must inevitably distinguish

between those dimensions of public issues that are in keeping with the Bahá’í
Teachings, which they can actively support, and those that are not, which
they would neither promote nor necessarily oppose. In connection with
issues of concern to homosexuals, the former would be freedom from
discrimination and the latter the opportunity for civil marriage. Such
distinctions are unavoidable when addressing any social issue. For example,
Bahá’ís actively work for the establishment of world peace but, in the
process, do not engage in partisan political activities directed against
particular governments.

We felt it important that the friends have access to this guidance from the House of
Justice, and trust that you will find it helpful.

 With loving Bahá'í greetings,


 Kenneth E. Bowers
 Secretary

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:


Daily Buddhist Wisdom






The path to material gain goes one way, the way to Unbinding, another. Realizing this, the monk, a disciple to the Awakened One, should not relish offerings, should cultivate seclusion instead.
- Dhammapada, 5, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

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Tricycle Daily Dharma April 19, 2013

Daydreams of a Poet

It is possible to take our existence as a ‘sacred world,’ to take this place as open space rather than claustrophobic dark void. It is possible to take a friendly relationship to our ego natures, it is possible to appreciate the aesthetic play of forms in emptiness, and to exist in this place like majestic kings of our own consciousness. But to do that, we would have to give up grasping to make everything come out the way we daydream it should.  
- Allen Ginsberg, “Negative Capability: Kerouac’s Buddhist Ethic”
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