Revoked

Sunday, March 29, 2026

Via GBF]: "Finding Your Posture of Peace" with Victoria Austin

Another dharma talk has been added to the GBF website, podcast and YouTube channel:

Finding Your Posture of Peace – Victoria Austin

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How can we maintain a steady heart and a sense of purpose when the world around us is in conflict?

Victoria Austin introduces us to the concept of a "posture of peace," which she defines not merely as a physical sitting position but as an enduring internal state. Drawing on stories of individuals facing extreme challenges—from the early days of the HIV/AIDS crisis to recovery from traumatic accidents—Victoria suggests that while feelings of love may fluctuate, an internal posture of peace allows us to remain grounded in our "vulnerable humanity." This posture serves as a cornerstone for action in the world, enabling practitioners to meet their "inmost request" and fulfill their unique work without being overwhelmed by external circumstances.

To build this foundation, she provides a framework for understanding and transforming internal reactions, particularly those related to conflict and "unwholesome" impulses. She argues that peace is not passive but requires an active engagement with our emotions and the ethical consequences of our choices, such as avoiding the "three ways to be evil": acting directly, colluding, or condoning.

Victoria categorizes the messages behind our primary struggles and the paths to meaning as follows:

Anger: Acts as a signal for unmet needs or violated boundaries; when safely held, its energy becomes a resource for change.
Fear: A call for support and allies, often requiring the courage to ask for help.
Sadness and Grief: States that require time and the nurturing care of others—symbolized by "soup"—to be fully processed.
Three Ways to Live: she describes existence through the ultimate (the big picture), the relative (historical and familial connections), and the skillful (the ability to move between the two for meaning).

By recognizing that "all experiences come from the mind," she concludes that an internal posture of love is contagious, impacting everyone we meet and offering a stable way to manifest love in an unsettled world.

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Via Daily Dharma: The Wisdom Within Emotions

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The Wisdom Within Emotions

Our emotions are full of wisdom. They are the keys for deepening our practice and our relationships with our world.

Judith Simmer-Brown, “Transforming the Green-Ey’d Monster”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Mindfulness and Concentration: Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling and the Second Jhāna

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RIGHT MINDFULNESS
Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling

A person goes to the forest or to the root of a tree or to an empty place and sits down. Having crossed the legs, one sets the body erect. One establishes the presence of mindfulness. (MN 10) One is aware: “Ardent, fully aware, mindful, I am content.” (SN 47.10)

When feeling a painful bodily feeling, one is aware: “Feeling a painful bodily feeling" … one is just aware, just mindful “there is feeling.” And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)

Reflection

Painful bodily feeling is the most apparent aspect of our experience and is thus the easiest sensation with which to practice. Pain is not an elusive feeling tone. While it can be chronic and excruciating, most of the pain we feel is mild and fleeting. Both pleasure and pain are inevitable aspects of the human condition, and Buddhist practice does not encourage the pursuit of pleasure or the avoidance of pain.

Daily Practice

As part of the practice of mindfulness, you are invited to simply be aware of pain when it is present. This practice has nothing to do with the natural response of disliking the pain or wishing it were not there but involves simply being aware of the sensation with equanimity. Turn toward the painful sensation, take an interest in its texture, and hold it in mind without pushing it away. Fully aware of the pain, you can still be content.

RIGHT CONCENTRATION
Approaching and Abiding in the Second Phase of Absorption (2nd Jhāna)

With the stilling of applied and sustained thought, one enters upon and abides in the second phase of absorption, which has inner clarity and singleness of mind, without applied thought and sustained thought, with joy and the pleasure born of concentration. (MN 4)

Reflection

The teachings around right concentration have to do with four phases of absorption, also known as jhānas. When the mind rests steadily on a single object of attention—which is quite difficult to do at first—it gradually disentangles itself from the various hindrances and becomes unified, peaceful, and stable. With this comes inner clarity and the dropping away of the internal use of language.

Daily Practice

You will know when you have entered into absorption of the jhānas because the state is accompanied at first with a great deal of physical and mental pleasure. The physical pleasure is described as being fundamentally different from any sensual gratification, and the mental pleasure comes naturally when the mind is free of the hindrances (phase one) and when it becomes concentrated or one-pointed (phase two).

Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering
One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Mind and Abiding in the Third Jhāna

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Via White Crane Institute \\ BUD CORT

Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989

This Day in Gay History

March 29

1948 -

BUD CORT, American actor, born; As a teenager Cort was a local portrait painting prodigy and began taking acting lessons. He was discovered in a revue by director Robert Altman, who subsequently cast him in two of his movies, M.A.S.H. and Brewster McCloud (in the title role).

But Cort’s most iconic role, was as the suicide-obsessed Harold, in Harold and Maude with the legendary Ruth Gordon. Though the film was not particularly successful at the time of its release, it gained international cult status and now is acclaimed as an American film classic. Although he was grateful for the opportunity, it also had its downsides. During an interview with The Guardian, he referred to the movie as “a blessing and a curse” because it ultimately resulted in him being typecast.

On Broadway, Cort appeared in the short-lived 1972 play Wise Child by Simon Gray. Cort was invited to live with the famous comedian Groucho Marx in his Bel Air mansion, and was present at Marx's death in 1977.

In 1979, Bud’s life nearly ended in a near-fatal car accident on the Hollywood Freeway. From behind, he collided with an abandoned car blocking a lane into which he was turning. Years of plastic surgery, enormous hospital bills, a losing court case, and the disruption of his career ensued.

Since, Cort has appeared in various film, stage and TV roles: Endgame, He Who Gets Slapped, Sledge Hammer!, The Chocolate War, The Big Empty, Theodore Rex, Dogma, But I’m a Cheerleader, Pollack, Arrested Development, The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud and The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou.

On a November 2007 original episode of Ugly Betty, he made a guest appearance as the priest officiating at Wilhemina Slater’s ill-fated wedding.

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Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation \\ Words of Wisdom - March 29, 2026 🌷

“It is best not to have a model of what is holy because it is going to have to be knocked apart anyway. Listen to your own heart about what you need, don’t let anybody else create guilt in you.”