Thursday, February 28, 2013
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Tricycle Daily Dharma February 28, 2013
Our Shelter Within
When
we can be secure in our inner source for true happiness, we don’t
expose ourselves to the devastation that comes when outside hopes for
happiness and security are dashed. We have our shelter, our place of
security, inside. And we needn’t be afraid that this is an escapist
shelter. When the basis of our well-being is firm within, we can act
with true courage and compassion for others, for we’re coming from a
solid position of calmness and strength.
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- Thanissaro Bhikkhu, “What We’ve Been Practicing For”
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Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Via JMG: 300 Corporations & Cities File DOMA Brief
A coalition of almost 300 corporations, cities, and other organizations,
some of whom also appear on yesterday's Prop 8 brief, have filed a
Supreme Court brief in support of the overturn of DOMA. The ACLU
reports via press release:
Reposted from Joe
Signers include Amazon.com, Apple, Bank of New York, CBS, Cisco Systems, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Facebook, Google, JetBlue, Johnson & Johnson, Levi Strauss & Co, Liberty Mutual, Marriott International, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, NIKE, Pfizer, Starbucks, Twitter, Viacom, Walt Disney Company and Xerox and the cities of Baltimore, Boston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Santa Monica and Seattle, among others.Scanning the full brief, I also see Adobe, Alaska Airlines, Diageo, Intuit, M&M Mars, Pfizer, and REI. Sorry, haters. It's time to also boycott Flash, booze, spreadsheets, candy, boner pills, and camping tents! Enjoy your sober, flaccid, YouTube-free caves! And no Little Mermaid or Lion King for the kiddies, not that you'll be able to buy an anti-gay TV or cable provider.
Other supporters, including religious leaders, retired military personnel, children’s rights groups and former cabinet secretaries are expected to file their briefs later this week. Some groups will be holding a press conference at the Hyatt Regency in Washington, DC on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. announcing their support for Windsor’s case, as well as the Supreme Court case seeking to repeal California’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples.
Labels: business, DOMA, marriage equality, SCOTUS
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Tricycle Daily Dharma February 27, 2013
Touching Liberation
Insight
can’t be found in sutras, commentaries, verbal expression, or —isms.
Liberation and awakened understanding can’t be found by devoting
ourselves to the study of the Buddhist scriptures. This is like trying
to find fresh water in dry bones. Returning to the present moment, using
our clear mind which exists right here and now, we can be in touch with
liberation and enlightenment, as well as with the Buddha and the
patriarchs as living realities right in this moment.
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- Thich Nhat Hanh, “Simply Stop”
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Via JMG: Dozens Of Major Corporations To File Supreme Court Brief Against Prop 8
Later this week dozens of major corporations will file a joint Supreme Court brief in support of the overturn of Prop 8. The names are huge, people. Fortune Magazine reports:
On Thursday, dozens of American corporations, including Apple, Alcoa, Facebook, eBay, Intel, and Morgan Stanley will submit an amicus brief in the landmark Hollingsworth v. Perry case broadly arguing to the U.S. Supreme Court that laws banning same-sex marriages, like California's ballot initiative Proposition 8, are unconstitutional under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses.An excerpt from the brief declares that Proposition 8 "leaves companies in the untenable position of being compelled implicitly to endorse the second-class status to which their gay and lesbian employees, clients, customers, and business associates are relegated. Until the law no longer relegates same-sex couples to second-class status as inferior 'domestic partnerships,' our adherence to the law compels us to abide by a distinction that stigmatizes and dehumanizes gay men and lesbians."
According to a draft copy obtained by Fortune, the companies argue that such laws "send an unmistakeable signal that same-sex couples are in some way inferior to opposite-sex couples, a proposition that is anathema to amici's commitment to equality and fair treatment to all."
At least 60 companies had committed to signing the brief as of Tuesday evening, according to Joshua Rosenkranz, who is counsel of record on the brief and head of the Supreme Court and appellate litigation practice at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. That number is expected to rise by Thursday, however, according to Rosenkranz. Others who have already committed to sign include AIG, Becton Dickinson, Cisco, Cummins, Kimpton, Levi Strauss, McGraw Hill, NCR, Nike, Office Depot, Oracle, Panasonic, Qualcomm, and Xerox.
Labels: business, marriage equality, Prop 8, Supreme Court
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
JMG HomoQuotable: Peter Tatchell
"It is estimated that around 40% of Catholic priests in Britain are gay, which makes the church's opposition to gay equality so two-faced and absurd. A significant proportion of all Cardinals worldwide is thought to be gay. Recent revelations in Italy have alleged the existence of a gay mafia within the Vatican, including senior Cardinals and other Vatican officials, and their participation in gay bars, clubs, saunas, chat rooms and male prostitution services. The Vatican is shamelessly championing homophobia and the denial of legal equality to gay people, while hosting a hotbed of secret, guilt-ridden clerical homosexuality." - British activist Peter Tatchell, in a statement posted on his website.
Via JMG: Pat Robertson Expands His Anti-Gay Rights Campaign To Brazil
The head of the new Brazil office, Filipe Coelho, is a scion of one of Brazil's leading evangelical families, and aims to stop hate crime legislation from becoming law, opposes marriage rights for same-sex couples and speaks strongly about the dangers of employment protections for LGBT people. Same-sex marriage is also legal in some Brazilian jurisdictions. This includes São Paulo state, which has a population of more than 40 million people, roughly the same size as Argentina. But Brazil also has an evangelical movement that most closely parallels the United States. It accounts for about 20 percent of the population and it has serious muscle in election campaigns and the country's legislature.The ACLJ is headed by Jay Sekulow, who first came to fame for convincing the Supreme Court that Jews For Jesus had the right to harass people at airports. And his ACLJ gig has earned him tens of millions.
Since 1998, the two charities have paid out more than $33 million to members of Sekulow's family and businesses they own or co-own, according to the charities' federal tax returns. One of the charities is controlled by the Sekulow family — tax documents show that all four of CASE's board members are Sekulows and another is an officer — an arrangement criticized by a nonprofit watchdog group.Tax-exempt hate, now in Brazil. Praise Jesus.
Labels: ACLJ, Brazil, hate groups, LGBT rights, Pat Robertson, religion, scams
Via JMG: Edith Windsor Files DOMA Brief
Edith Windsor today filed a Supreme Court brief in the DOMA case that bears her name. Chris Geidner has the details:
Reposted from Joe
Specifically, Windsor argues laws like DOMA that classify people based on their sexual orientation should be subjected to "heightened scrutiny" by courts, which demands the government to provide an "important" reason for the law in question. A similar argument was made by the Obama administration in a filing last Friday. In discussing the standards that courts use when determining whether heightened scrutiny should apply, Windsor argues that gays and lesbians have faced a history of discrimination, and that their being gay does not affect their ability to contribute to society. Additionally, she argues that sexual orientation is not, generally speaking, fluid, and that the group "lacks political power" because of prejudice.Read the full brief here.
Labels: DOMA, Edith Windsor, marriage equality, SCOTUS
Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:
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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma February 26, 2013
Unmasking the Self
Sitting
quietly, doing nothing, not knowing what is next and not concerned with
what was or what may be next, a new mind is operating that is not
connected with the conditioned past and yet perceives and understands
the whole mechanism of conditioning. It is the unmasking of the self
that is nothing but masks—images, memories of past experiences, fears,
hopes, and the ceaseless demand to be something or become somebody.
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- Toni Packer, "Unmasking the Self"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 27th, 2013
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Monday, February 25, 2013
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Sunday, February 24, 2013
JMG Afternoon View: Gay Historical Marker:
The above sign was posted in 2005 by the Pennsylvania Historical and
Museum Commission. Visit Philly, the city's official tourism
organization, has some details:
RELATED: Read more about the Annual Reminder.
Reposted from Joe
Pennsylvania erected Philadelphia’s first LGBT marker to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the first Annual Reminder, a demonstration led by pioneering gay activists on July 4 from 1965 to 1969. Standing directly across the street from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell Center at 6th and Chestnut Streets, the marker serves as a reminder of the city’s open and progressive history. Also adding to Philadelphia’s LGBT appeal are nearly 70 rainbow street signs that adorn the lively and popular Gayborhood. The street signs, along with the blue-and-yellow markers provide great backdrops for LGBT travelers in search of interesting photo opportunities.A second LGBT-related marker was installed in late 2011 to honor Giovanni's Room, which some consider to have been the first (and is certainly the oldest still-running) gay bookstore in the nation. We saw both today in a very entertaining Visit Philly trolley tour of Philadelphia's most historic sites and its most-popular gayborhood.
RELATED: Read more about the Annual Reminder.
Labels: Afternoon View, LGBT History, Philadelphia
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma February 24, 2013
Our Innate Wisdom
All
of the 'words of wisdom' are in your own heart, so why waste time
listening to someone else speak them? The Buddhadharma is the same. The
principles in the sutras come from our own hearts. The wisdom and
happiness of all buddhas comes from our own minds.
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- Heng Ch'au, "Bowing"
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Saturday, February 23, 2013
Suze Orman Discusses DOMA's Economic Harms
By
On Top Magazine Staff
Published:
February 22, 2013
Financial whiz Suze Orman appeared on
CNN to discuss the economic harms the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)
causes.
DOMA is the 1996 law which prevents
federal agencies from recognizing the legal marriages of gay and
lesbian couples.
Tricycle Daily Dharma February 23, 2013
Meeting Life with Grace
When
we face the limitations of our power and control, all we can skillfully
do is bow to that moment. The conceit of self is challenged and eroded
not only by the circumstances of our lives but also by our willingness
to meet those circumstances with grace rather than with fear.
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- Christina Feldman, "Long Journey to a Bow"
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Friday, February 22, 2013
BEN IVORY - THE RIGHTEOUS ONES (Official Music Video)
Thanks to JMG for this
You can close your eyes if you want to
Lock your doors and hide if we haunt you
Get your guns tonight if we scare you
But we ain’t goin’ nowhere, no we ain’t goin’ nowhere
You can pass a law if you need to
Punch us in the jaw when we beat you
Use your shock and awe if you dare to
But we ain’t goin’ nowhere, no we ain’t goin’ nowhere
Via JMG: AP Issues Style Guide On Husband/Wife
Joe says:
For the last week the LGBT blogosphere has been battling the Associated Press over a direction to their reporters that they should not automatically refer to people in legal same-sex marriages as "husband" or "wife." I left the story alone because I figured the AP would immediately correct such as obviously wrong position. Today they finally did. Here's the new policy.
husband, wife Regardless of sexual orientation, husband or wife is acceptable in all references to individuals in any legally recognized marriage. Spouse or partner may be used if requested.The AP adds: "The AP has never had a Stylebook entry on the question of the usage of husband and wife. All the previous conversation was in the absence of such a formal entry. This lays down clear and simple usage. After reviewing existing practice, we are formalizing 'husband, wife' as an entry."
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma February 22, 2013
Only the Present Moment
Every
moment in life is absolute in itself. That's all there is. There is
nothing other than this present moment; there is no past, there is no
future; there is nothing but this. So when we don't pay attention to
each little this, we miss the whole thing.
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- Charlotte Joko Beck, "Attention Means Attention"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 23rd, 2013
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Thursday, February 21, 2013
Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:
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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma February 21, 2013
Cultivating Relaxed Awareness
When
the thinking mind takes a break for even a few seconds, a kind of
relaxed awareness replaces the usual stream of thoughts. We need to
encourage this and not fill this space with anything else; just let it
be.
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- Tsultrim Allione, "Feeding Your Demons"
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Wednesday, February 20, 2013
What do you want to do when you grow up?
Me, Guatemala, During my masters research project in
Patzun, Chimaltengo, Guatemala 1982
When I first traveled to
Latin America, or more specifically, Guatemala, in the early 80’s and when I worked
with kids in schools there, or met in communities I visited, I naively asked them
what they wanted to do when they grew up. The answer was always, a shrug and a “no
se” (I don’t know).
It wasn’t a middle class,
bored USAan[i]
teenager “I don’t know”, it was a literal a not-dreams-were-possible-because-there-was-little-to
any-future-I-don’t-know. Sometimes it was a “I don’t know” that said they were content
to carry on doing the same thing that their parents and grandparents had been
doing for hundreds of years I don’t know.
The “I don’t know” of contentment,
which for me is admirable. I come from a
particular social class and culture of discontentment, and needing and wanting more,
and better and faster and bigger is a genetic flaw that, as a Buddhist, I have
to constantly work to tamp down, to ignore, to send this discontentment away.
So when my husband finished graduate
school, and we decided to move to Brasil, mostly because as you either may or
may not know, the USA does not afford GLBT people equal marriage rights and the ability to sponsor
of their spouses, as striaght people do. We applied for and were awarded positions as faculty members
in small university high in the mountains of Minas Gerais. I retired from California
State University, Sacramento and we are both professors in the Centro de Educação
Aberta e a Distância (the Center of Open and Distance Education) at the Universidade
Federal de Ouro Preto part of UAB (the Open University of Brasil) which provides
higher education opportunities to thousands of Brazilians that traditionally would
never have had access.
I have been teaching K-Univeristy students since
1978. My first teaching job was in a rural school in Oregon. I went to Oregon
State, taught school in Oregon, then Guatemala, after which I went to graduate school in New
Mexico, returned to Guatemala for masters work, and did research in Puebla
Mexico with computers and kids as part of my doctoral research.If I recall, the school there was a test site Apple de México, and they were debugging the very first keyboard that allowed accents and things necessary in Spanish and Portuguese. Before that time you printed out the document, and then drew in the accents and the all important ~ over the letter n. My research replicated what we were doing in Guatemala and New Mexico with LOGO and kids in their math lab.
My first trip to Brasil was
in 1992, and once again I asked kids, “What do you want to do when you grow up?”
And again the answer was, more often than not, “Não se". And for much for the same reason
I found in Guatemala a few years earlier. Yet I began to notice a subtle difference, more and more, the answer began to
change, “Eu quero ser um…” I want to
be a… I began to see dreams. Brasil, like much of South America was awakening, the Green Giant was waking from its slumber, it was moving forward.
In 2005-2006, when my husband
Milton and I realized his visa prospects were wearing thin, and it became to
expensive for us to stay in the United States (over 12 years his visa had cost
us over $30,000.00) I took up an offer as visiting professor on Ouro Preto,
thinking it was time for us to begin moving south. Half way through my stay in
Ouro Preto, the San Juan Unified School District in a suburb of Sacramento, offered to sponsor him for his green
card. Obviously, this changed everything, and his dream, of earning a doctorate, was suddenly
possible. This allowed him to pursue a doctorate degree, and he graduated as
CSU’s first doctoral student! So back I went, all the time our dream was to
return to Brasil, so I continued working at CSUS and visiting, working as a
visiting professor, publishing, and lecturing until the time came for us to pull of stakes.
Our program sends course work to over 5000 students in 30 polos in three states in Brasil. A
few months ago, I represented the university at a graduation of our students in
one of our polos
in the state of Bahia. As is my custom, I asked a 9 year old daughter of one of
our students, “o que você
quer ser quando crescer?”
She looked up at me, pointing
her finger at me and with great confidence said to me, “Vou ser um médico!” (I am going to be an doctor!). It was more than a
dream, it was an expectation, a right, an assertion and knowledge that she
could, no she would do it, because she had seen her Mother study, and now
graduate, and so would she.
Like I said earlier, I have
been teaching since 1978, and rarely if ever have I been privileged to actually
witness the physical difference in what I do makes in the lives of my students and the communities
they came from, at another graduation, in a region of Brasil that made a discovery
of natural gas and oil, the mayor and the school superintendent told me that if
it hadn’t been for UFOP, this tiny town of 7000 people would have lost any hope
of taking part of the wealth. Hundreds of people were expected to move in from outside,
and traditionally when this occurred the locals were relegated to menial jobs,
but because of the student earning business administration, pedagogy and math
degrees via CEAD-UFOP, they had been given their own tools to build their own stores, open their own restaurants,
build their own apartments to rent, even a new hotel. They were creating and achieving opportunities…
dreams. It was then, at the ripe old age of 57, that I realized that I was finally doing what I wanted to
do when I grew up.
So, I ask you, “What do you
want to do when you grow up?”
Me, teaching online CEAD-UFOP, 2012
[i] I use the term USAan, or more
accurately “estadunidense” for my nationality, as America is a continent, we who live in both
North & South America ARE all Americans…
Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:
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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma February 20, 2013
Helping All Beings
If
hungry people come, give them food. If thirsty people come, give water.
If suffering people come, help them. That is our job—life after life,
just continue to help all beings. But to do that, you have to have mind
which is clear like space.
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- Seung Sahn, "BOOM!"
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Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma February 19, 2013
Learning to Let Go
Letting
go of fixation is effectively a process of learning to be free, because
every time we let go of something, we become free of it. Whatever we
fixate upon limits us because fixation makes us dependent upon something
other than ourselves. Each time we let go of something, we experience
another level of freedom.
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- Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche, "Letting Go of Spiritual Experience"
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Monday, February 18, 2013
Gay Man Decides to Yell Back at Anti-Gay Subway Preacher, Train Applauds
Standard operating procedure for dealing with subway "preachers,"
whether bigoted or merely insane, is to pretend they don't exist. Don't
argue; don't take their literature. It'll be over soon. Just ignore
them until they move on to the next car and you can hear your podcast
again.
That's not the approach one gay man took two days ago in response to a preacher's homophobic rant, which included gems like "Michael Jackson died because he was gay." Instead, he met the preacher shout-for-shout.
"I'm a man," the gay guy, identifiable in the video by his large fuzzy hat, replies at one point (1:33). "And I'm a good man. And I'm a gay man and Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me!" The train broke out into spontaneous applause.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/02/gay-subway-preacher-video.html
That's not the approach one gay man took two days ago in response to a preacher's homophobic rant, which included gems like "Michael Jackson died because he was gay." Instead, he met the preacher shout-for-shout.
"I'm a man," the gay guy, identifiable in the video by his large fuzzy hat, replies at one point (1:33). "And I'm a good man. And I'm a gay man and Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me!" The train broke out into spontaneous applause.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/02/gay-subway-preacher-video.html
Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:
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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma February 18, 2013
The Purpose of Mindfulness
Mindfulness
allows us to watch our thoughts, see how one thought leads to the next,
decide if we’re heading toward an unhealthy path, and if so, let go and
change directions.
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- Sharon Salzberg, "Mindfulness and Difficult Emotions"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 19th, 2013
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