Via Tricycle: May I Become an Island

To the Buddhas residing in all directions
With my palms pressed together I make this request
Please continue to shine the lamp of Dharma
For living beings lost and suffering in the darkness of ignorance.

May I become an island for those seeking dry land
A lamp for those needing light,
A place of rest for those who desire one,
And a servant for those needing service.

From Guide to the Bodhisattiva's Way of Life by Shantideva, © 2002 by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso and New Kadampa Tradition. Reprinted with permission of Tharpa Publication, www.tharpa.com.
Image: Buddha statue in the town of Akurala, on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka, after the tsunami. Photo by contributing editor Jeff Greenwald who is in Sri Lanka working with the Mercy Corps relief agency.

West Wing Week: 07/03/15 or, “Amazing Grace”

Via Purple Clover / FB:

Kids React to Gay Marriage Ruling

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the day 02/07/2015

“Nosso destino é construído através de cada pensamento, cada palavra e cada atitude - tanto o destino pessoal quanto o destino coletivo. Nossas ações determinam nosso futuro. A cada instante temos a chance de escolher entre ações que nos afastam ou ações que nos aproximam da nossa própria liberdade.”

“Nuestro destino se construye a través de cada pensamiento, cada palabra y cada actitud - tanto el destino personal como el destino colectivo. Nuestras acciones determinan nuestro futuro. A cada instante tenemos la oportunidad de elegir entre acciones que nos alejan o acciones que nos acercan a nuestra propia libertad.”

“Our destiny is created through every thought, word and action. This can be said for both our personal and collective destiny. Our actions determine our future. Every moment, we have the opportunity to choose between actions that will either take us further away from or bring us closer towards our own freedom.”

Today's Daily Dharma: The Acknowledgment of Suffering Is a Gift

The Acknowledgment of Suffering Is a Gift

As the early Buddhist teachings freely admit, the predicament is that the cycle of birth, aging, and death is meaningless. They don't try to deny this fact and so don't ask us to be dishonest with ourselves or to close our eyes to reality. As one teacher has put it, the Buddhist recognition of the reality of suffering, so important that suffering is honored as the first noble truth, is a gift, in that it confirms our most sensitive and direct experience of things, an experience that many other traditions try to deny.   -  Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "Lost in Capitulation"

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