Via FB:

Via Tricycle: Martin Luther King at 90

Martin Luther King at 90

A selection of articles showing how the civil rights icon’s message has resonated with Buddhists

his week marks 90 years since the birth of Baptist minister and civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968. King’s commitment to nonviolence and equality continues to resonate with many of us on the Buddhist path today, and King himself was inspired by his friendship with Thich Nhat Hanh, then a young Vietnamese monk in exile.

• Blueprints of Freedom  By Charles Johnson
  Read about how Martin Luther King Jr. brought Gandhi’s nonviolent resistance to the United States and revolutionized the civil rights movement.
•  
• Brown Body, White Sangha  By Atia Sattar
  One practitioner reflects on the painful emotions that can arise when a predominately white sangha glosses over issues surrounding heritage. 
•  
• What the Buddha Taught Us about Race  By Emma Varvaloucas
  The well-known Thai forest monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu talks about his translation of the Sutta Nipata, a collection of early discourses that include powerful words from the Buddha about judging people on their actions, not their birth or social status.  
•  
• Teachings for Uncertain Times: Racism Is a Heart Disease
  With Ruth King
  An Insight Meditation teacher and life coach offers six practices for establishing racial awareness and well-being, including doing no harm, establishing mindfulness of the breath and body, and forming racial affinity groups.  
• 
  
• Why Are There So Many Black Buddhists?
  By J. Sunara Sasser J. Sunara Sasser writes about finding her spiritual home with a Nichiren Buddhist organization that has been addressing inequality for decades.

 Make the jump here to read the original

Via Daily Dharma: Love Conquers Hate

We fear that hate will win because it has killed millions of people—both literally and in spirit—over the centuries. There is certainly evidence that we could perish under hate-filled regimes. And yet the power of love can be as strong as the power of hate. There is also evidence that love could prevail.

—Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, “Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - January 20, 2019 💌

Ours is a journey toward simplicity, toward quietness, toward a kind of joy that is not in time. In this journey out of time, we are leaving behind every model we have of who we thought we were. This journey involves a transformation of our being so that our thinking mind becomes our servant rather than our master. It's a journey that takes us from primary identification with our psyche to identification with our souls, then to identification with God, and ultimately beyond any identification at all.

Life is an incredible curriculum in which we live richly and passionately as a way of awakening to the deepest truths of our being. As a soul, I have only one motive: to merge with God. As a soul, I live in the moment, in each rich and precious moment, and I am filled with contentment.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Seeing Is Understanding

Before you can act on anything with effectiveness, you have to understand it—and that is where sitting comes in. That is where the attention matters.

—Paul Kingsnorth, “The Witness”