Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - January 26, 2022 💌

 
 

Just center yourself in silence for a moment. 

Instead of waiting for something to happen, flip it just slightly and just be in it. Are you really here or are you just waiting for the next thing? It’s interesting to see where we are in relation to time; whether we’re always just between what just happened and what happens next, or whether we can just be here now.   

So, let’s just find our way to be here together. If you’re feeling agitated, just notice the agitation. If you’re warm, be warm. If you’re cold, be cold. If you’re overly full, be overly full. Be it, whatever it is, but put it all in the context of a quiet space, because there’s a secret in that, and it’s worth playing with it.   

That there’s a place that we can be inside of ourselves, inside of the universe, in which and from which we can appreciate the delight in life. Where we can still have equanimity, and quality of presence, and the quietness of peace.   

It’s something I’ve been cultivating for 45 years now. Just imagine a mandala or a flower and think about the center of the flower and then all the petals that come out from the center and think of the center of the flower as absolutely still, and think of all of the petals as moving, and energy, and change, but the center is still.  

Ram Dass 

Via Daily Dharma: Knowing Yourself Is Enough

 You only have to know what you are, how you exist; that’s all. Just understand your mind: how it works, how attachment and desire arise, how ignorance arises, where emotions come from.

Lama Thubten Yeshe, “Chocolate Cake”


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Via Lion’s Roar // The Heart Sutra: the Fullness of Emptiness

 



The Heart Sutra: the Fullness of Emptiness
Emptiness is not something to be afraid of, says Thich Nhat Hanh. The Heart Sutra teaches us that form may be empty of self but it’s full of everything else. 
 

 

Via Lions Roar // Remembering Thich Nhat Hanh

 


 

 

Remembering Thich Nhat Hanh (1926-2022) Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk and founder of the Engaged Buddhism movement, died on January 21, 2022, in his home country of Vietnam. He was 95.

Read More: Plum Village is broadcasting memorial services honoring Thich Nhat Hanh over the next week; A number of Buddhist leaders and organizations took to social media to share tribute to Thich Nhat Hanh, one of the great dharma teachers of our time.


Via Daily Dharma: Drawing Out the Heart

 To be truly and wholly present even for the briefest moment is to be vulnerable, for we have arrived at the point where the obstacle that fear constructs between ourselves and others dissolves. It is here that the heart is drawn out of hiding and the inherent sympathetic response called compassion arises.

Lin Jensen, “An Ear to the Ground”


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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from False Speech

 

RIGHT SPEECH
Refraining from False Speech
False speech is unhealthy. Refraining from false speech is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning false speech, one dwells refraining from false speech, a truth-speaker, one to be relied on, trustworthy, dependable, not a deceiver of the world. One does not in full awareness speak falsehood for one’s own ends or for another’s ends or for some trifling worldly end. (DN 1) One practices thus: "Others may speak falsely, but I shall abstain from false speech." (MN 8)

Such speech as you know to be true and correct but unbeneficial and which is also unwelcome and disagreeable to others—do not utter such speech. (MN 58)
Reflection
Even if something is true, that does not mean that it should always be said. The important point is whether or not it will be beneficial to speak. If a person is set in their views and what you say is unlikely to make a difference, then it is better to remain silent—all the more so if what you say would cause distress for the other person. But if by speaking up there is a good chance of helping them see more clearly, then go ahead and speak.

Daily Practice
Every Wednesday we give careful attention to the quality of our speech. Take on the practice of training yourself to become ever more aware of the truthfulness of what you say and ever more careful not to say something misleading or false. It can seem harmless to stretch the truth in small ways, but all speech is on a continuum from wrong speech to right speech, and discerning this  becomes subtler as you become more skillful.

Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Bodily Action
One week from today: Refraining from Malicious Speech

Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media
#DhammaWheel

Questions?
Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via White Crane Institute // Noteworthy

 

2009 -

Nearly 2,200 government employees involved in foreign policy issues signed a letter delivered to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton calling on the government to give EQUAL BENEFITS TO SAME-SEX PARTNERS.

The Bush administration had eased some rules, opening up some training to same-sex partners, but had resisted efforts to treat homosexual partners the same as married couples. But Clinton, during her confirmation hearings, indicated a greater willingness to explore the issue.

"I think that we should take a hard look at the existing policy," Clinton said in response to a question from Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.). "My understanding is other nations have moved to extend that partnership benefit." The issue achieved prominence in 2007 when a respected ambassador, Michael Guest, resigned after 26 years in the Foreign Service to protest the rules and regulations that he argued gave same-sex partners fewer benefits than family pets. Guest said he was forced to choose "between obligations to my partner, who is my family, and service to my country," which he called "a shame for this institution and our country.

With the overturning of the Defense of Marriage Act by the Supreme Court in 2013, these benefits are now available to married Gay and Lesbian partners.


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