Where You Fall
| April 12, 2014
You get up where you fall down. You don’t get up somewhere else. It’s where you fall down that you establish your practice.
—Ryokan Steve Weintraub, "Umbrella Man"
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Friday, April 11, 2014
Via JMG: Harvey Milk Stamp To Be Dedicated At White House Ceremony On May 22nd
The official first-day-of-issue dedication ceremony for the Harvey Milk Forever Stamp will take place at the White House May 22. Harvey Milk was a visionary leader who became one of the first openly gay elected officials in the U.S. when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. Milk’s achievements gave hope and confidence to the LGBT community in the United States and elsewhere at a time when the community was encountering widespread hostility and discrimination. Milk believed that government should represent all citizens, ensuring equality and providing needed services. His remarkable career was tragically cut short nearly a year after he took office, when he and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone were assassinated. In 2009, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. May 22 is Harvey Milk Day in California. The stamp image will be previewed at a later date and a public dedication ceremony will take place in San Francisco May 28.I predicts some super-sadz over this!
Via Utne: Collapse of Human Civilization 'Difficult to Avoid'
Collapse of Human Civilization 'Difficult to Avoid'
According
to a NASA-funded study led by mathematician Safa Motesharrei, the
collapse of human civilization is likely unless mankind accepts one of
two major policy changes.
Read More...
Read More...
Via Daily Dharma
Study and Practice
| April 11, 2014
Deepening study can inform and empower
practice and deepening practice can bring meaning to what you are
studying. That unity of practice and learning can be informed by
understandings of our contemporary world.
—John Makransky, "Bridging the Gap"
Thursday, April 10, 2014
NSFW: Justin Sayre explains "The New Hanky Code" at The Meeting*
Publicado em 09/04/2014
The Chairman of the International
Order of Sodomites discusses the latest in the gay color spectrum. Taped
live in March at Joe's Pub.
Every month hosts The Meeting* to educate the membership on the latest in political news and social trends.
Video by Martian Entertainment
www.InternationalOrderofSodomites.com
Every month hosts The Meeting* to educate the membership on the latest in political news and social trends.
Video by Martian Entertainment
www.InternationalOrderofSodomites.com
Via Daily Dharma
Even the Smallest Glimpse
| April 10, 2014
Even the smallest glimpse of freedom
heightens our awareness of the pain we have created by our ego-fixation.
Seeing the contrast is what inspires us to go forward on the path. In
particular, each time we sit on the cushion and meditate, we relax and
let go a little bit more. The notion we’ve held onto—that if we don’t
keep up our ego-momentum something bad is going to happen—dissolves bit
by bit.
—Judy Lief, “Letting Go”
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Via JMG: Saudi Police Arrest 35 Men At "Gay Party"
Saudi Arabia police have arrested 35 people and accused them of being gay. The men, allegedly dressed in women’s clothes, were arrested at a beach resort in the western city of Jeddah. According to local reports, neighbors contacted the religious police complaining of the loud music being played at the party. The police took the arrested men to the station and kept the dresses and music equipment until an investigation is complete. LGBTI rights in Saudi Arabia are non-existent. Homosexuality is taboo and punished with jail, flogging, chemical castration or even death.Saudi Arabia is one of ten nations where homosexuals acts are punishable by the death penalty.
JMG Quote Of The Day - Hank Aaron
RELATED: As Aaron approached Babe Ruth's record late in the 1973 season, he had received so many death threats that the editor of the Atlanta Journal quietly had an obituary written.
Via JMG: Mississippi And Alabama Sex Education Programs Claim That Gay Sex Is Illegal
The New Republic reports:
Reposted from Joe Jervis
Mississippi’s sex-ed curriculum is not notable for its progressive nature. But one thing you can’t say about the Magnolia State is that it follows the advice of some conservative parents who want schools to totally ignore homosexuality. In fact, state law mandates that the subject be discussed, at least briefly: Students are to be told that homosexual activity is illegal. Mississippi, whose governor just signed a noxious anti-gay bill, is not the only state with such a clause in its sex ed curriculum. Neighboring Alabama requires that instructors teach that “homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense." In fact, the Supreme Court rendered all state laws against gay sex unenforceable in 2003, when it struck down an anti-sodomy law in Texas.(Tipped by JMG reader Jake)
Simplicity
| April 9, 2014
I dream of simplicity, but I'm as far
from it as ever. That is my practice, how to be in the world and remain
simple. One day perhaps I'll accept the fact that I am never going to
find the simple life. Maybe the first step toward simplicity will be to
accept that my life will never be simple even if I go live in a cave and
subsist on green nettles like Milarepa.
—Peter Matthiessen, "Emptying the Bell"
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Thich Nhat Hanh: On Homosexuality
Thich Nhat Hanh: On Homosexuality
Thich Nhat Hanh, the noted Zen monk, poet, teacher who is the inspiration behind Deer Park Monastery and the Plum Village tradition, shares these words about the Buddhadharma’s view of “homosexuality” in the latest book, ANSWERS FROM THE HEART.
excerpt from Thay’s new book Answers from the Heart
Q. What is the Buddhist view of homosexuality?
A.
The spirit of Buddhism is inclusiveness. Looking deeply into the nature
of a cloud, we see the cosmos. A flower is a flower, but if we look
deeply into it, we see the cosmos. Everything has a place. The base-the
foundation of everything-is the same. When you look at the ocean, you
see different kinds of waves, many sizes and shapes, but all the waves
have water as their foundation and substance. If you are born gay or
lesbian, your ground of being in the same as mine. We are different, but
we share the same ground of being. The Protestant theologian Paul Tillich
said that God is the ground of being. You should be yourself. If God
has created me as a rose, then I should accept myself as a rose. If you
are a lesbian, then be a lesbian. Looking deeply into your nature, you
will see yourself as you truly are. You will be able to touch the ground
of your being and find peace.
If
you’re a victim of discrimination, then your way to emancipation is not
simply by crying out against injustice. Injustice cannot be repaired by
recognition alone, but by your capacity to touch the ground of your
being. Discrimination, intolerance, and suppression stem from lack of
knowledge and lack of understanding. If you’re capable of touching the
ground of your being, you can be released from the suffering that has
been created in you through discrimination and oppression.
Someone
who discriminates against you, because of your race or the color of your
skin or your sexual orientation, is ignorant. He doesn’t know his own
ground of being. He doesn’t realize that we all share the same ground of
being; that is why he can discriminate against you.
Someone
who discriminates against others and causes them to suffer is someone
who is not happy with himself. Once you’ve touched the depth and the
nature of your ground of being, you’ll be equipped with the kind of
understanding that can give rise to compassion and tolerance, and you
will be capable of forgiving even those who discriminate against you.
Don’t believe that relief or justice will come through society alone.
True emancipation lies in your capacity to look deeply.
When you
suffer because of discrimination, there’s always an urge to speak out.
But even if you spend a thousand years speaking out, your suffering
won’t be relieved. Only through deep understanding and liberation from
ignorance can you be liberated from your suffering.
When you
break through to the truth, compassion springs up like a stream of
water. With that compassion, you can embrace even the people who have
persecuted you. When you’re motivated by desire to help those who are
victims of ignorance, only then are you free from your suffering and
feelings of violation. Don’t wait for things to change around you. You
have to practice liberating yourself. Then you will be equipped with the
power of compassion and understanding, the only kind of power that can
help transform an environment full of injustice and discrimination. You
have to become such a person-one who can embody tolerance,
understanding, and compassion. You transform yourself into an instrument
for social change and change in the collective consciousness of
mankind.
Thich Nhat Hanh, Answers from the Heart: Practical Responses To Life’s Burning Questions (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 2009), 119-122.
Via Sangha Virtual - Thich Nhat Hanh - Brasil
Qual é a visão budista sobre a homossexualidade?
Pergunta: Qual é a
visão budista sobre a homossexualidade?
Thich Nhat Hanh: O espírito do Budismo é a inclusividade.
Olhando profundamente a natureza de uma nuvem, vemos o cosmos. Uma flor é uma
flor, mas se olharmos profundamente para ela, veremos o cosmos. Tudo tem um
lugar. A base, o fundamento de tudo, é o mesmo. Quando você olha para o oceano,
você vê diferentes tipos de ondas, muitos tamanhos e formas, mas todas as ondas
têm a água como seu fundamento e substância.
Se você nasceu gay ou lésbica, o fundamento
do ser é o mesmo que o meu. Nós somos diferentes, mas compartilhamos o mesmo
fundamento do ser. O teólogo protestante Paul Tillich disse que Deus é o
fundamento do ser. Você deve ser você mesmo. Se Deus me criou como uma rosa,
então eu deveria me aceitar como uma rosa. Se você é lésbica, então, seja
lésbica. Olhando profundamente em sua natureza, você vai ver-se como você
realmente é. Você será capaz de tocar o solo do seu ser e encontrar a paz.
Alguém que discrimina contra vocês, por causa
de sua raça ou a cor de sua pele ou sua orientação sexual, é ignorante. Ele não
conhece o seu próprio fundamento do ser. Ele não percebe que todos partilham a
mesma base do ser, é por isso que ele pode discriminá-lo. Alguém que discrimina
os outros e faz com que eles sofram é alguém que não está feliz consigo mesmo.
Uma vez que você tocou a profundidade e a natureza do seu fundamento do ser,
você vai ser equipado com o tipo de entendimento que pode dar origem a
compaixão e tolerância, e você será capaz de perdoar até mesmo aqueles que o discriminam.
Não acredite que o alívio ou a justiça virá através de sociedade por si só.
Verdadeira emancipação reside na sua capacidade de olhar profundamente. Quando
você sofre por causa da discriminação, há sempre uma vontade de falar. Mas
mesmo se você passar mil anos falando, o seu sofrimento não será aliviado.
Somente através da compreensão profunda e libertação da ignorância você pode
ser libertado de seu sofrimento.
Às vezes, aqueles nos discriminam agem em nome de Deus, da verdade. Podemos pertencer
ao terceiro mundo, ou podemos pertencer a uma raça em particular, podemos
ser pessoas de cor, podemos ser gays ou lésbicas, e nós temos sido discriminados por milhares de anos. Então como nos libertar do
sofrimento de sermos vítimas de discriminação e opressão? No cristianismo, é dito
que Deus criou tudo, inclusive o homem, e não há uma distinção entre o criador
e a criatura. A criatura é algo criado por Deus. Quando eu olho para uma rosa, uma
tulipa, ou um crisântemo, eu sei, eu vejo, eu penso, que esta flor é uma
criação de Deus. Porque eu tenho praticado como um budista, eu sei que entre o
criador e a criatura, deve haver algum tipo de ligação, caso contrário, a criação não seria
possível. Assim, o crisântemo pode dizer que Deus é uma flor, e eu concordo,
porque deve haver o elemento "flor" em Deus, para que a flor possa se tornar
realidade. Assim, a flor tem o direito de dizer que Deus é uma flor.
A pessoa branca tem o direito de dizer que Deus é branco, e o negro também tem o
direito de dizer que Deus é negro. Na verdade, se você for para a África, vai
ver que a Virgem Maria é negra. Se você não fizer a estátua da Virgem Maria negra, não inspirará as pessoas. Porque
para os negros, "black is beautiful", de modo que uma pessoa negra
tem o direito de dizer que Deus é preto, e na verdade eu também acredito que Deus seja negro, mas Deus não
é só preto, Deus também é branco, Deus é também uma flor. Assim, quando uma
lésbica pensa em seu relacionamento com Deus, se ela pratica profundamente, ela
pode descobrir que Deus é também uma lésbica. Caso contrário, como você poderia
estar lá? Deus é uma lésbica e Deus é gay também.
Deus não é menos. Deus é lésbica, mas também gay, negro, branco, crisântemo. É porque você não
entende isso, que discrimina.
Quando você discriminar o negro ou o branco, ou a flor, ou a
lésbica, você discrimina contra Deus, que é a bondade fundamental em você. Você
cria o sofrimento ao seu redor, e você cria o sofrimento dentro de si mesmo, e
é a ilusão, a ignorância, que é a base de sua ação, a sua atitude de
discriminação.
Via Armário X: O Budismo e a homossexualidade
O Budismo e a homossexualidade
por Marco Antonio García
Nos
últimos anos o Budismo virou a religião da moda nos paises ocidentais.
São diversas revistas e livros falando sobre os benefícios da meditação,
yoga e outras praticas budistas. Mas o que o budismo pensa a cerca da homossexualidade? Como nós homossexuais
somos vistos por esta religião milenar? Estas e outras perguntas
fundamentais para se entender o budismo foram respondidas pela
Associação Brasil Soka Gakkai Internacional (http://www.bsgi.org.br/) e pela Lama Chagdud Khadro, diretora da Escola Nyingma do Budismo Vajrayana – Chagdud Gonpa (http://www.odsal-ling.org/), exclusivamente para o Armário X. Via Salon: “Anti-Christian religious bigotry” is apparently what conservatives are now calling LGBTQ rights
Topics:
Video,
lgbtq rights,
Gay Rights,
equal marriage,
Marriage equality,
Religion,
Christianity, Life News, News
NOM President Brian Brown (Credit: Wikipedia)
In
lamenting the demise of Arizona’s anti-LGBTQ discrimination bill and
recent victories to secure other basic protections for LGBTQ
individuals, National Organization for Marriage President Brian Brown
encouraged his fellow bigots to try to change the frame on these debates by accusing LGBTQ rights advocates of pushing “anti-Christian bigotry”:
But not every person of faith shares Brown’s bigoted paranoia.
Kansas state Rep. Louis Ruiz, a practicing Catholic, is the sponsor of a LGBTQ rights protection bill in his state. A month after his colleagues floated a proposal to enshrine anti-LGBTQ discrimination into state law, Ruiz introduced a counter measure, asking his colleagues, “What’s our message when we have these type of discriminatory bills that come out at either the federal or the state level? We’re defeating our own purpose as a country that wants to be inclusive. To me, this is a no-brainer.”
So, when [LGBTQ people and their allies] bring up discrimination, we need to turn it on its head and say, this is about anti-religious, specifically in some cases, anti-Christian religious bigotry, and there’s no place for this in this country. The discrimination is there, but right now what’s happening is the discrimination is coming from those that want to punish, repress and marginalize individuals and organizations that stand up for their religious beliefs.Referencing a New Mexico photographer who refused to shoot a gay couple’s commitment ceremony (the Supreme Court refused on Monday to hear her case, probably because of anti-Christian bigotry), Brown said, “Whether it’s being forced to photograph a ceremony that you don’t agree with, forced to create a same-sex marriage wedding cake that you don’t agree with, whatever it is, that’s a very different thing than saying this is somehow Jim Crow all over again. In fact, it’s the reverse.”
But not every person of faith shares Brown’s bigoted paranoia.
Kansas state Rep. Louis Ruiz, a practicing Catholic, is the sponsor of a LGBTQ rights protection bill in his state. A month after his colleagues floated a proposal to enshrine anti-LGBTQ discrimination into state law, Ruiz introduced a counter measure, asking his colleagues, “What’s our message when we have these type of discriminatory bills that come out at either the federal or the state level? We’re defeating our own purpose as a country that wants to be inclusive. To me, this is a no-brainer.”
Ruiz
said at the time that he believes his own faith is well protected, and
wants to see those protections extended to others: “If you look at the
bills that people are trying to pass that would permanently enshrine
open discrimination against gay and lesbian Kansans, can you think of a
better reason why we should introduce something [like this LGBTQ
anti-discrimination bill]?”
Katie McDonough is an assistant editor for Salon, focusing on lifestyle. Follow her on Twitter @kmcdonovgh or email her at kmcdonough@saloVia JMG: LBJ's Daughters: Our Father Would Likely Have Supported Same-Sex Marriage
Katie Couric interviewed Luci Baines Johnson and Lynda Bird Johnson Robb, the daughters of late President Lyndon B. Johnson, and asked them about their father's civil rights legacy in the light of the current battle for same-sex marriage.
“I think my father felt very strongly that when there was bigotry anywhere, prejudice anywhere, all of us lose out,” Johnson said. “Because it's just one more expression of hate.” For her part, Robb said she didn’t know what her father would say, because same-sex marriage was not an issue when he was in public life. “It's hard to project what Daddy would have thought about that because that wasn't an issue that had come upon the stage at that time,” Robb said. “But I know he really wanted everybody to be able to live up to the best that God gave them.” Both Robb and Johnson said they personally believe gay marriage should be allowed. “I certainly think that, if God made you a homosexual, that you should have love and affection with somebody,” Robb said. “And I would not want to deny anybody that opportunity to be happy.”This week marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, which some historians consider to be the crowning achievement of the LBJ administration. Watch the interview below.
Via JMG: Anti-Gay Group Targets Mozilla
According to pro-gay advocates, it’s theoretically acceptable for companies like Mozilla to hire Christians as long as they are never permitted to assume leadership roles. The same people who claim to support equal treatment for everyone want to deny access to employment opportunities based on personal convictions – in effect a new “glass ceiling” for a faith-driven worldview. Faith Driven Consumer reached out to Mozilla to clarify what their policy is toward faith-driven employees, asking them to respond to three specific questions:Last last month as the controversy was at its peak, Mozilla posted a statement affirming its corporate support of marriage equality. That statement also addresses the questions posed today by Faith Driven Consumer.
1. Will faith-driven employees be discriminated against and forced into the closet for their personal views on marriage? 2. Is there a “pro gay marriage” litmus test for working at Mozilla? 3. Will the next CEO be required to openly express support for gay marriage as a condition for being hired? While we wait to hear back, let’s make sure they HEAR from YOU.
Mozilla’s mission is to make the Web more open so that humanity is stronger, more inclusive and more just. This is why BOTH Mozilla Corporation and Mozilla Foundation support equality for all, including marriage equality for LGBT couples. No matter who you are or who you love, everyone deserves the same rights and to be treated equally.Faith Driven Consumer doesn't need to "wait to hear back" from Mozilla as anybody with a computer can learn their position. But that doesn't fuel the outrage machine, does it? The hypocrisy of boycotting companies for supporting marriage equality and then making this kind of demand is truly mind-numbing.
We realize that not everyone in our community or who uses our products will agree with this. But we have always maintained that as long as you are willing to respect others, and come together for our larger mission, you are welcome. Mozilla’s community is made up of people who have very diverse personal beliefs working on a common cause, which is a free and open internet. That is a very rare and special thing.
Mozilla has always worked to be a welcoming community, committed to inclusiveness and equality for all people. One voice will not limit opportunity for anyone. That was true yesterday and will be true tomorrow.
Labels: boycotts, Brendan Eich, Christianists, Faith Driven Consumer, hypocrisy, Mozilla, religion, technology
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