Tricycle Daily Dharma July 12, 2012
Memento Mori
To acknowledge that you are dying is to recognize that you are alive.
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- Dean Rolston, "Memento Mori: Notes on Buddhism and AIDS"
A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
To acknowledge that you are dying is to recognize that you are alive.
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One third of House Democrats broke with their leaders today and kept their names off a brief urging a federal appeals court to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act, which limits federal recognition of marriages to those between one man and one woman. The majority of Democrats joined House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's argument, which her office described in a news release as "the Democratic Members' brief," but the break among Democrats offers a glimpse at remaining divisions inside the party. Pelosi, joined by Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and 130 other House Democrats, told the federal appeals court in California that they believe Karen Golinski should succeed in her lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of DOMA's federal definition of "marriage" and "spouse."Does your rep appear above?
We
need to revive appreciation for the traditional model of a practitioner
who lives a life of simplicity and humility, sincerity and endeavor,
kindness and compassion. We must choose teachers with these qualities,
cultivate these qualities in ourselves, and guide our students in
developing them.
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Hang
out with people who are capable of making a commitment to you and your
life, and who require that you make a commitment to theirs. Hang out
with people who care about you, with people who need you to develop and
who say so. Make such a commitment and don’t break that bond until you
and all beings are perfect.
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Cast
aside all involvements and cease all affairs. Do not think good or bad.
Do not administer pros and cons. Cease all the movements of the
conscious mind, the gauging of all thoughts and views. Have no designs
on becoming a buddha. Zazen has nothing whatever to do with sitting or
lying down.
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Whether
we’re looking inside our outside ourselves, we need to cut off the head
of whatever we meet, and abandon the views and ideas we have about
things, including our ideas about Buddhism and Buddhist teachings.
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As
we open and empty ourselves, we come to experience an
interconnectedness, the realization that all things are joined and
conditioned in an interdependent arising. Each experience and event
contains all others.
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The U.S. Department of State has launched a text donation campaign that allows Americans to donate to the mGive International Response Equality Fund. Donations will help to further programs and initiatives aimed at advancing human rights, fostering equality, advocacy, protection and dialogue to ensure human rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) persons around the world. To help, anyone can donate $10 by texting the word PRIDE to 80000.The new campaign is being heralded today on the official website of the State Department under the heading "Global Equality Fund." Learn more about the mGive campaign here.
The Global Equality Fund supports programs that advance the human rights of LBGT persons around the world. The Fund was launched by U.S Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Human Rights Day in December 2011 in Geneva, Switzerland, where she reaffirmed, “Human rights are gay rights and gay rights are human rights.” The Fund is supported by the U.S. government. While providing tangible assistance to LGBT civil society groups around the world, the Fund also serves to underscore the U.S. State Department’s commitment to ensuring LGBT people worldwide are able to exercise their human rights with dignity.
The fact is, I'm gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn’t be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud. I have always been very open and honest about this part of my life with my friends, my family, and my colleagues. In a perfect world, I don't think it's anyone else's business, but I do think there is value in standing up and being counted. I’m not an activist, but I am a human being and I don't give that up by being a journalist. [snip] I love, and I am loved.Cooper's full statement to Sullivan is several hundred words long. I encourage you to read the entire thing.Top image via Buzzfeed.
In my opinion, the ability to love another person is one of God’s greatest gifts, and I thank God every day for enabling me to give and share love with the people in my life. I appreciate your asking me to weigh in on this, and I would be happy for you to share my thoughts with your readers. I still consider myself a reserved person and I hope this doesn’t mean an end to a small amount of personal space. But I do think visibility is important, more important than preserving my reporter’s shield of privacy.
One such lobby group is European Dignity Watch, founded in 2010, advocating "life, the family and fundamental freedoms." According to the EU transparency register, it has an annual budget of €80,816 - all in the form of anonymous donations. It rallies against abortion, euthanasia, but most ardently against gay rights. It accuses the European Parliament of pressuring member states into legalising same-sex marriage, and the European Commission of bias for hosting a pro-gay photo exhibition.Among those suspected of secretly funding European anti-gay groups is the Heritage Foundation, the DC-based conservative think tank founded in 1973 by Joseph Coors. The anti-gay groups cited in the EU Observer's article vehemently deny that they are paid by American organizations.
In early 2011, Chick-fil-A came under fire for its donations and political ties to a number of anti-gay groups. Though Chick-fil-A continues to deny supporting an anti-gay agenda, the company has donated over $3 million to organizations like the Family Research Council and Exodus International between 2003 and 2009. And in 2010 alone, Chick-fil-A donated over $1.9 million to anti-gay causes, more than any other year for which public records are available.The bulk of the 2010 donations came in a $1.2M grant to the Marriage & Family Foundation. Another $500K went to the Fellowship For Christian Athletes, who requires applicants to sign their Sexual Purity Pledge:
God desires His children to lead pure lives of holiness. The Bible is clear in teaching on sexual sin including sex outside of marriage and homosexual acts. Neither heterosexual sex outside of marriage nor any homosexual act constitute an alternate lifestyle acceptable to God. While upholding God’s standard of holiness, FCA strongly affirms God’s love and redemptive power in the individual who chooses to follow Him. FCA’s desire is to encourage individuals to trust in Jesus and turn away from any impure lifestyle.
The AP cites Zach Silk, campaign manager for Washington United for Marriage, who says the checks were cut on Friday and are being reported to the state Public Disclosure Commission Monday afternoon. The Washington state Legislature passed the law allowing same-sex marriage earlier this year, and it was signed by Gov. Chris Gregoire in Feb. But an effort to put that law up to a vote was successful, meaning Referendum 74 -- seeking to overturn the law allowing same-sex marriage in Washington state -- is on the ballot in November.In November last year, Microsoft joined in the filing of an amicus brief supporting the overturn of DOMA. (Tipped by JMG reader Alex)
Of
all the words we use to disguise the hollowness of the human condition,
none is more influential than 'myself.' It consists of a collage of
still images—name, gender, nationality, profession, enthusiasms,
relationships—that are renovated from time to time, but otherwise are
each a relic from one particular experience or another. The defining
teaching of the Buddhist tradition, that of non-self, is merely pointing
out the limitations of this reflexive view we hold of ourselves. It’s
not that the self does not exist, but that it is as cobbled-together and
transient as everything else.
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