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.
Friday, January 17, 2014
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma January 17, 2014
Changing Views
For,
as the Buddhist view has consistently demonstrated, it is the
perspective of the sufferer that determines whether a given experience
perpetuates suffering or is a vehicle for awakening. To work something
through means to change one's view; if we try instead to change the
emotion, we may achieve some short-term success, but we remain bound by
forces of attachment and an aversion to the very feelings from which we
are struggling to be free.
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- Mark Epstein, “Shattering the Ridgepole”
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Via JMG: NIGERIA: Eleven Muslim Men On Trial, Face Stoning To Death For Homosexuality
The BBC reports:
An Islamic court in Nigeria's northern state of Bauchi has put on trial 11 Muslim men accused of being homosexuals in violation of their religion, a religious leader has told the BBC. A 12th person arrested - a Christian - would be tried under secular law, a BBC reporter says. Under Islamic law, a person can be sentenced to death by stoning if convicted of homosexuality. It is also illegal to have gay sex in Nigeria, according to its secular laws. Jibrin Danlami Hassan, the commissioner of Bauchi state's Sharia Commission, said the alleged homosexuals were arrested by residents of Bauchi city. They were handed to the Islamic police force, which interrogated them, he said. "They accept that they are doing that dirty game," Mr Hassan said. Ms Aken'Ova said some of those arrested had been beaten up and tortured, but Mr Hassan denied this. The BBC's Ishaq Khalid in Bauchi says the Sharia Commission confirmed to him that a Christian had been arrested with the 11 Muslims, and would be tried in a "conventional court".There have not yet been any confirmed "death by stoning" executions in Nigeria, although several such sentences have been handed down.
Labels: Africa, homosexuality, Islam, LGBT rights, Nigeria, religion, Sharia Law
Via JMG: The Professor Dies At Age 89
Russell Johnson, the professor on Gilligan's Island, has died at the age of 89.
Johnson, who played Professor Roy Hinkley, died of natural causes at his home in Washington. Dawn Wells, who played Mary Ann, just posted on Facebook, "My 2 favorite people are now gone. The professor past (sic) away this morning. My heart is broken." The other person who died is Bob Denver, who played Gilligan. He died in 2005. Johnson was on the show from 1964 to 1967. Johnson was not in the original opening of the show. He and Mary Ann were referred to as "The rest." But Denver insisted that they be included and that happened later.In his later years Johnson became a full-time fundraiser for AIDS research. His son died of the disease in 1994.
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma January 16, 2014
Your Interwoven Self
For
a few moments just feel the body’s warmth and strength, its ability to
hold itself upright. The vitality and aliveness that you experience in
your body require various chemical and mineral substances, a continuous
supply of oxygen, the energy of the sun, and the cohesion and
conductivity of water. The Buddha instructs us to reflect on the body as
composed of the elements of earth, air, fire, and water, so that we
will see how this life is interwoven with universal processes.
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- Wes Nisker, "Evolution’s Body"
January 16, 2014
Your Interwoven Self
For
a few moments just feel the body’s warmth and strength, its ability to
hold itself upright. The vitality and aliveness that you experience in
your body require various chemical and mineral substances, a continuous
supply of oxygen, the energy of the sun, and the cohesion and
conductivity of water. The Buddha instructs us to reflect on the body as
composed of the elements of earth, air, fire, and water, so that we
will see how this life is interwoven with universal processes.
|
- Wes Nisker, "Evolution’s Body"
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
O Budismo te incomoda? Então…
Desfazendo Equívocos
Se você quer milagres, não procure o budismo. O supremo milagre para o budismo é você lavar seu prato depois de comer.
Se você quer curar seu corpo físico, não procure o budismo. O budismo só cura os males de sua mente: ignorância, cólera e desejos desenfreados.
Se você quiser arranjar emprego ou melhorar sua situação financeira, não procure o budismo. Você se decepcionará, pois ele vai lhe falar sobre desapego em relação aos bens materiais. Não confunda, porém, desapego com renúncia.
Se você quer poderes sobrenaturais, não procure o budismo. Para o budismo, o maior poder sobrenatural é o triunfo sobre o egoísmo.
Se você quer triunfar sobre seus inimigos, não procure o budismo. Para o budismo, o único triunfo que conta é o do homem sobre si mesmo.
Se você quer a vida eterna em um paraíso de delícias, não procure o budismo, pois ele matará seu ego aqui e agora.
Se você quer massagear seu ego com poder, fama, elogios e outras vantagens, não procure o budismo. A casa de Buda não é a casa da inflação dos egos.
Se você quer a proteção divina, não procure o budismo. Ele lhe ensinará que você só pode contar consigo mesmo.
Se você quer um caminho para Deus, não procure o budismo. Ele o lançará no vazio.
Se você quer alguém que perdoe suas falhas, deixando-o livre para errar de novo, não procure o budismo, pois ele lhe ensinará a implacável Lei de Causa e Efeito e a necessidade de uma autocrítica consciente e profunda.
Se você quer respostas cômodas e fáceis para suas indagações existenciais, não procure o budismo. Ele aumentará suas dúvidas.
Se você quer uma crença cega, não procure o budismo. Ele o ensinará a pensar com sua própria cabeça.
Se você é dos que acham que a verdade está nas escrituras, não procure o budismo. Ele lhe dirá que o papel é muito útil para limpar o lixo acumulado no intelecto.
Se você quer saber a verdade sobre os discos voadores ou sobre a civilização de Atlântida, não procure o budismo. Ele só revelará a verdade sobre você mesmo.
Se você quer se comunicar com espíritos, não procure o budismo. Ele só pode ensinar você a se comunicar com seu verdadeiro eu.
Se você quer conhecer suas encarnações passadas, não procure o budismo. Ele só pode lhe mostrar sua miséria presente.
Se você quer conhecer o futuro, não procure o budismo. Ele só vai lhe mandar prestar atenção a seus pés, enquanto você anda.
Se você quer ouvir palavras bonitas, não procure o budismo. Ele só tem o silêncio a lhe oferecer.
Se você quer ser sério e austero, não procure o budismo. Ele vai ensiná-lo a brincar e a se divertir.
Se você quer brincar e se divertir, não procure o budismo. Ele o ensinará a ser sério e austero.
Se você quer viver, não procure o budismo, pois ele o ensinará a morrer.
Se você quer morrer, não procure o budismo, pois ele o ensinará a viver.
Via HimalayaCrafts / FB:
“Many
of us are slaves to our minds. Our own mind is our worst enemy. We try
to focus, and our mind wanders off. We try to keep stress at bay, but
anxiety keeps us awake at night. We try to be good to the people we
love, but then we forget them and put ourselves first. And when we want
to change our life, we dive into spiritual practice and expect quick
results, only to lose focus after the honeymoon has worn off. We return
to our state of bewilderment. We're left feeling helpless and
discouraged. It seems we all agree that training the body through
exercise, diet, and relaxation is a good idea, but why don't we think
about training our minds?”
― Sakyong Mipham
― Sakyong Mipham
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma January 15, 2014
Right Judgment
Many
Western Buddhists believe that judging runs counter to insight and
unconditional compassion, that passing judgment automatically implies a
troubling duality, a delusional moral hierarchy. The Buddha, however,
warned not against judging, but against being judgmental. The former
implies clear comprehension of appropriate action and the latter implies
bias and misconception.
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- Mary Talbot, “No Justice, No Peace”
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma January 14, 2014
The Unconditional Love of Bodhisattvas
When we raise a thought for someone’s well-being, and entrust that to our foundation, that underlying mind—Juingong—never
disappears and is never used up. This is different from helping people
through material things. This is the unconditional love that
bodhisattvas have for all beings. This mind is the compassion that rises
when all beings and myself are one, when the suffering of others is my
suffering. This is the power that leads us to the truth.
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- Daehaeng Kun Sunim, "Thinking Big"
Monday, January 13, 2014
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma January 12, 2014
Challenge Your Standards
When
judging the results of your own actions, you can’t simply take your own
ideas of ‘what works’ as a trustworthy standard. After all, you can
easily side with your greed, aversion, or delusion, setting your
standards too low. So to check against this tendency, the Buddha
recommends that you also take into consideration the views of the wise,
for you’ll never grow until you allow your standards to be challenged by
theirs.
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- Thanissaro Bhikkhu, “Lost in Quotation”
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma January 11, 2014
Closeness with Every Being
For
compassion to develop toward a wide range of persons, mere knowledge of
how beings suffer is not sufficient; there has to be a sense of
closeness with regard to every being. That intimacy is established
either through merely reflecting that everyone equally wants happiness
and doesn’t want suffering, or through reflecting on the implications of
rebirth, or both, with the one reinforcing the other.
|
- Jeffrey Hopkins, “Everyone as a Friend”
Via JMG: Russian Orthodox Church Calls For Referendum To Criminalize Homosexuality
Days after a similar demand from Russian actor Ivan "Burn Gays Alive" Okhlobystin, the Russian Orthodox Church has called for a public referendum to criminalize homosexual acts.
The Church's abrupt intervention came amid a growing debate over whether the Kremlin should mount a firmer defence of traditional values that many in the overwhelmingly conservative country view as coming under attack from Europe and the United States. Church spokesman Vsevolod Chaplin pointed to polls showing more than half of Russians viewing homosexuality as either an illness or a crime as a sign that the country was ready to revert to a Soviet-era homosexual ban. "There is no question that society should discuss this issue since we live in a democracy," Chaplin told the online edition of the pro-government Izvestia daily. "For this reason, it is precisely the majority of our people and not some outside powers that should decide what should be a criminal offence and what should not," he said.A member of Vladimir Putin's ruling party told the news agency Interfax that Russia is bound by international treaties that ban outlawing homosexuality.
Labels: hate groups, homosexuality, Ivan Okhlobystin, LGBT rights, religion, Russia, Russian Orthodox Church, Vladimir Putin
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