Riley on Marketing

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 28, 2011

Friends and "Enemies"

It is not sufficient merely to see that sentient beings are suffering. You must also develop a sense of closeness with them, a sense that they are dear. With that combination—seeing that people suffer and thinking of them as dear—you can develop compassion. So, after meditatively transforming your attitude toward friends, enemies, and neutral persons such that you have gained progress in becoming even-minded toward all of them, the next step is to meditate on everyone as friends, to feel that they have been profoundly close.

- Jeffrey Hopkins, "Everyone as a Friend"
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Via AmericaBlogGay: NYT covers the Salvation Army gay backlash

How the Salvation Army refused to help a homeless Bil Browning (now the head of Bilerico blog) because he was gay. NYT:

Bil Browning and his boyfriend were homeless. To protect the identity of the boyfriend (now ex-boyfriend), Mr. Browning will not say specifically where, just that it was in “southern Indiana,” about 20 years ago. But he is very explicit about who refused to give them shelter.

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Tricycle Daily Dharma December 25, 2011

The Light of Compassion

There has not been and will not be any such "self" or substantial entity which clings or is attached to one thing after another. But if you were to ask, "Well, what then is manifesting?" I would say that from the nature of emptiness (sunyata), great compassion manifests just as the sun manifests light. It unfolds by itself—no subject and no object.

- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Invisible Realities"
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Via JMG: Quote Of The Day - Frank Mugisha

"Many Africans believe that homosexuality is an import from the West, and ironically they invoke religious beliefs and colonial-era laws that are foreign to our continent to persecute us. The way I see it, homophobia — not homosexuality — is the toxic import. Thanks to the absurd ideas peddled by American fundamentalists, we are constantly forced to respond to the myth — debunked long ago by scientists — that homosexuality leads to pedophilia.

"For years, the Christian right in America has exported its doctrine to Africa, and, along with it, homophobia. In Uganda, American evangelical Christians even held workshops and met with key officials to preach their message of hate shortly before a bill to impose the death penalty for homosexual conduct was introduced in Uganda’s Parliament in 2009. Two years later, despite my denunciation of all forms of child exploitation, David Bahati, the legislator who introduced the bill, as well as Foreign Minister Henry Okello Oryem and other top government officials, still don’t seem to grasp that being gay doesn’t equate to being a pedophile." - Frank Mugisha, director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, writing for the New York Times.

Labels: Africa, bigotry, bravery, religion, Uganda

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: KKK FALLOUT: Activists Call On Catholic Cardinal Francis George To Resign

Activists are calling for the resignation of Catholic Cardinal Francis George after he declared that LGBT activists who protested the church were like members of the KKK. A petition has been launched on Change.org. Several major gay and religious groups have issued statements denouncing the Cardinal.

Human Right Campaign

"Cardinal George's horrific comparison of the LGBT movement to the Ku Klux Klan drives an unnecessary wedge between Catholics and the hierarchy," said Dr. Sharon Groves, Director of HRC's Religion & Faith Program. "This is a sacred time of year for many people of faith, a time when we should be creating and cherishing unity in our communities -- not casting about dangerous and divisive rhetoric. As people of faith we should expect better from our leaders."

Catholics For Marriage Equality

"As a lay Catholic, I am profoundly saddened that Cardinal Francis George defiles his office by comparing our LGBT family, friends and fellow Catholics to the Ku Klux Klan," said Anne Underwood, co-founder of Catholics for Marriage Equality. "His rhetoric rings particularly off-key coming the week before Catholics celebrate the birth of Christ. As a Catholic who responds to our historic Church teachings to stand with all marginalized people, I work for freedom and fairness for my LGBT friends. I feel dismissed and betrayed by our hierarchy, but not by our God, for whom Cardinal George did not speak."

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

The Rev. Eric Lee, Executive Director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference said: "I have spent most of my adult life engaged in the civil rights struggle for African American people who have been terrorized by racist Klan violence," said Lee. "I am insulted by the comparison of the Klan to the current LGBT movement. When we distort the history of terror for cheap political aims, we only inflict pain on those whose lives have been scarred by the Klan."

Truth Wins Out

Chicago Archbishop Cardinal Francis George foolishly compared the LGBT community to the Ku Klux Klan. He has crossed so far over the line of basic decency that he couldn’t see it with a pair of binoculars. George’s over-the-top remarks were extreme to the point where they shredded his credibility and permanently damaged his ability to serve as a respected voice of reason. This outrageous comparison of the LGBT community to the Ku Klux Klan was so degrading and hurtful that apologizing will not be sufficient. George’s only road to redemption is handing in his resignation. If he has a shred of dignity and a shard of class he will immediately step down.

Labels: bigotry, Catholic Church, Chicago, gay Pride, HRC, scandal, Truth Wins Out

reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 23, 2011

Find a Refuge in Yourself

Without discipline, it’s very difficult to develop stability; that’s why we have a practice. And when we live according to the dharma, when we follow a teacher, when we follow the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, what it really does is bring us stability within ourselves. So, for example, when we have taken refuge, we find a refuge in ourselves; when we need ourselves, we are there for us. So often when we need ourselves, we’re not there.

- Sogyal Rinpoche, "The Stability of Ease"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via Gay Poltics Report: A kiss to seal a banner year

• A kiss to seal a banner year
  When U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta walked off the USS Oak Hill this week after a tour of duty, she walked into the arms of her partner and gave her a kiss, becoming the first openly LGBT sailor to carry out the Navy's "first kiss" honor. "This is the first time we can actually show who we are," Gaeta said of her two-year relationship with Citlalic Snell, who also serves in the Navy. The celebration of that kiss, and numerous other examples this year, suggest there is much more support for LGBT equality than most realize, writes Dan Savage. The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk) (12/21), The Stranger (Seattle)/SLOG (12/21)   

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Tricycle Daily Dharma December 22, 2011

Staying Present with Fear

Let’s say you begin to feel afraid, and out of habit you begin to speed up and get panicked. This thereby strengthens further habits that keep you stuck in a rut. What you find is if you just train in simply staying present even a few seconds with those uncomfortable feelings, like fear, that you can then develop the strength to stay present for a few minutes, and then 10 minutes, then more, and so on. If you can stay present with your own emotional distress in an open space that’s not clouded and keep letting the thoughts about it go, then you always know what will deescalate the heat of the situation.

- Pema Chödrön, "Stepping into Groundlessness"
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Tricycle Daily Dharma December 21, 2011

Open Yourself to Vulnerability

We have to get to know and be honest about our particular strategies for dealing with vulnerability, and learn to use our practice to allow ourselves to experience more of that vulnerability rather than less of it. To open yourself up to need, longing, dependency, and reliance on others means opening yourself to the truth that none of us can do this on our own. We really do need each other, just as we need parents and teachers. We need all those people in our lives who make us feel so uncertain. Our practice is not about finally getting to a place where we are going to escape all that but about creating a container that allows us to be more and more human, to feel more and more.

- Barry Magid, "No Gain"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection