Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Every time a problem arises, the essential thing is to immediately become aware that the problem comes from our selfish mind, that it is created by self-cherishing thoughts. As long as you put the blame outside yourself, there can be no happiness. - Lama Zopa Rinpoche, "Transforming Problems Into Happiness" More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma May 31, 2013

What is Happiness?

Whatever realization may come by way of silence, our happiness is never won that way. Happiness is not happiness unless it is shared. For happiness is the one thing in all the world that comes to us only at the moment we give it, and is likewise increased by being given away.

- Clark Strand, “The Wisdom of Frogs”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through June 1, 2013
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VIa Buddhism on Beliefnet

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Contrary to what some people might believe, there is nothing wrong with having pleasures and enjoyments. What is wrong is the confused way we grasp onto these pleasures, turning them from a source of happiness into a source of pain and dissatisfaction. - Lama Thubten Yeshe, "Introdu

Via JMG: Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma May 30, 2013

A Sense of Closeness

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‚ you can develop compassion.

- Jeffrey Hopkins, "Everyone as a Friend"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through May 31, 2013
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We can dance - Hollywood Movie Dance Tribute

Via JMG: The Three-Pronged Pitchfork Of Bigotry

"The first prong is political. When a politician like Marco Rubio is willing to sacrifice his career defining immigration reform legislation solely to insure that gays and lesbians are denied equal protection under the law, we have to admit that we're under attack. This is not pragmatic politics at work. These are the policies of bias, exclusion and unfairness.

"The second wave is the steady barrage coming from those who would call themselves moral leaders. Shielded behind lecterns, they assign condemnation with impunity. Claiming to be brimming with the love of their creator, they spew forth the cowardice of the mob. Fundamentalism, whether raining down terror abroad or in homilies from our home parishes, is the enemy. It is the death knell of tolerance, progress and compromise. Fundamentalism is, in all practicality, nothing but an invitation to bigotry.

"And thirdly, when we excuse homophobia as a matter of opinion instead of treating it as a destructive social illness, we invite fear to explode into violence. How often are the perpetrators of hate-crimes discovered to be self-loathing? Valued individuals do not strike out against strangers." - Harvey Fierstein, writing for the Huffington Post.

Read the full essay.

Labels: bigotry, Broadway, gay artists, gay writers, Harvey Fierstein, hate crimes, hate speech, religion

Reposted from Joe

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Without love we could not survive. Human beings are social creatures, and a concern for each other is the very basis of our life together. - His Holiness the Dalai Lama More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma May 29, 2013

Fostering a Meditative Life

Don’t be a slave to style. Don’t take more from the world than you’re willing to give back. And learn to undo the perceptions—so heavily promoted by the media—that shopping is a form of therapy and that a purchase is nothing but a victory or a gain.

- Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "Skillful Shelter"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through May 30, 2013
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Via JMG: European Court Rules Against Refusing Service To Gays On Religious Grounds

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that it is legal to discipline employees for refusing to provide services to same-sex couples on the basis of religious objections. The ruling came in the cases of three British Christians who had refused to perform relationship counseling or conduct civil partnership ceremonies.

Tuesday's decision was welcomed by the National Secular Society. The group's executive director, Keith Porteous Wood, said: "Fortunately, Europe's highest court has now wisely followed numerous lower courts and rejected the applicants' attempts for religious conscience to trump equality law. "The UK has the world's most comprehensive equality laws which already include strong protection for religious believers and they would have been fatally compromised, particularly for LGBT people, had the Grand Chamber overturned any of these judgments. "We hope that this will now draw a line under the attempts by a small coterie of Christian activists to obtain special privileges for themselves which would invariably come at the expense of other people's rights."

The Court is based in Strasbourg, France. (Tipped by JMG reader Julian)

Labels: bigotry, employment, Europe, religion

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Frank Rich On LGBT History

"As we just learned, a man can still be murdered for being gay a few blocks away from the Stonewall Inn. But the rapidity of change has been stunning. The world only spins forward, as Tony Kushner wrote. And yet as we celebrate the forward velocity of gay rights, I think we must glance backward as well. History is being lost in this shuffle—that of those gay men and women who experienced little or none of today’s freedoms. Whatever the other distinctions between the struggles of black Americans and gay Americans for equality under the law—starting with the overarching horror of slavery—one difference is intrinsic. Black people couldn’t (for the most part) hide their identity in an America that treated them cruelly. Gay people could hide and, out of self-protection, often did. That’s why their stories were cloaked in silence and are at risk of being forgotten."- Frank Rich, opening his New York Magazine article on LGBT history and his surrogate gay father.

Read the full essay.

Labels: Frank Rich, LGBT History, LGBT rights

Reposted from Joe