A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma October 30, 2013
Forgiving Yourself
To
forgive does not necessarily mean to forget. Sometimes to forget is not
wise, but to forgive is wise. And it is at times not easy. It can, in
fact, be quite challenging. It will come as no surprise that one of the
most difficult people to forgive can be yourself. Yet with patience and
gentle determination, it can be done.
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- Allan Lokos, "Lighten Your Load"
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Via FB:
Your mind is a shrieking gibbering madhouse on wheels barreling pell-mell down the hill utterly out of control and hopeless. No problem. You are not crazier than you were yesterday. It has always been this way and you just never noticed." -- Bhante H. Gunaratana, Mindfulness in Plain English
Somewhere in this process you will come face-to-face with the sudden and shocking realization that you are completely crazy. Your mind is a shrieking gibbering madhouse on wheels barreling pell-mell down the hill utterly out of control and hopeless. No problem. You are not crazier than you were yesterday. It has always been this way and you just never noticed. You are also no crazier than everybody else around you. The only real difference is that you have confronted the situation they have not. [And over time you can develop greater discipline]. "Discipline" is a difficult word for most of us. It conjures up images of somebody standing over you with a stick, telling you that you're wrong. But self-discipline is different. It's the skill of seeing through the hollow shouting of your own impulses and piercing their secret. They have no power over you. It's all a show, a deception. Your urges scream and bluster at you; they cajole; they coax; they threaten; but they really carry no stick at all. You give in out of habit. You give in because you never really bother to look beyond the threat. It is all empty back there. There is only one way to learn this lesson, though. The words on this page won't do it. But look within and watch the stuff coming up-restlessness, anxiety, impatience, pain-just watch it come up and don't get involved. Much to your surprise, it will simply go away. It rises, it passes away. As simple as that. There is another word for self-discipline. It is patience.
~ Bhante Henepola Gunaratana ~ "Mindfulness in Plain English"
Via justabahai:
On bullying and being different – Shane Koyczan’s spoken-word poetryby justabahai |
Sticks
and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me" Or do
they? Watch this 12 minute TED talk where poet Shane Koyczan puts his
finger on the pulse of what it's like to be young and different. It
contain snippets of "To This Day" his spoken-word poem (which was
created as […]
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma October 29, 2013
What is Anger?
Because
we imagine anger is never a good thing, it is easy to think we should
practice simply not being angry. But that approach is too general and
abstract. It’s important for each of us to be precise, to be real, to be
personal and honest, to find out exactly what my anger is. To do that
we need to ask ourselves lots of questions about its actual nature.
|
- Nancy Baker, “Precious Energy”
Monday, October 28, 2013
Via JMG: ATLANTA: All Out Activists Drive Billboard Trucks Past Coca-Cola Headquarters
Via press release:
Reposted from Joe
Today, All Out demonstrated outside Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. Coca-Cola is one of the largest Olympic sponsors and has the longest continuous Olympic sponsorship history of any of the sponsors. All Out called upon Coca-Cola to continue their strong tradition of support for the lesbian, gay, bi and trans communities by calling for an end of the anti-gay laws now.Photo source.
All Out members funded three large trucks pulling huge billboards around the Coca-Cola global headquarters to encourage the company to respond to over 140,000 emails from All Out members asking Coca-Cola to do the right thing and condemn the anti-gay laws. In August, All Out members delivered more than 300,000 signatures to the International Olympic Committee headquarters. Members also urged the International Olympics Committee to speak out against Russia's anti-gay law ahead of the 2014 Winter Games.
Last month the IOC confirmed Principle 6 of the Olympic charter includes protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation, but as long as the anti-gay laws are in place during the Sochi Games the Olympic charter is unenforceable. In September, NBC reported record advertising revenue for the 2014 Games, with more than $800 Million already committed. NBC predicted the total could approach $970 Million before the games. Coca-Cola has been a sponsor of the Olympics since the 1928 Games in Amsterdam.
Via JMG: Putin: Gays Are Welcome At Sochi
"We are doing everything, both the organizers and our athletes and fans, so that participants and guests feel comfortable in Sochi, regardless of nationality, race or sexual orientation." - Russian president Vladimir Putin, speaking today to Thomas Bach, the chairman of the International Olympic Committee. Gays are welcome to attend, just don't do anything that might let somebody know that you are gay. Otherwise...
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma October 28, 2013
Sound Meditation
One
specific method for practicing mindfulness of body sensations is to
focus your attention on sounds. Sounds, like everything else, arise and
pass away. Just by listening, you can experience the insight of
impermanence, an understanding the Buddha taught as crucial for the
development of wisdom.
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- Sylvia Boorstein, "Sound Meditation"
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![H/T to Tao & Zen and Benjamin S.:
Somewhere in this process you will come face-to-face with the sudden and shocking realization that you are completely crazy. Your mind is a shrieking gibbering madhouse on wheels barreling pell-mell down the hill utterly out of control and hopeless. No problem. You are not crazier than you were yesterday. It has always been this way and you just never noticed. You are also no crazier than everybody else around you. The only real difference is that you have confronted the situation they have not. [And over time you can develop greater discipline].
"Discipline" is a difficult word for most of us. It conjures up images of somebody standing over you with a stick, telling you that you're wrong. But self-discipline is different. It's the skill of seeing through the hollow shouting of your own impulses and piercing their secret. They have no power over you. It's all a show, a deception.
Your urges scream and bluster at you; they cajole; they coax; they threaten; but they really carry no stick at all. You give in out of habit. You give in because you never really bother to look beyond the threat. It is all empty back there.
There is only one way to learn this lesson, though. The words on this page won't do it. But look within and watch the stuff coming up-restlessness, anxiety, impatience, pain-just watch it come up and don't get involved.
Much to your surprise, it will simply go away. It rises, it passes away. As simple as that. There is another word for self-discipline. It is patience.
~ Bhante Henepola Gunaratana ~
"Mindfulness in Plain English"](https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/p320x320/562572_10200479622167197_137209848_n.jpg)
