Via The Economist / FB:

Daily chart: Attitudes toward gay marriage are changing—and fast. Across most of the West, polls show a majority of public opinion in favour of equality for gays. That said, in 78 countries—mostly in the Muslim world, Africa and other developing states—gay sex is still a crime. Today’s chart maps gay marriage rights around the world http://econ.st/10fAJAY

My buddy Andrew C remided me, "Brasil is not presented accurately. Civil unions provide the same 110 rights as marriage and marriage is completely legal in 3 states if I am not mistaken. And the US is so behind on this...what an embarrassment."

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma November 19, 2012

The Force of Gratitude

Gratitude is a way of undercutting your ego—that is, it is a way of being Buddhist. It really goes back to interdependence and those basic Buddhist concepts. There is an awareness that we get now and then about what we owe to others, and Shinran feels that that should become the moving force of one’s life. Then the egoism kind of takes care of itself.

- Rev. Dr. Alfred Bloom, "Beyond Religion"

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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma November 17, 2012

Complete Practice

When people talk about practicing the buddhadharma, I think they sometimes fail to realize that the buddhadharma is a comprehensive religious system. It doesn’t just mean sitting on your meditation cushion and focusing on your breath. Buddhism is a practice for your whole life.

- Charles Prebish, "Pursuing an American Buddhism"

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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma November 16, 2012

Our Fundamental Goodness

I’ve found that pointing people to their fundamental goodness will awaken it. It’s more skillful than pointing to the negative. We are so loyal to our suffering and to seeing ourselves as damaged that it’s very easy to use spiritual practice to reinforce our self-judgment. That doesn’t help people become liberated.

- Jack Kornfield, "The Wise Heart"

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Via JMG: Catholic Church Gave $2M

Catholic Church Gave $2M To Feed The Homeless Fund Hatred & Fuel Bigotry

NOM Exposed takes note:

Taking up where the Mormons left off in 2008, the Catholic Church – and its affiliate, the Knights of Columbus – have made considerable investments in the marriage fights in Minnesota, Maryland, Washington State and Maine this election cycle – spending nearly $2 million. In addition, a close ally of the Church and past co-conspirator, the National Organization for Marriage, spent more than $5.2 million this cycle. Final campaign figures for Maryland and Maine will be available by the end of the month.

Marriage equality opponents across the four states raised $11.3 million. The Catholic Church’s contributions make up 17 percent of that total figure. When you add in the contributions of Church ally NOM, the reality of the coordinated effort becomes clear: the Catholic Church, the Knights of Columbus and NOM are responsible for funding nearly 65 percent of all anti-equality efforts in Minnesota, Maryland, Washington State and Maine.

That's $11.3 million that didn't go to pay molestation settlements.  Time for some more parishes to declare bankruptcy!

Labels: 2012 elections, Catholic Church, hate groups, molestation, NOM, organized crime, religion, Vatican

Reposted from by Joe

VIa JMG:

VIa JMG: Uruguay Considers Marriage

Uruguay, which already has civil unions, began this week considering a move to full marriage equality.

The proposed "marriage equality" law would change Uruguay's nearly-century-old civil code and give married gays and lesbians all the rights and responsibilities of heterosexual married couples, including the possibility of adopting children. It was drafted by gay rights activists in the so-called "Black Sheep Collective" and now has the support of lawmakers in the ruling Broad Front coalition, which decided Wednesday to debate the measure next week in the House of Deputies' constitutional commission. "Today's society is much broader than the heterosexual, and the civil code should reflect this: a marriage institution that applies equally to all," Federico Grana, a member of the collective, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "This goes well beyond homosexuality — it's a law that gives all the same rights and responsibilities."

Labels: LGBT rights, South America, Uruguay

Reposted from Joe

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet :

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	From this point on you really know. This is called the pinnacle of Zen, the sovereignty of Zen. It is also called knowledge of what is knowable; it produces all the various states of meditation, and anoints the heads of all spiritual princes. In all fields of form, sound, fragrance, flavor, feeling, and phenomena, you realize complete perfect enlightenment. Inside and outside are in complete communion, without any obstruction at all. - Pai-chang, "The Sphere of the Enlightened" More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma November 15, 2012

The Real Meaning of Mindfulness

When mindfulness is equated with bare attention, it can easily lead to the misconception that the cultivation of mindfulness has nothing to do with ethics or with the cultivation of wholesome states of mind and the attenuation of unwholesome states. Nothing could be further from the truth.

- B. Alan Wallace, "A Mindful Balance"

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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma November 14, 2012

Take A Moment

As an experiment, the next time you are doing an errand, stuck in traffic, or standing in line at the supermarket, instead of being preoccupied with where you’re going or what needs to be done, take a moment to simply send loving wishes to all those around you. Often, there is an immediate and very remarkable shift as we feel more connected and more present.

- Joseph Goldstein, "Triumph of the Heart"

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Via God / FB:

God says,

"The extra big time bonus winner of SMITE TUESDAY is any US citizen who wants their state to secede from the USA.

These people are still quite mad that their political team didn't win the election. They are sore losers. Rather than just move on, they are signing worthless Internet petitions.

WELL I SHALL SMITE THEM! Their pitiful Internet petitions will be ignored! Their states shall stay part of the USA!! And they shall suffer the agony of defeat and curse their lives every single day.

SMITE!"

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Dangerous consequences will follow when politicians and rulers forget moral principles. Whether we believe in God or karma, ethics is the foundation of every religion. - His Holiness the Dalai Lama More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet :

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Clearly, buddha-dharma is not practiced for one's own sake, and even less for the sake of fame and profit. Just for the sake of buddha-dharma you should practice it. All buddhas' compassion and sympathy for sentient beings are neither for their own sake nor for the sake of others. It is just the nature of buddha-dharma. - Dogen, "Moon in a Dewdrop" More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma November 12, 2012

Being In Touch

You cannot achieve enlightenment by locking yourself in your room. Transformation is possible only when you are in touch.

- Thich Nhat Hanh, "The Fertile Soil of Sangha"

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California, USA: After Electoral Wins, Gay Activists Await the Supreme Court

Written by scott on November 11th, 2012 The historic votes of four states this week in favor of gay marriage — an apparent sea change in U.S. public opinion — have sparked the hopes of many Californians who want to turn the tide in the Golden State. But that doesn’t mean advocates of gay marriage want to see Californians vote on another ballot measure here. Instead, they’re counting on a relatively conservative U.S. Supreme Court to make same-sex unions legal throughout the country.
“We shouldn’t have to go state after state after state — it’ll take forever,” said gay marriage activist Billy Bradford of Castro Valley. He said activists are hoping for a ruling similar to the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court decision that ended all restrictions on interracial marriage, “so we can move on to other things that face this country.”

read the full article here

What makes a gay soldier different from a straight soldier?

JMG Quote Of The Day - Maureen Dowd

"Romney and Tea Party loonies dismissed half the country as chattel and moochers who did not belong in their 'traditional' America. But the more they insulted the president with birther cracks, the more they tried to force chastity belts on women, and the more they made Hispanics, blacks and gays feel like the help, the more these groups burned to prove that, knitted together, they could give the dead-enders of white male domination the boot. The election about the economy also sounded the death knell for the Republican culture wars. Romney was still running in an illusory country where husbands told wives how to vote, and the wives who worked had better get home in time to cook dinner. But in the real country, many wives were urging husbands not to vote for a Brylcreemed boss out of a ’50s boardroom whose party was helping to revive a 50-year-old debate over contraception. Just like the Bushes before him, Romney tried to portray himself as more American than his Democratic opponent. But America’s gallimaufry wasn’t knuckling under to the gentry this time." - Maureen Dowd, writing for the New York Times.

Labels: 2012 elections, Mitt Romney, Quote Of The Day

Reposted from Joe

Via O Bosque de Berkana / FB:

Poema de Jiddu Krishnamurti

''Eu não tenho nome,
Eu sou como a brisa fresca das montanhas.
Eu não têm abrigo;

Sou como as águas errantes.
Eu não tenho nenhum santuário, como os deuses escuros;
Também não estou à sombra dos templos da profundidade.
Eu não tenho livros sagrados;
Também não sou bem-temperado na tradição.
Eu não estou no incenso
Montagem sobre os altares elevados,
Nem na pompa de cerimônias.
Eu não sou nem na imagem de escultura,
Nem no canto rico de uma voz melodiosa.
Eu não sou limitado por teorias,
Nem corrompido por crenças.
Não estou realizado na escravidão das religiões,
Nem na agonia piedosa de seus sacerdotes.
Eu não estou preso por filosofias,
Nem no realizadar no poder de suas seitas.
Eu não sou nem baixo, nem alto,
Eu sou o adorador eo adorado.
Eu sou livre.
Minha canção é a canção do rio
Apelando para o mar aberto,
Errante, errante,
Eu sou a Vida.
Eu não tenho nome,
Eu sou como a brisa fresca das montanhas.''

Jiddu Krishnamurti

 

 

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma November 11, 2012

A Life Informed by Death

If we really faced our fear of death, our lives would ultimately be lighter and more joyful. I don't propose death awareness to depress us. It enhances our ability to live more fully.

- Larry Rosenberg, "Only the Practice of Dharma Can Help Us at the Time of Death"

Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection through November 13th, 2012
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