Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 25, 2013

Seeing Through Self

When we question ego-mind directly, it is exposed for what it is: the absence of everything we believe it to be. We can actually see through this seemingly solid ego-mind, or self. But what are we left with then? We are left with an open, intelligent awareness, unfettered by a self to cherish or protect. This is the primordial wisdom mind of all beings. Relaxing into this discovery is true meditation—and true meditation brings ultimate realization and freedom from suffering.

- Dzigar Kongtrül Rinpoche, "Searching for Self"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 26th, 2013
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Via Scott Schuele: Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People ?

 

One of the questions I get asked most is why do bad things happen to some very good people and why do some very bad people seem to have it so good? The answer is two sides of the same coin, karma. 
However, it is far from being simple in no small part to our attachment to dualistic thinking, meaning everything is black or white. Understanding the following three elements in itself explains much of why and how all situations happen.

Every situation, event and our everyday experiences are all caused and created by our karma, which has a continuum of four parts. Each part can be positive , neutral, negative , and or somewhat in between. These four parts determine the overall karma generated by any specific action: A.) What you were thinking before you committed an action, B.) The action itself, C.) What you were thinking while you committed the action. D.) What you were thinking after you committed the action. For example, you decide that you are going to give money to a charity. Your motivation is that by giving you are going to get special attention and praise. That is not generating very positive karma. You give the money, which does generate positive karma. While giving you are day dreaming about the praise you are going to get, again not very positive karma is a being generated. After you give the money and you don’t get the praise you expected, you become very angry which generates very negative karma. So when you examine all these components you might have been better off not giving anything at all. While this qualifies for a discussion all on it’s own every thought we think regardless of any action taken generates karma to a certain degree as well. The reason I am giving this discourse is to demonstrate just how difficult it is to try and pinpoint some action as being either just good or bad ; dualistic thinking. Great teachers like Shantideva said, “the way karma works is beyond comprehension, only the all knowing, (enlightened) knows.”

Make the jump here to rest of the article

Via Huffington: Common Misconceptions About Religion

Being misunderstood is no fun in any context but when it is about something so personally meaningful as religion or non-religion, it can be infuriating.

Check out some of the answers here and add your own below in the comments section.

1. Belief does not equal faith.
2. Atheists are not anti-religion.
3. All Christians are like not like ones you see on T.V.
4. Atheism and Agnosticism are not mutually exclusive.
5. People who believe in God are not less intelligent.
6. Episcopalians are not all white, rich and privileged.
7. Non-theists are not evil.
8. The Buddha is not a diety.
9. Being Christian does not mean anti-science.
10. Lutherans are not all German.
11. Muslims are not terrorists.
12. The Pope is fallible.
13. All priests are not pedophiles.
14. Some Catholics are pro-choice.
15. Predestination is a thing of the past.
16. Buddhism isn’t a pessimistic philosophy.
17. Christianity is not about Christians. Christianity is about Jesus Christ.
18. Humanist is not the same as Atheist.
19. Catholics do not worship Mary and the Pope.
20. Christians are not perfect and they don’t have perfect lives.
21. Muslims are unimaginable diverse.
22. Baptists can be people who drink and dance.
23. You don’t have to be baptized in water to be saved.
24. Wiccans do not worship Satan.
25. People choose to do evil in ALL religious groups. Neopaganism does not have any more or less "evil" participants than any other belief system.
26. Islam does not oppress women.
27. Salvation is not about getting into Heaven.
28. All Jewish people are not rich.
29. All non-believers are not lost and angry.
30. Muslim women are not uneducated.
31. It’s the trinity Jehovah witnesses don’t believe in. Not Jesus.
32. Atheists can experience wonder.
33. Religious people are not better than anyone else.
34. Judaism is a religion of both law and love.
35. All Christians are not anti-gay.
36. Atheists are not "angry at God".
37. Allah is not different from God.
38. Unitarian Universalists do not believe anything they want. They have seven solid principles.
39. Not all Christians read the word of God literally as fact.
40. Not all Mormons are brain washed and believe the same thing.
41. People who don’t believe in any religion don’t lack morals.
42. There isn’t just one “true” Christianity.
43. Mormons are not polygamists.
44. Not all people who say they are following God actually are.
45. Neopagans are not Satanists.

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Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	The mind is something more radiant than anything else can be, but because counterfeits--passing defilements--come and obscure it, it loses its radiance, like the sun when obscured by clouds. Don't go thinking that the sun goes after the clouds. Instead, the clouds come drifting along and obscure the sun. - Ajaan Mun, "Heart Released" More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 24, 2013

The Possibility of Transformation

Only because of emptiness can things change and flow. Emptiness is not a vacuum, a black hole, but the possibility of endless transformations. There is no more grasping, or self-created barriers and limitations. The Buddha-nature can shine through and express itself fully.

- Martine Batchelor, “The Ten Oxherding Pictures”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 25th, 2013
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Via Loja Sobre Budismo / FB:

Jay-Z's Stunningly Down-To-Earth Take On Gay Marriage

Via Bay Area Reporter : NJ High School Senior Comes Out as Gay to His Entire Class, Gets Standing Ovation:

Towleroad today featured a great story. Read the story below. See the VIDEO at the the end of the story.

Our reader Scott sent us this clip of Jacob Rudolph, a high school senior in Parsippany, New Jersey, who came out to his entire class at their awards ceremony (Class Clown, Most Likely to Succeed, etc.).

Says Jacob in the clip, as he accepted the award for Best Actor (my transcript):

"Sure I've been in a few plays and musicals, but more importantly, I've been acting every single day of my life. You see, I've been acting as someone I'm not. Most of you see me every day. You see me acting the part of 'straight' Jacob, when I am in fact LGBT. Unlike millions of other LGBT teens who have had to act every day to avoid verbal harassment and physical violence, I'm not going to do it anymore. It's time to end the hate in our society and accept the people for who they are regardless of their sex, race, orientation, or whatever else may be holding back love and friendship. So take me leave me or move me out of the way. Because I am what I am, and that's how I'm going to act from now on."

Writes Scott: "As I am a gay friend of his dad's, he sought out my advice before taking the plunge, but the decision was all his. The best part of the video is when he gets a standing ovation after he comes out. This is an amazingly courageous kid and I hope he gets the props he deserves."

VIDEO: http://youtu.be/-c4_anB-Vvk

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	The problem isn't materialism as such. Rather it is the underlying assumption that full satisfaction can arise from gratifying the senses alone. Unlike animals whose quest for happiness is restricted to survival and to the immediate gratification of sensory desires, we human beings have the capacity to experience happiness at a deeper level which, when achieved, can overwhelm unhappy experiences. - His Holiness the Dalai Lama More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 23, 2013

What Connects Us All

To be able to suffer with is good news because it means you can share power with, share joy with, exchange love with. Let your pain tell you that you are not alone. What we thought might have been sealing us off can become connective tissue.

- Joanna Macy, “Schooling Our Intention”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 24th, 2013
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Via Luminous and Healthy / FB: The Precious Jewel Within...

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food.

The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman.

"I've been thinking," he said, "I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Please give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone."

Via JMG: Prop 8 Backers File First SCOTUS Brief

 

Today the legal team representing Protect Marriage, the backers of Proposition 8, filed their first brief at the Supreme Court. Chris Geidner has the story at Buzzfeed:

Arguing that the case brought by same-sex couples seeking to marry was unlike past gay rights cases where the court struck down anti-gay restrictions and also unlike Loving v. Virginia, in which the court struck down bans on interracial marriage, the proponents of Proposition 8 argue that there is no historic reason "for invalidating marriage as it has existed in California for virtually all of its history, as it was universally understood throughout this Nation (and the world) until just the last decade, and as it continues to be defined in the overwhelming majority of States and Nations."

Geidner clips this passage from the brief:

Our Constitution does not mandate the traditional gendered definition of marriage, but neither does our Constitution condemn it. This Court, accordingly, should allow the public debate regarding marriage to continue through the democratic process, both in California and throughout the Nation.

Arguments in the case are scheduled to begin on March 26th.
Among the numerous articles listed in the "authorities" portion of the Protect Marriage brief are two essays by homocon writer and marriage equality supporter Jonathan Rauch.  From a December 2012 article penned by Rauch for The New Republic:

I tell my gay friends: imagine if the Supreme Court had ordered gay marriage this past June, at the end of its 2011-2012 term. November’s game-changing electoral victories would never have happened. Gay marriage advocates would be forever stereotyped as political losers who won by running to mommy. Our opponents would mock and denigrate our marriages as court-created, legalistic fictions. The country would never have shown how much it has changed.  If we have come that far in five years, imagine where we might be in five more. Imagine, then, the opportunities to extend and consolidate support that we will lose if the Supreme Court steps in now. Strange but true: a favorable Supreme Court intervention next year would make us weaker, not stronger.

Labels: Alliance Defense Fund, California, LGBT rights, marriage equality, Proposition 8, Protect Marriage, religion, SCOTUS

posted by Joe

JMG HomoQuotable - Frank Bruni

"Seneca Falls, Selma, Stonewall. The alliteration of that litany made it seem obvious and inevitable, a bit of poetry just there for the taking. Just waiting to happen. But it has waited a long time. And President Obama’s use of it in his speech on Monday — his grouping of those three places and moments in one grand and musical sentence — was bold and beautiful and something to hear. It spoke volumes about the progress that gay Americans have made over the four years between his first inauguration and this one, his second. It also spoke volumes about the progress that continues to elude us. [snip]

 "Despite our strides, gay and lesbian couples even now can marry only in nine states and the District of Columbia. The federal government doesn’t recognize those weddings, meaning that in terms of taxes, military benefits and matters of immigration, it treats gays and lesbians differently than it treats other Americans. It relegates us to an inferior class. The Supreme Court could soon change, or validate, that. There are relevant cases before it. For his part Obama could show less deference to states’ rights, be more insistent about what’s just and necessary coast-to-coast, and push for federal protections against employment discrimination when it comes to L.G.B.T. Americans. His actions over the next four years could fall wholly in line with Monday’s trailblazing words. My hope is real, and grateful, and patient." - Frank Bruni, writing for the New York Times.

Labels: Frank Bruni, HomoQuotable, Inauguration Day

Reposted from Joe

Via LifeBetweenTheEyes / FB:

Via JMG: SF Gay Bar Gains Landmark Status

San Francisco's Board of Supervisors last week voted unanimously to grant landmark status to the Twin Peaks bar in the Castro. Here's a reminder of why Twin Peaks is so historic:

In 1972, when Mary Ellen Cunha and Peggy Forster threw open the doors and uncovered the windows at Twin Peaks Tavern on the corner of Castro and Market streets, they didn't know they were making history. But four decades later, the bar that has sat both literally and figuratively at the center of San Francisco's gay rights movement and community is now a historic landmark. Twin Peaks Tavern, which first opened in 1935 but was purchased by Cunha and Forster in 1971, is believed to be the first gay bar in the nation to feature full-length, open plate glass windows that let its patrons look out, and more importantly, the public look in. The lesbian friends, known to most regulars as "the girls," opened the bar to the world at a time when many gays still feared losing their jobs or being socially ostracized if their sexual orientation was revealed. It has now survived for 40 years as one of the Castro district's most memorable and welcoming establishments.

Labels: nightlife, San Francisco, The Castro

Reposted from Joe

Via ॐ Blue Buddha Quote Collective / FB:

‎"Travel only with thy equals or thy betters; if there are none, travel alone."

~ The Dhammapada


Image Source: Bing

ॐ Blue Buddha Quote Collective

Via Gay Politics Report:

• Historic call for equality at Obama inauguration
  President Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to use the word “gay” in an inaugural address yesterday, saying the nation’s journey toward a more perfect union will not be complete "until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law." In a reference to marriage rights for same-sex couples, Obama said, "if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well." That line may signal that the administration is about to weigh in on a pending case at the Supreme Court that could determine whether the Constitution guarantees the right of same-sex couples to marry. The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (1/21), Los Angeles Times (tiered subscription model) (1/21), CNN/Political Ticker blog (1/21), Metro Weekly (Washington, D.C.)/Poliglot (1/21)     

• Gay poet followed by pro-gay priest at inauguration: Openly gay poet Richard Blanco mentioned Americans “arrayed like rainbows” in his official inaugural poem. He was followed by Washington, D.C., marriage equality champion the Rev. Dr. Luis Leon, whose benediction prayer included a reference to gays. Washington Blade (Washington, D.C.) (1/21)     

• Lesbian and Gay Band Association marches in Inaugural Parade: About 240 musicians from 32 LGBT bands across the country marched past President Obama's reviewing stand at yesterday's inaugural parade. Towleroad (1/22)     

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 22, 2013

Transcending our own Views

If we take something to be the truth, we may cling to it so much that even if the truth comes and knocks at our door, we won't want to let it in. We have to be able to transcend our previous knowledge the way we climb up a ladder. If we are on the fifth rung and think that we are very high, there is no hope for us to step up to the sixth. We must learn to transcend our own views.

- Thich Nhat Hanh, “The Heart Sutra”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 23rd, 2013
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Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	It is hard to be born as a human being and hard to live the life of one. It is even harder to hear of the path and harder still to awake, to rise, and to follow. Yet the teaching is simple: "Cease to do evil, learn to do good. And purify your mind." - Dhammapada More Buddhism Quotes >>