Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 30, 2013

Unraveling Desire

The truth is that we like our preferences and prejudices, we like defining ourselves in terms of what we like and don’t like. It is precisely desire’s entanglement with the sense of self that makes this all so difficult to unravel. Fortunately, there is a relatively easy and accessible way to counter the powerful forces of desire: the cultivation of equanimity. Every moment of mindfulness is also a moment of equanimity.
- Andrew Olendzki, "The Buddha's Smile"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 31st, 2013
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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

How Does Captain America Feel About Gay Marriage?

How Does Captain America Feel About Gay Marriage?

Chris Evans is Captain America. In real life, his brother is gay. He's not ashamed of his brother. But he is ashamed of America. When the guy who literally wears the American flag on his sleeve is ashamed of his own country, it's time for things to change.







Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:


Daily Buddhist Wisdom






The mind is like the wick of a lamp illumined only through its own radiance.
- Milarepa, "Drinking the Mountain Stream"

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 29, 2013

Understanding and Respect

Learning about other faiths helps us to understand, and to live side by side with, differing views and belief systems. To remain in one tradition without absorbing the benefits of the others seems disrespectful to the gifts that the Buddha passed down to us. Only through mutual understanding and respect can we successfully implement what the Buddha taught.
- Scott Hunt, “Scott Hunt’s Seaworthy Dream In Two Parts”
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 30th, 2013
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Monday, January 28, 2013

Via JMG: HRC Launches New Coalition: Businesses For The Repeal Of DOMA


The Human Rights Campaign today announced a new coalition of corporations that is endorsing the Respect For Marriage Act, which would legislatively repeal DOMA.
The Business Coalition for DOMA Repeal is a group of leading U.S. employers that support legislative efforts to repeal the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act through the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act. These Coalition members recognize that DOMA is bad for business and have pledged their support for RMA, which restores the rights of all lawfully married couples—including same-sex couples – to receive the benefits of marriage under federal law.
Among the first companies to join the coalition are A|X Armani Exchange, Aetna Inc., Biogen Idec, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Diageo North America, eBay, Electronic Arts, Kimpton Hotels, Marriott International, Massachusetts Mutual Life, Replacements, Ltd., Sun Life Financial, and Thomson Reuters.


Reposted from Joe

Via O Bosque de Berkana / FB:

''O prazer é sempre derivado de algo fora de você, enquanto que a alegria surge de dentro. O passado não tem poder sobre o momento presente. Você não pode encontrar-se, indo para o passado. Você pode encontrar a si mesmo, vindo para o presente.
 
Perceba profundamente que o momento presente é tudo o que você tem. Faça do Agora o foco principal da sua vida.''

Eckhart Tolle
Localização - Sorrento: Valle dei Mulini (Sorrento,Campania,Italy) —
 
''O prazer é sempre derivado de algo fora de você, enquanto que  a alegria surge de dentro. O passado não tem poder sobre o momento presente. Você não pode encontrar-se, indo para o passado. Você pode encontrar a si mesmo, vindo para o presente. 
Perceba profundamente que o momento presente é tudo o que você tem. Faça do Agora o foco principal da sua vida.''

@[24590816216:274:Eckhart Tolle] 
Localização - Sorrento: Valle dei Mulini (Sorrento,Campania,Italy) —

God's Perfect Plan


Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:


Daily Buddhist Wisdom






Everywhere, truly, those of integrity stand apart. They, the good, don't chatter in hopes of favor or gains. When touched now by pleasure, now pain, the wise give no sign of high or low.
- Dhammapada, 6, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

Statue of Buddha at Bayon Temple, Angkor Thom, Cambodia (January 2005).


Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 28, 2013

The Tyranny of Reaction

When you aren’t run by reactions, you see things more clearly, and there is usually only one, possibly two courses of action that are actually viable. Freedom from the tyranny of reaction leads to a way of experiencing life that leaves you with little else to do but take the direction that life offers you in each moment.
- Ken McLeod, “Freedom and Choice”
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 29th, 2013
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Sunday, January 27, 2013

Via Eden Movement/FB: Max Ehrmann, Desiderata: A Poem for a Way of Life

Love, here I come.

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love – for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment is it perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you from misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

Max Ehrmann, Desiderata: A Poem for a Way of Life
Post by Ryan Matthew Stephan

~Rebeccah
Love, here I come.

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love – for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment is it perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you from misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. 

Max Ehrmann, Desiderata: A Poem for a Way of Life
Post by Ryan Matthew Stephan

~Rebeccah

Via Global Awakening / FB:


In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true...
~Buddha
 
In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true. ~Buddha

Via 2012 Healing the Planet 2012 / FB:


 

The darkness of ages cannot shroud
the glowing sun;
The long eons of Samsara (world) never can hide the Mind’s brilliant Light. 


-Tilopa, The Song of Mahamudra


~ Traditional Buddhist teaching ~


2012 Healing the Planet 2012

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 27, 2013

Deeper into Practice

Many people are doing shamata meditation. This is a kind of resting meditation, also called 'calm abiding.' This is good, but in Buddhist training you must go deeper than this. It is important to go deeper into emptiness—not nothingness, but into understanding emptiness as the nature of mind. This is where wisdom and compassion come from.
- Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, "Trust Through Reason"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 28th, 2013
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Saturday, January 26, 2013

Via JMG: Headline Of The Day


 
Last week NOM was all over the hate web trumpeting an unsourced poll which claimed that French support for same-sex marriage had "plummeted." Not according to a poll released today.




Reposted from Joe

Via The Idealist / FB:


Via ॐ Blue Buddha Quote Collective / FBP:

"Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage.
The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict."

~ William Ellery Channing


Via The Peoples Boycott / FB:


Subject: If I were Bahá'í !

Subject: If I were Bahá'í !

"If I were Bahá'í!" is Tarek Heggy's newest addition to his series of articles entitled " If I were ...!  Google search-engine would provide access to some of the earlier pieces of this series, such as "If I were an Egyptian Copt", "If I were a Saudi Shiite!", "If I were a Syrian Kurd!". The publication of "If I were an Egyptian Nubian!" is eminent. Defending the rights of minorities and religious freedoms represent an essential corner-stone of Tarek Heggy's writings, together with advocating the basic values of modernity : plurality, otherness, women rights,  freedom of speech, critical mind, relativity, civil & secular state ....etc. According to Tarek Heggy, the top enemies of such values are totalitarian dogmas such as Marxism, Islamism and any religion when it endeavours to run societies.


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If I were Bahá'í ! by : Tarek Heggy.

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* If I were Bahá'í: I would have informed the world of the systematic plan to eliminate all trace of the Bahá'í Faith and the Bahá'ís from Egypt.

* If I were Bahá'í: I would have brought to the attention of all the great personalities and the intellectuals of the world the respect and regard with which their peers in Egypt received 'Abdu'l-Bahá (Son of Bahá'u'lláh) during His visit to this country in the early 20th. Century, and with what filth and disregard today's pretentious personalities and false intellectuals of Egypt smear the fair name of Bahá'í and the Bahá'ís.

* If I were Bahá'í: I would have taken for witness the concourse of Justice in the world on the subject of the Al Azhar Establishment and say to its honourable Ulamá: How could you decide today that Bahá'í is not a religion when the Superior Shar'ia Tribunal of Beba/Souhag ruled in 1925 that "Bahá'í is an independent religion."

* If I were Bahá'í: I would have taken for witness the concourse of Justice in the world on the subject of the Al Azhar Establishment which with all the mosques, mesdjids and kettab schools at their disposal in Egypt, have found it necessary to disown the Bahá'í Community of their main centre building to use it for a Qur'ánic school.

* If I were Bahá'í: I would have taken for witness the concourse of Justice in the world on the subject of the imprisonment of some 92 Bahá'ís - men and women - aged between 2 and 80 years. They were arrested between midnight and dawn from all over Egypt and transfered to jail in Tanta; then falsely accused of treason, misconduct and espionage, far and wide in  the media, for no other reason than because they are Bahá'í.

* If I were Bahá'í: I would have taken for witness the concourse of Justice in the world on the frequent arrest of Bahá'ís, men and women, their incarceration in jail for days, weeks or months for interrogation. The courts have never found them guilty of neither crime nor fault, but they were Bahá'í.

* If I were Bahá'í: I would have taken for witness the concourse of Art in the west and in the east, to the case of one of the greatest and most admired artists of Egypt, Hussein Bikar, who was arrested in his home and driven to jail with other renowned Bahá'ís for days of interrogation regarding his and their Bahá'í Faith.

* If I were Bahá'í: I would have taken for witness the concourse of Art in the west and in the east, and would say to them: Hussein Bikar, one of the greatest and most admired Artists of Egypt had no Identity card at his death at almost 90 years of age. The Egyptian Authorities refused to issue one with "Bahá'í" mentioned in the space for religion.

* If I were Bahá'í: I would have taken for witness the world Organizations of Law and Justice and of Human Rights, government and non-government alike, and said to them: Imagine that in Egypt of the 21st. Century, individual Identity cards have to include the binding indication of the religion of the individual?

* If I were Bahá'í: I would have taken for witness the world Organizations of Law and Justice and of Human Rights, government and non-government alike, and said to them: Imagine that in Egypt of the 21st. Century, individual Identity cards must include the binding indication of one of only three religions notwithstanding the individual's wish or faith ?

* If I were Bahá'í: I would have taken for witness the world Organizations of Law and Justice and of Human Rights, government and non-government alike, and said to them: In Egypt of the 21st. Century, the sons and daughters of Bahá'ís are issued individual Identity cards with a dash (--) for religion while their parents are refused identity cards: WHY ? Because the Egyptian State does not recognize Bahá'í marriage!

O people of the world: come and take stock of administrative excellence!

* If I were Bahá'í: I would have taken for witness all the Ministers of Education of the world and informed them that: The Minister of Education of Egypt has declared that he will refuse admittance of children - yes children! of Bahá'ís to the government schools because the children are Bahá'í!

* If I were Bahá'í: I would have informed the world that the new Egyptian Constitution contains the necessary elements for the elimination of the Bahá'í minority in Egypt.

* If I were Bahá'í: I would have informed the world that burning the homes of Bahá'ís takes place with impunity in Egypt.

* If I were Bahá'í: I would have taken for witness the world Organizations of Mass Media,  of Law and Justice and of Human Rights, government and non-government alike, and informed them that in Egypt, inciting to kill Bahá'ís, through TV and speeches is normal and is done with impunity!

In spite of all this:

* If I were Bahá'í: I would have said to those in authority in Egypt: I am loyal to my country, I love my country, I strive for the success and progress of my country and I consider the children of my neighbours as my children without consideration of religion or creed. How wonderful would Egypt be were you, who are in authority, to follow in this same path.

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For more of Tarek Heggy's writings in English :