A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
Friday, April 5, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
April 5, 2013
Seeing Possibility in Suffering
Being
intolerant of suffering, in the Buddhist sense, does not mean that we
reject it or fight against it. It means that we stop and look at it, not
morbidly, but with faith in the possibility of living a joyful and
peaceful life.
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- Gil Fronsdal, "Living Two Traditions"
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma April 4, 2013
Lighten Your Load
Consider
the possibility, and I am only saying consider the possibility, that
maybe nothing is unforgivable. Maybe there is a way to find forgiveness
even for what we have believed for so long to be unforgivable. Explore
this mindfully.
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- Allan Lokos, “Lighten Your Load”
Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:
Daily Buddhist Wisdom | |||
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Wednesday, April 3, 2013
JMG Quote Of The Day - Kobe Bryant
"Of course Magic is supportive of and loves his son. Why should anyone be surprised? What I can't tolerate is a lack of tolerance." - NBA superstar Kobe Bryant, responding to yesterday's TMZ story about Magic Johnson's support for his gay son. TMZ ponders: "The strong implication -- tolerance is not just limited to parents and their kids, but to pro athletes whose teammates may soon come out of the closet. In case you aren't reading between the lines -- given Kobe's stature, his statement could have a huge impact on athletes coming out."
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma April 3, 2013
Nirvana Right Now
Maybe
we think that nirvana is a place where there are no problems, no more
delusions. Maybe we think nirvana is something very beautiful, something
unattainable. We always think nirvana is something very different from
our own life. But we must really understand that it is right here, right
now.
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- Maezumi Roshi, “Appreciate Your Life”
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Via JMG: Uruguay Approves Same-Sex Marriage!
Moments
ago the Uruguay Senate approved its marriage equality bill by a vote of
23-8. The bill now returns to the nation's lower legislative chamber to
reconcile a minor change. President Jose Mujica has promised to sign
the bill and marriages should commence within a few months. ¡Felicidades
Uruguay!
UPDATE: Freedom To Marry cheers via press release.
Reposted from Joe
UPDATE: Freedom To Marry cheers via press release.
“Freedom to Marry applauds the people of Uruguay and their government for moving forward into a future in which all loving and committed couples can share in the freedom to marry and the meaning and protections marriage brings to families. Uruguay’s vote today to move past civil union to marriage itself, Argentina’s enactment of the freedom to marry in 2010 and the Mexico Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling last month in favor of the freedom to marry -- citing the U.S Supreme Court cases of Brown v. Board of Education and Loving v. Virginia -- all are inspirations and examples decision-makers here in the United States, including our Supreme Court justices, should swiftly follow to get the U.S. where it needs to be.”
Labels: marriage equality, South America, Uruguay
Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:
Daily Buddhist Wisdom | |||
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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma April 2, 2013
Spacious Mind
Most
of our suffering comes from habitual thinking. If we try to stop it out
of aversion to thinking, we can’t; we just go on and on and on. So the
important thing is not to get rid of thought, but to understand it. And
we do this by concentrating on the space in the mind, rather than on the
thought.
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- Ajahn Sumedho, “Noticing Space”
Monday, April 1, 2013
Via JMG: Uruguay To Advance Marriage Tomorrow
Rex Wockner passes along this email from Uruguay's LGBT rights group.
The Uruguayan Senate will vote the marriage equality bill tomorrow, Tuesday, April 2. As you may remember, the bill had been passed by the Chamber of Deputies in December, but the Senate has modified it. According to our Constitution, those modifications will have to be confirmed by the Deputies for the bill to be finally approved. The modifications are minor and do not affect the bill's essence. We know the bill will be passed by both Chambers by an overwhelming majority, and in a speedy way. After this Tuesday's vote by the Senate, the lower chamber will probably vote and pass it in one or two weeks (all in April). Once passed, the government has up to 90 days to regulate it, i.e., to make the necessary changes in red tape to implement it. Hopefully, the first couples will be getting married in July/August.Zoom, zoom, zoom.
Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:
Daily Buddhist Wisdom | |||
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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma April 1, 2013
A Kind Heart
In
order to cultivate a truly loving and kind heart, we need to develop
the practices that cultivate and strengthen forgiveness and the natural
compassion within us. Our ability to forgive allows us to make space for
our ability to meet suffering—our suffering as well as the suffering of
others—with a kind heart.
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- Gina Sharpe, “The Power of Forgiveness”
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma March 31, 2013
The Truth about Pleasure
The
truth is, we don’t really want to be free from desire or to admit that
clinging to the pleasures of the senses—the taste of delicious food; the
sound of music, gossip, or a joke; the touch of a sexual embrace—ends
unavoidably in disappointment and suffering. We don’t have to deny that
pleasant feelings are pleasurable. But we must remember that like every
other feeling, pleasure is impermanent.
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- Bhante Gunaratana, "Desire and Craving"
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma March 30, 2013
The Sound of Silence
Silence
is something that comes from your heart, not from outside. Silence
doesn’t mean not talking and not doing things; it means that you are not
disturbed inside. If you’re truly silent, then no matter what situation
you find yourself in you can enjoy the silence.
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- Thich Nhat Hanh, “The Heart of the Matter”
Friday, March 29, 2013
Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:
Daily Buddhist Wisdom | |||
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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma March 29, 2013
Experiencing Impermanence
Every
sensation shares the same characteristic: it arises and passes away,
arises and passes away. It is this arising and passing that we have to
experience through practice, not just accept as truth because Buddha
said so, not just accept because intellectually it seems logical enough
to us. We must experience sensation’s nature, understand its flux, and
learn not to react to it.
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- S. N. Goenka, “Finding Sense in Sensation”
Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:
Daily Buddhist Wisdom | |||
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