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, July 5, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma July 5, 2013
A Healthy Dissatisfaction
A
sense of dissatisfaction is regarded as an essential prerequisite for
progress on the Buddhist path. Far from seeking to become somehow
'nonjudgmental,' the meditator is instructed to judge all the objects of
ordinary experience as scarred by three marks: impermanence, suffering,
and no self.
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- Donald S. Lopez, “The Scientific Buddha”
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Via JMG: Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma July 4, 2013
Happy Interdependence Day
As
we open and empty ourselves, we come to experience an
interconnectedness, the realization that all things are joined and
conditioned in an interdependent arising. Each experience and event
contains all others.
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- Jack Kornfield, "No Self or True Self?"
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Via JMG: Edie's Refund: $638,000+
CNN Money reports:
Reposted from Joe
The Supreme Court decision this week striking down the Defense of Marriage Act means a lot of things to a lot of people. But to Edith Windsor, the plaintiff who brought the case, the landmark ruling also means she will finally get back the $638,000 in estate tax payments she had to make to the IRS and to New York State after her spouse -- Thea Spyer -- died in 2009. Windsor will also be paid interest on her refunds. Paul, Weiss, the law firm that represents her, estimates she will receive about $45,000 in interest on her federal refund and $25,000 on her New York State refund. The other good news for the 83-year-old Windsor? Her lawyers won't be getting a cut because Paul, Weiss took the case pro bono.
Labels: DOMA, Edith Windsor, feds, LGBT History
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma July 3, 2013
Warrior Mind
Fear
diminishes me, makes me no bigger than that part of me which fears.
Fearful, I am too small to contain thought, too small to hold real
compassion. Protecting myself, I will hurt others.
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- Sallie Tisdale, "Warrior Mind"
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Via JMG: WASHINGTON: Marriage Equality Flag Flies Atop Seattle's Space Needle
On a day that also saw the Seattle Mariners become the first major pro
sports team to fly the rainbow flag, a marriage equality flag was
hoisted to the top of the city's Space Needle.
(Tipped by JMG reader Daniel)
Reposted from Joe
(Tipped by JMG reader Daniel)
JMG Headline Of The Day
Via McClatchy:
"From an LGBT perspective, at this point, immigration is going to be an even playing field," said Cara Jobson, a partner in Wiley and Jobson, a San Francisco immigration law firm. The U.S. government is working to ensure that couples who qualify will be able to get the process started right away, Janet Napolitano, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said after the ruling. Same-sex couples have been flooding Jobson's office since Wednesday with requests for help applying for a green card for a foreign spouse, she said. Kirkbride and Kurzatkowska filed their papers Friday. The process includes filling out forms, getting a medical exam for the spouse applying for the green card, and showing that the foreign spouse won't be a financial burden to the U.S., Jobson said. The foreign spouse also has to prove that he or she entered the country legally.The entire process takes about three months before the green card arrives in the mail.
Labels: DOMA, immigration, Immigration Equality
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma July 2, 2013
What are you mindful of?
If
‘mindfulness’ is to create genuine change in our society, it must
involve being mindful of more than just our own need for comfort, good
health, or serenity. It must entail being mindful of the social and
economic forces that allow some to prosper while others struggle, forces
that promote and perpetuate certain behaviors and thought patterns
while discouraging or suppressing others.
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- Richard Eskow, “Buying Wisdom"
Monday, July 1, 2013
JMG HomoQuotable - Peter Staley
"Given the strength of the marriage movement, though, surely the major gay rights organizations could reappropriate just 10 percent of their budgets to fighting HIV and AIDS.
"Contrary to the prevailing skepticism, that battle is not a lost cause. Treating people with antivirals both keeps them alive and prevents them from infecting others. Massachusetts saw its HIV infection rates drop 45 percent between 2000 and 2009, largely because it expanded Medicaid to include people with HIV, not just AIDS; because its universal health-care system got more people onto treatment regimens; and because it launched targeted testing, prevention and treatment programs. With Obamacare, we have the potential to replicate those gains nationally, but only if there’s a concerted push.
"On Wednesday morning, when the Supreme Court released its gay-marriage opinions, I was attending an HIV working group session at a hotel off Dupont Circle. We took a break to follow the coverage on SCOTUSblog: cheering for the majority opinions, cringing at Justice Antonin Scalia’s dissent. And then it was back to work.
"As we continue to see gay love enshrined in law, we shouldn’t forget the broader form of love — of our entire community — that has sustained us and brought us this far." - Famed HIV/AIDS activist Peter Staley, writing for the Washington Post.
Read the full essay.
Via JMG: Today At New York City Pride 2013
New York City Pride Grand Marshal Edith Windsor rode in triumph today as about million people screamed her name. When Windsor's car turned onto Christopher Street, the thunderous chants of "EDIE! EDIE! EDIE" echoed down the very blocks where our movement started 44 years ago this week. I was completely verklempt as were many, many joyous people behind the barricades.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, Governor Andrew Cuomo, and all of the major Democratic mayoral candidates marched today. Also marching was openly gay Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell, openly gay City Council candidate Corey Johnson, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney. Many more photos are here. You'll love a LOT of today's celebratory signs!
Labels: Anthony Weiner, Bill de Blasio, Christine Quinn, Corey Johnson, Daniel O'Donnell, Edith Windsor, LGBT History, NYC, NYC Pride
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma June 30, 2013
On Having Fun
The
frustrating thing about our life is that there is no control over our
emotions. That’s why there’s no fun. The whole purpose of Buddhism is to
have fun, isn’t it? And in order to have fun you have to have control.
If someone else has control over you, that’s it: there’s no fun.
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- Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, "Do Nothing"
Via JMG: LGBT HISTORY: INS Issues First Green Card To Binational Gay Couple
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma June 29, 2013
Vision and Routine
The
key to development along the Buddhist path is repetitive routine guided
by inspirational vision. It is the insight into final freedom—the peace
and purity of a liberated mind—that uplifts us and impels us to
overcome our limits. But it is by repetition—the methodical cultivation
of wholesome practices—that we cover the distance separating us from the
goal and draw ever closer to awakening.
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- Bhikkhu Bodhi, "Vision and Routine"
Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:
Daily Buddhist Wisdom | |||
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Friday, June 28, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma June 28, 2013
Undoing Desire
Buddhism teaches us that desire, for all the agony and ecstasy, is no match for the truth.
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- Joan Duncan Oliver, "Drink And A Man"
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma June 27, 2013
Facing Injustice
The
doctrine of karma is founded on the premise that the world is a just
place, but I am afraid unjust suffering stares us in the face. I think
we should struggle against injustice, but we have to accept that it
persists and that we shall never eliminate it.
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- Richard Gombrich, "What the Buddha Thought"
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