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.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma December 4, 2013
Noble Truths
Of
all the amazing things the Buddha could have reported from his
awakening, this is what he chose to focus on: what exactly suffering is,
how it’s caused, and how to put an end to it. This indicates that these
truths deserve to be placed before all others.
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- Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "What's Noble about the Four Noble Truths?"
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma December 3, 2013
Consuming Mind
Spiritual
experience and goods can certainly reinforce a consuming mind, too, and
it is no surprise to see this happening in a consumer culture.
Marketers are successfully targeting spiritual consumers as a market
niche and figuring out exactly what fulfills their self-centered
yearnings. How many of these products are necessary for spiritual
enlightenment? Probably not one.
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- Stephanie Kaza, “Ego in the Shopping Cart”
Monday, December 2, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma December 2, 2013
The Ultimate Bliss
Blissful is solitude
for one who’s content,
who has heard the Dhamma,
who sees.
Blissful is non-affliction
with regard for the world,
restraint for living beings.
Blissful is dispassion
with regard for the world,
the overcoming of sensuality.
But the subduing of the conceit 'I am'—
That is truly
the ultimate bliss.
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- Gautama Buddha, “The Ultimate Bliss”
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma: Do Nothing
I’m going to talk a little about shamatha meditation, and I thought it would be good to try and actually do the meditation as we go along. The actual technique is very simple. All the great meditators of the past advised us to sit up straight when we meditate. When we sit up straight, there is a sense of alertness, a sense of importance—it produces the right atmosphere. In this particular instruction, I’m going to suggest we don’t use an external object, such as a flower, but instead follow the standard Theravada tradition of using our breath as the object. So we concentrate on our breathing: we simply follow our breath in and out. That’s it. Our mind is focused on the breathing, our posture is straight, our eyes are open. That’s the essential technique: basically doing nothing.
Let’s do that for a while.
Short meditation session
Short meditation session
Short meditation session
Just sit.
The beautiful thing about having less obsessions and ambitions—and just sitting straight and watching the breathing—is that nothing will disturb us. Things only disturb us when we have an aim. When we have an aim, we become obsessed. Say our aim is to go somewhere, but somebody parks right in front of our car, blocking us. If something gets in the way of our aim, it becomes a terrible thing. If we don’t have an aim, though, it doesn’t matter.
Meditators often have a strong ambition to achieve something with their meditation. But when meditators get distracted, they go through all kinds of hell: they lose their confidence, they get frustrated, they condemn themselves, they condemn the technique. This is why, at least during the first few moments of meditation, it doesn’t matter whether we are getting enlightened or not, it doesn’t matter whether the hot water is boiling in the kettle, it doesn’t matter whether the telephone is ringing, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s one of our friends. For a few moments, things don’t matter.
Short meditation session
Letting go of ambition is a bit like the renunciation that Buddhists talk about. The Buddha renounced his palace, his queen, his son, and his parents, and went out in search of enlightenment. You can say that the Buddha was trying to diminish his ambition. At least, he was trying to see the futility of it, and he was letting go. Letting go is quite important if you want to become a shamatha practitioner. We do shamatha meditation so we can achieve this power to let go.
Meditation is one of the rare occasions when we’re not doing anything. Otherwise, we’re always doing something, we’re always thinking something, we’re always occupied. We get lost in millions of obsessions or fixations. But by meditating—by not doing anything—all these fixations are revealed. Beginners might find this a little frightening, but slowly they will gain inner confidence, and these fixations will automatically lessen. The classical meditation instruction texts say our obsessions will undo themselves like a snake uncoiling itself.
Short meditation session
Short meditation session
Short meditation session
Keeping it short is important because if you do too much at the beginning, you’ll get fed up with the technique. We are human beings—we don’t like to get bored. We like to change what we eat, we like changing our clothes. We like change.
Likewise, the spiritual path is a long process, and we need a lot of patience. We need to like the path, so keep the meditation short and precise and frequent. That way we develop strong habits. Later on, it becomes part of us. It’s like drinking alcohol: when we first start drinking, we drink a little; we don’t drink two or three bottles at one time. If we did, we’d get so sick we’d never touch it again. So practice shamatha for a short time but many times. That way you’ll get habituated. This is necessary. Shamatha should become part of your life.
And during the off sessions, also, if it’s possible, remember you are breathing. We always forget that we are breathing.
Also, you should not limit your meditation to only in the morning or only in the evening: you should do it any time, all the time. Practice time is always now—it’s never in the future. Don’t ever leave your shamatha thinking, “I’m going to do it next weekend, next month, or next year.” Do it now.
Anyway, you’re only doing it for about forty-five seconds, if you’re a beginner. It’s easy. You can do it anywhere. It only requires this: to sit straight.
Short meditation session
The frustrating thing about our life is that there is no control over these 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.
Short meditation session
But at least it will lead you somewhere.
Keep it simple, don’t make it complicated. Concentrate on the breathing, sit straight—that’s all. Every day, do a few minutes, and, on top of that, do it spontaneously in different places—not just in front of the shrine, but everywhere. There’s so much merit in just sitting there.
Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche was born in Bhutan in 1961 and is recognized as the main incarnation of Dzongsar Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö (1894-1959). From early childhood, he has studied with some of the greatest contemporary masters, including His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. He has established dharma centers in Asia, North America, Australia, and Europe.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Via JMG: Thousands Of HIV/AIDS Activism Posters Are Now Viewable Online
Via press release:
In time for World AIDS Day on Sunday, Dec. 1, one of the world's largest collections of AIDS posters is now complete and available online, marking the culmination of a multiyear project launched in 2011 during the 30th anniversary year of the identification of HIV/AIDS. Thanks to catalogers at the University of Rochester, more than 6,200 posters from 124 countries in 68 languages and dialects can be viewed by anyone.The posters can be viewed here in a database that is searchable by year, title, author, language, theme, and nation. There are dozens there, of course, from ACT UP.
The posters were donated to the University's Department of Rare Books, Special Collections and Preservation by retired physician Dr. Edward C. Atwater, M.D., '50, an emeritus professor of medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Atwater, who began collecting the posters in 1990, donated the artwork with the stipulation that it be digitized so the public could view the collection in its entirety. "My hope is to show people the responses from various societies to a deadly disease. Looked at chronologically, the AIDS posters show how social, religious, civic, and public health agencies tailored their message to different groups," said Atwater, 87, who lives in Rochester, N.Y.
The posters provide a visual history of the first three decades of the HIV/AIDS crisis from 1981 to the present. Depending on their audience, creators of the posters used stereotypes, scare tactics, provocative language, imagery, and even humor to educate the public about the disease. Selections of the posters were previously on exhibit at colleges, high schools, public libraries, and museums such as the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
Labels: activism, HIV/AIDS, LGBT History, World AIDS Day
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma December 1, 2013
Do Nothing
If
we have ambitions—even if our aim is enlightenment—then there is no
meditation, because we are thinking about it, craving it, fantasizing,
imagining things. That is not meditation. This is why an important
characteristic of shamatha meditation is to let go of any goal and
simply sit for the sake of sitting. We breathe in and out, and we just
watch that. Nothing else.
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- Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, "Do Nothing"
Via JMG: Obama's World AIDS Day Message
Via press release from the White House, here's a portion of President Obama's message for World AIDS Day.
Reposted from Joe Jervis
We will win this battle, but it is not over yet. In memory of the loved ones we have lost and on behalf of our family members, friends, and fellow citizens of the world battling HIV/AIDS, we resolve to carry on the fight and end stigma and discrimination toward people living with this disease. At this pivotal moment, let us work together to bring this pandemic to an end. NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States do hereby proclaim December 1, 2013, as World AIDS Day. I urge the Governors of the States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, officials of the other territories subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and the American people to join me in appropriate activities to remember those who have lost their lives to AIDS and to provide support and comfort to those living with this disease.RELATED: The 28-foot red ribbon seen above first appeared at the White House in 2007 during the administration of George W. Bush, who was terrible at many things but was surprisingly good on HIV/AIDS issues.
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma November 30, 2013
What is 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.
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- B. Alan Wallace, "A Mindful Balance"
Friday, November 29, 2013
JMG Guest Post: Carl Siciliano
We deal with a twofold tragedy every day at the Ali Forney Center. The first part is that hundreds of thousands of parents drive their children from their homes because they cannot accept having an LGBT child. The second part is that fewer than one tenth of homeless kids in this country can access a youth shelter bed. Hundreds of thousands of terrified, devastated kids are out on the streets tonight with nowhere safe to lay their heads.
Recently I met a girl in Minneapolis who told me about being out on the streets at 16 in the frozen Minnesota winter. She found a bus driver who would allow her to ride the city bus all night. But one night when he was off duty and she didn't have the bus fare, she shivered in the snow, fearing she would die in the cold. Another boy told me of being thrown out of his home in a suburb of Atlanta by a homophobic aunt. Having nowhere to go, he spent three days and nights in the woods near his house, with no food or water, crying and terrified and wanting to die. Finally he staggered out onto a sidewalk and collapsed of dehydration and was hospitalized.
Many kids turn to prostitution, having no other way to support themselves. Deon became homeless in Houston when he was 15. He also rode the buses all night, and would shower in the morning at a friend's house before heading to school. One night he was propositioned while waiting for the bus, and was offered money for sex. Deeply exhausted from his long nights on the bus, he reluctantly accepted. He told me that he felt so ashamed and humiliated by the experience, that he spent over an hour in the shower at his friends house that morning. He was weeping uncontrollably and didn't want anyone to see him like that. Deon lives with us now. Yesterday he told me that at his job at H&M clothing store, he has a portion of his income taken out of each paycheck. He uses this money to sponsor an orphan in Zimbabwe. He was beaming with pride when he told me this. I am more proud of him than I know how to say.
At the Ali Forney Center we respond to LGBT kids in the most horrifying situations imaginable. We respond with food and shelter, with job training and medical care. We work with kids from all over the country. Last year we cared for over 1,000 kids. As important as it is to house and feed these kids, it is just as important to affirm their basic human worth as LGBT people. It is important to show that they belong to our community, that they are valued and loved.
This Thanksgiving I am thankful for the kids who live with us, that they can have the opportunity to be healed of their terrible wounds. And I am thankful for the community of support that allows us to do this beautiful work. I am especially thankful to Joe and the JoeMyGod community for standing by us year after year. I am especially thankful for the amazing support we received last year when Hurricane Sandy destroyed our drop-in center.
I ask you to consider supporting our kids at this time. We have 200 kids on the waiting list for our shelters tonight, and have to rely on the support of the community in this time of sequestration and government cutbacks. Donations can be sent to us by mail at: Ali Forney Center, 224 West 35th Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10001. Donations can be made online here.
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma November 29, 2013
Shopping the Dharma
We
must become aware of how the consumer mentality functions in us and in
our spiritual communities and institutions. We need to revive
appreciation for the traditional model of a practitioner who lives a
life of simplicity and humility, sincerity and endeavor, kindness and
compassion. We must choose teachers with these qualities, cultivate
these qualities in ourselves, and guide our students in developing them.
We must remember that the purpose of a spiritual institution is not to
preserve itself, but to facilitate the teaching and practice of a
spiritual tradition. We should have only as much institutional structure
as needed to do that, no more. This is essential to maintain the
vitality of our spiritual traditions and to prevent them from becoming
empty shells.
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- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, “Shopping the Dharma”
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma November 28, 2013
Giving Thanks
Gratitude,
the simple and profound feeling of being thankful, is the foundation of
all generosity. I am generous when I believe that right now, right
here, in this form and this place, I am myself being given what I need.
Generosity requires that we relinquish something, and this is impossible
if we are not glad for what we have.
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- Sallie Jiko Tisdale, “As If There is Nothing to Lose”
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