Thursday, January 16, 2014
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma January 16, 2014
Your Interwoven Self
For
a few moments just feel the body’s warmth and strength, its ability to
hold itself upright. The vitality and aliveness that you experience in
your body require various chemical and mineral substances, a continuous
supply of oxygen, the energy of the sun, and the cohesion and
conductivity of water. The Buddha instructs us to reflect on the body as
composed of the elements of earth, air, fire, and water, so that we
will see how this life is interwoven with universal processes.
|
- Wes Nisker, "Evolution’s Body"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 17, 2014
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
January 16, 2014
Your Interwoven Self
For
a few moments just feel the body’s warmth and strength, its ability to
hold itself upright. The vitality and aliveness that you experience in
your body require various chemical and mineral substances, a continuous
supply of oxygen, the energy of the sun, and the cohesion and
conductivity of water. The Buddha instructs us to reflect on the body as
composed of the elements of earth, air, fire, and water, so that we
will see how this life is interwoven with universal processes.
|
- Wes Nisker, "Evolution’s Body"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 17, 2014
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
O Budismo te incomoda? Então…
O Budismo te incomoda? Então…
Desfazendo Equívocos
Se você quer milagres, não procure o budismo. O supremo milagre para o budismo é você lavar seu prato depois de comer.
Se você quer curar seu corpo físico, não procure o budismo. O budismo só cura os males de sua mente: ignorância, cólera e desejos desenfreados.
Se você quiser arranjar emprego ou melhorar sua situação financeira, não procure o budismo. Você se decepcionará, pois ele vai lhe falar sobre desapego em relação aos bens materiais. Não confunda, porém, desapego com renúncia.
Se você quer poderes sobrenaturais, não procure o budismo. Para o budismo, o maior poder sobrenatural é o triunfo sobre o egoísmo.
Se você quer triunfar sobre seus inimigos, não procure o budismo. Para o budismo, o único triunfo que conta é o do homem sobre si mesmo.
Se você quer a vida eterna em um paraíso de delícias, não procure o budismo, pois ele matará seu ego aqui e agora.
Se você quer massagear seu ego com poder, fama, elogios e outras vantagens, não procure o budismo. A casa de Buda não é a casa da inflação dos egos.
Se você quer a proteção divina, não procure o budismo. Ele lhe ensinará que você só pode contar consigo mesmo.
Se você quer um caminho para Deus, não procure o budismo. Ele o lançará no vazio.
Se você quer alguém que perdoe suas falhas, deixando-o livre para errar de novo, não procure o budismo, pois ele lhe ensinará a implacável Lei de Causa e Efeito e a necessidade de uma autocrítica consciente e profunda.
Se você quer respostas cômodas e fáceis para suas indagações existenciais, não procure o budismo. Ele aumentará suas dúvidas.
Se você quer uma crença cega, não procure o budismo. Ele o ensinará a pensar com sua própria cabeça.
Se você é dos que acham que a verdade está nas escrituras, não procure o budismo. Ele lhe dirá que o papel é muito útil para limpar o lixo acumulado no intelecto.
Se você quer saber a verdade sobre os discos voadores ou sobre a civilização de Atlântida, não procure o budismo. Ele só revelará a verdade sobre você mesmo.
Se você quer se comunicar com espíritos, não procure o budismo. Ele só pode ensinar você a se comunicar com seu verdadeiro eu.
Se você quer conhecer suas encarnações passadas, não procure o budismo. Ele só pode lhe mostrar sua miséria presente.
Se você quer conhecer o futuro, não procure o budismo. Ele só vai lhe mandar prestar atenção a seus pés, enquanto você anda.
Se você quer ouvir palavras bonitas, não procure o budismo. Ele só tem o silêncio a lhe oferecer.
Se você quer ser sério e austero, não procure o budismo. Ele vai ensiná-lo a brincar e a se divertir.
Se você quer brincar e se divertir, não procure o budismo. Ele o ensinará a ser sério e austero.
Se você quer viver, não procure o budismo, pois ele o ensinará a morrer.
Se você quer morrer, não procure o budismo, pois ele o ensinará a viver.
Via HimalayaCrafts / FB:
“Many
of us are slaves to our minds. Our own mind is our worst enemy. We try
to focus, and our mind wanders off. We try to keep stress at bay, but
anxiety keeps us awake at night. We try to be good to the people we
love, but then we forget them and put ourselves first. And when we want
to change our life, we dive into spiritual practice and expect quick
results, only to lose focus after the honeymoon has worn off. We return
to our state of bewilderment. We're left feeling helpless and
discouraged. It seems we all agree that training the body through
exercise, diet, and relaxation is a good idea, but why don't we think
about training our minds?”
― Sakyong Mipham
― Sakyong Mipham
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma January 15, 2014
Right Judgment
Many
Western Buddhists believe that judging runs counter to insight and
unconditional compassion, that passing judgment automatically implies a
troubling duality, a delusional moral hierarchy. The Buddha, however,
warned not against judging, but against being judgmental. The former
implies clear comprehension of appropriate action and the latter implies
bias and misconception.
|
- Mary Talbot, “No Justice, No Peace”
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 16, 2014
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma January 14, 2014
The Unconditional Love of Bodhisattvas
When we raise a thought for someone’s well-being, and entrust that to our foundation, that underlying mind—Juingong—never
disappears and is never used up. This is different from helping people
through material things. This is the unconditional love that
bodhisattvas have for all beings. This mind is the compassion that rises
when all beings and myself are one, when the suffering of others is my
suffering. This is the power that leads us to the truth.
|
- Daehaeng Kun Sunim, "Thinking Big"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 15, 2014
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
Monday, January 13, 2014
Via Tricycle Daily Dharm:
Tricycle Daily Dharma January 13, 2014
Grace in Suffering
There is grace in suffering. Suffering is part of the training program for wisdom.
|
- Ram Dass, "America's Guru"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 14, 2014
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma January 12, 2014
Challenge Your Standards
When
judging the results of your own actions, you can’t simply take your own
ideas of ‘what works’ as a trustworthy standard. After all, you can
easily side with your greed, aversion, or delusion, setting your
standards too low. So to check against this tendency, the Buddha
recommends that you also take into consideration the views of the wise,
for you’ll never grow until you allow your standards to be challenged by
theirs.
|
- Thanissaro Bhikkhu, “Lost in Quotation”
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 13, 2014
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma January 11, 2014
Closeness with Every Being
For
compassion to develop toward a wide range of persons, mere knowledge of
how beings suffer is not sufficient; there has to be a sense of
closeness with regard to every being. That intimacy is established
either through merely reflecting that everyone equally wants happiness
and doesn’t want suffering, or through reflecting on the implications of
rebirth, or both, with the one reinforcing the other.
|
- Jeffrey Hopkins, “Everyone as a Friend”
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 12, 2014
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
Via JMG: Russian Orthodox Church Calls For Referendum To Criminalize Homosexuality
The Church's abrupt intervention came amid a growing debate over whether the Kremlin should mount a firmer defence of traditional values that many in the overwhelmingly conservative country view as coming under attack from Europe and the United States. Church spokesman Vsevolod Chaplin pointed to polls showing more than half of Russians viewing homosexuality as either an illness or a crime as a sign that the country was ready to revert to a Soviet-era homosexual ban. "There is no question that society should discuss this issue since we live in a democracy," Chaplin told the online edition of the pro-government Izvestia daily. "For this reason, it is precisely the majority of our people and not some outside powers that should decide what should be a criminal offence and what should not," he said.A member of Vladimir Putin's ruling party told the news agency Interfax that Russia is bound by international treaties that ban outlawing homosexuality.
Labels: hate groups, homosexuality, Ivan Okhlobystin, LGBT rights, religion, Russia, Russian Orthodox Church, Vladimir Putin
Via JMG: 27 GOP House Reps Co-Sponsor Randy Weber's Bill To Ban Federal Recognition Of Out-Of-State Same-Sex Marriages
SWeber, a freshman rep and former air conditioner repairman, has previously only authored one failed House resolution. Therefore I suspect his bill was actually written by the Family Research Council, who jointly announced its introduction yesterday with an appearance by Weber on Tony Perkins' national radio show. Other anti-gay hate groups are today praising the bill, including NOM, which posted the below message today on their blog.
The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) today expressed its support for a bill announced in Congress yesterday, the “State Marriage Defense Act of 2014” (HR 3829), and praised Representative Randy Weber (R-TX) for authoring and introducing “this vitally important legislation.” “Representative Weber deserves praise for this vitally important legislation which will lend clarity to the way states’ marriage laws are dealt with by federal agencies,” said Brian Brown, NOM’s President. “The bill simply reaffirms and strengthens the rights reserved by the states under the US constitution.” Brown also said that the bill is based upon a proper understanding of last summer’s decision by the Supreme Court in the Windsor case that struck down one facet of the law but supported states’ rights to determine their own definition of marriage.Wonkette today posted a typically fabulous reaction.
Given that even Utah briefly recognized gay marriage, we are pretty sure that this legislation isn’t going to go anywhere, let alone have a chance in hell of passing the Senate with Harry Reid being the badass that he is. However, it is a good reminder that there has always and forever been only one form of marriage which is between a man with a PENIS and a woman with governmentally regulated LADYPARTS the GOP continues to hate on the gays in new and inventive ways. We have no idea if this bill deals with age-of-marriage laws, which also differ between states, but we guess that so long as that 12-year-old GIRL is marrying a 40-year-old MAN, Weber and his ilk are probably totes cool with it, because that is WAY MOAR BETTERER than two consenting adult menfolk doin’ it in the butt.
Labels: assholery, Brian Brown, Christianists, crackpots, DOJ, feds, FRC, GOP, hate groups, John Fleming, Louie Gohmert, marriage equality, Michele Bachmann, NOM, Randy Weber, religion, teabaggers, Tony Perkins
Via JMG: State Department Issues Security Warning To Americans Traveling To Sochi Olympics
The U.S. State Department today issued an updated travel advisory for Americans planning to attend the Sochi Olympics. An excerpt:
MEDICAL CARE: The Olympics are the first large-scale event to be held in Sochi and medical capacity and infrastructure in the region are untested for handling the volume of visitors expected for the Olympics. Medical care in many Russian localities differs substantially from Western standards due to differing practices and approaches to primary care. Travelers should consider purchasing private medical evacuation and/or repatriation insurance.The warning goes to say that the State Department is presently unaware of any threat specifically aimed at Americans. Today's message includes a special warning to LGBT travelers.
TERRORISM: Large-scale public events such as the Olympics present an attractive target for terrorists. Russian authorities have indicated that they are taking appropriate security measures in Sochi in light of this. Acts of terrorism, including bombings and hostage takings, continue to occur in Russia, particularly in the North Caucasus region. Between October 15 and December 30, 2013, there were three suicide bombings targeting public transportation in the city of Volgograd (600 miles from Sochi), two of which occurred within the same 24-hour period. Other bombings over the past 10-15 years occurred at Russian government buildings, airports, hotels, tourist sites, markets, entertainment venues, schools, and residential complexes. There have also been large-scale attacks on public transportation including subways, buses, trains, and scheduled commercial flights, in the same time period.
LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER (LGBT) ISSUES: In June 2013, Russia’s State Duma passed a law banning the “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” to minors. The U.S. government understands that this law applies to both Russian citizens and foreigners in Russia. Russian citizens found guilty of violating the law could face a fine of up to 100,000 rubles ($3,100). Foreign citizens face similar fines, up to 14 days in jail, and deportation. The law makes it a crime to promote LGBT equality in public, but lacks concrete legal definitions for key terms. Russian authorities have indicated a broad interpretation of what constitutes “LGBT propaganda,” and provided vague guidance as to which actions will be interpreted by authorities as “LGBT propaganda.” LGBT travelers should review the State Department’s LGBT Travel Information page.Read today's advisory in full.
Friday, January 10, 2014
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma January 10, 2014
Learning to Fall
We
all suffer the limitations of our humanness: not just our aches and
pains but our fear, our anger, our pettiness, our grief. Fact is, we do
practice being human in every waking moment. And the more mindfully we
practice, the more often our conflicts dissolve, the more easily we
create new possibilities for relationship and community.
|
- Philip Simmons, “Learning to Fall”
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 11, 2014
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Via JMG: MARYLAND: Bill Introduced To Ban "Ex-Gay" Torture Of LGBT Youth
“There are numerous gay conversion therapy providers as well as organizations like the infamous International Healing Foundation located right here in Maryland advocating for what I consider very harmful conversion therapies,” said Cardin, noting Prince George’s County Public Schools last year stopped using an anti-bullying curriculum that included references to the Bowie-based organization and other “ex-gay” groups. “To me it is incredibly repulsive.” International Healing Foundation Director Christopher Doyle criticized Cardin and others who seek to ban conversion therapy to minors in Maryland. “This is not being fueled by mental health advocates,” Doyle told the Blade on Tuesday. “This is being done by political organizations that are more interested in promoting a political ideology as opposed to clients’ rights.”Similar bills have been approved in New Jersey and California. In November the anti-gay Liberty Counsel lost a court battle to overturn New Jersey's ban.
Truth Wins Out reacts via press release:
If Delegate Cardin's bill passes, it will render a blow to the "ex-gay" industry nationwide, as one of the worst organizations advocating for such "therapy," the International Healing Foundation, is based in Maryland. IHF Executive Director Richard Cohen was banned from the American Counseling Association for life in 2002 after multiple ethics violations, and advocates "therapeutic practices" which involve beating pillows with tennis rackets in order to heal anger toward one's mother, followed by sessions where he cuddles his male patients in order to recreate a father's love. IHF Director Christopher Doyle admitted that he tried to molest little girls in his mother's daycare when he was ten, a disturbing fact considering IHF's focus on youth and Doyle's status as an ill-credentialed counselor. Another "ex-gay" activist, Greg Quinlan of the Maryland-based PFOX, claims to heal LGBT people, but when he's around like-minded people, is more inclined to practice verbal gay-bashing than healing, telling an anti-gay conference in 2010 that he was never a "limp-wristed, flaming faggot," a statement revelatory of his true feelings about the LGBT community.
Labels: brainwashing, Christopher Doyle, Democrats, ex-gay, LGBT youth, Maryland, religion, torture
Via JMG: GOP House Rep. Randy Weber Introduces Bill To Ban Feds From Recognizing Out-Of-State Same-Sex Marriages
The State Marriage Defense Act will simply require federal agencies to look to a person’s legal residence when determining marital status and application of federal law. The 10th Amendment was established to protect state sovereignty and individual rights from being seized by the Federal Government. For too long, however, the Federal Government has slowly been eroding state’s rights by promulgating rules and regulations through federal agencies. I drafted the State Marriage Defense Act of 2014 to help restore the 10th Amendment, affirm the authority of states to define and regulate marriage, as well as, provide clarity to federal agencies seeking to determine who qualifies as a spouse for the purpose of federal law. By requiring that the Federal Government defer to the laws of a person’s state of legal residence in determining marital status, we can protect states’ constitutionally established powers from the arbitrary overreach of unelected bureaucrats.KKK-affiliated hate group leader Tony Perkins is cheering:
Family Research Council strongly supported the Defense of Marriage Act, and disagreed with the Court's decision in Windsor. However, if the federal government is required to defer to state determinations of which of their residents are "married," it must defer to those determinations in all fifty states – not just those that have redefined marriage. The State Marriage Defense Act is consistent with the ruling in Windsor, which reiterated that states have the "historic and essential authority to define the marital relation." The current Obama administration policy is doing the very thing which the Court condemned – "creating two contradictory marriage regimes within the same State." The State Marriage Defense Act serves to protect state definitions of marriage against what the Court called efforts "to put a thumb on the scales and influence a state's decision as to how to shape its own marriage laws."I can't yet quote from Weber's bill as it hasn't yet been posted to the House website. The only previous House legislation authored by Weber is a failed 2013 resolution which declared that "extensive scientific studies" have found the Keystone pipeline to be "environmentally sound." Which means, of course, that the FRC surely had a hand in writing today's bill. Weber has a 100% approval rating from the virulently anti-gay Heritage Foundation. He will appear tonight on Tony Perkins' nationally syndicated radio show.
UPDATE: The Family Research Council just published a petition for their supporters to call on other members of the House to co-sponsor Weber's bill.
Labels: assholery, Christianists, FRC, GOP, hate groups, LGBT rights, marriage equality, Randy Weber, religion, teabaggers, Texas, Tony Perkins, U.S. House
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)