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.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Via Daily Dharma
Return to Nirvana | August 9, 2014
Nirvana is a reaching-point, a goal. But nirvana is also the home to which we are returning. We use the words 'original state of mind' to denote both our home and our destination.
- Sokei-an, “Return to Your Original State”
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Flower of the Day: 08/09/14
“Love can be more deadly than death itself. Pure love is a great threat because it is born from the truth, and the truth represents the end of deceit.”
Sri Prem Baba
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Friday, August 8, 2014
Via Daily Dharma
Challenge How We Cling | August 8, 2014
When Buddhism says, 'It's an illusion,
it's empty,' I think back to when Ignatius said, 'Your self—that's your
problem. You have to conquer self, kill the self.' It's that tradition,
both in Christianity and in Buddhism, in which we are challenged to let
go of what is so comfortable and what we cling to as who we are, if
we're going to open ourselves to reality and truth.
-Jerry Brown, “Politics and Prayer”
Flower of the Day: 08/08/14
“A
lot of light is arriving on this planet, but our bodies are not yet
fully attuned to these new frequencies of light. So it is possible that
you may enter situations that are a result of this dissonance, but that
still serve to move the energy that is stuck in your system. When this
happens, be careful not to frighten yourself because that opens a hole
that you can be swallowed by. In this case, you enter a spiritual
emergency, which some may call an existential crisis, madness, or
panic.”
Sri Prem Baba
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Flower of the Day: 08/07/14
“Surrender
is only possible if there is trust, and trust is a blossoming. One can
remain cowering at the edge of the abyss of love for months, years, or
many lives, too afraid to jump. One may be hearing love’s call asking
one to jump, but it’s not possible to determine when one will be ready
for this to happen.”
Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
The Long Road to Sitting Still | August 7, 2014
The Buddha, perhaps, taking the Middle
Way and always reminding us that even our destination is unfixed and
perhaps illusory, is every walker’s special friend. Those who journey
with him know that they may not come to knowledge so much as a deepened
sense of their own ignorance.
- Pico Iyer, “The Long Road to Sitting Still”
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Via Daily Dharma
The Natural Order of Things | August 6, 2014
While we live, we are able to live.
When it's time to die, we are able to die. This is the natural order of
things, and to the extent that we align ourselves with this, we
experience peace even in the midst of distress.
- Meikyo Robert Rosenbaum, "Breathless"
Flower of the Day: 08/06/14
“The
main aspect of the spiritual journey is creating union. Every river
flows towards the ocean, and the ocean never refuses a river. But, for
the river to approach the ocean, it must have the strength to overcome
all of the challenges along the journey. This strength is gained through
the union of various rivers, because one river alone easily
disappears.”
Sri Prem Baba
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Via Daily Dharma
Flower of the Day: 08/05/14
“Identifying
the negative aspects of the personality is like opening up a window to
brighten a dark room. When you open it, the darkness disappears, but you
see that the room is dirty. The light comes in to illuminate your
perception, but it’s not enough to remove all of the impurities. If the
floor is very dirty, then it might have to be cleaned several times. You
keep cleaning until it is very clean. The same thing happens with the
heart.”
Sri Prem Baba
Monday, August 4, 2014
Flower of the Day - 08/04/14
“Desire
and ambition generate unrest. All anxiety and the compulsion to do are
symptoms of desire and ambition. One only frees oneself of a symptom by
eliminating the cause, which is only eliminated by understanding the
cause. Self-investigation generates this comprehension. By investigating
the causes, one will discover that one is obsessed with success. But I
ask you: what is success for you? Is it reaching a certain level in your
life? And once you reach this level, what do you do? You want more.
This is the nature of desire.”
Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
Self Disappears | August 4, 2014
When we are freed from the reactive
patterns sprung from the boundaries we live by—good and bad; love and
hate—we are not the self we were before. And when the boundaries
themselves dissolve, self as we understand it disappears.
- Anne C. Klein, “The Four Immeasurables”
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