Via JMG: Ferguson Protesters Wed

Via Buzzfeed:

Alexis Templeton and Brittany Ferrell first met while demonstrating in Ferguson, Missouri, following the death of unarmed Michael Brown and a grand jury’s subsequent decision to not indict the police officer who shot him. The two activists were married Tuesday at St. Louis City Hall — months after meeting while demonstrating in Ferguson. Both Templeton and Ferrell are prominently involved in Millenial Activists United, a youth-led organization that focuses on “educating and empowering” communities.

Labels: Ferguson, gay weddings, Missouri, St. Louis

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via Daily Dharma

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Freedom from Dukkha | December 17, 2014

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Freedom from dukkha doesn't mean eternal youth, or that we are never going to have a headache, never going to feel irritation, or loss, or get betrayed and hurt by others. Freedom from dukkha is not abdication from the human race, but a deeper acceptance of how we are, an acceptance that brings both equanimity, and also a clearer response.

- Thanissara, "The Grit That Becomes a Pearl"

Via Codeblack Life / FB:

Via FB:

Flower of the Day: 12/16/14

Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 16/12/2014

“Para haver um intimidador é preciso haver um intimidado. Para que haja alguém que abusa do poder, deve haver alguém permitindo que esse abuso aconteça. A distorção do poder na forma da agressividade e da violência tem o mesmo peso que a distorção do amor, que é a submissão e o vitimismo. A distorção do poder é distorção do masculino; a distorção do amor é a distorção do feminino - uma depende da outra para existir.”

“Para que haya un intimidador es necesario que haya un intimidado. Para que haya alguien que abusa del poder, debe haber alguien permitiendo que ese abuso suceda. La distorsión del poder en la forma de agresividad y de violencia tiene el mismo peso que la distorsión del amor, que es la sumisión y el victimismo. La distorsión del poder es la distorsión de lo masculino; la distorsión del amor es la distorsión del femenino – una depende de la otra para existir.”

“There can’t be someone intimidating without there being someone intimidated in turn. In order for someone to abuse power there has to be someone allowing the abuse to occur. The distortion of power happens when the masculine principle is turned into aggression and violence. The distortion of love occurs when the feminine principle gets twisted into submission and victimhood. Each are equally destructive, and depend on the other in order to exist.”

- Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

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Immeasurable Light | December 16, 2014

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The historical Buddha, like you and me, had physical form, was born, and was destined to die. But the content of his being did not die and continues to live. And that is immeasurable life. And not only life. Because it brings us to awakening, it is also immeasurable light.

- Taitetsu Unno, "Even Dewdrops Fall"

Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy (1988) HD

SAÚDE DE THICH NHAT HANH - 13/12/14

"A eternidade pode ser tocado no momento presente, e do cosmos na palma da sua mão."Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay)

Com confiança e amor, Os monges e monjas de Plum Village

Budismo Engajado

SAÚDE DE THICH NHAT HANH - 13/12/14
Comunicado oficial do Mosteiro de Plum Village
 
Thay continua a surpreender os médicos com seus fortes sinais vitais e estável, pacífica respiração. Eles ainda estão surpresos que Thay tem sido capaz de sobreviver e até mesmo para mostrar pequenos sinais de progresso.
 
Há poucos dias, um dos médicos compartilhou que "Thay é um enigma", e outro disse que eles foram "testemunhas de um milagre." Quando um neurocirurgião top dos EUA o visitou na semana passada, ele estava profundamente impressionado com o empenho da equipe médica para dar a Thay todas as chances possíveis de recuperação.
 
Nos últimos dias Thay foi mostrando algumas indicações de vigília, mas ele continua a permanecer em coma profundo. Houve momentos em que Thay teve os olhos abertos por mais de
duas horas, e é sensível, mas ele ainda não está mostrando sinais claros de comunicação. o médicos lembram-nos que pode ser semanas ou meses antes que possamos entender o dano
causada por hemorragia e descobrir a extensão de cura que pode ser possível.
 
A equipe médica começou a estimular Thay estar mais em vigília. Todos os dias o enfermeiros ajudam Thay sentar em uma cadeira, e, além de acupuntura e massagem dos assistentes, fisioterapeutas vêm para ativar o corpo de Thay. Cantamos a Thay, e nós também ouvimos os cânticos Sangha e belos sons da natureza.

Queridos e amigos. Encontrar tempo para estar com a natureza, para apreciar as estrelas, e as nuvens brancas e para realmente voltar para casa e estar em casa dentro de nós mesmos, como Thay sempre nos incentiva a fazer. Você pode gostar de escrever cartas de amor, em vez de gastar dinheiro e consumindo mais. O Ano Novo é uma ótima oportunidade para começar de novo com nós mesmos e deixar ir de ressentimentos e pesar.

Vamos publicar outra atualização sobre a saúde de Thay no Ano Novo. Até então, você e sua família podem tocar a verdadeira paz e felicidade. Que você seja capaz de desfrutar de seu verdadeiro lar.
"A eternidade pode ser tocado no momento presente,
e do cosmos na palma da sua mão."Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay)

Com confiança e amor,
Os monges e monjas de Plum Village

Via Daily Dharma

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Our Path | December 15, 2014

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Repetition and ritual and their good results come in many forms: changing the oil filter, wiping noses, going to meetings, picking up around the house, washing dishes, checking the dipstick . . . such a round of chores is not a set of difficulties we hope to escape from so that we may do our practice, which will put us on the path. It is our path.

- Gil Fronsdal, "Evaluate Your Meditation"

Via Daily Dharma

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Difficult at the Beginning, Easy at the End | December 14, 2014

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Worldly life is easy at the beginning and difficult at the end. A spiritual life is difficult at the beginning and easy at the end.

- Ani Chudrun, "Unusual Choices"

Flower of the Day: 12/13/14

"During a certain phase of the journey, we are not open to understanding the parts of ourselves that play against our own happiness. We are not really willing to get to know ourselves – we just want to get rid of our symptoms that bring suffering. In this phase, prayer and devotion are like a bargain that we use because they meet our needs. It is natural to start off like this, but at some point we must let go of this bargaining in order to continue along the path of love. Devotion is not meant as an occasional practice; only when it is firm and steady can it lead us to the experience of oneness. What builds this steadiness is self-awareness."

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

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The First Step | December 13, 2014

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For white America, [the] systematic undoing of centuries of racial indoctrination, [the] letting go of the 'conceptual paint' it has uncritically absorbed about black Americans, is the necessary first step toward the epistemological humility and egoless listening we are morally obliged to bring to our encounters with all Others. Another name for such selfless, healing listening is love.

- Charles Johnson, "Every 28 Hours"

Flower of the Day: 12/12/14

"Many people ask for enlightenment, but are not yet ready to abandon their identification with the body, becoming empty vessels. We want to be free, but we still need to be someone special and maintain the idea of ‘me’. We are still attached to the past. As you observe yourself desiring enlightenment, ask yourself, ‘Am I really ready to give up my story? Am I ready to leave the past behind?’ This can happen right now, or it can be in many incarnations from now: the choice is yours."

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daiy Dharma

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Avoiding What's Unlovely | December 12, 2014

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We instinctively avoid unpleasantness, often without our awareness. When we touch something unlovely in ourselves—fear, anger, jealousy, shame, disgust—we tend to withdraw emotionally and direct our attention elsewhere. But denying how we feel, or projecting our fears and faults onto others, only drives a wedge between us and the people we yearn to be close to.

- Christopher K. Germer, "Getting Along"

Via JMG: Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) To Introduce Sweeping Federal LGBT Rights Bill

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) today announced that in the next session he will introduce a sweeping federal LGBT rights bill that will cover employment, housing, credit, and public accommodations. Justin Snow reports at MetroWeekly:

Merkley said that while the Senate’s passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in November of last year by a 64-32 vote after the bill failed by one vote in 1996 was a “tremendous victory,” if discrimination is wrong in employment, it also must be wrong in areas such as housing, public accommodations and financial transactions. “Such an act would be a major advance for opportunity and equality for the LGBT community and would be a major stride toward a more just society,” said Merkley, who has been the lead sponsor of ENDA in the Senate since assuming that role from Sen. Ted Kennedy in 2009. Merkley made the announcement during the unveiling of a new report by the Center for American Progress addressing the need for comprehensive LGBT nondiscrimination protections.

Merkley spearheaded the passage of a similar bill while speaker of the Oregon House.

Labels: Congress, Democrats, employment, feds, housing, Jeff Merkley, LGBT rights, public accommodations, Senate

Reposted from Joe Jervis

JMG HomoQuotable - Dan Savage

"Look at Marcus Bachmann, Michele Bachmann’s husband. Anybody who has gaydar—anybody who has eyes—looks at him and sees a tormented closet case who has externalized his internal conflict and is abusing other people, doing his reparative-therapy bullshit. It’s so sad and pathetic. A lot of the self-destructive behaviors gay people are prone to drifting into are directed inward, and then you have these shitbags like Marcus Bachmann for whom it’s all directed outward. Marcus Bachmann is the photo negative of the guy on the last bar stool in the gay bar, drinking and smoking himself to death, except instead of destroying himself, he’s destroying other vulnerable queer people in an effort to destroy the queer inside himself." - Dan Savage, speaking to Playboy. Hit the link and read the full piece - I could have pulled at least a dozen other quotes for this post.

Labels: brainwashing, Dan Savage, ex-gay, HomoQuotable, Ladybird, LGBT youth, Michele Bachmann, religion, torture

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via PnkNews: After half a century of waiting – this gay couple were finally allowed to tie the knot

Percy Steven and Roger Lockyer,

While many same-sex couples celebrated as they converted their civil partnerships to marriage starting yesterday, one couple had waited longer than most.

Percy Steven, 75, and Roger Lockyer, 87, became one of the first couples in the UK to convert their civil partnership to a marriage yesterday at Westminster Council.

But having been together for 49 years, it was long overdue.

When they first got together, gay sex was still illegal, and when civil partnerships were introduced in 2005, they were one of the first to enter one.

Lockyer told the Guardian that being able to refer to themselves as married, finally, was “really rather lovely”.

On signing the marriage certificate at Westminster Council, he said: “I feel different already.”

 http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/12/11/after-half-a-century-of-waiting-this-gay-couple-were-finally-allowed-to-tie-the-knot/

Sur Sudha - Dhyana / Lumbini / Bodhimarga - The Path Of Enlightenment (The Third Eye)

Nepali folk Dhuns (KUTUMBA instrumental) all in one