Via Daily Dharma

The Buddha's Footprint | February 16, 2015 Buddhism is generally conceived as the environmental religion par excellence. Yet, as scholars have shown over the past 20 years, the development of eco-Buddhism is a modern one. In many ways it is also an inversion of the classic orientalist paradigm whereby the West is male, active, and practical while the East is feminine, passive, and intuitive. And while this binary opposition was often utilized to explain and justify Western domination in both practice and theory, it was also the case that the dynamic of the framework could be flipped. - Johan Elverskog, "The Buddha's Footprint" Read More → Share

Via BNR LGBT / FB:

 

If you haven't already, sign for LGBT marriage equality! 38 down, 12 more states to go: http://actionsprout.io/C345D4

Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 15/02/2015

“Em ambientes de crueldade, onde as forças contrárias ao Amor atuam livremente, é muito difícil sustentar a conexão. Sustentar a conexão, em outras palavras, significa sustentar a presença do amor. E o que te faz sentir-se bem é justamente o amor fluindo do seu coração. Mas, o amor não pode se expressar em um ambiente de crueldade, pois essas forças restringem sua capacidade de amar - elas fecham seu coração. Isso acontece quase como uma proteção, para a sua sobrevivência. Porque ao manter-se aberto a crueldade entra e você começa a se machucar.”

Acesse ao Satsang Completo: bit.ly/16rNZe0

“En ambientes de crueldad, donde las fuerzas contrarias al Amor actúan libremente, es muy difícil sustentar la conexión. Sustentar la conexión, en otras palabras, significa sustentar la presencia del amor. Y lo que te hace sentir bien es justamente el amor fluyendo de tu corazón. Pero el amor no puede expresarse en un ambiente de crueldad, porque esas fuerzas restringen tu capacidad de amar – ellas cierran tu corazón. Eso sucede casi como una protección para tu supervivencia. Porque al mantenerte abierto, la crueldad entra y tú comienzas a lastimarte.”

"In cruel environments where the forces opposing love reign freely, it’s very difficult to maintain our connection by sustaining the presence of love. What makes us feel good is feeling love flowing from our heart. However, love cannot express itself in a cruel environment because these forces restrict our ability to love, and they close our heart. This happens almost like a protection mechanism for our own survival. If we remain open, the cruelty enters and we begin to get hurt.”

- Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

Meditative Thinking | February 15, 2015 The work of meditative thinking is a collaboration between these two natures—the seer that remembers and the seen that always forgets. As in rowing, if you pull more on one oar than the other, you go round in circles, and, as in rowing, all I can see is what I have passed as I press forward toward a point that is hidden behind me. - Carl Lehmann-Haupt, "The Path of Writing" Read More →

Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 14/02/2015

“Quando o buscador chega, inicio um trabalho de cura para tratar das suas feridas emocionais e purificar seu coração das mazelas do passado. Esse trabalho continua até que ele possa se harmonizar com seu passado e se libertar dele, ou seja, até que ele possa olhar para trás e verdadeiramente agradecer por absolutamente tudo que aconteceu na sua vida. Nesse momento, ele estará pronto para renascer no espírito. Na verdade, é nesse ponto que a jornada espiritual realmente inicia. Porque até então era um trabalho psicoespiritual de cura e transformação da natureza inferior.”

“Cuando el buscador llega, inicio un trabajo de cura para tratar sus heridas emocionales y purificar su corazón de los males del pasado. Ese trabajo continúa hasta que pueda armonizarse con su pasado y se libere de él, o sea, hasta que pueda mirar para atrás y verdaderamente agradecer por absolutamente todo lo que sucedió en su vida. En ese momento, estará listo para renacer en el espíritu. En verdad, es en ese punto que el camino espiritual realmente inicia. Porque hasta entonces era un trabajo psicoespiritual de cura y transformación de la naturaleza inferior.”

"When the seeker arrives, a healing work begins to address one’s emotional wounds and to purify the heart’s ailments from the past. This work continues until one can be in harmony with one’s past and be liberated from it; until one can look back and truly be thankful for absolutely everything that has happened in one’s life. At this moment, one is ready to be reborn in spirit. In fact, this is when the spiritual journey actually begins. Everything up until this point was merely a psychospiritual work of healing and transforming one’s lower nature."

- Sri Prem Baba

Via JMG: From Alabama's Largest Newspaper

 

The Birmingham News has been absolutely relentless in their supportive coverage of Alabama's marriage battle and one of the stars of that coverage has been cartoonist JD Crowe. Hit the link for a slideshow of Crowe's work about Judge Roy Moore.

Labels: Alabama, JD Crowe, marriage equality, Roy Moore

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Antonin Scalia: Don't Paint Me As Anti-Gay

 

"The issue of gay rights, on abortion, on many of the issues in which Ruth’s opinions and mine differ does not pertain to the substance. It doesn’t pertain to whether gay people ought to have those rights or whether there ought to be a constitutional right or a right to an abortion. That isn’t the issue. The issue is who decides. That’s all. I don’t have any public views on any of those things. The point is who decides? Should these decisions be made by the Supreme Court without any text in the Constitution or any history in the Constitution to support imposing on the whole country or is it a matter left to the people? But don’t paint me as anti-gay or anti-abortion or anything else. All I’m doing on the Supreme Court is opining about who should decide."  

 

- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, speaking last night at the George Washington University event where Ruth Bader Ginsburg made her "not 100% sober" comment.

Labels: Antonin Scalia, marriage equality, SCOTUS

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: March Issue Of Texas Monthly

Labels: gay families, marriage equality, Texas

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: OREGON: Democratic Gov. John Kizhaber Resigns In Scandal Over His Fiance, Successor Kate Brown Is Openly Bisexual

 

Via Bloomberg:

Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber’s almost four-decade political career fell apart Friday, as he heeded calls from fellow Democrats to resign after a scandal involving his fiancee’s use of his office to generate business for her energy-consulting firm. Kitzhaber, a 67-year-old re-elected to a fourth term in November, announced his departure in a news release. Secretary of State Kate Brown, also a Democrat, will assume the office until 2016.

Oregon's now governor-to-be Kate Brown is married to a man and is openly bisexual, which will make her the first openly LGBT governor in American history. Unless you count former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevy, which you shouldn't.

Labels: Democrats, Kate Brown, Oregon, scandal

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via Daily Dharma

Dharma Dating | February 14, 2015 As human beings, we’re hardwired for connection. Of course, our practice helps us dissolve the illusion of a separate self and know that we are supported in every breath by the whole universe. But at the same time, it’s also good to feel supported by a real live person who actually cares that we had a bad day, that the kids were brats, that the boss was a tyrant, that the computer kept crashing, that we failed to solve our koan. - Anne Cushman, "Fifteen Weeks of Dharma Dating" Read More →

Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 13/02/2015

“Ao praticar técnicas sexuais com várias pessoas diferentes você acaba criando situações perigosas. Isso porque você amplia seu poder e magnetismo, o que deixa seu ego mais robusto e astuto. E o principal poder que você desenvolve é o poder de manipulação. Mas porque você quer ter esse poder? Você quer manipular o outro para ter domínio sobre ele e para fugir de si mesmo. Ter domínio sobre uma pessoa não é diferente de ter um carro novo ou de ter bastante dinheiro na conta bancária – tudo agrega valor à falsa ideia de quem é você. No mais profundo, você está em busca de uma identidade; está tentando suprir uma carência.” 

Acesse ao Satsang Completo: bit.ly/prembaba01

“Al practicar técnicas sexuales con varias personas diferentes terminas creando situaciones peligrosas. Porque amplías tu poder y magnetismo, lo que deja a tu ego más robusto y astuto. Y el principal poder que desarrollas es el poder de manipulación. ¿Pero porqué quieres tener ese poder? Quieres manipular al otro para tener dominio sobre él y para huir de ti mismo. Tener dominio sobre una persona no es distinto de tener un auto nuevo o de tener bastante dinero en la cuenta bancaria – todo agrega valor a la falsa idea de quien eres tú. En lo más profundo, estás en búsqueda de una identidad, estás intentando suplir una carencia.”

"Practicing sexual techniques with many different people can end up creating dangerous situations. One may increase one’s power and allure, which makes the ego more robust and cunning, but the main power that develops is manipulation. Why would one want to have this power? In order to manipulate the other and dominate them, while avoiding looking at oneself. Having dominion over the other is no different than having a new car, or having a lot of money in one’s bank account. Everything adds value to the false idea of who we are. On a deeper level, one is seeking an identity, and this is an attempt to compensate for a neediness."

- Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

Tasting Buddhanature | February 13, 2015 Being told about buddhanature but never really making it our personal experience will not help anything. It's like staying hungry. Once we put the food in our mouth, we discover what the food tastes like. - Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, "As the Clouds Vanish" Read More →

Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day -12/02/2015

“Muitas vezes damos passagem para determinados impulsos que não gostamos e não aceitamos, e que gostaríamos que fossem diferentes. O que faz uma pessoa refém do ciúme e da inveja? Refém da insegurança e da vingança? Refém do medo? É a ignorância a respeito da natureza desse impulso. Isso porque tudo o que é negado e relegado ao plano da sombra acaba ganhando força justamente por ficar no inconsciente.”
Acesse ao Satsang Completo: bit.ly/25012015

“Muchas veces damos pasaje a determinados impulsos que no nos gustan y no aceptamos, y que gustaríamos que fuesen diferentes. ¿Qué hace a una persona rehén de los celos, de la envidia? ¿Rehén de la inseguridad y de la venganza? ¿Rehén del miedo? Es la ignorancia al respecto de la naturaleza de ese impulso. Eso porque todo lo que es negado y relegado al plano de la sombra acaba ganando fuerza justamente por estar en el inconsciente.”

"Oftentimes we give way to certain impulses that we do not like nor accept, and that we wish would be different. What makes a person hostage to jealousy and envy? What makes one hostage to insecurity, revenge and fear? It is the ignorance about the nature of this impulse. Everything that is denied and banished to the realms of the shadow ends up gaining strength simply by remaining unconscious."

- Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

Democratizing Enlightenment | February 12, 2015 We must take care, in our age of scientific mastery, not to treat enlightenment as the ultimate technological discovery, a state in which everything is understood, a kind of unified field theory of the spirit where only experts reign. This is not the quality of real insight. Real awakening should bring home to us the inexplicability, even unknowability, of our world. - Lewis Richmond, "Enlightenment Needs a Minyan" Read More →

Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 11/02/2015

“Ao entrega-se para a vontade divina, a vontade do seu Eu superior, você se torna uma testemunha silenciosa; um canal puro do amor. Cada ação é como uma prece ao Divino e sua vida se torna devoção. Nada do que você faz é para si mesmo: a graça, a alegria, a cura e o amor passam por você para chegar ao outro, e assim você vai experimentando a plenitude e o contentamento – você vai provando pílulas de samadhi, o êxtase místico. E a cada vislumbre do Eterno, a natureza inferior vai se dissipando, e você vai se aproximando da sua verdadeira essência.”

Acesse ao Satsang Completo: bit.ly/1CviIRC

“Al entregarse a la voluntad divina, la voluntad de tu Yo superior, te vuelves un testigo silencioso, un canal puro del amor. Cada acción es como una plegaria al Divino y tu vida se vuelve devoción. Nada de lo que haces es para ti mismo: la gracia, la alegría, la cura y el amor pasan por ti para llegar al otro, y así vas experimentando la plenitud y el contentamiento – vas probando las píldoras de samadhi, el éxtasis místico. Y a cada vislumbre del Eterno, la naturaleza inferior se va disipando, y vas aproximándote a tu verdadera esencia.”

"When you surrender to the divine will, the will of your higher self, you become a silent witness and a pure channel of love. Each action turns into a prayer to the Divine and your life becomes devotion. Nothing you do is for yourself. Grace, joy, healing and love pass through you to reach the other. In this way, you go on experiencing fulfillment and contentment. You experience samadhi pills: mystical ecstasy. At every glimpse of the Eternal, the lower nature begins to dissipate, and you come closer to your true essence."

- Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

Facing Extinction | February 11, 2015 There are a lot of decisions we’re going to be making, consciously or unconsciously, that are going to impact other species, and a lot of choices for us to make that will maximize or minimize that impact. I’m trying to bring those choices into consciousness, because right now we are simply making them unconsciously; we are making them by not making them. - Elizabeth Kolbert, "No Easy Answers" Read More →

Flower of the Day: 02/10/15

“Different spiritual traditions invoke the Divine in specific ways, but there is a common denominator amongst them. For example, bhajans, devotional chants, evoke the deities of the Hindu tradition. Through their symbolism, these deities, or names and forms of the Divine, represent aspects of the Divine that dwell within us all. Everything is inside of us. The Divine works through each one of us, and that which is not here is nowhere."

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Kos

Via Daily Dharma

The Four Metaphors | February 10, 2015 Noble one, think of yourself as someone who is sick, Of the dharma as the remedy, Of your spiritual teacher as a skillful doctor, And of diligent practice as the way to recovery. - Shakyamuni Buddha, "Again 'Common Sense' Buddhism" Read More →