Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Today's Daily Dharma: The Dawning of Truth.


The Dawning of Truth
If we use the practice tools that develop intelligence and clarity with a confused, selfish motivation, reality is bound to collide with our fiction. This is where practice is supposed to bring us. This is the proof that the dharma works. It?s the end of our confused, fictive world, and the dawning of truth.

- Lama Tsony, "Facing Fear"


Via Equality House / FB:


Via JMG: AUSTRALIA: Anti-Gay Couple May Not Be Able To Stay Together & Legally Divorce


Earlier this week an anti-gay Australian couple earned international headlines when they declared that that they will divorce in a symbolic stand against same-sex marriage. But as it turns out, their plan to remain living together may thwart any divorce under Australian law.
The Family Law Act states that an application for divorce will only be considered if the parties had separated and lived separately for a continuous period of at least 12 months. Family lawyer Denis Farrar said the court also needs to be satisfied that there is no reasonable likelihood of cohabitation being resumed. "It surprises me that any sensible person would make such a threat, because you can't get a divorce unless you've been separated for 12 months," he said. "It doesn't sound like Mr Jensen could truthfully swear that those facts are correct. And in that case he may apply for a divorce, but he won't get it unless he lies."
Mr Jensen conceded the Family Law Act may throw a spanner in the works. "There will be issues around the fact that we would have to prove that our marriage was irreconcilably broken, which it isn't," he said. But Mr Jensen said he and his wife could look at a legal challenge, which would leave them effectively fighting for their right to get divorced. "It would be quite ironic if the state wouldn't actually allow us to get divorced," he said. "If a group of people got together and said 'actually, we want to take this to the courts', then maybe that would be something we'd be involved with. It's something we take very seriously, and we feel in our conscience that we can't actually partake in any redefined marriage."
Jensen, not incidentally, is the former director of the Australian Christian Lobby.
 
Reposted from Joe Jervis

US Embassy Celebrates Tel Aviv Pride 2015


Via JMG: Wingnuts Cry "Staged!" After Gay Couple Kisses When Clinton Mentions Marriage


 
The Tea Things over at Twitchy are very upset that two men could be seen kissing as Hillary Clinton mentioned marriage equality during her speech at Roosevelt Island today. It took me about an hour of sorting through the various live feeds to find the right camera angle and take a screenshot, but as you can see the couple was standing in just the right spot.


Reposted from Joe Jervis

Today's Daily Dharma: Not Worth Clinging

 Image: Alfredo de Stéfano
Not Worth Clinging
Whenever you see yourself identifying with anything stressful and inconstant, you remind yourself that it?s not-self: not worth clinging to, not worth calling your self. This helps you let go of it. When you do this thoroughly enough, it can lead to awakening.

- Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "What the Buddha Never Said: ?There is no Self.?"

Monday, June 15, 2015

Today's Daily Dharma: Under One Umbrella

Doris Mitsch, courtesy of Clampart, New York City
Under One Umbrella
We should all be willing to suspend skepticism about unfamiliar forms of Buddhism and explore their texts and practices deeply and without presuppositions. If we do this hard work, we will find that these unfamiliar Buddhisms make sense in their own terms and deserve our respect. Whether they turn out to be more similar to or more different from our own Buddhism is irrelevant. If we investigate these myriad versions of Buddhism, we will understand how all of them are derived from the teachings of the one teacher we all revere.

- Rita Gross, "Under One Umbrella"

Via Spirit Science / FB:


Today's Daily Dharma: It Starts with Humility

Image: Elegy 2011 by Cara Barer
 
It Starts with Humility

Humility is . . . the ground zero of spirituality, from which other helpful conditions may arise, such as gratitude and compassion. 

- Henry Shukman, "The Art of Being Wrong"

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día- Flower of the day 15/06/2015

“A verdadeira felicidade é aquela que vem de dentro, pois ela possibilita a experiência da liberdade. Uma coisa é você estar com o outro por amor, porque é bom estar próximo, porque existe uma sinergia, uma afinidade, e a energia cresce nesse encontro; e outra coisa bem diferente é acreditar que depende do outro para ser feliz.”

“La verdadera felicidad es aquella que viene de adentro, porque ésta posibilita la experiencia de la libertad. Una cosa es que estés con otro por amor, porque es bueno estar cerca, porque existe una sinergia, una afinidad, y la energía crece en ese encuentro; y otra cosa bien diferente es creer que dependes del otro para ser feliz.”

“True happiness comes from within, and allows you to experience freedom. You may be with someone out of love because it’s good to be close to them, and there is a synergy. The energy of this affinity grows with every encounter. That is the complete opposite of believing that your happiness is dependent on this person.”

Friday, June 12, 2015

Today's Daily Dharma: Free of Fear

Image: Stephen Webster/Photonica
Free of Fear

Being free of fear is not a matter of never feeling it, but of not being flattened when we do. We can feel it and know it is a natural phenomenon, also an impermanent one, which will have its say and be gone.

- David Guy, "Trying to Speak: A Personal History of Stage Fright"

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Via Power of Positivity / FB:


Destroyed Buddha Statues Rise Again...In 3D


Via JMG: WaPo 2016 Net Favorability Poll



 
Of all the declared and potential 2016 candidates in the Washington Post's net favorability poll, only Sen. Bernie Sanders is (barely) in positive territory.
The real-world surveys show that the overwhelming majority of presidential candidates are running negative favorability scores. Quinnipiac has Bernie Sanders at +1 overall, although that's partly because 62 percent of Americans say they haven't heard enough about him to form an opinion. The closest Republican is Marco Rubio — the same number of Americans say they view him positively as those who view him negatively, meaning his score nets out to exactly zero. Clinton and Obama are tied at -4. And it's all downhill from there, all the way down to Donald Trump. Only 15 percent of Americans view him favorably, compared to 71 percent who have a negative opinion. That gives him a net favorability of -56, more than twice as bad as the next-lowest candidate, Chris Christie, with his -26 score.
(Tipped by JMG reader Daddy Ray)
 
Reposted from Joe Jervis  

Via JMG: American Airlines Joins Pride Parade


Paging Franklin Graham!


Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Hate Groups Publish Full-Page Message To SCOTUS In The Washington Post: We Won't Honor Your Ruling On Marriage



 
A coalition of hate groups and Christian pastors calling themselves Defend Marriage has published a full-page message to SCOTUS in the Washington Post. Among the signers at the bottom of the ad are Mat Staver, Elaine Donnelly, the Benham brothers, Alveda King, Jim Garlow, John Hagee, E.W. Jackson, Don Wildmon, Dave Welch, Robert Jeffress, and Penny Nance. From the text:
We affirm that any judicial opinion which purports to redefine marriage will constitute an unjust law, as Martin Luther King Jr. described such laws in his letter from the Birmingham Jail. We are Christians who love America and who respect the legitimate rule of law. However, we will not honor any decision by the Supreme Court which will force us to violate a clear biblical understanding of marriage as solely the union of one man and one woman. We affirm that Marriage, as existing solely between one man and one woman, precedes civil government. Though affirmed, fulfilled, and elevated by faith, the truth that marriage can exist only between one man and one woman is not based solely on religion but on the Natural Law, written on the human heart.
Bolding is theirs. (Tipped by JMG reader Jim)


Reposted from Joe Jervis

Rachel Maddow - Franklin Graham's anti-gay banking protest backfires


Via JMG: LIST: America's Most Well-Read Cities



Via Business Wire:
Amazon.com today announced its fifth annual list of the Most Well-Read Cities in America – just in time for summer reading season. The ranking was determined by compiling sales data of all book, magazine and newspaper sales in both print and Kindle format from April 2014 to April 2015, on a per capita basis in cities with more than 500,000 residents. Seattle, Wash., the home of Amazon headquarters, not only purchased the most books overall but also purchased the most Kindle books, magazines, and newspapers. Washington, D.C. residents, ranked #5 overall on the list, prefer the print book, outranking Seattle as the city with the most purchases of print books. California is for readers with three cities making the top 20 list this year: San Francisco, San Diego, and San Jose.
The most-purchased book in seven of the above cities was Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.


Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: POLL: 65% Expect Supreme Court To Rule In Favor Of Same-Sex Marriage



 
Via the Associated Press:
Nearly two-thirds of Americans expect the Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide when it rules on the issue within the next few weeks, according to a new poll. Only 25 percent expect the high court to leave existing state bans on gay marriage intact, while 65 percent expect the bans to be overturned, according to the poll conducted by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute. Its nationwide survey of 1,009 adults was conducted from June 3 to June 7. Mirroring the findings of several other recent national polls, the new survey found 55 percent of Americans in favor of allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally, and 37 percent opposed.
The survey found sharp divisions over same-sex marriage along religious lines. Majorities of religiously unaffiliated Americans (79 percent), white mainline Protestants (60 percent) and Catholics (58 percent) favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry. But gay marriage was supported by only 29 percent of white evangelical Protestants and 35 percent of nonwhite Protestants. The survey also asked about perceptions of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Three-quarters of Democrats, 61 percent of independents and 50 percent of Republicans said there is a lot of discrimination against transgender people.
See more about the poll here.



Reposted from Joe Jervis