Revoked

Friday, February 19, 2016

Via Ram Das: Weekly Article: I Am Loving Awareness

When talking about awareness, most of us identify with our awareness through the ego, through the mind and senses. But the true self is in the middle of our chest, in our spiritual heart.

So, to get from ego to the true self I say, “I am loving awareness.” Loving awareness is the soul. “I am loving awareness.” I am aware of everything, I’m aware of my body and my senses and my mind, I’m aware of all of it, but I notice that I’m loving all of it. I’m loving all of the world.
The self that I identify with emanates from the ocean of love. The self that is the ego is the ocean of fear. When I am loving awareness, I’m aware of everything outside, but pulling into the heart, the spiritual heart, brings me to loving awareness. I’m aware of my thoughts, but loving awareness is simply witnessing them. Loving awareness is in this moment.
I have thoughts about the past and future, but those are not helpful, so I dive deep into the presence and in this present moment we will find loving awareness. Only this moment is real, this moment of loving awareness. The past and the future are all just thoughts.
In this spiritual heart there is peace, there is contentment, and there is compassion. There is also joy and wisdom, all inside of your spiritual heart and mine. So when you say, “I want a peaceful world” you don’t look outside, you go inside where peace exists. In Hinduism the spiritual heart is called the Atman, it’s the God within.
In Hinduism there is a story about a horse drawn carriage. The horseman who is on top of the carriage represents the ego, and the spiritual heart or the soul is in the carriage. The horses represent your motivation, and anytime the soul decides that the horse is going the wrong way, the soul takes his stick and taps on the window and tells the horseman to go in a different direction. So most of us identify with the horseman, because you are an incarnation that includes the ego.
The soul has come from many previous incarnations, it’s been through many births and deaths and it has no fear. The ego is afraid that when this incarnation is ended, it’s all going to end. The soul knows that he or she goes through incarnation after incarnation. Your incarnation includes your parents, your body, your friends, your culture.

I am in this body – this body, my personality, are all in time and space, but I am not in time or space. I am infinite. I am loving awareness.

– Ram Dass

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day 19/02/2016

“A impaciência é uma derivação da ansiedade. Muitos buscadores espirituais iniciam o caminho por causa do sofrimento que a ansiedade gera, mas acabam transferindo essa ansiedade para o caminho espiritual. Antes você tinha ansiedade em relação à realização material, agora você se torna impaciente e ansioso em relação à realização espiritual. Portanto, tenha calma. Através do conhecimento e das práticas, nós estamos plantando sementes, mas não podemos saber quando elas germinarão. O nosso trabalho é cuidar das sementes, sem determinar quando elas irão brotar e dar flores ou frutos.”

“La impaciencia es una derivación de la ansiedad. Muchos buscadores espirituales inician el camino debido al sufrimiento que la ansiedad genera, pero terminan transfiriendo esta ansiedad al camino espiritual. Antes tenías ansiedad en relación a la realización material, ahora te volviste impaciente y ansioso en relación a la realización espiritual. Por lo tanto, ten calma. A través del conocimiento y de las prácticas, estamos plantando semillas, pero no podemos saber cuándo van a germinar. Nuestro trabajo es cuidar las semillas, sin determinar cuándo van a brotar y dar flores o frutos.”

"Impatience is a result of anxiety. Many spiritual seekers begin on this path due to the suffering that anxiety generates, but they end up transferring this anxiety onto the spiritual path. Initially, one may have had anxiety about material achievement, but one may now be impatient and anxious about spiritual realization. So, stay calm. Through knowledge and practice, we are planting seeds, but we cannot predict when they will sprout. Our job is to take care of these seeds, without determining when they will sprout or bear flowers and fruit.”

Via Daily Dharma: Focused Attention

An ordinary person’s attention strays according to any movement of mind. Suddenly there is the confusion of believing in self and other, subject and object, and this situation goes on and on repeating itself endlessly.

— Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, "Taking Your Future Into Your Own Hands"

Via FB:

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day 18/02/2016

“A paciência é um grande poder, é uma expressão da força. Ao perder a paciência, você perde sua força e se torna vulnerável. Alguns fingem ter paciência, e dessa forma acabam se prejudicando. Por fora você não demonstra, mas por dentro está pegando fogo. A falsa paciência é geradora de muitas doenças. Ela causa alterações no sistema nervoso e, consequentemente, no sistema endócrino, o que se manifesta em diferentes partes do corpo de acordo com as suas heranças kármicas. Já a autêntica paciência é fonte de saúde, pois estabelece equanimidade mental.”

“La paciencia es un gran poder, es una expresión de fuerza. Al perder la paciencia, pierdes tu fuerza y te vuelves vulnerable. Algunos fingen tener paciencia, y de esta forma terminan perjudicándose. Por afuera no lo demuestras, pero por dentro estás prendiéndote fuego. La falsa paciencia genera muchas enfermedades. Causa alteraciones en el sistema nervioso y consecuentemente en el sistema endocrino, lo que se manifiesta en diferentes partes del cuerpo de acuerdo con tus herencias kármicas. La auténtica paciencia es fuente de salud, ya que establece ecuanimidad mental.”

"Patience is a great power – it is an expression of strength. When we lose patience, we lose our strength and become vulnerable. Some people merely pretend to be patient, but end up harming themselves, for behind their outward cool they are on fire. This false patience generates many illnesses. It causes changes in the nervous system and, consequently, in the endocrine system. The symptoms then show up in different parts of the body according to our own karmic baggage. Authentic patience on the other hand, is a source of health as it establishes mental equanimity.”

Via Daily Dharma: Experiential Wisdom

Contemplative inquiry is in effect a dialogue between the “I” of the mind and the “me” of the body that attunes us to the body’s deeper knowing, its genuine experiential wisdom. Unlike discursive mind, the body has no way of being anything other than genuine.

—David Rome, "Focusing and Meditating"

Via JMG: CALIFORNIA: Assemblyman Evan Low Proposes Ban On State-Funded Travel To States With Anti-LGBT Laws

February 17, 2016 Civil Rights, LGBT News

From the Bay Area Reporter:

A gay California lawmaker wants to ban state-funded travel to states with anti-LGBT laws. Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell) has introduced AB 1887, which would end state-funded travel to any state with a law in effect that sanctions or requires discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

The announcement by Low’s office this morning (Wednesday, February 17) comes as a number of Republican-controlled state legislatures in the Midwest and the South have moved to adopt a range of anti-LGBT legislation.

While measures in Indiana, Washington, and Virginia have been defeated in recent weeks, several pieces of legislation that discriminate against transgender students have been advancing in South Dakota. And a bill in Tennessee giving counselors the right to not see patients based on their religious beliefs is now before that state’s Senate.

The American Civil Liberties Union and LGBT rights groups are also tracking anti-LGBT bills in the state legislatures in Georgia, Florida, West Virginia and elsewhere.

RELATED: Low, now 32, became mayor of Campbell, California (population 40,000) in 2009 at the age of 26, making him the youngest openly gay Asian-American mayor in US history.

Read the original and more from JMG here

Via JMG: FINLAND: Marriage Equality Law Finalized

February 17, 2016 LGBT News, Marriage Equality

Finland’s parliament today finalized the details of the marriage equality law which goes into effect in March 2017:

Parliament has approved legal changes that will allow same-sex couples in registered partnerships to convert their legal status to ‘married’ by notifying the authorities. MPs voted in favour of the legislation by 106 votes to 42.

The move also eliminates registered partnerships for couples seeking to get hitched—they will now only have the option to get married. Transgender people will no longer be required to be single—not in a marriage or registered partnership—when their gender switch is recognised.

The changes approved on Wednesday were a follow-up to the already-approved law on same-sex marriage, which made legislation covering marriage gender-neutral. The changes will come into force in Match 2017.

(Tipped by JMG reader Luis)

Read the original and more at JMG here

Via JMG: COLOMBIA: Marriage Equality Ruling Due Tomorrow

February 17, 2016 LGBT News, Marriage Equality

Tomorrow Colombia may join Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay and become the fourth South American nation to legalize same-sex marriage. From our very own Perchy Bird:

Originally, the [Supreme] Court’s website wrote that the debate on the issue of whether gay couples can marry and if existing marriages performed by civil court judges should be annulled was planned on February 4th, but it was ultimately delayed.

Yesterday, the website once again mentioned the lawsuit in their Order of the Day and has now scheduled a debate on the 18th of this month. If the media predictions are correct, the majority of the 9 Justices will rule in favor of gay couples and make Colombia the next South American country with same-sex marriage.

The Perchy Bird is the work of longtime JMG commenter Luis De La Cruz and focuses on international developments in LGBT rights. Hit the link and bookmark it!

RELATED: In May 2014, Colombian President Juan Santos had this to say: “Marriage between homosexuals to me is perfectly acceptable and what’s more I am defending unions that exist between two people of the same sex with the rights and all of the same privileges that this union should receive. If these unions are called marriage or not is secondary to me. For me it is important that they have their rights.”

Read the JMG original and more here

Via Thich Nhat Hanh - Lion's Roar / Growing Together

In his introduction to the book, Love’s Garden: A Guide to Mindful Relationships, Thich Nhat Hanh shows us how we can use loving relationships to cultivate the seeds of buddhahood inside us.

To commit to another person is to embark on a very adventurous journey. You must be very wise and very patient to keep your love alive so it will last for a long time. The first year of a committed relationship can already reveal how difficult it is. When you first commit to someone, you have a beautiful image of them, and you marry that image rather than the person. When you live with each other twenty-four hours a day, you begin to discover the reality of the other person, which doesn’t quite correspond with the image you have of him or of her. Sometimes we’re disappointed.

In the beginning you’re very passionate. But that passion for the other person may last only a short time—maybe six months, a year, or two years. Then, if you’re not skillful, if you don’t practice, if you’re not wise, suffering will be born in you and in the other person. When you see someone else, you might think you’d be happier with them. In Vietnamese we have a saying: “Standing on top of one mountain and gazing at the top of another, you think you’d rather be standing on the other mountain.”

When we commit to a partner, either in a marriage ceremony or in a private way, usually it is because we believe we can be and want to be faithful to our partner for the whole of our life. In the Five Mindfulness Trainings, the third training is to be faithful to the partner you commit to. That is a challenging practice that requires consistent strong practice. Many of us don’t have a lot of models of loyalty and faithfulness around us. The U.S. divorce rate is around fifty percent, and for nonmarried but committed partners the rates are similar or higher.

We tend to compare ourselves with others and to wonder if we have enough to offer in a relationship. Many of us feel unworthy. We’re thirsty for truth, goodness, compassion, spiritual beauty, and we’re sure these things don’t exist within us, so we go looking outside. Sometimes we think we’ve found the ideal partner who embodies all that is good, beautiful, and true. That person may be a romantic partner, a friend, or a spiritual teacher. We see all the good in that person and we fall in love. After a time, we usually discover that we’ve had a wrong perception of that person and we become disappointed.

Beauty and goodness are always there in each of us. This is the basic teaching of the Buddha. A true teacher, a true spiritual partner, is one who encourages you to look deeply in yourself for the beauty and love you are seeking. The true teacher is someone who helps you discover the teacher in yourself.

According to the Buddha, the birth of a human being is not a beginning but a continuation, and when we’re born, all the different kinds of seeds—seeds of goodness, of cruelty, of awakening—are already inside us. Whether the goodness or cruelty in us is revealed depends on what seeds we cultivate, our actions, and our way of life.

At the moment of his awakening at the foot of the bodhi tree, the Buddha declared, “How strange—all beings possess the capacity to be awakened, to understand, to love, to be free—yet they allow themselves to be carried away on the ocean of suffering.” He saw that, day and night, we’re seeking what is already there within us. We can call it buddhanature, awakened nature, the true freedom that is the foundation for all peace and happiness. The capacity to be enlightened isn’t something that someone else can offer to you. A teacher can only help you to remove the non-enlightened elements in you so that enlightenment can be revealed. If you have confidence that beauty, goodness, and the true teacher are in you, and if you take refuge in them, you will practice in a way that reveals these qualities more clearly each day.

Each one of us is sovereign over the territory of our own being and the five elements we are made of. These elements are form (body), feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. Our practice is to look deeply into these five elements and discover the true nature of our being—the true nature of our suffering, our happiness, our peace, our fearlessness.

But when we’ve abandoned our territory, we’re not responsible rulers. We haven’t practiced and, every day, instead of taking care of our territory, we’ve run away from it and allowed conflicts and disorder to arise. We’re afraid to go back to our territory and face the difficulties and suffering there.

Whenever we have fifteen “free” minutes, or an hour or two, we have the habit of using television, newspapers, music, conversation, or the telephone to forget and to run away from the reality of the elements that make up our being. We think, “I’m suffering too much, I have too many problems. I don’t want to go back to them anymore.”

We have to come back to our physical selves and put things in order. The Buddha gave us very concrete practices that show us how to do this. He was very clear that to clean up and transform the elements of our selves, we need to cultivate the energy of mindfulness. This is what will give us the strength to come back to ourselves.

The energy of mindfulness is something concrete that can be cultivated. When we practice walking mindfully, our solid, peaceful steps cultivate the energy of mindfulness and bring us back to the present moment. When we sit and follow our breathing, aware of our in- and out-breath, we are cultivating the energy of mindfulness. When we have a meal in mindfulness, we invest all our being in the present moment and are aware of our food and of those who are eating with us. We can cultivate the energy of mindfulness while we walk, while we breathe, while we work, while we wash the dishes or wash our clothes. A few days practicing like this can increase the energy of mindfulness in you, and that energy will help you, protect you, and give you courage to go back to yourself, to see and embrace what is there in your territory.

There are real, painful feelings, strong emotions, troubling perceptions that agitate or make us afraid. With the energy of mindfulness, we can spend time with these difficult feelings without running away. We can embrace them the way a parent embraces a child and say to them, “Darling, I am here for you; I have come back; I’m going to take care of you.” This is what we do with all our emotions, feelings, and perceptions.

When you begin to practice Buddhism, you begin as a part-time buddha and slowly you become a full-time buddha. Sometimes you fall back and become a part-time buddha again, but with steady practice you become a full-time buddha again. Buddhahood is within reach because, like the Buddha, you’re a human being. You can become a buddha whenever you like; the Buddha is available in the here and now, anytime, anywhere. When you are a part-time buddha, your romantic relationships may go well some of the time. When you are a full-time buddha, you can find a way to be present and happy in your relationship full-time, no matter what difficulties arise.

Becoming a buddha is not so difficult. A buddha is someone who is enlightened, capable of loving and forgiving. You know that at times you’re like that. So enjoy being a buddha. When you sit, allow the buddha in you to sit. When you walk, allow the buddha in you to walk. Enjoy your practice. If you don’t become a buddha, who will?

Every single person contains the seeds of goodness, kindness, and enlightenment. We all have the seed of buddhanature. To give the buddha in you a chance to manifest both in yourself and your loved ones, you have to water those seeds. When we act as if people have these seeds inside them, it gives us and them the strength and energy to help these seeds grow and flower. If we act as if we don’t believe in our inherent goodness, we blame others for our suffering and we lose our happiness.

You can use the goodness in yourself to transform your suffering and the tendency to be angry, cruel, and afraid. But you don’t want to throw your suffering away because you can use it. Your suffering is compost that gives you the understanding to nourish your happiness and the happiness of your loved one.

Two Gardens

You have two gardens: your own garden and that of your beloved. First, you have to take care of your own garden and master the art of gardening. In each one of us there are flowers and there is also garbage. The garbage is the anger, fear, discrimination, and jealousy within us. If you water the garbage, you will strengthen the negative seeds. If you water the flowers of compassion, understanding, and love, you will strengthen the positive seeds. What you grow is up to you.
If you don’t know how to practice selective watering in your own garden, then you won’t have enough wisdom to help water the flowers in the garden of your beloved. In cultivating your own garden well, you also help to cultivate her or his garden. Even a week of practice can make a big difference. You are more than intelligent enough to do the work. You need to take your situation in hand and not allow it to get out of control. You can do it. Every time you practice walking mindfully, investing your mind and body in every step, you are taking your situation in hand. Every time you breathe in and know you are breathing in, every time you breathe out and smile to your out-breath, you are yourself, you are your own master, and you are the gardener in your own garden. We are relying on you to take good care of your garden, so that you can help your beloved to take care of hers.

When you have succeeded with yourself and with your beloved, you become a sangha—a community of two people—and now you can be a refuge for a third person, and then for a fourth, and so on. In this way, the sangha will grow. There is mutual understanding between you and your beloved. When mutual understanding is there and communication is good, then happiness is possible, and the two of you can become a refuge for others.

If you have a difficult relationship, and you want to make peace with the other person, you have to go home to yourself. You have to go home to your garden and cultivate the flowers of peace, compassion, understanding, and joy. Only after that can you come to your partner and be patient and compassionate.

When we marry or commit to another person, we make a promise to grow together, sharing the fruit and progress of practice. It is our responsibility to take care of each other. Every time the other person does something in the direction of change and growth, we should show our appreciation.

If you have been together with your partner for some years, you may have the impression that you know everything about this person, but it’s not so. Scientists can study a speck of dust for years, and they still don’t claim to understand everything about it. If a speck of dust is that complex, how can you know everything about another person? Your partner needs your attention and your watering of his or her positive seeds. Without that attention, your relationship will wither.

We have to learn the art of creating happiness. If during your childhood, you saw your parents do things that created happiness in the family, you already know what to do. But many of us didn’t have these role models and don’t know what to do. The problem is not one of being wrong or right, but one of being more or less skillful. Living together is an art. Even with a lot of goodwill, you can still make the other person very unhappy. The substance of the art of making others happy is mindfulness. When you are mindful, you are more artful.

You and your partner each have a garden to water, but the two gardens are connected. We have two hands and we have names for them: right hand and left hand. Have you ever seen the two hands fighting each other? I have never seen this. Every time my finger gets hurt, I notice that my right hand comes naturally to help my left hand. So there must be something like love in the body.

Sometimes they help each other, sometimes they each act separately, but they have never fought.

My right hand invites the bell, writes books, does calligraphy, and pours tea. But my right hand doesn’t seem to be proud of it. It doesn’t look down on the left hand to say, “Oh left hand, you are good for nothing. All the poems, I wrote them. All the calligraphy in German, French, and English—I’ve done it all. You are useless. You are good for nothing.” The right hand has never suffered from the complex of pride. The left hand has never suffered from the complex of unworthiness. It’s wonderful.

When the right hand has a problem, the left hand comes right away. The right hand never says, “You have to pay me back. I always come to help you. You owe me.”

When you can see your partner as not separate from you, not better or worse or even equal to you, then you have the wisdom of nondiscrimination. We see the happiness of others as our happiness. Their suffering is our suffering.

Look into your hand. The fingers are like five brothers and sisters from the same family. Suppose we are a family of five. If you remember that if one person suffers, you all suffer, you have the wisdom of nondiscrimination. If the other person is happy, you are also happy. Happiness is not an individual matter.

Our goal in practicing mindfulness and the deepest gift it can bring us is the wisdom of nondiscrimination. We are not noble by birth. We are noble only by virtue of the way we think, speak, and act. The person who practices true love has the wisdom of nondiscrimination and it informs all his actions. He doesn’t discriminate between himself and his partner or between his partner and all people. This person’s heart has grown large and his love knows no obstacles.

Read the full and more here

Excerpted from Thich Nhat Hanh’s Introduction to “Love’s Garden: A Guide to Mindful Relationships,” by Peggy Rowe Ward and Larry Ward. © 2008 by Peggy Rowe Ward and Larry Ward. Introduction © 2008 by Unified Buddhist Church. With permission from Parallax Press, www.parallax.org.

About Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh is a renowned Zen master and poet, and founder of the Engaged Buddhist movement. The author of more than forty books, he resides at practice centers in France and the U.S. Thich Nhat Hanh’s newest book is The World We Have: A Buddhist Approach to Peace and Ecology.

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day - 17/02/2016

“Nosso maior compromisso é remover do nosso sistema qualquer vestígio de violência e crueldade. A maldade nada mais é do que um conjunto de mecanismos de defesa. Eu não julgo a maldade, apenas digo que ela (e a ignorância sobre ela) é o que te impede de amar e ascender. E você se liberta dessa ignorância conhecendo, compreendendo, e tendo a coragem de renunciá-la, mesmo que, no primeiro momento, seja necessário fazer uma austeridade inteligente, um sacrifício. Ao compreender, é preciso tomar uma atitude, pois somente assim você se fortalece.”

“Nuestro mayor compromiso es remover de nuestro sistema cualquier vestigio de violencia y crueldad. La maldad no es nada más que un conjunto de mecanismos de defensa. No juzgo a la maldad, solo digo que ella (y la ignorancia sobre ella) es lo que te impide amar y ascender. Te liberas de esta ignorancia conociendo, comprendiendo y teniendo el coraje de renunciar a ella, aunque en un primer momento sea necesario hacer una austeridad inteligente, un sacrificio. Al comprender, es necesario tomar una actitud, porque solamente así te fortaleces.”

"Our biggest commitment is to remove from our system any trace of violence and cruelty. Evil is nothing more than a set of defense mechanisms. I do not judge evil, I simply say that evil, as well as the ignorance around it, is what keeps us from loving and ascending. We free ourselves from this ignorance by getting to know this evil, understanding it, and having the courage to renounce it, even if at first we need to make an intelligent austerity or asacrifice. Once we understand it, we must take action, for only action gives us the strength we need to carry through.”

Via Daily Dharma: A Wider View of Ethics

I get the impression that when people are not much interested in religion they also neglect values like compassion, a sense of sharing, a sense of caring—all the things that people consider to be a religious message and reject. That's a mistake.

—The Dalai Lama, "Ethics for a Secular Millennium"

Via Christians Tired of Being Misrepresented / FB:

An evening meditation from the prominent rabbi, author and activist Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972.)

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia -Flor del día - Flower of the day 16/02/2016

“Quando falo do ‘caminho da autorrealização’, em outras palavras, estou me referindo ao processo de desvendar do Amor. Esse processo envolve, inevitavelmente, o perdão. Isso significa que precisamos nos libertar de toda discórdia, ódio e pactos de vingança. Por isso tenho te inspirado a identificar e encarar as suas contas abertas com o passado, pois são elas que te mantém com o coração fechado, sem poder manifestar sua verdadeira natureza: o Amor.”

“Cuando hablo del ‘camino de la autorrealización‘, en otras palabras, me estoy refiriendo al proceso de revelar el Amor. Este proceso implica, inevitablemente, el perdón. Eso significa que necesitamos liberarnos de toda discordia, odio y pactos de venganza. Por eso te inspiro a identificar y encarar tus cuentas abiertas con el pasado, porque son las que te mantienen con el corazón cerrado, sin poder manifestar tu verdadera naturaleza: el Amor.”

"When I speak of the path of self-realization, I am referring to the process of unveiling love. Inevitably, this process involves forgiveness. We need to free ourselves of all discord, hatred and pacts of revenge. We must identify and address our open accounts with the past, for they make us keep our hearts closed and unable to express our true nature, which is love."

Via Daily Dharma: Great Determination

When the great root of faith and the great ball of doubt are present, great determination will arise. Great determination is a strong resolve that wells up from the bottom of our gut and spurs us on.

—Koun Yamada, "Great Faith, Great Doubt, Great Determination"

Via Quotes Gate / FB:

Via Upworthy: Sir Ian McKellen has been out and proud as a gay man for quite some time.

In that time, the actor has said and done a lot of cool things for the LGBTQ community. He's fought discrimination in the U.K., for example, and has been a voice of encouragement to young folks still in the closet. More recently, he pointed out that the Oscars don't just have a racial diversity problem — they lack queer representation, too.

Make the jump here to watch him read the letter