Via Daily Dharma / June 25, 2016: The Expansive Self of the Bodhisattva

For us as bodhisattvas, all aspects of life, including the fate of humanity itself, live within us. It is with this in mind that we work to discover and manifest the most vital and alive posture that we can take in living out our life. —Kosho Uchiyama, "What Is a Bodhisattva?"

Via Daily Dharma / June 23, 2016: Multiplicity of the Self

We want to say a person is like this, or a person is like that. But that can’t tell the whole story.

—Tracy Franz, "Authentic Self"

Via Ram Dass

June 22, 2016

I would like to play the part of someone who has worked on my consciousness sufficiently so that if things get tough, in terms of environment, social structures, oppression, minority groups, whatever the thing is – I would like to be able to be in the scene without getting caught in my own reactivity to it, without getting so caught in my own fear that I become part of the problem instead of part of the solution.
 

Via Daily Dharma / June 22, 2016: The Beauty of Life All Around Us

Sitting still is a way of falling in love with the world and everything in it.

—Pico Iyer, "Dropping Distraction"

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day - 21/06/2016

“Nós estamos aqui buscando a verdade; estamos batendo na porta dela. Mas, às vezes, quando a porta se abre, nos assustamos. Certa vez, uma buscadora que dizia querer encontrar a verdade (e por isso era muito dedicada às suas práticas espirituais diárias) um dia descobriu que o marido a estava traindo. Então ela entrou em desespero e me disse: ‘quanto mais eu rezo, mais assombração me aparece! Eu estava buscando a verdade do Ser e isso é o que eu encontro?’ Existem graus de verdade, mas a verdade é uma só. E comprometer-se com a verdade significa comprometer-se com todos os seus aspectos. Então, ela que se achava tão desapegada, teve que entrar em contato com o ciúme e a possessividade que ainda carregava.”

“Nosotros estamos aquí buscando la verdad; estamos golpeando su puerta. Pero, a veces, cuando la puerta se abre, nos asustamos. Una vez, una buscadora que decía que quería encontrar la verdad (y por eso era muy dedicada a sus prácticas espirituales diarias) un día descubrió que su marido la estaba engañando. Entonces entró en desesperación y me dijo: ‘¡cuánto más rezo, más fantasmas me aparecen! ¿Yo estaba buscando la verdad del Ser y esto es lo que encuentro?’ Existen grados de verdad, pero la verdad es una sola. Y comprometerse con la verdad significa comprometerse con todos sus aspectos. Entonces, ella que se creía tan desapegada, tuvo que entrar en contacto con los celos y la posesividad que todavía cargaba.”

“We are here seeking for truth and knocking on truth’s door. However, sometimes when the door opens, we get frightened. Once there was a disciple of mine, who said she wanted to find truth and as suchwas very dedicated to her daily spiritual practice. One day she discovered that her husband was cheating on her. She fell into despair and said to me, ‘the more I pray, the darker the shadow becomes! I was searching for the truth of my being and this is what I find?’ There are degrees of truth but there is only one truth. To be committed with the truth means to be committed to be willing to see the truth in all of its aspects. So, even though she thought she was free from her attachments, she had to get in touch with the jealousy and possessiveness she still carried within.”

Via Daily Dharma / June 21, 2016: The True Meaning of Renunciation

The ground of renunciation is realizing that we already have exactly what we need, that what we have already is good. Every moment of time has enormous energy in it, and we could connect with that.

—Pema Chödrön, "Renunciation"

Via Daily Dharma / June 18, 2016: The Roots of Meditation

All it takes to evoke the relaxation response—the gateway to all forms of meditation—is to focus exclusively on a repetitive stimulus or movement to break the stream of ordinary thought.

—James Kingsland, "Siddhartha, the Scientist"

Orlando City's Emotional In-Stadium Tribute

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day - 19/06/2016

“Somente quando pode amar plenamente você pode experimentar a liberdade. Mesmo que não tenha consciência disso, o que você está buscando é a experiência da liberdade, pois ela é o perfume da unidade; e a unidade é possível somente através do amor - esse tão imenso poder capaz de remover todas as barreiras de separação.”

“Solamente cuando puedes amar plenamente puedes experimentar la libertad. Incluso si no eres consciente de ello, lo que estás buscando es la experiencia de la libertad, pues es el perfume de la unidad; y la unidad es posible solamente a través del amor - ese tan inmenso poder capaz de remover todas las barreras de separación.”

“Only when we can fully love can we experience freedom. Even if we are not conscious about it, what we are actually seeking is the experience of freedom. This is the fragrance of union. Union is only possible through love. Only the immense power of love has the capacity to remove all the barriers of separation.”

Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day - 18/06/2016

 

“Normalmente, o medo e o orgulho trabalham juntos para proteger os porões do inconsciente. Me refiro a um aspecto bem específico do orgulho: a vergonha. Você tem vergonha de si mesmo, da sua história e do seu passado; tem vergonha de estar numa situação de insegurança e fragilidade, e tem medo que o outro descubra. Você não admite estar nesse lugar. Esse é o orgulho, mas o principal guardião é o medo – medo de entrar no núcleo da origem da dor.”

“Normalmente, el miedo y el orgullotrabajan juntos para proteger los sótanos del inconsciente. Me refiero a un aspecto muy específico del orgullo, la vergüenza. Tienesvergüenza de ti mismo, de tu historia y de tu pasado; tienes vergüenza de estar en una situación de inseguridad y fragilidad, y tienes miedo de que el otro lo descubra. No admites estar en ese lugar. Este es el orgullo, pero el principal guardián es el miedo - miedo de entrar en el núcleo del origen del dolor.”

“Usually, fear and pride work together to protect the dungeons of the unconscious. I am referring to a very specific aspect of pride, which is shame. We are ashamed of ourselves, of our story, and of our past. We feel ashamed to be in a situation that exposes our insecurity and vulnerability. We are afraid that the other will discover this. We don’t want to admit that we are in this place. This is an example of pride acting in us, whose main guard is fear. We fear getting in touch with the original core of this pain.”

Via Ram Dass:

June 19, 2016 The world is perfect as it is, including my desire to change it.

Antigua, Guatemala June 2016

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oreydc/28/1466273356/tpod.html

Via Dialy Dharma / June 19, 2016: When Dualism Collapses

When sense and the objects of sense both become empty, then emptiness and sense merge and reach a state of absolute perfection.

—Kuan-Yin, "Hearing, A Door to Liberation"

Via Daily Dharma / June 15, 2016: Examining Interdependence

It is entirely appropriate to examine in our moment-to-moment experience how craving and aversion manifest in personal psychological suffering. It is also important to follow that strand out through the interdependent karmic relationships in which each moment is entangled, to see how our desire is affecting everyone and everything around us.

—Andrew Olendzki, "The Other Dukkha"

Via Ram Dass

June 15, 2016

All action is prayer.
All trees are desire-fulfilling.
All water is the Ganga.
All land is Varanasi.
Love everything.

- Neem Karoli Baba (Maharajji)

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day - 16/06/2016

“Antes de identificar o que fecha o seu coração e te impede de amar, é preciso identificar o fechamento. Nem sempre é fácil ver que o coração está fechado, mas é fácil identificar os sintomas do fechamento: acusação e julgamento. Se você acusa e julga é porque o seu coração está fechado. Uma coisa é enxergar o erro no outro e rezar para que ele transforme determinado aspecto negativo, e assim se libere. Outra coisa é identificar o erro e usar a sua energia (pensamentos, palavras e ações) para fortalecê-lo. Dessa forma, você cristaliza o outro naquele aspecto negativo para poder se sentir melhor do que ele. Isso é vingança.”

“Antes de identificar lo que cierra tu corazón y te impide de amar, esnecesario identificar elcierre. No siempre es fácil ver que el corazón está cerrado, pero es fácil identificar los síntomas del cierre: acusación y juicio. Si acusas y juzgas es porque tu corazón está cerrado. Una cosa es ver el error en el otro, y rezar para que él transformeun determinado aspecto negativo, y así se libere. Otra cosa es identificar el error y utilizar tu energía (pensamientos, palabras y acciones) para fortalecerlo. De esta manera, cristalizasal otro en aquel aspecto negativo para poder sentirte mejor que él. Esto es venganza.”

“Before we can identify what makes our hearts close and prevents us from loving, we must first identify when our hearts are closed. It isn’t always easy to see that our hearts are closed, but it is easy to identify the symptoms of a closed heart: blame and judgment. If we are blaming and judging the other it is because our hearts are closed. It is one thing to see the faults of another and pray for them so that they may be able to transform certain negative aspects and become free of them. It is another thing to see their faults and invest all of our energy into blaming or judging them throughour thoughts, words and actions. This only crystallizesand reinforces the other’s negative behavior so that we can feel superior to them. This is what we call revenge.”

Via Daily Dharma / June 16, 2016: Recognizing Mortality, Cherishing Life

Recognizing mortality means we are willing to see what is true. Seeing what is true is grounding. It brings us into the present.

—Anne Klein, "The Supreme Contemplation"

Via John Peart: To my heterosexual friends: this is why Orlando hurts

To my heterosexual friends,

Lots of you have been silent about events in Orlando this weekend. That’s OK; maybe you were busy, life moves fast. But this one cuts a little deeper for your LGBT friends, like me, and you should know why.

It’s not because it’s terrorism; though that plays a part in it.

It’s not because of the size of the death toll. There isn’t a scale and this isn’t a competition.

It hurts because it’s not so different from the violence we experience every day. Until you’ve been scared to hold your partner’s hand in public, unless you’ve faced fear of revealing yourself to those closest to you; you can sympathise, but you can’t understand.

This hurts because whilst families and our community are grieving, the media is denying our collective identity.

The world around us tries to politicise every part of our lives as an LGBT community: our fundamental rights, who we can marry, whether we can donate blood. And yet, the rare occasion we want our community to be at the forefront of politics, the politics of hate is erased from the discussion.

This wasn’t “America’s Bataclan”. It wasn’t an attack on ‘the West’ or Western culture. This attack was specific. Pre-meditated. Fuelled by a hatred of people like me.

This hurts because so many remain silent when usually they are most vocal. They’ll mourn the death of a gorilla but they won’t mourn 49 dead LGBT people.

This hurts because it brought the worst of the world out of the woodwork. From presumptive Presidential nominees to priests to small town hicks, they congratulate a terrorist for killing “pedophiles” and “deviants”.

This hurts like it always has. Like Harvey Milk said:

The anger and the frustrations that some of us feel is because we are misunderstood, and friends can’t feel the anger and frustration. They can sense it in us, but they can’t feel it. Because a friend has never gone through what is known as coming out. I will never forget what it was like coming out and having nobody to look up toward. I remember the lack of hope - and our friends can’t fulfill it.

This hurts because of when it happened. June isn’t just any month in the year: it’s the anniversary of the Stonewall riots. It’s the time of the year when our community comes together to celebrate the progress made, and remember those who came before us. Now this year, more than most, Pride will be a reminder of how far we still have to go.

But we remain defiant. As a community, you hurt one of us and you hurt us all, and we’ll come back fighting.

In cities around the UK, and around the world, people stood still last night to honour and remember the dead. Thousands flocked to pay their respects and draw strength from our collective voice: love is love, and love always wins.

So my friends, don’t stay silent in the face of homophobic terror. Do something.

Be defiant. Light a candle. Teach your children LGBT people are to be loved not feared. Lend your support to homophiles not homophobes. Ask your LGBT friends if they’re OK. Do whatever you can, but don’t stay silent and don’t let this happen again.

John Peart

Liberal Redneck: Orlando shooting and 'Radical Islam'

From the New York Daily News:

There’s no joke to be told here for Daily News Hillbilly-in-Chief Trae Crowder following the massacre in Orlando. In an impassioned and powerful appeal to stop the “archaic lunacy” of religious and gun fanaticism, Crowder breaks it down to its most granular level on whether you’re on the side of love or hate.

“Saying that gay people shouldn’t be allowed to get married or be parents is not the same as murdering them, OK? Clearly. But that is where this road leads. This is what happens when zealous hate masquerading as faith is allowed to go unchecked.”

Beautiful Song - Krishna Das - Sri Argala Stotram - Show Me Love