A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Via Daily Dharma / Changing Your Way of Being
Meditation
is not merely a useful technique or mental gymnastic, but part of a
balanced system designed to change the way we go about things at the
most fundamental level.
—Judy Lief, "Meditation Is Not Enough Alone"
—Judy Lief, "Meditation Is Not Enough Alone"
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Via Daily Dharma / Breaking Habits
Habituation
devours work, clothes, furniture, one’s wife, and the fear of war. . . .
And art exists that one may recover the sensation of life; it exists to
make one feel things, to make the stone stony.
—Viktor Shklovsky in Henry Shukman’s, "The Unfamiliar Familiar"
—Viktor Shklovsky in Henry Shukman’s, "The Unfamiliar Familiar"
Monday, April 24, 2017
Via Daily Dharma / Are You Ready to Meet Reality?
In
order to open—in meditation and in life in general—we must let go of
our familiar thoughts and emotions, we must step out from behind the
safe curtain of our inner rehearsals and onto the stage of reality, even
if it’s for just a brief moment.
—Michael Carroll, "Bringing Spiritual Confidence in the Workplace"
—Michael Carroll, "Bringing Spiritual Confidence in the Workplace"
Sunday, April 23, 2017
Via Ram Dass
My path is the path of Guru Kripa, which means ‘grace of the guru’. It seems like a sort of strange path in the West, but my path involves my relationship to Maharajji, Neem Karoli Baba. The way I do that is that I just hang out with him all the time. I have an imaginary playmate in a way, I mean, he’s dead. He dropped his body, yet he seems so alive to me, because I have invested that form in my mind as an emotional connection to that deeper truth.
Because for me, Maharajji is the cosmic giggle. He is the wisdom that transcends time and space. He is the unconditional lover. He is the total immediate presence.
Because for me, Maharajji is the cosmic giggle. He is the wisdom that transcends time and space. He is the unconditional lover. He is the total immediate presence.
Via Daily Dharma / What Makes a Good Sit?
Great
ecstatic meditation periods have never been celebrated by teachers;
we’re always told to go back to the cushion, to let go of all that
arises.
—Trudy Walter, "Leaning into Rawness"
—Trudy Walter, "Leaning into Rawness"
Saturday, April 22, 2017
Via Daily Dharma / What the World Needs Now
The overcoming of clinging through the wisdom of selflessness, the development of empathic love, and the expression of both in conscientious compassion have today become imperatives.
—Venerable Bhikku Bodhi, "The Need of the Hour"
—Venerable Bhikku Bodhi, "The Need of the Hour"
Friday, April 21, 2017
Via Daily Dharma / Working with Your Mistakes
In
human life, if you feel that you have made a mistake, you don’t try to
undo the past or the present, but you just accept where you are and work
from there. Tremendous openness as to where you are is necessary.
—Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, "Your Life is Your Practice"
—Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, "Your Life is Your Practice"
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Via Daily Dharma / Don’t Compare Yourself to Others
Comparing yourself is an almost instantaneous way to connect with suffering.
—Denise Di Novi, "This Buddhist Life"
—Denise Di Novi, "This Buddhist Life"
Via Baha'i Quotes Syndication Service: Be Not a Hypocrite...
Be thou of the people of hell-fire,
but be not a hypocrite.
Be thou an unbeliever,
but be not a plotter.
Make thy home in taverns,
but tread not the path
of the mischief-maker.
Fear thou God,
but not the priest.
Give to the executioner thy head, but not thy heart.
Let thine abode be under the stone,
but seek not the shelter of the cleric.
Thus doth the Holy Reed intone its melodies, and the Nightingale of Paradise warble its song, so that He may infuse life eternal into the mortal frames of men, impart to the temples of dust the essence of the Holy Spirit and the heavenly Light, and draw the transient world, through the potency of a single word, unto the Everlasting Kingdom.
but be not a hypocrite.
Be thou an unbeliever,
but be not a plotter.
Make thy home in taverns,
but tread not the path
of the mischief-maker.
Fear thou God,
but not the priest.
Give to the executioner thy head, but not thy heart.
Let thine abode be under the stone,
but seek not the shelter of the cleric.
Thus doth the Holy Reed intone its melodies, and the Nightingale of Paradise warble its song, so that He may infuse life eternal into the mortal frames of men, impart to the temples of dust the essence of the Holy Spirit and the heavenly Light, and draw the transient world, through the potency of a single word, unto the Everlasting Kingdom.
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
People who are very enamored with their intellect don’t trust the inner space. They don’t know how to tune to it. They just haven’t noticed its existence, because they were so busy thinking about everything. There’s very little you can say to somebody who’s going through that, because it isn’t real to them. It doesn’t exist.
You can remind them of moments they’ve been out of their mind, because once you have acknowledged the existence of that other plane of reality, in which you know that wisdom exists, then immediately all the moments when you had it in life that you treated as irrelevant or as error, or as, “I was out of my mind,” suddenly become real to you, and you start to trust that dimension more.
You can remind them of moments they’ve been out of their mind, because once you have acknowledged the existence of that other plane of reality, in which you know that wisdom exists, then immediately all the moments when you had it in life that you treated as irrelevant or as error, or as, “I was out of my mind,” suddenly become real to you, and you start to trust that dimension more.
Via Daily Dharma / What Really Matters
We can’t live ethically without caring about ourselves as well as others.
—Winton Higgins, "Treading the Path with Care"
—Winton Higgins, "Treading the Path with Care"
Via Daily Dharma / What Really Matters
If
we're not reflecting on the impermanent nature of life, then there are a
lot of unimportant things that seem important. Our jobs seem important.
Money seems important. But if we're really reflecting on impermanence
then we can see that the important things are compassion and loving
others—giving to others and taking care of others.
—Allison Choying Zangmo, "Living and Dying with Confidence"
—Allison Choying Zangmo, "Living and Dying with Confidence"
Via Daily Dharma / What Is the Self?
A human being is a storytelling machine. The self is a story.
—Paul Brooks, "The Space Between"
—Paul Brooks, "The Space Between"
Sunday, April 16, 2017
Via Ram Dass
As
we grow in our consciousness, there will be more compassion and more
love, and then the barriers between people, between religions, between
nations will begin to fall. Yes, we have to beat down the separateness.
Via Daily Dharma / Asking Questions
Because
people try to conquer others instead of gaining victory over
themselves, there are problems. The Buddha taught that one should simply
gain victory over oneself.
—Sayadaw U Pandita, "The Best Remedy"
—Sayadaw U Pandita, "The Best Remedy"
Via Daily Dharma / Thou Shalt Not Covet
Not coveting a single thing is the greatest gift you can give to the universe.
—Kodo Sawaki Roshi, "To You"
—Kodo Sawaki Roshi, "To You"
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