Via Daily Dharma: Understanding Difference Will Deepen Practice

A spiritual tradition is neither generic nor universal. To see what makes one’s own tradition uniquely itself is to be disabused of the notion that it is what all sensible, thinking people would arrive at if only they would get enlightened.

—Rita Gross, “Buddhist to Buddhist”

Via Daily Dharma: First Comes Hope, Then Action

Hope opens the door to possibility and allows us to envision change, particularly change that we desire. But hope alone will not affect change—that requires movement.

—Andrew Mellen, “UnStuff Your Life”

Via Pinter...

Via Daily Dharma: Practicing Meditation as an Art

If we take up meditation as we would any other artistic pursuit, it is unlikely we will have any regrets. Quite the contrary, the practice’s significance will grow and unfold throughout our lives.

—Ken McLeod, “The Progress Question”

Via Daily Dharma: Going Against the Stream

The Buddha described his teaching as “going against the stream.” The unflinching light of mindful awareness reveals the extent to which we are tossed along in the stream of past conditioning and habit.

—Stephen Batchelor, “Foundations of Mindfulness”

Via Ram Dass

I would say that most of us stay locked in our separateness, and we are very frightened of coming out of it. We feel very vulnerable. In truth, you are not vulnerable at all… You just think you are vulnerable. Who you think you are is vulnerable; who you are is not. This is the truth of it. That’s what Christ was saying over and over again, but nobody seemed to want to hear him. It’s very hard to open your heart when you are not vulnerable, but your experience says that you are.

When you are in the presence of unconditional love, that’s the optimum environment for your heart to open, because you feel safe. You realize nobody wants anything from you. The minute that heart opens, you are once again letting in the flow, and that flow is where you experience God.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Simplifying a Complicated Life

If we can allow some space within our awareness and rest there, we can respect our troubling thoughts and emotions, allow them to come, and let them go. Our lives may be complicated on the outside, but we remain simple, easy, and open on the inside.

—Tsoknyi Rinpoche, “Allow for Space”

Via Daily Dharma: Lifting Others Up

Equality is about giving up the constant desire to lift yourself above others so that you appear superior to them. Awakening is about lifting everybody up together with you.

—Dawa Tarchin Phillips, “What To Do When You Don't Know What's Next”

Via Daily Dharma: An Invitation to Presence

The invitation to open to our experience—whatever it is from moment to moment—is always there, no matter how many times we need to rediscover it.

—Aura Glaser, “Into the Demon's Mouth”

Via Daily Dharma: Tune In to What Matters Most

Whatever you most care about, let this tenderness of heart energize your meditation. The sincerity of your longing will carry you home.

—Tara Brach, “Finding True Refuge”

Via Ram Dass

Love doesn’t know boundaries. The mind creates the boundary of separation between me and you. The heart just keeps embracing and opening out, so that things that open your heart open you out into the universe and allow you to experience preciousness, the grace, the sweetness, and the thick interconnectedness of it all.

It’s even more than interconnected. It’s all one thing, and it just keeps changing its flow and patterns, and you’re just a part of it.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Where to Find Enlightenment

The path of enlightenment is not the path to enlightenment, a way to get to this so-called awakened state. The path of enlightenment is what is underneath our feet.

—Douglas Penick, “What Are You Meditating For?”

Via FB: Senator Kamila Harris -- as shared by Jim Hardwick

"I was speaking to a high school class a few weeks ago and one of the students asked me what we are going to do about a divided America.

"I said I rejected the premise. America isn’t divided. When people wake up at three o’clock in the morning, often in a cold sweat, they are never thinking about life through the lens of being a Democrat or a Republican. The vast majority of folks are thinking about their personal health, the health of their children, the health of their parents, can they get a job, can they keep a job, can they pay the bills by the end of the month, can they retire with dignity?

"The point is that the vast majority of people have so much more in common than what separates us. 

The way we come out of this political nightmare is to reject the false premise that we are a divided country.

"And that means we have to acknowledge what unites us: the universal truths and the universal values that define us. It means we have to listen to one another. It’s why, for example, about once a month I’ve been asking supporters like you to take our issues survey—it’s because I want to know how you’re feeling right now. Not through the lens of partisan politics, but through your eyes, your hopes, and your fears.

"The problem with Washington is that too many people have accepted the false premise that there are core party issues, not issues that are important to those we are supposed to protect and empower.

"I’m a realist, but I’m also an optimist. I believe we can listen and push past the cliche in Washington to get things done that will help people.

"That means we have to be ready to both listen to one another and to fight for the values and the concerns that keep all of us up at night."

Via Daily Dharma: Why Awareness Matters

With awareness, there is space—allowing us to interrupt habitual response patterns and bring intention to our responses, choosing to form a different association. In time, we can begin to carve a new path into the riverbank.

—Wendy Hasenkamp, “Brain Karma”

Chaim Tannenbaum - "America the Beautiful"

Make the jump here to read the story about it on Utne

Via Daily Dharma: Do You Live Well with Others?

Even if you have awakened to your enlightened nature, there is still further to go in your spiritual journey if you’re not living harmoniously with others.

—Haemin Sunim, “The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down”

Via Daily Dharma: On Questioning and Faith

When one is analyzing and studying, it is good to ask questions and to have doubts . . . . Analysis produces a faith that is certain.

—Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso, “The Path of Faith and the Path of Reasoning”

Via Ram Dass

The only thing that ever dies is the model you have in your mind of who you think you are. That’s what dies. 

- Ram Dass -

Via Lion's Roar: What is the Buddhist view on sexuality?

The Buddhist flag (right) debuted in Sri Lanka in 1855 and was adopted internationally in 1952. The rainbow pride flag, designed by Gilbert Baker in 1978, has become a symbol of LGBTIQ hope and progress worldwide.

 

Last week, Taiwan became the first — and only — predominantly Buddhist country to rule in favor of gay marriage. Despite Buddhism’s traditionally conservative roots, in the West, we usually think of it as an LGBTQ-positive spirituality. Western Buddhist teachers have encouraged an understanding of the Buddha’s teachings that helps us “heal, find our true selves, and free ourselves from roles and ideals that do not fit our real nature,” as Roshi Enkyo Pat O’Hara has written. But, forward-thinking Buddhists are challenged to reconcile their inclusive values with traditionally conservative Buddhist texts that seem to place restrictions where, when, how and with whom one should have sex. How do we respect tradition without compromising our values? As José Ignacio Cabezón explains, when we disagree with Buddhist teachings, we get a chance to initiate illuminating discussions. May this Weekend Reader illuminate your view of sex and sexuality. —Sam Littlefair, associate editor, LionsRoar.com

The Five Mindfulness Trainings Thich Nhat Hanh’s Five Mindfulness Trainings are an expression of the Buddha’s traditional five precepts (the core of Buddhist ethics), updated for the modern world. He updates the third precept, “avoid sexual misconduct,” to, simply, “true love.” ... Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I am committed to cultivating responsibility and learning ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families, and society. Knowing that sexual desire is not love, and that sexual activity motivated by craving always harms myself as well as others, I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without true love and a deep, long-term commitment made known to my family and friends. [...]

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Revisiting Traditional Buddhist Views
on Sex and Sexuality

 

In a historic 1997 meeting with LGBTQ community leaders, the Dalai Lama acknowledged that it’s time to revisit traditional Buddhist texts that prohibit gay sex. Buddhist scholar José Ignacio Cabezón explores the Dalai Lama’s words and the traditional Buddhist views on sexuality. ...

The texts are not the endpoint of reflection, but rather the beginning of it, and the great masters of old are not irrelevant "dead brown men," but living conversation partners whose thought, as reflected in their writings, can help us reconstruct our lives so that they lead to the flourishing of self, of others, and of the communities in which we live. [...]
 

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Is My Sangha Inclusive? When Rev. Kiyonobu Joshin Kuwahara investigated whether LGBTQ members of his community felt unwelcome due to conservative traditional views, he discovered an opportunity to have inspiring conversations. ... The LGBTQ community has not been openly accepted in Japan—those who stand out are forced to adapt themselves to the norm. I knew there were a number of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender members in the Buddhist Churches of America. However, I was not sure if they felt accepted within their respective sanghas or if they were comfortable being open about their sexuality in that context. [...]

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