Via Daily Dharma: Find Freedom in Stillness

Stillness in the midst of motion and commotion is free of will, direction, and time. It is a complete letting be of what is from moment to moment.

—Toni Packer, “Unmasking the Self”

Via Daily Dharma: Your Whole Life Is Here and Now

To practice the way of Buddha means to completely live out this present moment—which is our whole life—here and now.

—Kodo Sawaki Roshi, “To You”

Via Ram Dass: Words of Wisdom - July 30, 2017

Bearing the unbearable is the deepest root of compassion in the world. When you bear what you think you cannot bear, who you think you are dies. You become compassion. You don't have compassion - you are compassion. True compassion goes beyond empathy to being with the experience of another. You become an instrument of compassion. 

- Ram Dass -
  

Via Daily Dharma: A Teacher Points the Way

A teacher, out of compassion and love, seeing that somebody is suffering, gives a path. But each individual has to walk on the path.

—S. N. Goenka, “Superscience”

Via Ram Dass: Words of Wisdom - July 26, 2017

As we each listen to the intuitive message of our hearts, the society of which we are a part listens too.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Planting the Seed of an Awakened Mind

In Buddhism, we often talk about the seed of bodhicitta, the potential for an awakened mind that resides in all sentient beings. This seed is the basis of Buddhist practice—the generation of wisdom and compassion toward all sentient beings.

—Ogyen Trinley Dorje, “No Easy Answers”

Via Daily Dharma: Appreciation Is Key

I think for every human being, appreciation in daily life is key. Through having appreciation for everything, you're able to expand so much as a human being, with your heart and your spirit and your mind.

—Ifé Sanchez Mora, “Interview with Nichiren Buddhist Singer Ifé Sanchez Mora”

Via Daily Dharma: Defining a Hero

A hero, a person who is courageous, has the courage to admit one’s mistakes, one’s faults.

—Sayadaw U Pandita, “The Best Remedy”

Via Daily Dharma: The Art of Listening

To know what a person says, we must hear what remains unsaid. If we cannot hear silence, we do not know how to listen.

—Mark C. Taylor, “Hearing Silence”

Via Daily Dharma: Stepping into the Unknown

We’re always stepping into the unknown. And to trust that and be present with the moment without going into the stories is a lifesaver.

—Carol Wilson, “If We Watch, Wisdom Comes”

Via Daily Dharma: Buddhist Exercise

Right intention is like muscle—you develop it over time by exercising it. When you lose it, you just start over again. There’s no need to judge yourself or quit when you fail to live by your intentions.

—Phillip Moffitt, “Brief Teachings”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - July 23, 2017

Compassionate action gives us an opportunity to wake up to some of our motives and to act with more freedom. It gives us the chance to put ourselves out on the edge, and if we are willing to take a clean look at what we see there, we can come to know ourselves better. We can’t, of course, change what is arising in us at any moment, because we can’t change our pasts and our childhoods. But when we listen to our own minds and stop being strangers to ourselves, we increase the number of ways we can respond to what arises. 

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Happiness Within Doubt

We can be quite happy with a question mark. It’s not a problem at all, actually, as long as we don’t solidify it or base our whole life on feeling threatened by it.

—Ani Palmo, “Necessary Doubt”

Via Daily Dharma: The Way to Happiness

Pay attention. Stay open. Note discomfort and go back to your breathing. Use your curiosity. Be patient.

—Pamela Gayle White, “The Pursuit of Happiness”

Via More 4 of 12 Daily Dharma: Every Moment is Useful

To me, then, the way to not waste time is to find something useful in every moment, no matter what is happening.

—Brad Warner, “How to Not Waste Time”

Via Daily Dharma: Do You Know What You’re Doing?

If we don’t know what we are doing, how can we be our self? If our mind is somewhere else, it means we are trying to be someone else, not who we are in the present moment.

—Les Kaye, “The Time Is Now”

‘Ancient porn’ sheds new light on Bible verses

Gay sex is a sin.  The New Testament makes that abundantly clear.
Or does it?

According to one of the UK’s most prominent evangelicals, if Christian scholarship engages with archaeological evidence from the rediscovered ancient city of Pompeii, much of St Paul’s teaching on sexuality must be radically reinterpreted.

In a new online video for the Open Church Network, Revd. Canon Steve Chalke argues that by studying the remains of Pompeii, and understanding the ancient Roman world’s highly sexualised culture, we can find new meaning in chapters such as Romans 1, which have traditionally been misinterpreted to condemn same-sex relations.



Make the jump here to  read the original and more here

Via Ram Dass: Words of Wisdom - July 19, 2017

It's very hard to grow, because it's difficult to let go of the models of ourselves in which we've invested so heavily.  

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Allowing Space Into Your Practice

When we allow space into our practice we begin to see the impermanent nature of the thoughts and feelings that arise within our experience—as well as of the conditions, over many of which we have no control.

—Tsoknyi Rinpoche, “Allow for Space”