Your prayers are answered without your having to think about them. They are answered through the practice of prayer itself.
—Ken McLeod, “Prayer Without Blind Faith”
—Ken McLeod, “Prayer Without Blind Faith”
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Via The independent / Chile legalises gay marriage and allows LGBT couples to adopt as historic new bill signed
Chile legalises gay marriage and allows LGBT couples to adopt as historic new bill signed
'We can’t let old prejudices be stronger than love,' President Michelle Bachelet says
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has introduced a bill to legalise gay marriage, the latest in a series of recent reforms in a country long regarded as one of Latin America’s most socially conservative.
Bachelet signed the proposal, which will be sent to lawmakers, at a ceremony in the presidential palace. She said the measure seeks to expand the definition of marriage between a man and a woman and would also expand rights for gay couples, allowing them to adopt children.
“We can’t let old prejudices be stronger than love,” Bachelet said.
Chile approved civil unions for same-sex couples in 2015 and decriminalised gay sex in 1999. The bill comes a week after Chile’s Constitutional Court upheld a measure that would end the country’s absolute ban on abortions.
Civil unions have been recognised in several South American countries, though only Argentina and Uruguay have codified same-sex marriage. Gay marriage has also been legalised in Brazil and Colombia under court rulings.
It’s unlikely Bachelet will be able to push the measure through Congress before she ends her term in March 2018. But gay right advocates celebrated the decision as an important step toward full rights.
“It’s the beginning of the end of discrimination based on sexual orientation to access marriage,” said Luis Larrain, founder of the Iguales Foundation.
Make the jump here to read the original and more
Bachelet signed the proposal, which will be sent to lawmakers, at a ceremony in the presidential palace. She said the measure seeks to expand the definition of marriage between a man and a woman and would also expand rights for gay couples, allowing them to adopt children.
“We can’t let old prejudices be stronger than love,” Bachelet said.
Chile approved civil unions for same-sex couples in 2015 and decriminalised gay sex in 1999. The bill comes a week after Chile’s Constitutional Court upheld a measure that would end the country’s absolute ban on abortions.
Civil unions have been recognised in several South American countries, though only Argentina and Uruguay have codified same-sex marriage. Gay marriage has also been legalised in Brazil and Colombia under court rulings.
It’s unlikely Bachelet will be able to push the measure through Congress before she ends her term in March 2018. But gay right advocates celebrated the decision as an important step toward full rights.
“It’s the beginning of the end of discrimination based on sexual orientation to access marriage,” said Luis Larrain, founder of the Iguales Foundation.
Make the jump here to read the original and more
Via Daily Dharma: Work from Where You Are
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.
—Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, “Your Life Is Your Practice”
—Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, “Your Life Is Your Practice”
Via Ram Dass
Worry and fear are not tickets on the express train. They are extra baggage. You were going that way anyway.
- Ram Dass -
Monday, August 28, 2017
Via Daily Dharma: Putting Practice before Belief
All
religions claim to teach noble truths; in a sense, it’s a given in this
kind of discourse. What would happen if we stopped using that language?
I think it would free us up to give primacy to the practices.
—Stephen Batchelor, “Understand, Realize, Give Up, Develop”
—Stephen Batchelor, “Understand, Realize, Give Up, Develop”
Sunday, August 27, 2017
Via FB / From his deep studies of Gandhi and his own experience, Martin Luther King Jr. developed a list of six facts to help people understand non-violent resistance
"From his deep studies of Gandhi and his own experience, Martin Luther King Jr. developed a list of six facts to help people understand non-violent resistance and join with him in his vision.
King’s words are as insightful and thought provoking today as they were when he wrote them:
1. Non-violent resistance is not for cowards. It is not a quiet, passive acceptance of evil. One is passive and non-violent physically, but very active spiritually, always seeking ways to persuade the opponent of advantages to the way of love, cooperation, and peace.
King’s words are as insightful and thought provoking today as they were when he wrote them:
1. Non-violent resistance is not for cowards. It is not a quiet, passive acceptance of evil. One is passive and non-violent physically, but very active spiritually, always seeking ways to persuade the opponent of advantages to the way of love, cooperation, and peace.
2. The goal is not to defeat or humiliate the opponent but rather to win him or her over to understanding new ways to create cooperation and community.
3. The non-violent resister attacks the forces of evil, not the people who are engaged in injustice. As King said in Montgomery, “We are out to defeat injustice and not white persons who may be unjust.”
4. The non-violent resister accepts suffering without retaliating; accepts violence, but never commits it. Gandhi said, “Rivers of blood may have to flow before we gain our freedom, but it must be our blood.” Gandhi and King both understood that suffering by activists had the mysterious power of converting opponents who would otherwise refuse to listen.
5. In non-violent resistance, one learns to avoid physical violence toward others and also learns to love the opponents with “agape” or unconditional love–which is love given not for what one will receive in return, but for the sake of love alone. It is God flowing through the human heart. Agape is ahimsa. “Along the way of life, someone must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate,” said King.
6. Non-violent resistance is based on the belief that the universe is just. There is God or a creative force that is moving us toward universal love and wholeness continually. Therefore, all our work for justice will bear fruit – the fruit of love, peace, and justice for all beings everywhere.”
3. The non-violent resister attacks the forces of evil, not the people who are engaged in injustice. As King said in Montgomery, “We are out to defeat injustice and not white persons who may be unjust.”
4. The non-violent resister accepts suffering without retaliating; accepts violence, but never commits it. Gandhi said, “Rivers of blood may have to flow before we gain our freedom, but it must be our blood.” Gandhi and King both understood that suffering by activists had the mysterious power of converting opponents who would otherwise refuse to listen.
5. In non-violent resistance, one learns to avoid physical violence toward others and also learns to love the opponents with “agape” or unconditional love–which is love given not for what one will receive in return, but for the sake of love alone. It is God flowing through the human heart. Agape is ahimsa. “Along the way of life, someone must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate,” said King.
6. Non-violent resistance is based on the belief that the universe is just. There is God or a creative force that is moving us toward universal love and wholeness continually. Therefore, all our work for justice will bear fruit – the fruit of love, peace, and justice for all beings everywhere.”
Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - August 27, 2017
You
couldn’t possibly be lonely, because where could you go? Do you think
if I go in my bathroom and lock the door I can be lonely? I can’t be.
It’s always one thought away: The living spirit, the community of our
consciousness, that guru inside, is always one thought away.
- Ram Dass -
Via Daily Dharma: A Pinch of Generosity
When
you are practicing generosity, you should feel a little pinch when you
give something away. That pinch is your stinginess protesting.
—Gelek Rimpoche, “Generosity (and Greed) Introduction”
—Gelek Rimpoche, “Generosity (and Greed) Introduction”
Saturday, August 26, 2017
Via Daily Dharma: How Self-judgment Can Be Skillful
Joy
is what healthy shame and honor are for: to help you see for yourself
the well-being that comes from mastering higher levels of skill and
harmlessness in your actions.
—Thanissaro Bhikkhu, “Why Shame Gets a Bad Rap”
—Thanissaro Bhikkhu, “Why Shame Gets a Bad Rap”
Friday, August 25, 2017
Via Daily Dharma: Willing to Experiment
We do not need to be afraid of our mind. We can go on a journey of discovery and experiment.
—Martine Batchelor, “Meditation, Mental Habits, and Creative Imagination”
—Martine Batchelor, “Meditation, Mental Habits, and Creative Imagination”
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Via Daily Dharma: What Can You Give Up?
The spiritual path is about what we give up, not what we get.
—Tim Olmsted, “The Great Experiment”
—Tim Olmsted, “The Great Experiment”
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Via Ram Dass / 25 of 34 Words of Wisdom - August 23, 2017
Since
love is a state of being, and a Divine state at that, the state to
which we all yearn to return, we wish to possess love. At best we can
try to possess the key to our hearts, our Beloved, but sooner or later
we find that even that is impossible. To possess the key is to lose it.
- Ram Dass -
Via Daily Dharma: The Ultimate All-Inclusive Sangha
Everyone
I meet is in my sangha. I don’t know if that’s the proper definition,
but that’s the way I’m going to hold it in my mind.
—Jeff Bridges, “The Natural”
—Jeff Bridges, “The Natural”
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Via Daily Dharma: Realizing Goals Requires a Routine
The key to development along the Buddhist path is repetitive routine guided by inspirational vision.
—Bhikkhu Bodhi, “Vision and Routine”
—Bhikkhu Bodhi, “Vision and Routine”
Monday, August 21, 2017
Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - August 20, 2017
One
of the big traps we have in the West is our intelligence, because we
want to know that we know. Freedom allows you to be wise, but you cannot
know wisdom.
You must be wisdom.
When my guru wanted to put me down, he called me ‘clever.’ When he wanted to reward me, he would call me ‘simple.’ The intellect is a beautiful servant, but a terrible master. Intellect is the power tool of our separateness. The intuitive, compassionate heart is the doorway to our unity.
You must be wisdom.
When my guru wanted to put me down, he called me ‘clever.’ When he wanted to reward me, he would call me ‘simple.’ The intellect is a beautiful servant, but a terrible master. Intellect is the power tool of our separateness. The intuitive, compassionate heart is the doorway to our unity.
-- Ram Dass --
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