Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - October 29, 2017

People ask me if I believe there is continuity after death. I say that I don't believe it - it just is. This offends my scientific friends to no end. But belief is something you hold with your intellect, and for me this goes way beyond my intellect.

The Bhagavad Gita also tells us, "As the Spirit of our mortal body wanders on in childhood and youth and old age, the Spirit wanders on to a new body: of this the sage has no doubts." As Krishna says, "Because we all have been for all time... And we all shall be for all time, we all for ever and ever." 

-  Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Tradition's Symbolic Truths

My own teacher . . . said that learning that many of her traditional beliefs were not historically accurate only made her think more deeply about their spiritual meaning. This is really the point. When we cease to confuse history and stories, when we look at traditional stories outside the context of literal truth and sectarian debate, we are freer to appreciate the imaginative truths they convey.

—Rita Gross, “The Matter of Truth”

Via Daily Dharma: Treating Fear with Wisdom

In spiritual life, the problem with fear lies in whether we have the wisdom to respond well to it.

—Dharmavidya David Brazier, “The Gift of Fear”

Via Daily Dharma: Happiness Requires a Foundation in Compassion

Trying to build happiness on a foundation of ego is like trying to build a tower on quicksand.

—Pamela Gayle White, “A Slow, True Path”

Via Daily Dharma: What We Want: Love and Respect

Everyone wants love and care, but, more than these, human beings want respect for who they are.

—Dzigar Kongtrul, “Old Relationships, New Possibilities”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - October 25, 2017

Who you think you are will always be frightened of change. But it doesn't make any difference to who you truly are. 

-  Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: The Dharma Is an Exhaustible Well

Some people think by giving everything away, you end up with nothing. But the dharma is an inexhaustible well. However much you give of it, you can always go back for more.

—Master Sheng-Yen, “Rich Generosity”

Via Daily Dharma: The Three Most Basic Fears

Every negative emotion, every drama, comes down to one or more of the three most basic fears: the fear of losing safety and control, the fear of aloneness and disconnection, and the fear of unworthiness.

—Ezra Bayda, “The Three Things We Fear Most"

Harvey Fierstein with Barbara Walters on 20/20 (1983)

Via Scientific American: Homophobes Might Be Hidden Homosexuals

A new analysis of implicit bias and explicit sexual orientation statements may help to explain the underpinnings of anti-gay bullying and hate crimes

Credit: Wikimedia Commons/thaths

Homophobes should consider a little self-reflection, suggests a new study finding those individuals who are most hostile toward gays and hold strong anti-gay views may themselves have same-sex desires, albeit undercover ones.

The prejudice of homophobia may also stem from authoritarian parents, particularly those with homophobic views as well, the researchers added.

"This study shows that if you are feeling that kind of visceral reaction to an out-group, ask yourself, 'Why?'" co-author Richard Ryan, a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester, said in a statement. "Those intense emotions should serve as a call to self-reflection."

The research, published in the April 2012 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, reveals the nuances of prejudices like homophobia, which can ultimately have dire consequences. [The 10 Most Destructive Human Behaviors]

"Sometimes people are threatened by gays and lesbians because they are fearing their own impulses, in a sense they 'doth protest too much,'" Ryan told LiveScience. "In addition, it appears that sometimes those who would oppress others have been oppressed themselves, and we can have some compassion for them too, they may be unaccepting of others because they cannot be accepting of themselves."

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Via Daily Dharma: Create a Sacred Space

Most of us cannot afford a separate room for zazen [Zen meditation], but all of us can make a corner sacred.

—Robert Aitken, “Setting Up Your Home Altar”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - October 22, 2017

One doesn’t have to beat down one’s ego for God. That isn’t the way it works. The ego isn’t in the way. It’s how we are holding the ego. It is much better to just do the spiritual practices and open to God and love God and trust your intuitive heart. As the transformation happens, the ego then becomes this beautiful instrument that’s available to you to deal with the world. It’s not in the way anymore.  

-Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Buddhism in a Shell

Buddhism is nothing other than a set of practices to open up the mysteries of the human heart.

—Reggie Ray, “Looking Inward, Seeing Outward”

Via Daily Dharma: Don't Confuse Awakening with Bliss

There may be bliss with awakening, because it is actually a by-product of awakening, but it is not awakening itself. As long as we are chasing the byproducts of awakening, we will miss the real thing.

—Adyashanti, “Bliss Is a By-Product”

Via Sri Preem Baba

Via Daily Dharma: Do You Know Where to Look for Spiritual Awareness?

There is always a need for experience and knowledge rooted in traditions, but it is not a spiritual given that these are the places where peace, union, and spiritual awareness are found.

—bell hooks, “Waking Up to Racism”

Via Lionsroar / Buddhist author George Saunders wins Man Booker Prize for “Lincoln in the Bardo”

George Saunders has won the Man Booker Prize — awarded for the best original novel published in the UK — for his novel Lincoln in the Bardo. Saunders is a Buddhist, and his novel is based on the idea of bardo, the Tibetan Buddhist concept of a state between death and life.

The book tells the story of Abraham Lincoln visiting the crypt of his son, William, who died at age 11. In an interview, Saunders told Lion’s Roar editor-in-chief Melvin McLeod:

“I’d been reading some Buddhist texts and was aware of the bardo as a sort of transitional state between the moment when you die and the moment you’re reincarnated. That struck me as an interesting way to destabilize the usual ghost story.”

On announcing the award, Baroness Lola Young, chair of the Man Booker Prize, said, “The form and style of this utterly original novel reveals a witty, intelligent, and deeply moving narrative.”
Young said that Lincoln in the Bardo stood out from the other books shortlisted for the prize, “because of its innovation – its very different styling and the way in which it paradoxically brought to life these not-quite-dead souls in this other world.”


In 2014, Saunders gave a convocation speech at Syracuse University that went viral and was adapted into a book. Shortly afterward, he spoke with McLeod, and explained how Buddhism comes into his writing:

“In my writing work, I’ve noticed that if you do anything with real intensity, and with a real interest in the truth of the matter, then it ends up being dharmic somehow. If you’re really, really interested in the truth, then you’ll end up with something that looks and feels very much like dharma.”

The Man Booker is widely regarded as one of the top prizes in fiction, assuring success and renown for its winners.


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Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - October 18, 2017

When you look back at the suffering in your own life, each time you would have avoided it if you possibly could. And yet, when you look at the depth of your character now, isn’t part of that a product of those experiences? Weren’t those experiences part of what created the depth of your inner being?

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Don't Mix Rigidity with Meditation

Global rules, where you have to do the same thing in all instances, are not as helpful as rules that have specific contexts in which they are used.

—Jason Siff, “The Problem with Meditation Instructions”