Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - March 7, 2018

Over the years we develop strong habits of perceiving the universe, and we come to be very secure within these habits. We selectively perceive our environment in ways that reinforce them. This collection of habits is what we call ego. But meditation breaks the ego down. As we begin to see through it we can become confused as to what reality is. What once seemed absolute now begins to seem relative.

When this happens, some people get confused; others fear they may be going insane. The best strategy for dealing with this disorientation is to note it and let it be. The path to freedom is through detachment from your old habits of ego.

Slowly you will arrive at a new and more profound integration of your experience in a more evolved structure of the universe. That is, you will flow beyond the boundaries of your ego until ultimately you merge into the universe. Until then you must break through old structures, develop broader structures, break through those, and develop still broader structures.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Independence Is No Longer an Option

In an increasingly interconnected and transparent world, no form of Buddhism can afford to be an island.

—Stephen Batchelor, “Lessons of History”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - March 4, 2018

People often say to me, “I would really like to do sadhana, but…I’m a teacher now. If I could only finish being a teacher, I could do sadhana.”

BALONEY! You’re either doing sadhana or you’re not. Sadhana is a full time thing that you do because there is nothing else to do. You do it whether you’re teaching, or sitting in a monastery…whether you’re lying in bed, going to the toilet, making love, eating…EVERYTHING is part of waking up. Everything is done without attachment. Another way of saying it is: It’s all done as consecrated action….it’s all dedicated…it’s all sacred.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: The Mind Can, Should, and Must Be Fixed

From a Buddhist perspective, even if all material problems could be solved, suffering would remain. The world is unfixable, said Buddha. Happiness depends, ultimately, only on the mind; it is the mind that can, should, and must be fixed.

—Linda Heuman, “Who’s Got Good News?”

Via 12 of 22 Daily Dharma: Right Concentration

Concentration is “right” when it demonstrates the feasibility of training the mind, when it supports the investigation of impermanence, when it erodes selfish preoccupation, and when it reveals the benefits of surrender. It is not “right” when it is seen as an end in itself and when it is used to avoid painful truths.

—Mark Epstein, “Meditation’s Secret Ingredient”

Via Daily Dharma: Diligence Begets Discovery

All the qualities that the great masters found, we can attain as well. It all depends on our own efforts, our diligence, our deeper knowing, and our correct motivation.

—Ogyen Trinley Dorje, “Calm Abiding”

Via Daily Dharma: Anything but Static

The more I sit, the more I simply see things. I see that life, my life, is an ongoing process.

—Connie Hillard, “Making Time”

Via Daily Dharma: Accepting Groundlessness

Our lives are gradual paths of groundlessness. When we can accept that people and things are always shifting and changing, our hearts can open.

—Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, “The Hunger for Home”

Via Daily Dharma: Live Life in Full

Death is all around us, everywhere. For the most part—following the lead of our culture—we avoid it. But if we do open our hearts to this fact of our lives, it can be a great help to us. It can teach us how to live.

—Larry Rosenberg, “Only the Practice of Dharma Can Help Us at the Time of Death”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - February 28, 2018

Individual differences are not better or worse, merely different. If we forgo judging, we come to understand that each of us has a unique predicament that requires a unique journey. While we share the overall journey, everyone's particular experiences are his or her own. No set of experiences is a prerequisite for enlightenment. People have become enlightened in all ways. Just be what you are.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: The Ultimate Inclusiveness

Compassion is the ultimate inclusiveness, arising whenever we overcome the illusion of our separateness from others.

—Henry Shukman, “Is the Dharma Democratic?”

Via Tricycle: An Interview with Zen Priest Greg Snyder on Brooklyn Zen Center’s Undoing Patriarchy Sangha

Brooklyn Zen Center’s Undoing Patriarchy and Unveiling the Sacred Masculine group is a response to the unacknowledged forms of patriarchy that exist within Buddhist communities as well as society at large. Co-facilitated by Greg Snyder, co-founder and president of BZC and senior director of Buddhist Studies at Union Theological Seminary, and Lama Rod Owens, guiding teacher for Radical Dharma Boston Collective, the group meets monthly and had its second annual weekend retreat in January.

Here, Snyder speaks about how Buddhists can use their practice to confront patriarchy rather than conform to it.

Zen priest Greg Snyder

Why did you start this group? 

Our first retreat, which Lama Rod Owens and I co-led in January 2017, was an attempt to address the fact that patriarchy is still thriving in the Buddhist tradition despite the tools for self-examination that Buddhism presents us with. During that retreat, we tried to examine internalized patriarchal masculinity the same way we’d examine greed, hate, and delusion. The participants came out with a desire to meet regularly, so we started the monthly group. 

The purpose is similar to that of BZC’s monthly Undoing Whiteness and Oppression group. Undoing Patriarchy is just a group of men who are trying to take responsibility for how they represent their gender identity.

Has the group changed over time?

It became evident right away that we should understand masculinity as an energy rather than something tied to a particular body. From there we’ve been trying to find a nonviolent, loving expression of that energy. 

As the group continued, it became more obvious that supporting one another is extremely important. These are cisgender and transgender men with many different racial identities, but there is a feeling of love in the room despite all the violence expressed historically between the various groups. This loving connection is one of the most critical pieces of undoing the typical male relationship, which usually involves hierarchy, competition, and apathy toward each other.

Make the jump here to read the full article and more on Tricycle

Via Daily Dharma: Do the Right Thing—with Ease

A noble person does not do good because of willpower. She does it through a combination of, on the one hand, modesty about self, and, on the other hand, faith in a higher purpose, a higher meaning, in powers more potent than self-will.

—David Brazier, “Other-Power”

I Quit!

Via Daily Dharma: To Be Home Is To Be Known

Home cannot be an experience of shame, terror, or rejection, but rather one of safety, freedom, and respect, an experience of love and being embrace, of being known and knowing who you are.

—Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, “The Hunger for Home”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - February 25, 2018

Suffering is part of our training program for becoming wise. 

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Spiritual Practice and the Bigger Picture

Through spiritual practice we can go beyond our egoistic point of view. We can touch the core of time, see the whole world in a moment, and understand time in deep relationship with all beings.

—Dainin Katagiri Roshi, “Time Revisited”

Via Daily Dharma: Being Truly Human

Freedom from identity is what allows and enables us to be truly human—to be an ongoing response to the challenges, demands, and needs of life.

—Ken McLeod, “Forget About Being A Buddhist. Be A Human.”

Via Daily Dharma: How Do You Relate to the World?

Stretching our capacity for loving-friendliness sometimes requires that we make a great sacrifice—but what we sacrifice are our comfort, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes. In other words, we sacrifice our old way of relating to the world.

—Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, “Overcoming Ill Will”