Via White Crane Institute / RICHARD FRANCIS BURTON

Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989
This Day in Gay History
March 19 Born Richard Francis Burton 1821 - RICHARD FRANCIS BURTON, legendary British explorer, diplomat and author was born (d. 1890); an English explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, ethnologist, linguist, poet, hypnotist, fencer and diplomat. If we left anything out it’s hard to imagine what it might be. Burton was "the most interesting man alive" before there was such a thing. He was known for his far-flung and exotic travels and explorations within Asia and Africa as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures. According to one count, he spoke 29 European, Asian, and African languages. His best-known achievements include traveling in disguise to Mecca, making an unexpurgated translation of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (the collection is more commonly called The Arabian Nights in English because of Andrew Lang's abridgment) and the Kama Sutra and journeying with John Henning Speke as the first white men guided by the redoubtable Sidi Mubarek Bombay to discover the Great Lakes of Africa in search of the source of the Nile. Allegations of homosexuality followed Burton throughout most of his life, at a time when it was a criminal offense in the United Kingdom. Biographers disagree on whether or not Burton ever experienced Gay sex (he never directly acknowledges it in his writing). These allegations began in his army days when General Sir Charles James Napier requested that Burton go undercover to investigate a male brothel reputed to be frequented by British soldiers. It has been suggested that Burton's detailed report on the workings of the brothel may have led some to believe he had been a customer. Burton was a party boy and a heavy drinker at various times in his life and also admitted to taking both hemp and opium. Friends of the poet Algernon Swinburne blamed Burton for leading him astray, holding Burton responsible for Swinburne's alcoholism and interest in the works of the Marquis de Sade.

Via Daily Dharma: How to Work with People Who Cause Harm

Instead of giving up on those who cause harm, we need to realize that they are seeking happiness but don’t know how to find it.

—Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, “Putting Down the Arrow”

Buda da Medicina - O buda da cura

“E as pessoas ficaram em casa.
E leram livros, ouviram, descansaram, se exercitaram, fizeram arte, jogaram jogos, aprenderam novas maneiras de existirem e ficaram paradas.
E então ouviram mais profundamente.
Alguns meditavam, outros rezavam, já outros dançavam.
Alguns encontraram as suas próprias sombras.
E o povo começou a pensar de maneira diferente.

O povo foi curado.
E, na ausência de pessoas vivendo na ignorância, perigosas, com a mente e o coração fechados, a Terra começou a se curar.

E, quando o perigo passou, as pessoas se uniram novamente, sofreram com as suas perdas, fizeram novas escolhas, sonharam novas imagens e criaram novas maneiras de se viver e curar a terra completamente, como haviam sido curadas”.

~ Kitty O Meara

*Foto do Buda da Medicina - O buda da cura

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation / Words of Wisdom - March 18, 2020 💌

"What does the voice of fear whisper to you? Fear speaks to you in logic and reason. It assumes the language of love itself. Fear says 'I want to make you safe.' Love says, 'You are safe.' Fear says, 'Give me symbols. Give me frozen images. Give me something I can rely on.'

Loving truth says, 'Only give me this moment.' Fear would walk with you on a narrow path promising to take you where you want to go. Love says, 'Open your arms and fly with me.' Every moment of your life you are offered the opportunity to choose - love or fear, to tread the earth or to soar the heavens."

- Emmanuel -

Via Daily Dharma: From Momentary Glimpse to Lasting Illumination

Although initially the clinging to self disappears only when we’re very mindful, those moments free of delusion give deeper insight a chance to arise, and eventually wisdom becomes strong enough to trigger a permanent change of outlook.

—Cynthia Thatcher, “Disconnect the Dots”

Via White Crane Institute / This Day in Gay History: BAYARD RUSTIN

March 17 Born Bayard Rustin 1912 - BAYARD RUSTIN American civil rights activist, born (d: 1987) Largely behind the scenes in the civil rights movement of the 1960s and earlier, and one of the organizers of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, it was Bayard Rustin who counseled Martin Luther King Jr. on the techniques of nonviolent resistance. For much of his career, Rustin lived in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood, in the union-funded Penn South complex, from 1978 with his partner Walter Naegle. He became an advocate on behalf of gay and lesbian causes in the latter part of his career; however, his sexuality was the reason for attacks from within the civil rights movement as well as from many governmental and other interest groups. A year before his death in 1987, Rustin said: "Twenty-five, thirty years ago, the barometer of human rights in the United States were black people. That is no longer true. The barometer for judging the character of people in regard to human rights is now those who consider themselves Gay, homosexual, or Lesbian."

Via Daily Dharma: Where Fear Should Be Felt

We should not be afraid of suffering. We should be afraid of only one thing, and that is not knowing how to deal with our suffering.

—Thich Nhat Hanh, “Why We Shouldn’t Be Afraid of Suffering”

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation / Words of Wisdom - March 15, 2020 💌

For many of us, the thought of death, thinking of when we or someone we love is going to die, keeps us from being here now. When will we die? How will we die? What will happen after we die? What will happen to our loved ones? What about all the things we hoped to accomplish? These deep fears and anxieties about our survival keep us from living fully in the present moment.
Most of us are convinced that we are our egos, which is who we think we are. The ego is part of our incarnation. It dies with the body, which is why we are so afraid of death. Death scares the hell out of who you think you are, especially if you think you are this body. Being around death forces you to open to a deeper part of yourself. The shadow, especially the shadow of death, is the greatest teacher for how to come to the light.
When you are fully present in the moment, there is no anticipatory fear, no anxiety, because you are living here and now, not in the future.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Seeing Worth in All Things

The sensitive, mindful heart perceives value and worth in all things. It does not rely upon drama or intensity to feel awake and alive, but draws upon receptivity, stillness, and a present moment wholeheartedness.

—Christina Feldman, “Brief Teachings”

Via Daily Dharma: Be Aware of Becoming Unaware

Every time you recognize that you have lost awareness, be happy. The fact that you have recognized that you lost awareness means that you are now aware.

—Sayadaw U Tejaniya, “The Art of Investigation”

Via Daily Dharma: Your Practice Is Always Present

We are not separate from our practice, and so no matter what, our practice is present.

—Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara, “Like a Dragon in Water”

Geopolitical and Personal Nonkilling Choices in Times of Collapse by Manuel Casal Lodeiro

Presentation by Manuel Casal Lodeiro (Instituto Resiliencia and Centro de Saberes para a Sustentabilidade) at Åbo Akademi University in Vasa during the Fifth international “Explorations in Peace & Conflict Research” conference on March 13, 2020 focusing on the topic “Nonkilling Responses to Climate Crisis”. Co-organized by the Center for Global Nonkilling and the Programme in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research at Åbo Akademi University.

Via Daily Dharma: How Mindfulness Leads to Autonomy

Mindfulness is not only about paying attention and being aware but also about deciding where we want to put our attention.

—Interview with Gina Biegel by Wendy Joan Biddlecombe Agsar, “How to Support Your Teen’s Meditation Practice”

Via Daily Dharma: How to Cultivate Relationships with Obstacles

When challenges or obstacles arise for us, we don’t have to get so intimidated; we can say, “Yes, it’s an obstacle, but it is not intrinsically bad; it’s not going to destroy me.” To create a relationship with the obstacle, learn about it, and finally overcome it … gives us a chance to cultivate wisdom and skillful means.

—Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, “Old Relationships, New Possibilities”

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation / Words of Wisdom - March 11, 2020 💌

Until you can allow your own beauty, your own dignity, your own being, you cannot free another; so if I were giving one instruction, I would say: Work on yourself, have compassion for yourself, allow yourself to be beautiful and all the rest will follow.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Becoming Free from Thoughts

If you know a view as a view, you can be free of that view. If you know a thought as a thought, you can be free of that thought.

—Norman Fischer, “Beyond Language”

Via Daily Dharma: Meaning Is Relative

Meaning is relative and always in flux, part of a chain of reference that never comes to an end.

—David Loy, “The Dharma of Deconstruction”

Via Daily Dharma: Working with Anger

We can try, in a spirit of simple curiosity, to get so close to our anger that we no longer know or feel it as anger. Cause and object, the self being angry, and the anger itself all drop away, and all that remains is the precious energy, freed at last.

—Roshi Nancy Mujo Baker, “Precious Energy”

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation / Words of Wisdom - March 8, 2020 💌

First rule: listen to your inner voice.
Second rule: be honest with yourself.
The predicament is that you listen to your inner voice, and it leads you to a path, and then you outgrow it. And you don't want to admit that you've outgrown it because you've made a big investment in it. But you must be willing to let go, to stand as naked as a newborn child, again and again, and again.

- Ram Dass -