A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
Thursday, June 18, 2020
Via Nondual Cafe
It’s enough to have faith in one aspect of God. You have faith in God without form. That is very good. But never get into your head that your faith alone is true and every other is false. Know for certain that God without form is real and that God with form is also real. Then hold fast to whichever faith appeals to you.
Ramakrishna
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
Thich Nhat Han
In my calligraphy,
there is ink, tea, breathing, mindfulness, and concentration. This is meditation. This is not working. Suppose I write ‘breathe’; I am breathing at the same time. To be alive is a miracle and when you breathe in mindfully, you touch the miracle of being alive.
- Thich Nhat Han -
Via Daily Dharma: How to Experience Emptiness
The
experience of emptiness is not found outside of the world of ordinary
appearance, as many people mistakenly assume. In truth, we experience
emptiness when the mind is free of grasping at appearance.
—Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche,“The Theater of Reflection”
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—Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche,“The Theater of Reflection”
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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - June 17, 2020 💌
I would like to play the part of someone who has worked on my
consciousness sufficiently so that if things get tough, in terms of the
environment, issues with social structures, oppression, protecting
minority groups, whatever the thing is – I would like to be able to be
in the scene without getting caught in my own reactivity to it, without
getting so caught in my own fear that I become part of the problem
instead of part of the solution.
- Ram Dass -
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Via Daily Dharma: Be Open to Just This Moment
“Just this moment” is the only moment, and being open to it is the only true choice we ever really have.
—Diane Eshin Rizzetto,“In Brief”
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—Diane Eshin Rizzetto,“In Brief”
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Via Daily Dharma: The Purpose of Our Human Life
The purpose of our human life is huge—to grow larger hearts and open minds—and we celebrate that we can do this in this moment.
—Judith Simmer-Brown,“Five Practices to Change Your Mind”
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—Judith Simmer-Brown,“Five Practices to Change Your Mind”
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Monday, June 15, 2020
Via NowThis Politics / FB
The
Supreme Court ruled that a key provision of the Civil Rights Act of
1964, known as Title VII, protects the LGBTQ+ community from workplace discrimination. The court made the decision by a 6-3 vote.
Sunday, June 14, 2020
Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - June 14, 2020 💌
Grace helps an individual see their own suffering and then use it to their advantage. It is not something that can be a rationalization for allowing another human being to suffer. And you have to listen to the level at which another person is suffering. When somebody is hungry, you give them food. As my guru said, "God comes to the hungry person in the form of food." You give them food and then when they’ve had their belly filled then they may be interested in questions about God.
Even though you know from, say, Buddhist training, or whatever spiritual training you have had, that the root cause of suffering is ignorance, to give somebody a Dharma lecture when they are hungry is just an inappropriate methodology in terms of ending suffering...
Even though you know from, say, Buddhist training, or whatever spiritual training you have had, that the root cause of suffering is ignorance, to give somebody a Dharma lecture when they are hungry is just an inappropriate methodology in terms of ending suffering...
- Ram Dass -
Via Daily Dharma: Taking Spiritual Risks
In
the spiritual life, one has always got to take risks and experiment.
The way is never smooth, easy, or clear cut. One has to learn from it
all.
—John Snelling,“Beware the Charismatic Guru”
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—John Snelling,“Beware the Charismatic Guru”
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Saturday, June 13, 2020
Via Tmblr / THE TRUE ASPECT OF ALL PHENOMENA
— THE TRUE ASPECT OF ALL PHENOMENA — (pt.7)
.
The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
.
But
now you must build your reputation on the Lotus Sutra and give yourself
up to it. At the Ceremony in the Air, when the Buddhas and bodhisattvas
of the ten directions gathered together, the two Buddhas, SHAKYAMUNI
AND MANY TREASURES, NODDED IN AGREEMENT. WHAT THEY DECIDED ON WAS
NOTHING OTHER THAN THE PERPETUATION OF THE LAW THROUGHOUT THE LATTER
DAY.
Many Treasures Buddha had offered Shakyamuni
Buddha a place beside him, and when they unfurled the banner of
Myoho-renge-kyo, the two leaders of the entire multitude made their
decision together. Could there have been anything false in their
decision? THEIR ULTIMATE PURPOSE IN MEETING WAS TO PROVIDE A WAY FOR ALL
OF US LIVING BEINGS TO ATTAIN BUDDHAHOOD.
.
Although
I was not at that ceremony, on looking at the sutra, this is
crystal-clear. On the other hand, I may have been at the ceremony, but
since I am a common mortal, it is beyond my power to know the past.
There is no doubt, however, that in my present life I am the votary of
the Lotus Sutra, and that in the future I will therefore reach the seat
of enlightenment without fail. Judging the past from this point of view,
I must have been at the Ceremony in the Air. There can be no
discontinuity between the three existences of past, present, and future.
.
Because
I view things this way, I feel immeasurable delight even though I am
now an exile. Joy as well as sorrow moves us to tears. Tears express our
feelings for both blessings and misfortune. The one thousand arhats
shed tears in memory of the Buddha, and in tears Bodhisattva Manjushri
chanted Myoho-renge-kyo.
From among those one thousand arhats, the Venerable Ananda replied in tears, “This is what I heard.”
The
tears of all the others fell, wetting their inkstones, and they wrote
Myoho-renge-kyo, followed by “This is what I heard.” I, Nichiren, now
feel exactly as they did.
.
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https://www.instagram.com/p/Via Tricycle // Racial Justice Is Everyone’s Work
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Via Daily Dharma: Calming Our Suffering
In
meditation we learn to cultivate and stretch the moments of being
unencumbered, those places of non-suffering. We can experience the state
of non-suffering with each breath, moment by moment, breathing in and
breathing out.
—Zenju Earthlyn Manuel,“The Terror Within”
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—Zenju Earthlyn Manuel,“The Terror Within”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
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