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.
Wednesday, September 23, 2020
Via Daily Dharma: Anchor to the Present Moment
The breath reminds us that we are here and alive: let it be your anchor to the present moment.
—Elana Rosenbaum, “Guided Meditation: Awareness of Breathing”
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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - September 23, 2020 💌
Every moment a thought enters your mind, right at that moment, before the seed takes fruit, offer it. You can offer it to Kali Ma, to Christ, to me, it doesn’t matter. Offer it to God, like you have been full of opening, full of God, full of the Living Spirit.
-Ram Dass -
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Via Daily Dharma: Uncover What You Are
Underneath
all the confusion of conceptual thinking and emotional reaction,
underneath all the ideas you have about who and what you are, there is
nothing—no self, not a vestige—but there is a clear empty knowing.
There! This is what you are.
—Ken McLeod, “Inside the Translator’s Workbook”
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Sunday, September 20, 2020
Meditation without bodhicitta ~ Lama Yeshe
Meditation without bodhicitta ~ Lama Yeshe https://justdharma.com/s/p4ut8
Why is bodhicitta necessary for success in meditation? Because of selfish grasping. If you have a good meditation but don't have bodhicitta, you will grasp at any little experience of bliss: 'Me, me; I want more, I want more.' Then the good experience disappears completely. Grasping is the greatest distraction to experiencing single-pointed intensive awareness in meditation. And with it, we are always dedicated to our own happiness: 'Me, me I'm miserable, I want to be happy. Therefore I'll meditate.' It doesn't work that way. For some reason good meditation and its results — peacefulness, satisfaction and bliss — just don't come.
– Lama Yeshe from the book "Buddhist Wisdom:
The Path to Enlightenment" ISBN: 978-1906787141 - https://amzn.to/1sRyZRc Lama Yeshe on the web: http://www.lamayeshe.com/ Lama Yeshe biography: http://fpmt.org/teachers/
Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - September 20, 2020 💌
One part of getting free, free into the soul or into the witness, is the ability to stand back a little bit, because now you are identified with being the witness rather than being the player, and thus you can see the play more clearly.
- Ram Dass -
Via Daily Dharma: Act for the Benefit of Yourself and Others
Before
acting, one should reflect, “Is this for the benefit of myself and
others?” In the middle of an action, one should reflect, “Is what I am
doing for the benefit of myself
and others?” And after any action, “Is what I just did for the benefit of myself and others?”
—Sylvia Boorstein, “Dear Abbey Dharma Fall 2011”
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Saturday, September 19, 2020
Via Daily Dharma: The Meaning of Effort
Effort
is more important than so-called success because effort is a real
thing. What we call “success” is just the manifestation of our mind’s
ability to categorize things.
—Brad Warner, “Think Not Thinking”
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Via Daily Dharma: Planting Seeds for a Good Future
When
we focus less on dodging imaginary punishments and more on planting
seeds for the future with our beneficial thoughts and actions, we are on
the right track.
—Mindy Newman and Kaia Fischer, “One Hundred Karmas”
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Thursday, September 17, 2020
Via Tricycle
Give & Take with Musician Sonny Rollins
Interview by Gabriel Lefferts
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Via Daily Dharma: Create a Life of Freedom
By
pausing many times throughout the day and bringing an interest and
presence to your habitual ways of reacting, your life will become
increasingly spontaneous and free.
—Tara Brach, “Finding True Refuge”
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Via White Crane Institute // ELLIS B. HAIZLIP aka "Mr. Soul"
ELLIS B. HAIZLIP aka "Mr. Soul", born on this date (d: 1991) was a leading producer of black cultural events and mentor of black artists,
Ellis Haizlip was born in Washington, DC. Details of his early life are elusive, but rumors have persisted that his father was a diplomat who once served as the ambassador to the Court of St. James from Antigua (other accounts claimed Trinidad) and he may have spent many of his formative years in London. He told friends that he grew up in segregated Washington DC, and had had witnessed contralto Marian Anderson’s legendary 1939 concert on the steps on the Lincoln Memorial. We do know that he attended Howard University and graduated from there in 1954.
Mr. Haizlip helped further the careers of many black artists, including the singers Nicholas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, Roberta Flack and Novella Nelson and the actress Anna Horsford.
He was the executive producer of the television program "Soul," which became a showcase for young black artists, among them the poet Nikki Giovanni. The program was broadcast on Channel 13 from 1967 to 1973.
Mr. Haizlip began his career at Howard University, where he was a producer with the Howard Players during a summer season. After graduating in 1954, he left for New York City, where he began producing plays with Vinnette Carroll at the Harlem Y.M.C.A. One of their productions was "Dark of the Moon," with Cicely Tyson, Clarence Williams 3d, Isabel Sanford, Calvin Lockhart, James Earl Jones and the Alvin Ailey Dancers. Produced Dietrich Concert.
Haizlip was an out gay man at a time when that was dangerous. He spoke out about LGBT rights at every opportunity he was given, even confronting Louis Farrakhan.
He died of lung cancer in 1991.. His niece Melissa Haizlip has produced a documentary about her uncle called "Mr. Soul" More about that here: https://www.mrsoulmovie.com/