Via Lion's Roar // Thich Nhat Hanh’s Love Letter to the Earth

 

Thich Nhat Hanh’s Love Letter to the Earth

The earth is you. You are the earth. When you realize there is no separation, says Thich Nhat Hanh, you fall completely in love with this beautiful planet.

A lot of our fear, hatred, anger, and feelings of separation and alienation come from the idea that we are separate from the planet. We see ourselves as the center of the universe and are concerned primarily with our own personal survival. If we care about the health and well-being of the planet, we do so for our own sake. We want the air to be clean enough for us to breathe. We want the water to be clear enough so that we have something to drink. But we need to do more than use recycled products or donate money to environmental groups.   We have to change our whole relationship with the earth.

Via Daily Dharma: Embracing Interconnection

To overcome the part of our nature that separates us from others and encourages conflict and division . . . requires profound shifts in the way that we relate to ourselves and others: we can’t ignore, shy away from, or avoid difficult issues or conversations.

—J. Sunara Sasser, “Why Are There So Many Black Buddhists?”

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The Vesper - We Are Family - Reprise / Cover - Covid-19 - Mai 2020 - Gro...

 

The need to recognize our essential buddhanature ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche https://justdharma.com/s/zvnih  

Generally speaking, the ultimate message of Buddhism is that you possess buddhanature. In other words, you already and quite naturally have within you the qualities of complete enlightenment. But you need to realize this. The fact that you don’t have this realization is the reason why you are wandering in samsara. According to Nagarjuna, the Buddha didn’t say that you need to abandon samsara in order to gain enlightenment. What he said was that you need to see that samsara is empty, that it has no inherent existence. This is the same as saying that you need to recognize your essential buddhanature.  – Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche  

 

Source: 

https://bit.ly/1ubYWeU  

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche on the web: http://www.siddharthasintent.org/ http://khyentsefoundation.org http://deerpark.in http://lotusoutreach.org http://84000.co http://dzongsar.justdharma.com  

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche biography: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Dzongsar_Khyentse_Rinpoche

https://www.lionsroar.com/approaching-the-guru/

Via Tumblr

 

The Prom | Official Trailer | Netflix

Via Daily Dharma: Be a Role Model

 Don’t think that your individual actions don’t make a difference. Every little bit helps. Besides, you are modeling for others. Who knows how many people you might inspire? 

—Susan Moon, “Stop Shopping”

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Via Daily Dharma: Connection Is Always Present

 Our suffering connects us to billions of others around the world who are also conscientiously distancing themselves for the sake of kindness and safety. A hand on our hearts can remind us that freedom, peace, and connection are always here.

—Nina Herzog, “Ask a Teacher: Holidays 2020”

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - November 25, 2020 💌

 

As you dwell more in loving awareness and see things as they truly are, you begin to expand beyond the boundaries of your separateness. You start to experience the outer world in a new way, so that instead of being in relationship to someone else, you become them. At that moment, the suffering of the universe is inside of you, not outside. True compassion arises out of the plane of consciousness where I am you, where you and I are one.

This is a Buddhist loving-kindness blessing, part of the Metta Meditation:

May all beings be free of danger.
May all beings be free from mental suffering.
May all beings be free from physical suffering.
May all beings know peace.
OM. 

- Ram Dass -

Via Lion's Roar

 

Buddhist Traditions: Which Way to Go?
As part of our #MeditationHacks series, Rev. angel Kyodo williams advises on what to do when confronted with too many choices.

Via Lion's Roar // The Moon

Become Friends with the Moon

Ephrat Livni reflects on years of spiritual study with the moon as her guide.

 

Via Daily Dharma: Finding Meaning in the Face of Suffering

 If there is power in acknowledging and being thankful for even small blessings, the power of finding meaning in the face of suffering can be transformative.

—Pamela Gayle White, “Skunked by Gratitude”

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“Lost” by David Wagoner

Lost

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

For a another level of reflection on this poem and an inspiring British recitation of it, listen to this short excerpt of a talk with a young David Whyte: 

https://youtu.be/XO0OjtThqyI

Via White Crane Institute // On This Day in Gay History

 

November 24 Born Baruch Spinoza 1632 - BARUCH SPINOZA, Dutch philosopher was born (d.1677); One of the great rationalists of 17th century philosophy, he laid the groundwork for the 18th century Enlightenment and modern biblical criticism. By virtue of his magnum opus, the posthumous Ethics, Spinoza is also considered one of Western philosophy's definitive ethicists. He was raised and educated in the Orthodox Jewish fashion, also studying Latin and was thoroughly familiar with European humanism. What exactly is it that caused him to be excommunicated from the synagogue when he was only twenty-four years old? Many scholars have speculated that the horror Spinoza inspired in the Jewish community may have come not only from his espousal of advanced economic theories, but from his espousal, as well, of "Greek love" among impressionable students in the liberal circle where he taught. A Dutch physician, J. Roderpoort, wrote at The Hague in 1897: “Spinoza excites the youth to respect women not at all and to give themselves to debauchery.”  Was Spinoza merely teaching the Greek and Roman classics, with their inevitable passages on pederasty? What were Roderpoort’s motives for discrediting the Jewish philosopher? Was Spinoza, in fact a pederast? It’s all open to speculation.   Today's Gay Wisdom Spinoza 2017 - The Wisdom of Baruch Spinoza If you want the present to be different from the past, study the past. It may easily come to pass that a vain man may become proud and imagine himself pleasing to all when he is in reality a universal nuisance. I do not know how to teach philosophy without becoming a disturber of established religion. Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice. Be not astonished at new ideas; for it is well known to you that a thing does not therefore cease to be true because it is not accepted by many. Happiness is a virtue, not its reward.

Via Daily Dharma: Seeing the Whole Process

 Do not fear things that arise in the mind; question them, know them. The truth is more than thought and feelings, so do not believe and get caught by them. See the whole process arising and ceasing. This understanding gives rise to wisdom.

—Achaan Chah, “Walking: Meditation on the Move”

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Via LGBTQ Nation // A gay kid’s letter to Santa is breaking the internet’s heart

 

Will asked Santa if he can ask God if "He loves me for being gay." Get tissues ready.

By Alex Bollinger Tuesday, November 24, 2020    

 

Will's handwritten letterPhoto: USPS website

 

A letter to Santa sent by a gay kid named “Will” is breaking the internet’s heart.

Each year, the United States Postal Service conducts “Operation Santa,” sending responses to letters to Santa. In many locations, private organizations and citizens can help out, and some of the letters get posted to the USPS website.

The program opens on December 4, but to build interest in the program USPS posted letters from previous years. One of them is from Will, who says he’s gay and asks Santa if he can ask God if “He loves me for being gay.”

Dear Santa,

Do you support the LGBTQ community and if you can speak to god can you tell Him I love him, and if He loves me for being gay.

Thank you

Love Will

No other information about Will is available on the site. It’s not known what he had been told to make him think that God can’t love him if he’s gay, whether he had to hide his letter from his parents and send it secretly, or if he was worried that a response to the letter could out him.

While Twitter is full of straight people saying he’s too young to know that he’s gay – these are possibly the same straight people who ask two-year-old girls if they’re breaking boy’s hearts or three-year-old boys if they have a girlfriend yet – a lot of people just wanted to send Will some support.

WHO IS TELLING THESE QUEER CHILDREN THAT SANTA DOESNT LOVE THEM

— KIE (@kierra3lyse) November 23, 2020

Being a queer kid is so difficult 💔 I hope this little boy knows that God does love him no matter what

— The Evil Wench (@aLilBitWrOng_) November 23, 2020

This hurts my heart so much. I hope will and all the other little lgbtq+ babies know (and get told) they’re so, so loved. For those who believe in Christianity, yes, God loves you. Don’t believe those who say he doesn’t. 😭🥺

— Ashley (@yelhsawo) November 23, 2020

This is what I mean when I say straight cis people will never know what it’s like to be one of us.

— TREVOR🦑 (@bi_oticcharge) November 22, 2020

 

 

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Ask a Teacher: Holidays 2020

 

Ask a Teacher: Holidays 2020
By Nina Herzog

Even if you can’t be physically present with your family this holiday season, you can use your practice to welcome loved ones into your heart.

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Via Daily Dharma: Relaxing into the World

 The more my actions are motivated by generosity, loving kindness, and the wisdom of interdependence, the more I can relax and open up to the world. 

—David Loy, “Rethinking Karma”

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Via Daily Dharma: Being Free

 We are used to thinking of freedom as being free to do what we want, but the Buddha sees it as being free from wanting. 

—Andrew Olendzki, “The Ties that Unbind”

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