We
know that someone like Michael Jordan trained for years to get as good
at basketball as he was, but we assume someone like Mother Teresa was
just born like that. Really, compassion is a skill you need to practice
having for other people and also for yourself.
—Interview with Laura Mustard by Emily DeMaioNewton, “The Sun Behind the Clouds”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Saturday, January 9, 2021
Via Daily Dharma: Train in Compassion
Via NPR: Love And Hope Are At The Heart Of 'The Prophets'
Robert Jones Jr. says his debut novel, The Prophets, came to him in whispers from people whose stories haven't been told, and whose history has often been wiped from the record: Black queer people who were enslaved in America. It is a love story set inside a tragedy, the story of Samuel and Isaiah, two Black men enslaved on a plantation in Mississippi who find love with each other.
"You know, a psychologist might say that's your own conscience speaking to you, but I wanted to be a little bit more spiritual in my thinking about it," Jones says. "And imagine that it was my ancestors sort of pushing me toward writing this story, toward being a witness to their testimonies that have not made it into the official record."
Make the jump here to listen to the full interview
And via Amazon:
"A new kind of epic...A grand achievement...While The Prophets' dreamy realism recalls the work of Toni Morrison...its penetrating focus on social dynamics stands out more singularly." --Entertainment Weekly
A
singular and stunning debut novel about the forbidden union between two
enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in
each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence.
Isaiah
was Samuel's and Samuel was Isaiah's. That was the way it was since the
beginning, and the way it was to be until the end. In the barn they
tended to the animals, but also to each other, transforming the
hollowed-out shed into a place of human refuge, a source of intimacy and
hope in a world ruled by vicious masters. But when an older man--a
fellow slave--seeks to gain favor by preaching the master's gospel on
the plantation, the enslaved begin to turn on their own. Isaiah and
Samuel's love, which was once so simple, is seen as sinful and a clear
danger to the plantation's harmony.
With a lyricism reminiscent
of Toni Morrison, Robert Jones, Jr., fiercely summons the voices of
slaver and enslaved alike, from Isaiah and Samuel to the calculating
slave master to the long line of women that surround them, women who
have carried the soul of the plantation on their shoulders. As tensions
build and the weight of centuries--of ancestors and future generations
to come--culminates in a climactic reckoning, The Prophets masterfully
reveals the pain and suffering of inheritance, but is also shot through
with hope, beauty, and truth, portraying the enormous, heroic power of
love.
Friday, January 8, 2021
Seated Bodhisattva, 770, Art Institute of Chicago: Asian Art
This
rare and important sculpture represents a Buddhist bodhisattva, or
bosatsu, an enlightened and compassionate being who postponed Buddhahood
in order to help save others. Calm, stately, and full-bodied, the
bosatsu is seated in a frontal, meditative pose; his gracefully held
hands, raised midair, make a gesture of assurance. Buddhism, which
originated in India with the teachings of the Buddha Sakyamuni, or
Siddhartha Gautama (c. 563-c. 483 B.C.), was named the official religion
of Japan at the beginning of the eighth century by the Emperor Shomu
(701-56). This small, finely crafted lacquer figure is the only Buddhist
sculpture outside Japan that is firmly attributed to the influential
sculpture workshop of Todai-ji, the largest and most prestigious of the
great state-sponsored Buddhist temples built during the Nara period.
This sculpture represents a dramatic shift in Japanese sculptural
tradition—a move away from the expensive, time-consuming technique of
using lacquer (a resin extracted from the sap of a tree) over a
temporary clay core that, once removed, left a sculpture that was
completely hollow except for perhaps a wood bracing system. Here a
sculpted wood core is overlaid with lacquer-soaked cloth. The innovative
sculptors at the Nara temple modeled the wet and pliable surface of the
cloth to create fine details such as facial features and jewelry.
Finally the sculpture was gilt; traces of gold remain on the
bodhisattva’s face and chest.
Kate S. Buckingham Endowment
Size: 61 × 43.2 × 32.3 cm (24 × 17 × 12 ¾ in.)
Medium: Wood core, dry lacquer, traces of gold leaf
Via Daily Dharma: Glimpsing Joy
We
may think that we will be drained once hatred and desire have lifted,
but that’s not the case. In the liberated space of freedom, there is a
glimpse of joy.
—Judith Simmer-Brown, “Transforming the Green-Ey’d Monster”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Thursday, January 7, 2021
Via Daily Dharma: Locating Emotions in Your Body
Emotions
circulate in the body. … Noting that stirring, that circulating, can
help us find settledness even within difficult emotions.
—Grace Schireson, “Humility and Humiliation”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Via Gay Wisdom // White Crane Institute
1919 -
ROBERT DUNCAN, American poet, born (d: 1988); An American poet and a student of H.D. and the Western esoteric tradition who spent most of his career in and around San Francisco. Though associated with any number of literary traditions and schools, Duncan is often identified with the New American Poetry and Black Mountain Poets.
Duncan's mature work emerged in the 1950s from within the literary context of Beat culture and today he is also identified as a key figure in the San Francisco Renaissance. Duncan’s name figures prominently in the history of pre-Stonewall Gay culture, particularly with the publication of The Homosexual in Society. While in Philadelphia, Duncan had a relationship with a male instructor he had first met in Berkeley. In 1941 he was drafted and declared his homosexuality to get discharged.
In 1943, he had his first heterosexual relationship. This ended in a short, disastrous marriage. In 1944, he published The Homosexual in Society, an essay in which he compared the plight of homosexuals with that of African Americans and Jews. The immediate consequence of this brave essay was that John Crowe Ransom refused to publish a previously accepted poem of Duncan's in Kenyon Review, thus initiating Duncan's exclusion from the mainstream of American poetry.
From 1951 until his death, he lived with the artist Jess Collins. Before then, Duncan began a relationship with Robert De Niro Sr., the father of famed actor Robert De Niro, Jr., shortly before DeNiro Sr. broke up with his wife, artist Virginia Admiral.
Duncan was the first poet to use the word “cocksucker” in print, and the first to strip to the buff during a reading. Nevertheless, he is in spirit, if not in fact, a modern romantic whose best work is instantly engaging by the standards of the purest lyrical traditions.
Wednesday, January 6, 2021
Via The Upworthiest
|
Jerry Seinfeld said daily meditation and lifting weights have completely changed his life
Jerry Seinfeld has been one of the keenest observers of the human
condition for over five decades. Albeit most of his observations have
been brilliant dissections of the mundane, most famously socks, chips 'n
dip, and sports jerseys.
However, earlier this month the comedian got serious on Tim Ferriss'
podcast, revealing the two routines that help him stay sane and creative
in the mentally and physically draining world of comedy.
Read the Story
Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - January 6, 2021 💌
That doorway is through the heart. The heart opens a doorway into the unitive nature of the universe, and love flows through it. Love doesn’t know boundaries. The mind creates the barrier of separation between you and me. The heart keeps embracing and opening out so that when you open your heart, you open into the universe to experience the preciousness, the grace, the sweetness, and the thick interconnectedness of it all.
It’s beyond interconnected. It’s all one thing, it just keeps changing its flow and patterns, and you’re a part of it.
-Ram Dass -
Via SBMG // I am no longer waiting - Mary Anne Perrone
I am no longer waiting for a special occasion; I burn the best candles on ordinary days.
I am no longer waiting for the house to be clean; I fill it with people who understand that even dust is Sacred.
I am no longer waiting for everyone to understand me; It’s just not their task.
I am no longer waiting for the perfect children; my children have their own names that burn as brightly as any star.
I am no longer waiting for the other shoe to drop; It already did, and I survived.
I am no longer waiting for the time to be right; the time is always now.
I am no longer waiting for the mate who will complete me; I am grateful to be so warmly, tenderly held.
I am no longer waiting for a quiet moment; my heart can be stilled whenever it is called.
I am no longer waiting for the world to be at peace; I unclench my grasp and breathe peace in and out.
I am no longer waiting to do something great; being awake to carry my grain of sand is enough.
I am no longer waiting to be recognized; I know that I dance in a holy circle.
I am no longer waiting for Forgiveness.
I believe, I Believe.
~ Mary Anne Perrone
Via Daily Dharma: Radiate Happiness
When
it is warm with tenderness and affection toward others, our own heart
can give us the most pure and profound happiness that exists and enable
us to radiate that happiness to others.
—Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, “Opening the Injured Heart”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Tuesday, January 5, 2021
Via Tricycle // Beyond Question
Beyond Question
By Ken McLeod
|
Via Daily Dharma: Empower Your Wisdom
The force needed to empower wisdom is compassion.
—Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, “The Need of the Hour”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Monday, January 4, 2021
Via Daily Dharma: Reside in Balance
We
should avoid thinking, “Daily life is more important,” or, “Spiritual
life is more important.” We live in both realms simultaneously, and if
we don’t notice this, we will be off balance.
—Les Kaye and Teresa Bouza, “Brief Teachings”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Upajjhatthana Sutta // Thich Nhat Hanh
These Remembrances are found in a sermon of the Buddha called the Upajjhatthana Sutta, which is in the Pali Sutta-pitaka (Anguttara Nikaya 5:57). The Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh also has spoken of them often. A version of the Remembrances is part of the Plum Village chanting liturgy.
The Five Remembrances
- I am subject to aging. There is no way to avoid aging.
- I am subject to ill health. There is no way to avoid illness.
- I am going to die. There is no way to avoid death.
- Everyone and everything that I love will change, and I will be separated from them.
- My only true possessions are my actions, and I cannot escape their consequences.
https://www.learnreligions.com/the-five-remembrances-449551
Sunday, January 3, 2021
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