Via Daily Dharma: Noticing Your Reactions

 When Buddhist teachings talk about emotions, such as love and hate, they are describing our disposition toward the things we encounter.

—Andrew Olendzki, “What’s in a Word? Dukkha”

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Via Tricycle // Karma

 

Karma Is Individual
By Thanissaro Bhikkhu

 

Our karma determines the social and cultural groups we’re born into. Does this mean that “collective karma” is real?

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Via Daily Dharma: Meditating On Thoughts

 To meditate upon thoughts is simply to be aware, as thoughts arise, that the mind is thinking, without getting involved in the content.

—Joseph Goldstein, “These Are Not ‘Your’ Thoughts”

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Via The Poor People’s Campaign

 

The Poor People’s Campaign witnessed with heavy hearts the events of January 6th, when a mob emboldened by hate, lies, and racism laid siege to the US Capitol and other state capitols across the country in an attempt to subvert our democracy. This attack was carried out at the behest of a narcissistic President and his enablers, who have followed a divisive political strategy that is as old as the deconstructionists of the 1870s and the Southern strategy of the 1960s. We know that the only antidote to this poison in our body politic is a moral fusion coalition committed to reconstructing democracy. Our intersectional movement has been met with arrest while engaged in non-violent protest — praying, singing and peacefully marching. The people who stormed the Capitol on January 6th were not protesting but attempting to overthrow democratic government by mob rule. The fact that these violent rioters were able to break into the Capitol should alarm us all and cause us to question the deference they were given by law enforcement and security forces. This is eerily reminiscent of how law enforcement has often been used to protect violent and racist actors defending the status quo while suppressing non-violent social justice movements. As a state-based national movement that has nonviolently protested at state capitols and the US Capitol, calling out policy violence and pushing for a just moral agenda for and with poor and low-income people, moral leaders, activists and organizers across race, geography, issue area and other lines of division, we must point out that: This did not just happen. For years extremist politicians who call themselves Republicans have sown the winds of division and lies; now the country is reaping the whirlwind of chaos. We call on our lawmakers and justice system to hold President Trump, senators, Congress persons, and all elected and appointed officials who had a role in these heinous attacks accountable for their actions, swiftly and to the full extent of the law. These politicians found time and resources to plan, support, and continue an attack on democracy (even after it turned deadly) but have not found time and resources to expand health care, enact a just stimulus, raise wages, or protect the people they are called to serve.  They push the people into a rage rooted in racism but have refused to push efforts to address systemic racism. They are responsible for the five deaths that occurred in the attack, but their policy inaction is also in large part responsible for the inept response to Covid that has caused nearly 400,000 deaths. They have spent more time lying to the people than lifting the people, especially the least of these of this nation. Such violence always erupts when there is the greatest possibility for change. Throughout history, Native and Indigenous people have seen this kind of mob violence. Black people have seen it. Women have seen it. Asians have seen it. Latino farm workers have seen it. Workers standing for labor rights have seen it. What we saw this week is not the dream of America, but it has too often been the practice of America. This week’s violence is a reaction to record turnout of people of every race, income, region, sexuality, creed and conviction who voted for candidates that pledged to expand health care, raise wages, address systemic racism and poverty, in the general election and the Georgia run-off. It took place as we witnessed cracks in the Southern strategy, which has kept people divided by race for decades. This was an assault rooted in a refusal to believe the legitimacy of an election where people of color and poor and low wealth people united to vote out an extremist President and Senate majority. Lastly, we must not confuse a failed attempt to subvert democracy with popular uprisings to reclaim government for the people. This riot exposes the MAGA movement as a fake populism that serves elites. It is a mistake to scapegoat poor people, especially poor white people for what happened on January 6. Press reports of the rioters included business owners, executives, and multi-millionaires. At a time when something new is breaking through the hate, we cannot let this stop the growth of a moral fusion movement. The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is committed to continuing to build a fusion movement that brings the 140 million poor and low-income people of this country together across race and other historic divisions. This is what will protect our democracy and democratic institutions and build a stronger nation.  Forward together, not one step back! Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II President, Repairers of the Breach Co-Chair, Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis Director, Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice Co-Chair, Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - January 10, 2021 💌

 

 

In relationships, you create an environment with your work on yourself, which you offer to another human being to use in the way they need to grow. You keep working. You become the soil—moist and soft and receptive—so the person can grow the way they need to grow, because how do you know how they should grow?

After a while, you come to appreciate that what you can offer another human being is to work on yourself, to be a statement of what it is you have found in the way you live your life. One of the things you will find is the ability to appreciate what is, as it is, in equanimity, compassion, and love that isn’t conditional. You don’t love a person more because they are happier in the way you think they should be.

What you cultivate in yourself is the garden where they can grow, and you offer your consciousness and the spaciousness to hear it

- Ram Dass -

Via Drarisworld // Pancha Sila, Five Precepts of Buddhist Morality

 

Pancha Sila: Five Precepts of Buddhist Morality

by Dr. Ari Ubeysekara

Introduction

Lord Gautama Buddha, who lived in India during the sixth and fifth century BC, gained enlightenement as a Samma Sambuddha having realized the four Noble Truths by His own efforts.

The four Noble Truths

1. Suffering or unsatisfactoriness (dukkha sacca)
2. Arising of suffering (samudaya sacca)
3. Cessation of suffering (nirodha sacca)
4. The path leading to the cessation of suffering (magga sacca)

The path leading to the cessation of suffering as discovered by Gautama Buddha is known as the Middle Path or the Noble Eight-fold Path.

The Noble Eight-fold Path

1. Right view (samma- ditthi)
2. Right thought (samma –sankappa)
3. Right speech (samma- vaca)
4. Right action (samma- kammantha)
5. Right livelihood (samma- ajiva)
6. Right effort (samma- vayama)
7. Right mindfulness (samma –sati)
8. Right concentration (samma- samadhi)

From the standpoint of practical training, there is a threefold division contained within the Noble Eight-fold Path, namely,

1. Training in moral discipline (sila), consisting of right speech, right action and right livelihood
2. Training in concentration (Samadhi), consisting of right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration
3. Training in wisdom (panna), consisting of right view and right thought

The Buddhist moral discipline (sila)

In the Buddhist spiritual path of liberation towards Nibbana, the state of complete freedom from all suffering, moral discipline (sila), is considered to be the basic foundation upon which the other two aspects of concentration and wisdom can be developed. Without proper morality, right concentration cannot be developed and without right concentration, wisdom cannot be developed. Moral discipline can be described as the avoidance of unskillful or unwholesome actions and engagement in skillful or wholesome actions. In Buddhist teachings, unwholesome actions are physical, verbal and mental actions in which the intention behind a particular action is based upon negative qualities of greed (lobha), hatred (dosa) and delusion (moha) resulting in negative or harmful consequences to oneself, to others or to both. Wholesome actions are those in which the intention is based on positive qualities of generosity (alobha), loving kindness (adosa) and wisdom (amoha) with positive or beneficial consequences to oneself, to others or to both.

In Buddhist teachings, there are different codes of moral discipline for the lay community and for the monastic community of Buddhist monks and nuns. For the lay community, the minimum code of morality expected of them is what is known as Pancha-sila, or five precepts, which they are expected to practise on a regular basis. The five precepts are the basic code of moral discipline in both of the two major traditions of Buddhism known as the Theravada and Mahayana traditions. There is also a higher code consisting of eight precepts which lay Buddhists may practise on special religious days such as the full moon day or the new moon day of the month and also during some meditation retreats. Those who enter the Buddhist monastic life are expected to observe ten precepts with 227 additional rules of discipline for Buddhist monks and 311 additional rules of discipline for Buddhist nuns. In the Theravada tradition of Buddhism practised mainly in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, the Buddhist teachings are preserved in the original language of Pali which is believed to have been the language spoken in those parts of India where Gautama Buddha lived and preached, and hence the different codes of morality are also preserved and recited in the Pali language.

The Five Precepts

1. Panatipata veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
   I undertake the training rule of abstaining from killing any living beings

2. Adinnadana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
   I undertake the training rule of abstaining from taking that which is not given

3. Kamesu micchacara veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
   I undertake the training rule of abstaining from sexual misconduct

4. Musavada veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
   I undertake the training rule of abstaining from telling lies

5. Surameraya- majjapama-datthana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
   I undertake the training rule of abstaining from alcohol and intoxicants which lead to delay and carelessness

Refuge in the Triple Gem of Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha

Before taking the above five precepts, most practising Buddhists will take refuge in the Triple Gem, namely the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, again in the Pali language. Within this context, Buddha means the “Awakened One” or “Enlightened One,” the Dhamma refers to Buddha’s teachings and the Sangha represents the monastic community of monks and nuns who have either attained the full liberation or are aspirants of the higher spiritual path. Refuge in the Triple Gem is taken by reciting the following formula:

Buddham saranam gachchami
I go for refuge in the Buddha

Dhammam saranam gachchami
I go for refuge in the Dhamma

Sangham saranam gachchami
I go for refuge in the Sangha

The five precepts, which refer to four bodily actions and one verbal action, are the minimum ethical code for lay Buddhists to develop the skillful virtues of bodily and verbal actions which they should ideally observe throughout their lives. They are not rigid and inflexible rules or commandments from God or any other higher divine authority with due punishments if not strictly adhered to or rewards for observing them correctly. They are guidelines or training rules that lay Buddhists adopt voluntarily and on their own initiative with an understanding of the benefits to both themselves and others. In Buddhism, each individual is responsible for his or her own happiness and suffering resulting from their actions based on the universal law of cause and effect. Those who observe the five precepts regularly and sincerely will be able to maintain their morality and develop their spiritual practice towards attaining ultimate liberation from human suffering.

When one becomes a Buddhist for the first time, in addition to going for refuge in Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, one will also recite and undertake to observe the five precepts. The five Buddhist precepts are usually taken by practising Buddhists either by repeating them following recitation by a member of the Buddhist clergy or by reciting them in front of an image or a statue of the Buddha. They are expected to renew these precepts whenever they can and some do renew them regularly through their daily recitations. The purpose of the renewal is to remind oneself of the significance of observing them for their own good in both this life and in future lives, for the good of others as well as to facilitate their spiritual journey with a purified mind.

Observation of the five precepts merely in order to avoid social disrespect or for fear of punishment for breaking the existing laws of the land or of God or other higher divine authorities will not bring any moral or spiritual benefits to the practitioner. Some Buddhists do recite the five precepts on special occasions or even on a regular basis with little intention of observing them, but this will not bring any benefit whatsoever to either themselves or to others. The precepts by themselves possess no magical powers to confer any benefit upon those who recite them but do not observe them properly. In most Buddhist countries, it is customary to recite the three refuges and the five precepts prior to the commencement of any religious event. The presence or absence of the intention in carrying out a physical or verbal action included in the five precepts is the deciding factor in determining whether a particular precept is violated or not rather than the action itself.

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Via Tricycle // What’s in a Word? Dukkha

 What’s in a Word? Dukkha
By Andrew Olendzki

The Buddha’s four noble truths are all about dukkha (“suffering”). But it’s important to realize that dukkha has a much deeper and richer meaning beyond just physical and emotional pain.

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Via Daily Dharma: Let Fear Subside

 Being free of fear is not a matter of never feeling it, but of not being flattened when we do. We can feel it and know it is a natural phenomenon, also an impermanent one, which will have its say and be gone.

—David Guy, “Trying to Speak: A Personal History of Stage Fright”

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Via White Crane Institute // Gay Wisdom

 

Richard Halliburton, ADVENTURER

1900 -

RICHARD HALLIBURTON, American adventurer and author, born (d: 1939) If Halliburton was alive today he would be the guy in  "The Most Fascinating Man in the World" ads. Halliburton was the quintessential preppie. And in the Ivy League of yore, preppiness and Gayness often went hand-in-hand. When Halliburton’s Chinese junk, Sea Dragon, was lost in the Pacific in 1939, he still looked very much as he had at Lawrenceville and Princeton – trim, muscular, and innocently handsome.

His athletic prowess and world-wide adventures had titillated a generation of vicarious thrill seekers and had been happily exploited by both the media and Halliburton’s many best-selling books. And it’s easy to see why. He climbed the Matterhorn in 1921; swam the Hellespont in 1925 and the Panama Canal (from the Atlantic to the Pacific) in 1928; and flew over 50,000 miles around the world in his own airplane, The Flying Carpet, between 1928 and 1931, thereby milking the adoration of an aviation-mad public.

Halliburton starred in his own documentary films and lectured, for stiff fees, to large audiences throughout the world. Between times, he managed to find time for men. As Roger Austen writes in Playing the Game, Halliburton “had a special fondness for YMCAs, spend the night with Rod La Roque, went flying with Ramon Navarro, and settled down with another bachelor in Laguna Beach.” And how was his adoring public to know? Hadn’t his books been filled with his appreciation of “Kashmiri maidens, Parisian ballerinas and Castillian countesses”? “Halliburton,” writes John Paul Hudson with acute insight, “certainly did a lot of straight-approved things, though his exploits were self-stretching and not competitive – which is the Gay way.”

Via Daily Dharma: Train in Compassion

 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”

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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."

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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.

Via Amazon

 

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

 

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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”

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