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.
Saturday, January 16, 2021
Friday, January 15, 2021
Via Daily Dharma: Sit in the Unconditioned Spaces
Coming
into contact—if only for a moment—with the unconditioned, with life as
it is without all our fears and preferences—isn’t this what meditation
is really about?
—Noelle Oxenhandler, “Go Bang Your Head Against the Wall”
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Via Gay Wisdom // White Crane Institute
On this date The Rev. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR was born in Atlanta, Georgia. As an African American civil rights leader he spoke eloquently and stressed nonviolent methods to achieve equality. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. In 1983, the third Monday in January was designated a legal holiday in the U.S. to celebrate his birthday. King's message was a catalyst for many in the gay rights movement and continues to be an inspiration for the GLBT community today.
Thursday, January 14, 2021
Via English Literature / FB
Via Daily Dharma: The Meaning of Emptiness
Emptiness
does not mean that things don’t exist, nor does “no self” mean that we
don’t exist. Emptiness refers to the underlying nonseparation of life
and the fertile ground of energy that gives rise to all forms of life.
—Jack Kornfield, “Identity and Selflessness in Buddhism: No Self or True Self?”
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Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Via Daily Dharma: Practice Being Yourself
Buddhist practice is not about forcing ourselves to be natural. It is about being ourselves.
—Gary Thorp, “Shelter from the Storm”
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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - January 13, 2021 💌
Jesus said you will get to the kingdom of God and that’s where you’ll find the children. I like to believe in childhood or childlike qualities as a goal. Or a way to reach spiritual awareness. It’s not about going back to being a child, it’s to be childlike, in the sense of innocence, openness, freshness, and beginning.
- Ram Dass -
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
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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Monday, January 11, 2021
Via Tricycle // Karma
By Thanissaro Bhikkhu
|
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.
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. Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis |
Sunday, January 10, 2021
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 -