Buddhism
is a demanding moral practice; it turns over to each person the power
to decide what is right to do in any given moment.
—Sallie Tisdale, “A Life in Her Hands”
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Thursday, March 11, 2021
Via Daily Dharma: Deciding What Is Right
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
Tablet of Medicine
Tablet of Medicine
by Bahá'u'lláh
originally revealed as "Lawh-i-Tibb".first written or published 1870(?)
UPON HIM BE BAHÁ ‘EL ABHÁ!
He is God!
O God the supreme Knower! The ancient Tongue Speaks that which will
content the wise in the absence of the Doctors. Say: O people, do not
eat except when you are hungry. Do not drink after you have retired to
sleep. Exercise is good when the stomach is empty; it strengthens the
muscles. When the stomach is full, exercise is very bad. Do not neglect
(medical) treatment when it is necessary but leave it off when the body
is in good condition. Do not take nourishment except when digestion is
completed. Do not swallow until you have thoroughly masticated (your
food).
Treat disease first of all through the diet and refrain from
medicines. If you find what you need (for healing) in a single herb, do
not use compound medicines. Leave off medicine when the health is good
and use it in case of necessity. If two opposites[3]
are put on the table do not mix them, be content with one of them.
Begin first with liquid food before partaking of solid food. The taking
of food before what you have (already eaten) is digested, is
dangerous--avoid this.
When you begin to eat, begin with My Name El Abhá,[4] and finish with the Name of [*]God[5]
the Possessor of the Throne and the earth. When you have eaten walk a
little that the food may settle. What is difficult to masticate is
forbidden by the Wise. --Thus the Supreme Pen Commands you.
A little food in the morning is like a light to the body. Leave all
harmful habits, they cause unhappiness in the world. Search for the
cause of disease. This saying is the end of this speech.
Be content in all conditions, by this the person is preserved from a
bad condition and from lassitude. Shun grief and sorrow, they cause the
greatest misery. Say: Jealousy eats the body and anger burns the liver.
Refrain from these two as you would avoid a lion.
To cleanse the body is essential, but only in temperate seasons
(should it be done frequently). He who over-eats, his illness becomes
more severe. We have arranged for each thing a cause and We have [End
Page 1]
Bestowed upon it an effect. All this is from the Effulgence of My Name,
which Influences everything. Your [*]God is the Commander of all things.
Say: From what We have explained, the humors of the body should not be
excessive and their quantity depends upon the condition of the body. One
sixth of each sixth part in its normal condition (is the right
proportion).
In [*]God must be our trust. There is no [*]God but Him, the Healer,
the Knower and the Helper. The Supreme Pen has not Written such Words
but for the Love of thee, that thou mayest know that grief has not
seized upon the Blessed Beauty. He is not sorrowful because of what has
befallen Him from the nations, but the sadness is for him whose (reason)
does not grant[6] something (of the Word of [*]God). Nothing in the earth or Heaven is outside the Grasp of [*]God.
O Doctor! Heal the sick first by the mentioning of the Name of God, the Possessor of the Day of Judgment[7] and after that (use) what [*]God hath destined for the health of the constitution of His creatures.
By My Life! The Doctor who has drunk from the Wine of My Love, his visit[8] is healing and his breath is mercy and hope. Say: Cling to him[9]
for the welfare of the constitution. He is Confirmed by [*]God in his
treatments. Say: This knowledge is the most knowable of all the sciences
for it is the greatest means from [*]God (the Life-Giver to the dust)
to preserve the bodies of the peoples and He has put it in the forefront
of all the sciences and wisdoms. For Today is the Day when you must
arise for My victory detached from all the world.
Say:[10]
O my [*]God, Thy Name is my healing. Thy Remembrance is my remedy. Thy
Nearness is my hope. Thy Love is my joyous companion, and Thy Mercy is
my healer and my helper in this world and in the next. Thou art the
Giver, the Knower, the Wise!
Give Greetings and Love to all the friends on the Part of [*]God.
Say: Today two things are loved and sought for. One is Wisdom and
Interpretation, and the second is Preservation of the Cause of God, the
[End Page 2]
Merciful. Each soul that has attained these two Commandments (graces) he
is accounted Before [*]God an inhabitant of the City of Eternity,
because by those two things the Cause of [*]God has been and will be
made firm. For if Wisdom and Interpretation do not exist all will be
afflicted. In this case, there would be no breath left to convert the
people to the Law of [*]God and if Preservation is lacking there would
not be any breath to mention ([*]God) or to affect the people.
Say: O friends! Fear and anguish are womanly qualities but if the
friends of [*]God meditate on the world and the apparent disharmony in
it the power of the oppressors will not frighten them and they will fly
with the wings of longing to the Light of Heaven. What ever this One has
Wished for Himself, He has Desired it for all the friends of the True
One and that Preservation was and will be Commanded.
The Purpose is that those who speak (of the Cause) will remain on the
earth so that they may be occupied with the remembrance (mentioning) of
the [*]God of the Universe. That is why the preservation of yourselves
and your brothers is necessary and obligatory for the Cause of [*]God.
If all the friends were acting in accordance with what they are
commanded, the condition of the greater part of those on the earth would
be adorned by the Garment of Faith. Blessed is the soul that brings
another to the Law of [*]God and has guided him to Eternal Life. This is
one of the greatest actions in the Sight of [*]God, the Dear One, the
Supreme, the Highest. The Spirit of Bahá be upon you.
Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - March 10, 2021 💌
At a certain point, you realize that you see only the projections of your own mind. The play of phenomena is a projection of the spirit. The projections are your karma, your curriculum for this incarnation.
Everything that’s happening to you is a teaching designed to burn out your stuff, your attachments. Your humanity and all your desires are not some kind of error. They’re integral parts of the journey.
- Ram Dass -
Flowering Lotus Meditation
OUR MISSION
The Mission of Flowering Lotus Meditation is to create and promote a variety of accessible opportunities for meditation practice in a non-denominational setting. All retreats and other events are based on Buddhist teachings of mindfulness and compassion and welcome students from diverse backgrounds.
 The Lightness of Breathing
By Valerie Brown |
|
Via Daily Dharma: Just Experience What Arises
There
is an exquisite quality that comes from just experiencing what arises,
completely, with no separation between awareness and experience.
—Ken McLeod, “Forget Happiness”
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Via White Crane Insitute // Noteworthy - ACT UP
1987 -
ACT UP was formed on this date, thirty-four years ago, at the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center in New York. The writer Vito Russo wrote at the time that "living with AIDS in this country is like living through a war that's happening only for those people in the trenches. Every time a shell explodes you look around to discover that you've lost more of your friends. But nobody else notices, it isn't happening to them." Larry Kramer had been asked to speak at the Lesbian and Gay Community Center as part of a rotating speaker series, and his well-attended speech focused on action to fight AIDS. Kramer spoke out against the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), which he perceived as politically impotent. Kramer had actually co-founded the GMHC but had resigned from its board of directors in 1983. According to Douglas Crimp, Kramer posed a question to the audience: "Do we want to start a new organization devoted to political action?" The answer was "a resounding yes." Approximately 300 people met two days later to form ACT UP.
They became confrontational about the government's complete lack of urgency towards the plight of the thousands of Gay men dying of AIDS. That was the face of AIDS at the time and no one seemed to care that so many were dying. And many were actively blocking (as many still do) the use of condoms for AIDS prevention. They called out Ronald Reagan and Cardinal O'Connor and Pope John Paul for their responsibility in the deaths of millions while they prevented treatment and prevention. Because of ACT UP, political leaders and the media were forced to pay attention to what was happening. Because of ACT UP things moved for the care and treatment of people living and dying with AIDS.
Anthony Fauci was one of the main targets. On the passing of Larry Kramer last year, Fauci write an appreciation of his friend, "Back then, I was the scientist leading the AIDS effort at the National Institutes of Health. To him, I was the face of the federal government. He decided the best way to bring attention to all of this was to come out and attack me — which he did publicly and in a somewhat vicious manner. He wrote an article I laugh about now, but it was on the front page of the magazine section of the San Francisco Examiner: an open letter to an incompetent idiot Dr. Anthony Fauci. He called me a murderer for being negligent about HIV. That shocked me a bit, but it got me to think that I needed to know a little more about this guy. So I reached out — and over the years we went from acquaintances who were adversarial to acquaintances who were less adversarial to friends to very, very dear friends."
The work is not finished and the ACT-UP model is one that has been replicated by many dealing with entrenched hostility and animus.
Tuesday, March 9, 2021
Via Daily Dharma: Accept Not-Knowing
Equanimity is a radical acceptance of not-knowing and a means of not taking everything so personally.
—Christopher Willard, “How Parents and Children Can Learn Balance and Equanimity from the Eight Worldly Winds”
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Monday, March 8, 2021
Via Daily Dharma: Benefitting All Beings
Walking
the bodhisattva path—dedicating one’s life to the benefit of all
beings—includes doing whatever we can to help ourselves be happy and
free.
—Cyndi Lee, “May I Be Happy”
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Sunday, March 7, 2021
Via Daily Dharma: Be Absorbed by Stillness
In those moments when one is truly absorbed and taken up in the stillness, you can see clearly what is important in life.
—Interview with Ruben Habito by Emma Varvaloucas, “Love at First Sit”
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VIa Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - March 7, 2021 💌
I invite you not to cling. I invite you to open to the next moment and allow it to have its own richness. Nothing will kill the glow faster than clinging.
I was with Aldous Huxley years ago, and I didn’t know him well, but when we were together there were just a few words he kept using: “Extraordinary,” “How curious,” and “How odd.” I realized that everything in life is extraordinary if I just want to look.
It’s true there’s nothing new under the sun, and yet it’s all fresh.
- Ram Dass -
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