Saturday, March 26, 2022

Via Tricycle // 5 Timeless Teachings on Extending Forgiveness to Ourselves and Others

5 Timeless Teachings on Extending Forgiveness to Ourselves and Others
By The Editors

How can we forgive those who have wronged us—including ourselves? Allow these timeless Buddhist teachings to offer guidance and support on the path to cultivating a merciful heart.

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: Restraining Unarisen Unhealthy States

RIGHT EFFORT
Restraining Unarisen Unhealthy States

Whatever a person frequently thinks about and ponders, that will become the inclination of their mind. If one frequently thinks about and ponders unhealthy states, one has abandoned healthy states to cultivate unhealthy states, and then one’s mind inclines to unhealthy states. (MN 19)

Here a person rouses the will, makes an effort, stirs up energy, exerts the mind, and strives to restrain the arising of unarisen unhealthy mental states. One restrains the arising of the unarisen hindrance of doubt. (MN 141)

Reflection

The fifth of the five hindrances is doubt. This is not the healthy skepticism that encourages us to think for ourselves and not take anything on hearsay. It is the debilitating doubt wherein we are unsure of ourselves and unclear about whether the practice we are doing is well taught or we are practicing it correctly. These sorts of doubts hinder our progress and are better replaced by their opposite, trust and confidence.

Daily Practice

See if you can give some attention to the quality of mind that presents itself when you are doubtful about something and, alternatively, when you are trusting of something. The point is not so much whether the doubt or trust is justified or not, or right or wrong, but rather the effect such attitudes have on the workings of consciousness. Self-doubt in particular undermines the mind, while confidence promotes energy.

Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Body and Abiding in the First Jhāna
One week from today: Abandoning Arisen Unhealthy States

Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media
#DhammaWheel

Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Walk With Me // The Art of Grieving Inbox

'You Have Enough'

"I have gone to Deer Park every two years that Thay was visiting and during my last visit I asked one of the monks if I could get a personal message from Thay. They asked me what it would be. I said I wanted it to say, 'You Are Enough' in English and Chinese characters as I have an adopted daughter from China and want her to have this one day. He was so kind and said he would ask Thay. I was so hoping to have this piece for my home altar, where I meditate daily. Two days later the monk approached me and said that Thay would get it done by the end of the retreat. We spoke a bit, sharing our background and love for Engaged Buddhism - my heart sang.

"The day before the retreat concluded the monk said he had my piece, that it was packaged for travel, and I could open it safely once I got home. I was so delighted and excited to see this piece of art and spirit from my teacher of decades. Well, when I got home it was the first thing I attended.

"I remember feeling overwhelmed by the sounds around me; adjusting to the lack of silence and calm from the retreat. Even the paper that protected the artwork crinkled in a way that was different, speaking to me in a way I'd not recognized before. When I opened the package I saw Chinese characters and English words. Thay had written, 'You Have Enough' instead of 'You Are Enough'. In my mind's eye, I saw Thay with his impish grin, reminding me of my gifts."

- Lisa Klein

Via White Crane Institute // A.E. HOUSMAN

This Day in Gay History

March 26

Born

1859 -

A.E. HOUSMAN English scholar/poet, born, (d: 1936); Alfred Edward Housman was a classical scholar and poet of note. He was once viewed as a "great grey presence," divorced from the flesh and married to the mind. Young men read A Shropshire Lad and wondered. Was he or wasn’t he? There was no way to find out.

Later, he was painted as a sad recluse, sighing quiet sighs over a straight friend, Moses Jackson, and jerking off the Muse in unrequited love. In this view, Houseman was “in the grip of the ‘cursed trouble’ that soured the wells of his life, produced his poetry, and urged him to the topmost heights of scholarly renown.

Now we learn that the scholarly Cambridge don, far from being “cursed” used to make merry with a string of Venetian gondoliers supplied by his friend Horatio Brown, and was as well a regular patron of the male brothels in Paris. Can it be that the myth of the scholar virgin is just that, a myth?

Because I Liked You

Because I liked you better

Than suits a man to say,

It irked you, and I promised

To throw the thought away.

To put the world between us

We parted, stiff and dry;

'Good-bye,' said you, 'forget me.'

'I will, no fear', said I.

If here, where clover whitens

The dead man's knoll, you pass,

And no tall flower to meet you

Starts in the trefoiled grass,

Halt by the headstone naming

The heart no longer stirred,

And say the lad that loved you

Was one that kept his word.

A.E. Housman

|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|

Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute

"With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson

Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989!
www.whitecraneinstitute.org

|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|

Friday, March 25, 2022

Via The Positive Seed

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Living: Abstaining from Harming Living Beings

RIGHT LIVING
Undertaking the Commitment to Abstain from Harming Living Beings

Harming living beings is unhealthy. Refraining from harming living beings is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning the harming of living beings, one abstains from harming living beings; with rod and weapon laid aside, gentle and kindly, one abides with compassion for all living beings. (M 41) One practices thus: "Others may harm living beings, but I will abstain from the harming of living beings." (MN 8)

A layperson is not to engage in the livelihood of trading in meat. (AN 5.177)

Reflection

Vegetarianism is an important issue in contemporary Buddhist discussion. The Buddha was famously not a vegetarian, although he spoke of the importance of not harming living beings. His perspective was that as beggars, the monks and nuns had to accept all offerings put in their bowls without making distinctions between what they liked or didn't like, or between what they thought was rightly or wrongly procured.

Daily Practice

Whether or not you are a practicing vegetarian, the matter raised here is about the livelihood of a layperson. Trading in meat was singled out as an inappropriate profession because it involves the killing of living beings every day in great numbers. This is just not a healthy thing to be doing. Give the matter some attention today and reflect upon how much harm or lack of harm results from what you do for a living.

Tomorrow: Restraining Unarisen Unhealthy States
One week from today: Abstaining from Taking What is Not Given

Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media
#DhammaWheel

Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Daily Dharma: Life Is a Highway

Think about the wheel of your car moving down the highway. The wheel touches the road only a tiny little fraction of a moment, and then the next moment, the next moment, and the next moment after that. Life is like that.

Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, “Crossing the Ocean”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Thursday, March 24, 2022

Via Them Us // Disney

Disney Will Restore Gay Kiss to Lightyear Following “Don’t Say Gay” Backlash

[GBF] New GBF talks

New talks have been added to the audio archive at the GBF website:

2022_03_20 Padmatara Working with Inner Demons or Protectors.mp3

1999_10_24 Michael Broderick Impermanence.mp3

1999_10_17 Howard King Shamanisim Buddhism.mp3

Gay Buddhist Fellowship San Francisco

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Action: Reflecting upon Bodily Action

RIGHT ACTION
Reflecting Upon Bodily Action

However the seed is planted, in that way the fruit is gathered. Good things come from doing good deeds, bad things come from doing bad deeds. (SN 11.10) What is the purpose of a mirror? For the purpose of reflection. So too bodily action is to be done with repeated reflection. (MN 61)

When you are doing an action with the body, reflect upon that same bodily action thus: "Does this action I am doing with the body lead to the affliction of another?" If, upon reflection, you know that it does, then stop doing it; if you know that it does not, then continue. (MN 61)

Reflection

Mindfulness practice involves being fully aware of what we are doing while it is being done. It has to do with the mind being in the present moment rather than recalling what has just happened or anticipating what will happen next. It also includes being attentive to the ethical quality of our actions. It is important to be aware of whether we are causing harm or contributing to the good and to adjust our actions accordingly.

Daily Practice

This is a day to reflect upon your actions as you are doing them. Be aware of the unfolding of cause and effect as you go through the day. Notice the look on people’s faces as you are interacting with them; notice whether people are benefitted or hurt by what you are doing. Make the extra effort to be conscious as you act in the world, rather than just doing things automatically.

Tomorrow: Abstaining from Harming Living Beings
One week from today: Reflecting upon Verbal Action

Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media
#DhammaWheel

Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via White Crane Institute // Today's Gay Wisdom

2017 -

TODAY'S GAY WISDOM

An excerpt from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.
19 . I Sing the Body Electric
1
I SING the Body electric;

The armies of those I love engirth me, and I engirth them;

They will not let me off till I go with them, respond to them,

And discorrupt them, and charge them full with the charge of the Soul.

Was it doubted that those who corrupt their own bodies conceal themselves;

And if those who defile the living are as bad as they who defile the dead?

And if the body does not do as much as the Soul?

And if the body were not the Soul, what is the Soul?

2
The love of the Body of man or woman balks account—the body itself balks account;

That of the male is perfect, and that of the female is perfect.

The expression of the face balks account;

But the expression of a well-made man appears not only in his face;

It is in his limbs and joints also, it is curiously in the joints of his hips and wrists;

It is in his walk, the carriage of his neck, the flex of his waist and knees—dress does not hide him;

The strong, sweet, supple quality he has, strikes through the cotton and flannel;

To see him pass conveys as much as the best poem, perhaps more;

You linger to see his back, and the back of his neck and shoulder-side.

The sprawl and fulness of babes, the bosoms and heads of women, the folds of their dress, their style as we pass in the street, the contour of their shape downwards,

The swimmer naked in the swimming-bath, seen as he swims through the transparent green-shine, or lies with his face up, and rolls silently to and fro in the heave of the water,

The bending forward and backward of rowers in row-boats—the horseman in his saddle,

Girls, mothers, house-keepers, in all their performance,

The group of laborers seated at noon-time with their open dinner-kettles, and their wives waiting,

The female soothing a child—the farmer’s daughter in the garden or cow-yard,

The young fellow hoeing corn—the sleigh-driver guiding his six horses through the crowd,

The wrestle of wrestlers, two apprentice-boys, quite grown, lusty, good-natured, native-born, out on the vacant lot at sundown, after work,

The coats and caps thrown down, the embrace of love and resistance,

The upper-hold and the under-hold, the hair rumpled over and blinding the eyes;

The march of firemen in their own costumes, the play of masculine muscle through clean-setting trowsers and waist-straps,

The slow return from the fire, the pause when the bell strikes suddenly again, and the listening on the alert,

The natural, perfect, varied attitudes—the bent head, the curv’d neck, and the counting;

Such-like I love—I loosen myself, pass freely, am at the mother’s breast with the little child,

Swim with the swimmers, wrestle with wrestlers, march in line with the firemen, and pause, listen, and count.

3
I know a man, a common farmer—the father of five sons;

And in them were the fathers of sons—and in them were the fathers of sons.

This man was of wonderful vigor, calmness, beauty of person;

The shape of his head, the pale yellow and white of his hair and beard, and the immeasurable meaning of his black eyes—the richness and breadth of his manners,

These I used to go and visit him to see—he was wise also;

He was six feet tall, he was over eighty years old—his sons were massive, clean, bearded, tan-faced, handsome;

They and his daughters loved him—all who saw him loved him;

They did not love him by allowance—they loved him with personal love;

He drank water only—the blood show’d like scarlet through the clear-brown skin of his face;

He was a frequent gunner and fisher—he sail’d his boat himself—he had a fine one presented to him by a ship-joiner—he had fowling-pieces, presented to him by men that loved him;

When he went with his five sons and many grand-sons to hunt or fish, you would pick him out as the most beautiful and vigorous of the gang.

You would wish long and long to be with him—you would wish to sit by him in the boat, that you and he might touch each other.

|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|

Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute

Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989!
www.whitecraneinstitute.org

|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|

Via White Crane Institute // ANDREW ELIAS RAMER

1951 -

ANDREW ELIAS RAMER is a Maggid (Jewish sacred storyteller) living in San Francisco, California. Born on this date in Queens, New York, he believes that the prophetic tradition and storytelling are one and the same. The job of a storyteller is to create a narrative that holds a group together, forms the fabric of thought that a community or village of people inhabit.

Andrew grew into being a maggid through many moments and teachers. As a five-year-old he lay under an enormous honeysuckle vine with his best friend. Sprawled on the ground that warm day with the sun streaming in long shafts of light, she showed him how to pluck the honeysuckle from the vine and suck the nectar from the flower. The bees were swarming in and out of the blossoms. Something in his consciousness opened up and he understood that just as the bees were going back to the blossoms, that everything comes from and goes back to something, to a primal Source. It did not occur to him then that the ‘something’, is God or that this was a spiritual experience. Now he reflects that that experience changed his life, as it was his first encounter with God of and in nature and the world.

As an adult he was spiritually formed through many communities including the Gay Spirit Visions Conference in North Carolina, and the New York Healing Circle, which flourished during the early AIDS years. His mentors, collaborators and guides have included Charles Lawrence, Donna Cunningham, Harry Hay, Raven Wolfdancer, Rabbi Benay Lappe, and Rabbi Dev Noily. He is a member and one of many lay leaders at Congregation Sha’ar Zahav in San Francisco. After years of spiritual wandering, it was in Torah study with Dev Noily at Sha’ar Zahav that he found wisdom, comfort and a rich new way to live as a Queer Jewish man.

He believes that leadership is best when it is collective, like a flock of birds with each member of the flock taking a turn leading at the front. In that spirit, Andrew was one of 141 members of Sha’ar Zahav who worked together to create a new Siddur (prayer book) which was published in 2009. His contributions include art, the blessings he wrote, and editorial assistance. He also facilitated six writing workshops in which community members created new liturgy to reflect the beautifully complicated realities of LGBT Jewish lives.

His writings are a form of Midrash, an interpretation of biblical tales where he tells the stories of queer and transgender people that were left out or written out of our scriptures. This practice of “queering the text” is both joyously traditional and transgressive. As a child attending a traditional religious Jewish school he first learned the craft of Midrash through his teachers, who would tell stories about the Torah before they read it. When he learned to read Hebrew he learned that most of his favorite stories were not in the written Torah at all, because they were Midrash, Oral Torah. That discovery was one of the doorways for him into this tradition and practice.

In his role as a storyteller Andrew likes to create origin tales, to seduce people into the narrative, and to fulfill the understanding that without storytelling we cannot function as a people. When he thinks about the stories that don’t get told he feels more empowered to write and speak them. He believes that whatever your faith tradition you can and must own all the stories and re-tell them any way you want--for the sake of us all, for the sake of a viable planet, and so that people may find themselves and love themselves. He invites us to question everything, question every story no matter what our elders tell us, so that we can retell everything quietly until we’re in a safe place where we can tell all of our stories out loud to the world.

Andrews’s stories can be found in the books: Queering the Text: Biblical, Medieval, and Modern Jewish Stories; Siddur Sha’ar Zahav; Two Flutes Playing; Revelations for New Millennium; Angel Answers; Ask Your Angels; and The Spiritual Dimensions of Healing Addictions. He was interviewed in Gay Soul by Mark Thompson and is a long time friend of White Crane for which he wrote the column Praxis.

O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|

Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute

Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989!
www.whitecraneinstitute.org

|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|

Via Daily Dharma: Great Compassion

Great compassion is like the sky, because it covers all living beings; great compassion is like the earth, because it produces all the teachings; great compassion makes it possible to see buddhanature, by first clarifying real knowledge for the sake of others.

Zenmaster Torei, “Great Compassion”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - March 23, 2022 💌

The real battle is with our own inner feelings and beliefs about how it ought to be.

- Ram Dass -

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from False Speech

RIGHT SPEECH
Refraining from False Speech

False speech is unhealthy. Refraining from false speech is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning false speech, one dwells refraining from false speech, a truth-speaker, one to be relied on, trustworthy, dependable, not a deceiver of the world. One does not in full awareness speak falsehood for one’s own ends, or for another’s ends, or for some trifling worldly end. (DN 1) One practices thus: "Others may speak falsely, but I shall abstain from false speech." (MN 8)

Such speech as you know to be true, correct, and beneficial but which is unwelcome and disagreeable to others—know the time to use such speech. (MN 58)

Reflection

Sometimes we have to speak the truth to people who don’t want to hear it or to powers that feel threatened by it. Right speech does not mean retreating from such difficult encounters. Even if something is “unwelcome and disagreeable” we should still speak up if it is true. But right speech is skillful speech, and it is necessary to take on such communication with care.

Daily Practice

The next time you need to have a difficult discussion—when someone needs to hear something that is true but you know it will be unwelcome and disagreeable—see if you can bring the skills of right speech to the occasion. Notice that timeliness is one of such skills, as is not being harsh or abusive. But refraining from false speech does not mean refraining from true speech, and you should speak the truth with confidence.

Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Bodily Action
One week from today: Refraining from Malicious Speech

Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media
#DhammaWheel

Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.