Via Daily Dharma: Transform Your Suffering

 Just like how a lotus flower rises from muddy water to bloom beautifully, we also have the ability to transform the suffering we experience into something more.

Rev. Blayne Higa, “On Guns and Anger”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

A Nakedman

Via Daily Kos

 

Via Tricycle

Sutta study is an important part of Buddhist practice—but can it also be a way of meditating?  According to Buddhist scholar, teacher, and author Sarah Shaw, the ancient practice of listening to Buddhist suttas is a form of meditation that brings unique spiritual, cultural, and historic insights into the texts that we engage with. Shaw herself has spent years studying, hearing, and chanting the Dīghanikāya, or Long Discourses of the Buddha, a collection of 34 suttas that forms one of the four major collections of teachings from the early period of Buddhism. Next week, Shaw joins Tricycle for an hour-long virtual event on the art of listening to Buddhist texts. In conversation with Tricycle’s editor-in-chief, James Shaheen, Shaw will offer an introduction to the Dīghanikāya and present a literary and personal approach to engaging with Buddhist suttas as oral literature.  This event is free for Tricycle Premium subscribers!

Sign up now for free »

 

Via White Crane Institute \\ Bob Barzan

Bob Barzan

1989 -

BOB BARZAN publishes 1st issue of White Crane Newsletter, forerunner of White Crane Journal and GayWisdom.org. Bob has since moved on to found the Modesto Museum of Art in…you guessed it, Modesto, California. I am proud to call him a friend.

He has also made three of his other projects available online. White Crane and GayWisdom happily endorses each of them and strongly recommends readers check them out:

Sex and Spirit
Songs for Winter Solstice
Leaving the Priesthood

 

Today's Gay Wisdom

2017 -

Actualizing

By Bob Barzan

In the days following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Abraham Maslow was watching a parade of citizens marching to patriotic tunes. Deeply moved, he resolved at that moment to explore a “psychology of the peace table”, to discover the best and loftiest ideals and possibilities of the human species. It was clear to him that to learn about the complete and authentic individual he had to study men and women that were remarkably healthy. He offered this analogy for what he was to do.

“If we want to know how fast human beings can run, we don’t study a runner with a broken ankle or a mediocre runner. Instead, we study the Olympic gold medal winner, the best there is. Only in that way can we find out how fast human beings can run. Similarly, only by studying the healthiest personalities can we find out how far we can stretch and develop our capacities.”

This new perspective, a focus on health and thriving, and the best that we are rather than the common focus on illness and surviving, gave birth to a new school of psychology that came to be known as “humanistic”. This perspective, in turn, became popular through the human potential movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Psychotheorists gave different names to this healthy life. Maslow called it the actualized life, Karl Jung, the individuated life, and Carl Rogers the fully functioning life, but what they described are individuals with very similar characteristics.

Healthy individuals are men and women who are, first of all, authentic. They do not try to live lives denying who they are in order to please society or others, but rather they live lives that are true or faithful to their inner callings. And here a distinction was made between a person’s true inner self and a superficial self. Second, these people excel, or strive to excel in the virtues that make it possible for us to live together harmoniously; love, compassion, kindness, forgiveness, joy, courage, patience, truth, peace, tolerance, generosity, and other similar virtues. The presence of these two characteristics, authenticity and what I call healthy spiritual virtues became for me indicators of what it means to be a healthy man or woman and they became the bases for my definition of spirituality.

For more than twenty years I’ve been aware that most people make at least one false assumption in the area of spirituality. Most people assume that all things having to do with spirituality, and they usually mean religion, are good and beyond judgment or evaluation. As I reflected on my own life, on my own coming out as a gay man, and on my experience of eleven years as a Jesuit, it became clear to me that spirituality and religion are not the same; rather religion is just one of many spiritual paths. More importantly I saw that some spiritual paths, including many religions, are not helping people live actualized, fully functioning, in other words healthy, lives, but making them sick or unhealthy. Instead of helping them live authentic lives characterized by healthy spiritual virtues, some spiritual paths encourage hate, greed, revenge, intolerance, and all the characteristics that make it impossible for people to live together in peace.

Like many gay men, I had tried to live in a society that made me suppress my own sexuality, my own identity. It was a society that deceived me, and told me that being gay is bad, unnatural, a sin. It was a society that encouraged me to be alienated from my self, and so was in violation of the first principle of healthy living, authenticity. Right from the beginning I was living a lie, truth had been sacrificed for some other priority, and I was expected to build a healthy spirituality on this false foundation. I realized that a spiritual path that had me denying the truth, especially about myself, may bring me all sorts of “benefits” like acceptance, security, position, and power, but it wasn’t life giving, it was making me sick.

Several years ago a wonderful story circulated in San Francisco about the opening of a new Zen center. A distinguished straight Zen master addressed the assembly of mostly gay Zen practitioners. Everyone expected he would give a typical dedication address, saying nothing of consequence. He astounded everyone, however, by proclaiming that unless you are out of the closet you are not practicing Zen. These are amazing, insightful, and rare words from a religious leader. But in these words he confirms what Maslow and others discovered years ago; the importance of authenticity for a healthy life. A healthy spirituality then is really about two major concerns; authenticity and the development of life giving spiritual virtues. An unhealthy spirituality is the opposite.

There is a tendency in our society to compartmentalize our lives so that spirituality has little or nothing to do with how we live day-to-day. Spirituality, however, is not something we do only when we are meditating, analyzing our dreams, or worshiping on any given day. Our spirituality is our whole way of life and that includes our sexuality, our play, how we make our money, how we spend our money, how we use our time, drive a car, make decisions, and how we treat people every day. Everything that is part of our life is part of our spirituality whether we are conscious of it or not. And everything we do can either help us live more authentically, help us develop healthy spiritual virtues, or it can do the opposite.

Over the years I have learned to discern when I am on or off a healthy spiritual track by watching the results of my decisions, my attitudes, and way of living. A healthy spiritual life manifests itself differently in every individual, but in general you can recognize it because you will see an increase in love, compassion, generosity, kindness, courage, patience, and an ability to live harmoniously with other people and all of nature.

Bob Barzan lives in Modesto, California where he created the Modesto Museum of Art.

---

|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|

 

Via L.A. Times

 

Old Gays Meet Pabllo Vittar

Via NPR /// Pabllo Vittar: The drag queen-superstar fighting for equality in Brazil

 

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Mindfulness and Concentration: Establishing Mindfulness of Body and the First Jhāna

 

RIGHT MINDFULNESS
Establishing Mindfulness of Body

A person goes to the forest or to the root of a tree or to an empty place and sits down. Having crossed the legs, one sets the body erect. One establishes the presence of mindfulness. (MN 10) One is aware: “Ardent, fully aware, mindful, I am content.” (SN 47.10)   When lying down, one is aware: “I am lying down.”. . . One is just aware, just mindful: “There is body.” And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)

Reflection

Practicing in a prone position is not essentially different from practicing in the other three primary bodily postures: sitting, standing, and walking. The instruction is simply to be fully aware of all the bodily sensations that arise and pass away in your experience. The most common form of doing this is the body scan, wherein you systematically focus on all bodily sensations from head to toe or from toe to head.

Daily Practice

In addition to practicing while sitting, standing, and walking, become familiar with meditating while lying down. The particular challenge there is to avoid falling asleep. In the other three positions muscle tension helps prevent this, but when you are prone it is very easy to doze off. You will find the ability to practice lying down especially valuable if you are sick and stuck in bed.

RIGHT CONCENTRATION Approaching and Abiding in the First Phase of Absorption (1st Jhāna)

Having abandoned the five hindrances, imperfections of the mind that weaken wisdom, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, one enters and abides in the first phase of absorption, which is accompanied by applied thought and sustained thought, with joy and the pleasure born of seclusion. (MN 4) One practices: “I shall breathe in experiencing rapture";  one practices: “I shall breathe out experiencing rapture.” This is how concentration by mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated so that it is of great fruit and great benefit. (SN 54.8)

Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering
One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling and Abiding in the Second Jhāna

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

Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Daily Dharma: Breath of the Universe

 Through consistent meditation practice, we come to realize that, in essence, there exists only the breath. It is the breath of the universe that flows through all. 

Brittany Micek, Radical Imagination: A Teaching for Juneteenth

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Via White Crane Institute // Juneteenth Independence Day or Freedom Day

 

---

2018 -

JUNETEENTH, also known as Juneteenth Independence Day or Freedom Day; Winston Churchill famously quipped that “America always does the right thing...after it tries everything else. Juneteenth is an American holiday that celebrates our finally getting this part right. It commemorates the June 19, 1865, announcement of the abolition of slavery in the state of Texas, and more generally the emancipation of enslaved African-Americans throughout the former Confederacy of the southern United States. Its name is a portmanteau of "June" and "nineteenth", the date of its celebration.

 

Juneteenth is only recognized as a state holiday or special day of observance in forty-five states, and primarily in local celebrations. Traditions include public readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, singing traditional songs such as "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" and "Lift Every Voice and Sing", and reading of works by noted African-American writers such as Ralph Ellison and Maya Angelou. Celebrations may include rodeos, street fairs, cookouts, family reunions, park parties, historical reenactments, and Miss Juneteenth contests. The Macogos descendants of Black Seminoles of Coahulla, Mexico also celebrate the Juneteenth.

 

In 1996 the first legislation to recognize "Juneteenth Independence Day" was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, H.J. Res. 195, sponsored by Barbara Rose Collins (D-MI). In 1997 Congress recognized the day through Senate Joint Resolution 11 and House Joint Resolution 56. In 2013 the U.S. Senate passed Senate Resolution 175, acknowledging Lula Briggs Galloway (late president of the National Association of Juneteenth Lineage) who "successfully worked to bring national recognition to Juneteenth Independence Day", and the continued leadership of the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation. In 2018 Apple added Juneteenth to its calendars in iOS under official US holidays.

 

On June 15, 2021, the Senate unanimously passed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday; it subsequently passed through the House of Representatives by a 415–14 vote on June 16. President Joseph Biden signed the bill on June 17, 2021, making Juneteenth the eleventh American federal holiday and the first to obtain legal observance as a federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was designated in 1983.

---

|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|

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right View: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering

 

RIGHT VIEW
Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering

What is the origin of suffering? It is craving, which brings renewal of being, is accompanied by delight and lust, and delights in this and that—that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for being, and craving for non-being. (MN 9) When one does not know and see feeling tone as it actually is, then one is attached to feeling tone. When one is attached, one becomes infatuated, and one’s craving increases. One’s bodily and mental troubles increase, and one experiences bodily and mental suffering. (MN 149)

Reflection

Pleasant and painful sensations come and go constantly in our experience, and it is these and not the emotions to which the Buddhist terms feeling and feeling tone refer. Feelings often carry us along in a flood of craving for pleasure to continue or increase and for pain to stop and go away. Mindfulness is the quality of mind that goes against this stream and allows us to simply be steadily aware of whatever presents itself in our experience.

Daily Practice

Is it always necessary to be attached to pleasant feeling tones and averse to painful ones? Are we compelled to pursue pleasure and avoid pain? Conventional wisdom says of course, while Buddhist teachings say no, we can free ourselves of this compulsion. Practice being aware of both pleasure and pain with an attitude of equanimity rather than one of favoring or opposing. It is a new habit worth cultivating.

Tomorrow: Cultivating Compassion
One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering

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

Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Daily Dharma: Open Yourself to the Living Present

Our mind wanders incessantly, but our body and senses are always in the present. To investigate our embodied experience is to investigate the living present.

Anne C. Klein, “Revisiting Ritual”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Father Guido Sarducci

 

Via Emergence Magazine

 

June 2022 LGBTQ Baha'i Experience Question and Answer Session

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - June 19, 2022 💌

 

As long as you’re in a body, you gotta act, and as long as you act, you act within roles...for years, I was so busy with my spiritual development that I didn’t have time to vote; I didn’t have time to be involved with politics; all I could do was grouse about politicians. And then I saw that for some reason, I took incarnation in the United States at this time.

Now do I say, “This is all an abominable error, and God, you screwed up,” or can I say, “Maybe there is an exquisite design in it all. Maybe there is a plan. Maybe there is consciousness in it all? Let me assume that it is, and I have something to learn through this curriculum I’ve been handed, which includes the fact that I was born in the United States. What does that mean? What does it mean that I’m a part of a very affluent culture? Should I deny it? Should I just grab at it and greedily, take everything I can? Or, do I hear what it means to steward resources?"

 

- Ram Dass -

CANÇÂO PARA A AMAZÔNIA Salve se a Selva ou não se Salva o Mundo - #Can...

Via Daily Dharma: Daily Well-being

 In Buddhism, it’s considered appropriate and helpful to cultivate and enhance our well-being. It is all too easy to overlook the well-being that is easily available in daily life. Even taking time to enjoy one’s tea or the sunset can be a training in letting in well-being.

Gil Fronsdal, “A Perfect Balance”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE