Via Tricycle // Meditation Month: Day 20

 

A Reminder to Pause
By Kathy Cherry 

Try these four “pause practices” from meditation teacher Kathy Cherry for returning to our bodies.

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Via White Crane Institute // RICHARD C. FRIEDMAN

 This Day in Gay History

January 20

Born

Dr. Richard C. Friedman

1941 -

RICHARD C. FRIEDMAN was born on this date and was an academic psychiatrist, the Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, and a faculty member at Columbia University. He was also a courageous ally of the gay community. He conducted research in the endocrinology and the psychodynamics of homosexuality, especially within the context of psychoanalysis. Friedman was born in The Bronx, New York.

In the 1960s when marriage and adopting children seemed an impossible dream for gay men, Dr. Friedman was our champion. His 1988 book, Male Homosexuality: A Contemporary Psychoanalytic Perspective showed that sexual orientation was largely biological and presented a case that helped undermine the belief held by most Freudian analysts at the time that homosexuality was a pathology that could be cured.

His wife, a clinical social worker at the Weill Medical College of Cornell commented, "Straight people had the same personality issues, and they got away with murder; but gay people were stigmatized, and he didn't think that was right."

His work was a direct challenge to popular Freudian theories and thrust him into the center of debates among the more established heavyweights of psychoanalysis. It led to a model in which analyst and patient simply assumed that homosexuality was intrinsic, said Jack Drescher, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University who knew Dr. Friedman and would later offer his own critiques of Dr. Friedman’s theory as new approaches to working with gay and lesbian patients emerged.

 

“Given that he was a younger colleague, it was brave of him to take older experts on,” a colleague said. But it was in keeping with who he was. “He had an edge and wasn’t afraid of anybody,” he said.  Dr. Friedman died in his home in March 2020.

 

 

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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

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TRAILER: I Have Arrived, I Am Home: A Documentary On Thich Nhat Hanh's l...

 

Amazon frown logo

RIP, AmazonSmile

Amazon is sunsetting its AmazonSmile program, which allows shoppers to donate a percentage of purchases to their charity of choice, by Feb. 20.

The news comes as the company tightens spending and lays off 18k+ employees — some of whom received notification by email this week, per Business Insider.

Why?

Amazon says it’s donated $449m+ to 1m+ charities since AmazonSmile launched in 2013, but says the program was “spread too thin” and failed to have the desired impact.

In 2022, charities received an average of less than $230, per NPR.

Yet small organizations say it helped:

The SquirrelWood Equine Sanctuary tweeted that the $9.3k+ it’d received made a “huge difference.”

The Cat’s Meow tweeted that the ~$4k it’d received covered expenses when donations fell short.

Meanwhile…

… others argue Amazon could have done more.

In 2017, journalist Marc Gunther pointed out AmazonSmile only gave 0.5% — so a dime for a $20 purchase — and only when shoppers remembered to use the right URL.

Case in point: In 2015, the AmazonSmile Foundation donated ~$12.8m — 0.00012% of Amazon’s ~$99.1B in retail sales that year.

What now?

Customers can still donate to their favorite charities until the program ends, buy items from their wish lists, or, obviously, donate without Amazon.

Meanwhile, Amazon says it will continue to invest in areas “where it can make meaningful change,” including local nonprofits and — perhaps conveniently for Amazon — its own charitable efforts, like Amazon Future Engineer, which funds computer science education.

BTW: We know you’re dying to see the farm animals at SquirrelWood Equine Sanctuary, so here ya go.

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Action: Reflecting upon Social Action

 

RIGHT ACTION Reflecting Upon Social 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 social action is to be done with repeated reflection. (MN 61) One reflects thus: "A person who speaks in hurtful ways is displeasing and disagreeable to me. If I were to speak in hurtful ways, I would be displeasing and disagreeable to others. Therefore, I will undertake a commitment to not speak in hurtful ways." (MN 15)

Reflection Social action is not one of the formal categories of action outlined by the Buddha, but today it represents a large part of our activity. The image of reflecting on social interactions as carefully as you would those of body, speech, and mind is a useful one, allowing you to check on the effects of your actions on the world around you. Is what you are doing socially leading to beneficial or to harmful consequences?  Daily Practice When people speak to us in hurtful ways, our first reflex is often to respond in kind or to recoil, feeling angry, hurt, or resentful. This teaching is pointing us in an entirely different direction. Instead of trying to get back at or reform the other person, we learn from them what not to do. If you know what it feels like to be hurt, why would you want to hurt anyone else? Try this way of looking at things and see what happens. Tomorrow: Abstaining from Intoxication One week from today: Reflecting upon Bodily Action Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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Via Tricycle // Blindfolding Mara

Blindfolding Mara
By Christina Feldman

Christina Feldman explains how samadhi creates a space to investigate and understand the origin of Mara, the personification of the habit patterns that lead to distress.

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Via Daily Dharma: Generosity Requires Empathy

 Generosity keeps faith with our appreciation of each other. It stems from a natural empathy with everything that, like us, has the courage to take a shape in the world.

John Tarrant, “The Erotic Life of Emptiness”

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - January 18, 2023 💌

 

The final awakening is the embracing of the darkness into the light. That means embracing our humanity as well as our divinity. What we go from is being born into our humanity, sleepwalking for a long time, until we awaken and start to taste our divinity. And then want to finally get free. We see as long as we grab at our divinity and push away our humanity we aren’t free. If you want to be free, you can’t push away anything. You have to embrace it all. It’s all God.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: The Universe Is in Our Heart

When we look into our own hearts and begin to discover what is confused and what is brilliant, what is bitter and what is sweet, it isn’t just ourselves that we’re discovering. We’re discovering the universe. 

Pema Chödrön, “Where Is Buddha?”

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from Frivolous Speech

 

RIGHT SPEECH Refraining from Frivolous Speech Frivolous speech is unhealthy. Refraining from frivolous speech is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning frivolous speech, one refrains from frivolous speech. One speaks at the right time, speaks only what is fact, and speaks about what is good. One speaks what is worthy of being overheard, words that are reasonable, moderate, and beneficial. (DN 1) One practices thus: "Others may speak frivolously, but I shall abstain from frivolous speech." (MN 8) When a person commits an offense of some kind, one should not hurry to reprove them but rather should consider whether or not to speak. If you will be troubled, the other person will not be hurt, and you can help them emerge from what is unhealthy and establish them in what is healthy, then it is proper to speak. It is a trifle that you will be troubled compared with the value of helping establish them in what is healthy. (MN 103)

Reflection The guideline to refrain from frivolous speech is a recommendation that we take seriously what we say and say what is meaningful with a sense of purpose and care. It does not mean everything we say has to be profound, just carefully considered. Here we also have guidance for when to speak up and when not to. If we can help someone and make a difference by speaking out, then the fact that it is troublesome is a trifle. Daily Practice As you practice considering carefully the way you speak, the suggestion to "not hurry to reprove" someone who does or says something offensive but rather to "consider whether or not to speak" is an important suggestion. This moment of pause and reflection is itself a powerful practice in daily life and should be followed at every opportunity. Try speaking up only when you really can help a person or situation and not simply from habit or reflex. Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Social Action One week from today: Refraining from False Speech Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Equanimity

 

RIGHT INTENTION Cultivating Equanimity Whatever you intend, whatever you plan, and whatever you have a tendency toward, that will become the basis on which your mind is established. (SN 12.40) Develop meditation on equanimity, for when you develop meditation on equanimity, all aversion is abandoned. (MN 62)  The function of equanimity is to see equality in beings. (Vm 9.93) Having heard a sound with the ear, one is neither glad-minded nor sad-minded but abides with equanimity, mindful and fully aware. (AN 6.1)

Reflection Equanimity is the active ingredient in mindfulness practice. Here we see it as the fourth of the brahma-viharas. Equanimity means an evenly balanced mind, like a plate on a stick that inclines neither toward nor away from an object of experience. It is the midpoint between greed (attraction) and hatred (aversion), and is therefore a state in which the mind can be free from the influence of both. Daily Practice As we cycle through the senses, we are encouraged here to work with the sense modality of sound. So often we reach for the sounds that we like and make us feel good, and avoid or recoil from the sounds that we don’t like and make us feel bad. At this basic level of sensory input, can you practice being mindful and fully aware of a sound without either favoring or opposing it? Try to let the sound be what it is, without relating it to yourself and your preferences. Tomorrow: Refraining from Frivolous Speech One week from today: Cultivating Lovingkindness Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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Via Daily Dharma: Letting the “I” Go

With each session of silence the fog lifts a bit more, until one day the ego “I,” with its insistent look-at-me voice, drops away, revealing the true self afloat in a vast blue sky.

Joan Duncan Oliver, “The Sound of Silence”

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Via Tricycle Meditation Month: Day 17

 

The Highest Level of Samadhi By Venerable Master Hsuan Hua

In the Surangama Sutra, or the Sutra of the Indestructible, the Buddha shows his cousin Ananda how to turn the attention of his sense-faculties inward in order to achieve samadhi. Read translation and commentary from the sutra here.

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