Saturday, June 29, 2024

Via Daily Dharma: The Power of Tranquility

 


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The Power of Tranquility

In meditation, the state of tranquility provides contentment and peace that are the basis for a deep and sublime sense of well-being. This is a happiness that’s not possible when the mind is restless or preoccupied. 

Gil Fronsdal, “A Satisfying State of Happiness”


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On ‘Down by the Riverside’
By Felicia Washington Sy
A study of refuge and liberation in Black spirituals and Soto Zen Buddhism. 
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Via Adam and Andy


 

Friday, June 28, 2024

 

Died
Edward Carpenter and George Merrill
1929 -

EDWARD CARPENTER, English poet and Gay pioneer, died (b: 1844); Edward Carpenter was a pioneering socialist and radical prophet of a new age of fellowship in which social relations would be transformed by a new spiritual consciousness. The way he lived his life, perhaps even more than his extensive writings, was the essence of his message.

It is perhaps not surprising that his reputation faded quickly after his death, as he lived much of his life modestly spreading his message by personal contact and example rather than by major literary works or through a national political career. He has been described as having that unusual combination of qualities: charisma with modesty.

His ideas became immensely influential during the early years of the Socialist movement in Britain: perhaps Carpenter's most widely remembered legacy to the Socialist and Co-operative movements was his anthem England Arise!

A leading figure in late 19th and early 20th century Britain, he was instrumental in the foundation of the Fabian Society and the Labor Party. A poet and writer, he was a close friend of Walt Whitman and Rabindranath Tagore, corresponding with many famous figures such as Isadora Duncan, Havelock Ellis, Mahatma Ganghi, Jack London.William Morris and John Ruskin among many others.

But it is his writings on the subject of homosexuality and his open espousal of this identity that makes him unique. If you are unfamiliar with Carpenter, find him…read him. He is unquestionably one of the formative, foundational Gay philosophers in the late 19th and early 20th century. His influence was widespread at the time, and is no less innovative and profound, today.

His important writings include:

    • Towards Democracy (1883)
    • England's Ideal (1887)
    • Civilisation: Its Cause and Cure (1889; reissued 1920)
    • Homogenic love and its place in a free society (1894)
    • Love's Coming of Age (1896)
    • Days with Walt Whitman (1906)
    • Iolaus — anthology of friendship (editor, 1908)
    • The Intermediate Sex: a Study of Some Transitional Types of Men and Women (1908)
    • The Intermediate Types Among Primitive Folk (1914)
    • My Days and Dreams (autobiography, 1916)
    • Pagan & Christian Creeds: their origin and meaning (1920)

A strong advocate of sexual freedom, living in a Gay community near Sheffield, he had a profound influence on both D.H. Lawrence and E.M. Forster. On his return from India in 1891, he met George Merrill, a working class man also from Sheffield, and the two men struck up a relationship, eventually moving in together in 1898. Merrill had been raised in the slums of Sheffield and had no formal education.

Two men of different classes living together as a couple was almost unheard of in England in the 1890s, a fact made all the more extraordinary by the hysteria about alternative sexualities generated by the Oscar Wilde trial of 1895 and the Criminal Law Amendment Bill passed a decade earlier "outlawing all forms of male homosexual contact". But their relationship endured and they remained partners for the rest of their lives. Their relationship not only defied Victorian sexual mores but also the highly stratified British class system. Their partnership, in many ways, reflected Carpenter's cherished conviction that same-sex love had the power to subvert class boundaries.

It was his belief that at sometime in the future, Gay people would be the cause of radical social change in the social conditions of man. Carpenter remarks in his work "The Intermediate Sex":

"Eros is a great leveler. Perhaps the true Democracy rests, more firmly than anywhere else, on a sentiment which easily passes the bounds of class and caste, and unites in the closest affection the most estranged ranks of society. It is noticeable how often Uranians of good position and breeding are drawn to rougher types, as of manual workers, and frequently very permanent alliances grow up in this way, which although not publicly acknowledged have a decided influence on social institutions, customs and political tendencies". p.114-115

(Note: The term “uranian", referring to a passage from Plato's Symposium, was often used at the time to describe someone who would be termed "Gay" nowadays. Carpenter is counted among the Uranians himself.)


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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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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Living: Abstaining from Misbehaving Among Sensual Pleasures

 


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RIGHT LIVING
Undertaking the Commitment to Abstain from Misbehaving Among Sensual Pleasures 
Sensual misconduct is unhealthy. Refraining from sensual misconduct is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning sensual misconduct, one abstains from misbehaving among sensual pleasures. (MN 41) One practices thus: “Others may engage in sensual misconduct, but I will abstain from sensual misconduct.” (MN 8)

Sounds cognizable by the ear are of two kinds: those to be cultivated and those not to be cultivated. Such sounds as cause, in one who cultivates them, unhealthy states to increase and healthy states to diminish, such sounds are not to be cultivated. But such sounds as cause, in one who cultivates them, unhealthy states to diminish and healthy states to increase, such sounds are to be cultivated. (MN 114)
Reflection
Notice that nothing is being said here about the sound itself; the focus is on the reaction that hearing the sound has on the person who hears it. Your mind, along with its accumulated emotional habits, filters whatever comes in through the senses and gives rise to a range of responses. The precept concerning sensual indulgence has to do with abstaining from certain unhealthy responses, not from the objects themselves.

Daily Practice
Practice acting as a guardian of your sense doors. Like a sentry at the gate, be aware of what sounds present themselves to pass within and take care to admit only those that bring out your best. It is okay to filter out words and other sounds that are disturbing and cause distress. This does not mean hiding from life’s realities; rather it is about taking some control over what comes in and then goes on in your mind.

Tomorrow: Developing Unarisen Healthy States
One week from today: Abstaining from Intoxication

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: Joy Is Everywhere

 

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Joy Is Everywhere

In meditation, the state of tranquility provides contentment and peace that are the basis for a deep and sublime sense of well-being. This is a happiness that’s not possible when the mind is restless or preoccupied. 

Gil Fronsdal, “A Satisfying State of Happiness”


CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE


Failure as Liberation
By Sarah Kokernot
Struggling with feelings of rejection, a writer finds strength through letting go. 
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Thursday, June 27, 2024

Via Scientific American // Advanced-meditation


 

Via White Crane Institute // Feast Day of SAINTS JOHN AND PAUL

 

 

Saints John and Paul
2018 -

It is the Feast Day of SAINTS JOHN AND PAUL, martyred lovers According to their Acts, which are of a legendary character and without recorded historical foundation, the martyrs were eunuchs (Galli) of Constantina daughter of Constantine the Great, and became acquainted with a certain Gallicanus, who built a church in Ostia. At the command of Julian the Apostate, they were beheaded secretly by Terentianus in their house on the Cælian, where their church was subsequently erected, and where they themselves were buried. Galli (singular Gallus) was the Roman name for castrated followers of the Phrygian goddess Cybele, which were regarded as a third gender by contemporary Roman scholars, and are in some ways like transgendered people in the modern world. The chief of these priests was referred to as a battakes, and later as the archigallus.



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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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Via Tricycle // Grounding Through Equanimity

 

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June 27, 2024

Grounding Through Equanimity 
 
Sometimes we’re up, other times we’re down. Some days the sun is shining, other days it’s pouring rain. Certain chapters of our lives bring great success, others seem to bring one failure after another. 

Life is defined by these kinds of dualities. It’s a journey through peaks and valleys, highs and lows, challenges and triumphs. In Buddhism, the basic opposing forces of life are what’s known as the eight worldly winds, or the “vicissitudes.”
 
“Each of our lives will be touched by what are called the winds of the world,” explains meditation teacher Christina Feldman. “Moments of praise and blame, success and failure, pleasure and pain, gain and loss are woven into every human life. In the light of approval and praise, we glow; in the light of disapproval and blame, we find ourselves ashamed and withering.” 

These opposing forces can threaten to pull us apart—or challenge us to step up and become stronger, more resilient, and more even-keeled.  

While this basic duality is part and parcel of the human experience, it doesn’t have to create unnecessary suffering. We don’t have to be yanked around by every positive and negative experience that comes our way. We can learn to navigate life’s inherent push and pull with a balanced mind and an equanimous heart. 

So what does that kind of equanimity look like? How do we keep our feet on the ground and our head held high as great winds of change blow around all around us? 

“Equanimity is about being able to deal with difficult, forceful experiences in life, both internally and externally,” says Ethan Nichtern, meditation teacher and author of Confidence: Holding Your Seat Through Life’s Eight Worldly Winds. “In the Shambhala teachings that I studied for many years, there’s this notion of being able to hold one’s seat in meditation practice but also in life in general… When life knocks you around, you can hold your seat.”

This week’s Three Teachings offers guidance on “holding your seat” in the face of the eight worldly winds.


In our upcoming Premium event on July 11 at 2 P.M. ET, movement strategist and Zen priest Cristina Moon joins Tricycle's Editor-in-Chief, James Shaheen, to discuss how training in martial arts such as Kendo and boxing, and fine arts like Japanese tea ceremony and ceramics can aid in developing the spirit.

Weathering the Eight Worldly Winds With Ethan Nichtern

Praise and criticism, success and failure, pain and pleasure are unavoidable. Can we learn to trust ourselves more deeply as we navigate life’s ups and downs? Learn to develop unshakable self-confidence in the face of the worldly winds with meditation teacher and author Ethan Nichtern. 
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The Worldly Winds By Christina Feldman 

How can we learn to be with both “the lovely and the unlovely” in our lives, in the words of meditation teacher Christina Feldman? She offers a practice for staying present amid life’s many joys and sorrows by untangling the patterns of attachment and aversion that take us out of the moment. 
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How Parents and Children Can Learn Balance and Equanimity from the Eight Worldly Winds By Christopher Willard 

Family life offers countless opportunities to learn to work with hardships more skillfully and compassionately. Christopher Willard considers how the teachings of the eight worldly winds can offer support for navigating the stress of parenting. 
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