Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation \\ Words of Wisdom - February 26, 2025 💠

 

Religious study...while there is the opening for healthy skepticism, there is another way which is to open Pandora’s box and let it all in. Figure that whatever is supposed to be useful to you, you will hold, and whatever else will fall away. You don’t have to keep it all away at arms length for fear you will lose your virginity or something. You don’t have to protect your purity against the Holy books. You just open up and let it come in, no matter how weird it all seems.

Via Daily Dharma: Sitting in the Fire

 

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Sitting in the Fire If you sit in the fire, grace will come—it will eventually come, a cooling effect. Ralph Steele, “In the Lineage of Sister Mary” CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Compassion

 

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RIGHT INTENTION Cultivating Compassion 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 compassion, for when you develop meditation on compassion, any cruelty will be abandoned. (MN 62) The manifestation of compassion is non-cruelty. (Vm 9.94)

Reflection We are all born with the innate capacity for compassion, but that does not mean we will naturally express compassion. Like everything else, expressing compassion is something we learn to do or not do. The practice of right intention involves the deliberate development of benevolent states of mind such as compassion, and that will only happen when we do so again and again. Seeking out opportunities to be compassionate, we strengthen that muscle.  Daily Practice Each of the brahma-viharas, the sublime states of mind, is paired with an opposite to which it is the antidote. Compassion is the antidote to cruelty, one of the most heinous human emotions. Cruelty is the wish for beings to experience greater suffering; compassion is the wish for them to be relieved of their suffering. Look for instances of suffering around you and direct to each the healing power of a compassionate mind. Tomorrow: Refraining from Malicious Speech One week from today: Cultivating Appreciative Joy Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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2 from White Crane Institute

 

Noteworthy 1970 - NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO is founded in the United States. Baby Gays 2022 - After witnessing his wife wrapping wads of cotton around toothpicks in the early 1920s, inventor Leo Gerstenzang came up with the idea of a ready-to-use swab. He founded the Leo Gerstenzang Infant Novelty Company in 1923. The name of his leading product? Baby Gays — presumably for the relief babies would feel after their mothers stopped poking them with toothpicks. In 1926, the product name was changed to Q-Tips Baby Gays, and eventually, the “Baby Gays” bit was dropped altogether. (In case you’re wondering, the Q stands for “quality.”)

|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

 

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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 understand flavors as they actually are, then one is attached to flavors. 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 Working systematically through the six different sense modalities, here we come to working with the flavors discernible by the tongue that give rise to moments of “tasting.” Here too we can easily get caught by wanting or craving some experiences of taste over others. A moment of suffering is born when we dislike the taste of something we are eating, or when we like something so much that we want to eat it again and again. Daily Practice See if you can get free for just a moment from the reflex to pursue pleasure and avoid displeasure. Try taking a few bites of something you traditionally don’t like and see if you can regard tasting it as simply a different experience. Try taking one bite and not another of something you really like and investigate that too as an experience. In this exercise you practice equanimity: tasting something without getting entangled in it. 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.

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Via Daily Dharma: The Spark Before the Flame

 

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The Spark Before the Flame Where Buddhist practices seem to be of most help is in developing more awareness of emotions as they are beginning to arise—the spark before the flame. Paul Ekman, “In Defense of Envy” CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

Visiting Teacher: Zohar Lavie An Interview with Zohar Lavie Get to know international meditation teacher and cofounder of SanghaSeva, Zohar Lavie.  Read more »

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