Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Via Daily Dharma: Nature’s Details

Nature’s Details

As we see, hear, smell, taste, and feel nature’s details, we become more present, and compassion and love grow within us.
 
Zachiah Murray, “Mindfulness in the Garden”
  
 CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE
 

 

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from Malicious Speech

RIGHT SPEECH
Refraining from Malicious Speech
Malicious speech is unhealthy. Refraining from malicious speech is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning malicious speech, one refrains from malicious speech. One does not repeat there what one has heard here to the detriment of these, or repeat here what one has heard there to the detriment of those. One unites those who are divided, is a promoter of friendships, and speaks words that promote concord. (DN 1) One practices thus: “Others may speak maliciously, but I shall abstain from malicious speech.” (MN 8)

Disputes occur when a person is contemptuous and domineering. Such a person dwells disrespectful and undeferential towards others, causing harm and unhappiness for many. If you see any such root of a dispute either in yourselves or externally, you should strive to abandon it. And if you do not see any such root of dispute either in yourselves or externally, you should practice in such a way that it does not erupt in the future. (MN 104)
Reflection
You may have noticed that some people are more argumentative than others. There are certain character traits that account for this, and being contemptuous and domineering is certainly among them. The fact is that human conflicts are rooted in human qualities of mind, and these need to be addressed if any kind of transformation is to happen. The place to begin this process is in yourself. Do you see any roots of dispute in yourself?
Daily Practice
One of the ways to practice refraining from malicious speech is to clear your mind of the mental and emotional traits that give rise to it. Do you ever catch yourself being contemptuous or domineering? Do you ever dwell disrespectful and undeferential towards others? This is the place to start: “Others might tolerate these qualities in themselves, but I shall not.” Honest self-reflection is a challenging but rewarding practice.
Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Verbal Action
One week from today: Refraining from Harsh Speech

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

Questions?
 Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.
Tricycle is a nonprofit and relies on your support to keep its wheels turning.
© 2026 Tricycle Foundation
89 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003

 

Via FB


 

Via FB


 

Via FB


 

Tuesday, April 21, 2026

Via Daily Dharma: The Stories We Tell Ourselves

 

What Is Wrong

What is “wrong” with us is also what points us in the direction of liberation from it.
 
Susan Piver, “The Enneagram as a Spiritual Path”
 
 CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE
 
Where Bells and Dragons Meet
By Meher McArthur
Art historian Sherry Fowler’s new book explores how Japan’s great bronze bells have echoed through centuries of Buddhist ritual, folklore, and diplomacy.

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Compassion

 

TRICYCLE      COURSE CATALOG      SUPPORT      DONATE
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)

Compassion succeeds when it makes cruelty subside. (Vm 9.94)
Reflection
When lovingkindness comes in contact with witnessing the suffering of others, it transforms into compassion. Compassion and cruelty are considered opposite mental states and cannot coexist in the same mind moment: when one is present, the other is absent. This is why it is so important to cultivate compassion as an intentional act, both to make it grow in its own right and to block out all cruelty.
Daily Practice
Allow yourself to be open to the fact that people are suffering. Cultivate the emotion of compassion and allow it to grow. You are training your mind to develop in a particular direction, much like guiding the growth of a plant or a vine. As the process unfolds, the tendency toward compassion will get stronger. As your character gradually evolves in this healthy direction, the tendency—even the ability—to feel cruelty will disappear.
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.
Tricycle is a nonprofit and relies on your support to keep its wheels turning.
© 2026 Tricycle Foundation
89 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003

Monday, April 20, 2026

Via White Crane Institute //

White Crane InstituteExploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989
 
This Day in Gay History

April 20

 

Noteworthy
2021 -

420, 4:20, or 4/20 (pronounced "four-twenty") is a code-term that refers to the consumption of cannabis, especially smoking cannabis around the time 4:20 p.m./a.m. (or 16:20 in some European nations) and smoking and celebrating cannabis on the date April 20 (which is 4/20 in U.S. form).

The origin of the term 420, celebrated around the world by pot smokers every April 20th, has long been obscured by the clouded memories of the folks who made it a phenomenon. Depending on who you ask, or their state of inebriation, there are as many varieties of answers as strains of medical bud in California. It’s the number of active chemicals in marijuana. It’s teatime in Holland. It has something to do with Hitler’s birthday. It’s those numbers in that Bob Dylan song multiplied.

In reality it was more of a New Age Where’s Waldo?”

A group of five San Rafael High School friends known as the Waldos - by virtue of their chosen hang-out spot, a wall outside the school – are credited with coining the term in 1971. The Waldos were all athletes and agreed to meet at the statue of Louis Pasteur outside the school at 4:20, after practice, to begin the hunt.

The Waldos also have proof that they used the term in the early ‘70s in the form of an old 420 flag and numerous letters with 420 references and early ‘70s post marks. They also have a story.

It goes like this: One day in the Fall of 1971 - harvest time - the Waldos got word of a Coast Guard service member who could no longer tend his plot of marijuana plants near the Point Reyes Peninsula Coast Guard station. A treasure map in hand, the Waldos decided to pluck some of this free bud.

The Waldos were all athletes and agreed to meet at the statue of Louis Pasteur outside the school at 4:20, after practice, to begin the hunt.

There was Waldo Steve, Waldo Dave and Dave’s older brother, Patrick: “We would remind each other in the hallways we were supposed to meet up at 4:20. It originally started out 4:20-Louis and we eventually dropped the Louis,” Waldo Steve


|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 White Crane Institute ///

 

White Crane InstituteExploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989
 
This Day in Gay History

April 20


George Takei
1937 -

GEORGE TAKEI, American actor, born; a Japanese-American actor best known for his role in the TV series Star Trek, in which he played the helmsman Hikaru Sulu on the USS Enterprise. Most recently, he played Hiro Nakamura’s father Kaito Nakamura on the NBC television show, Heroes.

Takei is also known for his baritone voice and deep-throated catch phrase, "Oh my!"  In October 2005, Takei revealed in an issue of Frontiers magazine that he is Gay, and has been in a committed relationship with his partner, Brad Altman, for the last eighteen years. He said, "It's not really coming out, which suggests opening a door and stepping through. It's more like a long, long walk through what began as a narrow corridor that starts to widen." Nevertheless, Takei's sexuality had long been an open secret among Trek fans since the 1970s, and Takei did not conceal his active membership in Gay organizations including Frontrunners, where Takei met Altman, along with fellow runners Kevin and Don Norte, with whom he became friends.

"We are masculine, we are feminine, we are caring, we are abusive. We are just like straight people, in terms of our outward appearance and our behavior. The only difference is that we are oriented to people of our own gender." This is said to have been taken from a December 2005 telephone interview with Howard Stern, in which Takei described Altman as "a saint" for helping to take care of Takei's terminally ill mother.

Alex Cho, former editor of Frontiers, has stated that the Takei article was initiated by someone in the Takei camp when a close personal friend called the papers to ask them if they would be interested in the story. The friend remains unidentified but according to Cho, Takei offered his story voluntarily and not under any pressure from the media. Kevin Norte and Don Norte, when asked if they were involved in initiating the article, declined to comment.

When asked whether his character Sulu was Gay, Takei's response was that he would like to believe that sexual orientation would not even be an issue in the twenty-third century. Of all the show's principal characters, Sulu was the only male never depicted with a romantic interest; having said that, in the alternate universe depicted in "Mirror Mirror", alternate-Sulu tried many times to seduce Uhura, and "normal" Sulu is revealed to have fathered a daughter, Demora, during the opening sequence of the film Star Trek Generations (Demora's origins were further explored in Peter David's novel Captain's Daughter).

In his new book, My Lost Freedom, Takei details his experience growing up in Japanese-American internment camps during World War II in his new children's book. It is an autobiographical account of his experience as a 5-year-old in a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II. The book aims to reach children and their parents. The book recounts Takei's time as a child in a Japanese internment camp in Rohwer, Arkansas, a dark chapter in American history.


|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|