What is the Moon? | November 7, 2014
The five world religions are like the five
fingers of the hand, pointing to the same moon. And I wonder, along with
my children, what is the moon?
- Sarah Ruhl, "Five Questions for Sarah Ruhl"
A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
Bringing It All Back Home | November 6, 2014
While an attitude of nonattachment is
essential, it would be sadly misguided to imagine we need to give up
love and affection for our children or other family members in order to
follow the Bodhisattva Way.
- Lama Jampa Thaye, "Bringing It All Back Home" |
Surrender and Engagement | November 5, 2014
We must walk a fine line between surrender
and engagement. As we individuate, we learn to remain open to the nature
of uncertainty in the journey, allowing ourselves to fearlessly unfold.
At the same time, our active participation in the process functions as a
kind of dialogue between the ego and our Buddha-nature. We still pay
the bills, do the washing up, and take the kids to school.
- Rob Preece, "The Solace of Surrender" |
Residents of Saint Petersburg have reportedly torn down a giant interactive iPhone memorial that commemorated the death of Apple founder Steve Jobs after the company's current CEO, Tim Cook, came out as gay on Thursday. Business FM Radio reports that the company that originally funded the memorial, ZEFS, decided to tear it down after Cook said he was proud to be gay. The six-foot tall memorial was erected in 2013 to celebrate Steve Jobs' life. It featured a large screen that showcased moments from Jobs' life, as well as scrolling quotations from his speeches and a QR code on the back that would take people who scanned it to a website.The chairman of the company that installed the memorial said that it might return with a message that instructs Russians not to buy Apple products. (Tipped by JMG reader Alan)
A court in Chandigarh issued a legal notice to Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, seeking his response by 19 December on a petition alleging that he promoted homosexuality on his popular TV show 'Satyamev Jayate'. Admitting the petition by advocate Mandeep Kaur, the court of civil judge Jaswinder Singh had on Friday issued a notice to Aamir Khan to file his reply by 19 December. In her petition, Kaur alleged that Aamir Khan's conduct on his show 'Satyamev Jayate' was a violation of the Supreme Court order on homosexuality, upholding Section 377 which criminalises homosexual acts. Through the petition, she sought the court's intervention to declare Khan's act a contempt of court.Kaur has demanded a public apology from Khan but says she has gotten no response.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has joined Austrian cross-dressing pop star Conchita Wurst in calling for an end to bias based on a person's sexual orientation. Wurst teamed up with Ban on Monday on the sidelines of a U.N. conference to deliver their message of tolerance. Ban told reporters that he will continue his fight "against transphobia and homophobia." "I stand strong for equality," Ban said. "We are unstoppable," he added, quoting Wurst's words on the night of her victory at this year's Eurovision song contest.More from Yahoo News:
The entertainer, sporting a demure dress and black high heels along with the trademark beard, shook hands and joked with Ban and sang for hundreds of cheering officials and diplomats at the United Nations complex in Vienna. "This year I extended benefits to same-sex partners of U.N. staff members... Discrimination has no place in the United Nations," Ban said to applause from officials, dozens of whom crowded round to get a picture with or autograph from Wurst. "When I heard that she won this Eurovision song contest I immediately knew that she was a star of the world," Ban said.
How to Regard All People | November 3, 2014
The myriad dharmas, absolutely
everything, are within the nature of all people. If you can regard all
people, the bad as well as the good, without grasping or rejecting, free
of any clinging, your mind will be like empty space. Thus, it can be
called 'great,' maha.
- Huineng, “Prajna”
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