Via Muffy Bolding / FB: ALL HAIL RICKY GERVAIS

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#shittalker
#truthteller
#churchescansuckit
#payupbuttercup

Via Lion's Roar: Queer Eye, Right View

 

Minal Hajratwala.

The queer eye sees what it’s not supposed to: alluring curve of hip or neck on the wrong type of body, band of colored light in a thundercloud, rain bowing like a bodhisattva’s back.

Likewise, the Dhammapada tells us that the wise see with the inner eye. This secret eye is how we grasp the wheel of dharma, which turns and turns despite whatever sensation we might have of being stuck. (Say, in the closet.)

The Venerable Ajahn Chah urged us to observe nature and the cycles of nature: “Having arisen, all things change and die.” Don’t get lost in moods, in attachments and aversions.
Supreme Court this, homophobia that.

As LGBTIQ people we have become skilled at nonattachment. We uproot our clinging to familial acceptance, to hometowns too small to hold our view of the multiverse, to gender assignments at birth, to the well-worn paths of compulsory marriage.

But if queerness becomes mainstream, what will happen to queer sanghas, to the queer eye itself? No fear; the dharma points the way. Ajahn Chah again: “Different people establish different conventions about what’s right and what’s wrong, but the Buddha took suffering as his guideline.”
We must turn our collective queer eye to where the suffering is.

In June 1969, a group fought back against the police outside the Stonewall Inn in New York City. At that moment, a queer rights movement was born, as Sylvia Rivera, Storme DeLarverie, and others declared “enough” and demanded the opening of eyes.

On the forty-sixth anniversary of Stonewall, same-sex marriage—an agenda set and fought for by a largely white gay American movement—scored a major victory. Some of us celebrated at the White House. At the same moment, transgender and immigration activist Jennicet Gutiérrez, inside the White House, honored her Stonewall ancestors by protesting trans deportations. Amid a hissing crowd of mostly white respectable gays, she demanded that we open our eyes to a part of our community whose suffering remains deep and unresolved.

As the dharma eye teaches us, we cannot cling to a fixed path. A movement that ossifies will change and die. Will we attach ourselves to the politics of respectability, or will we shed it as we’ve learned to shed the genders, faiths, and expectations we were born into? Will we seek approval from the eight worldly winds, or will we honor the wild, messy truths that we apprehend with our innermost gaze?

Read the original here and much much more

Sukiyaki ("Ue wo Muite Arukō" (上を向いて歩こう?, "I Look Up As I Walk")

The other night I was listening to KCRW and a relatively groovy new Japanese song came on. At this ever advancing age, it doesn't take much, so I was transported back in time... to my 9^th birthday, on the ranch in Yreka. 

It was a time, when the adults would gladly let us roam freely, and we spend hours making dams in the creek, only coming back when my grandmother rang a big old bell retrieved from an old school house somewhere.

I know someone had made a cake, and there were presents. But 9 year old boys don't remember much of that, but I do remember one thing... I got a small transistor radio. It was made with – plastic – and was bright blue. Anybody who knows me, and has suffered my visits know that I listen to the radio... its a sickness, especially wit the invention of the internet, headphones and my IPad. And so there I was listening to KCRW, listening to a Japanese song and I remembered my first musical obsession – you know the kind, you listen to a song a million and 1/2 times and still need to hear it more.

The song was a hit being played everywhere: Sukiyaki- sung by Kyu Sakamoto. This was a hit, in a way few others had been, as it was sung in Japanese. It was also in the era when Japanese food was just becoming in”, tho not sushi yet. But you always went out and “had”sukiyaki, I wasn't ever a picky eater – only rejecting out right liver and onions and the worst of all, and still to this day... lima beans. 
Grandma was kind and never ever made them when I was there, tho my parents did for some unreasonable reason... I am sure it was passive aggression. As a new grandparent, who survived raising an amazing son, I know there were moments when you thought “this is good for you”. Even when it wasn't for either of us. It wasn't until marrying a Brazilian that I learned that beans were not from a can and sweet, and were actually ok.

But I digress...

In those days – Grandma had a party line, you could listen to the county station all day. My uncle, a ham radio operator, showed me early on that as soon as the sun went down you could listen to the whole world. It was AM only... but amazing... so there was Sukiyaki played on KGO, or KGW, and the best... XERB, the huge powerful station, so powerful and so full of itself it broadcast just across the border from México, thousands of miles away, by a cool guy named Wolfman Jack....

Later on, after my next radio, I began to keep a log – and would write down the call letters and names of the stations I got, and where they from from... with notes, like "it must be in Canada, its French". Little did I know that my budding research career began with a small little radio.

It was my first love with technology – like I said it was blue plastic, plastic being something new and exotic. No one thought about the consequences at the time, in those days you went to the beach and all you found were sea shells. And of course it was “Made in Japan”. I can still smell the plastic, as I slept with it under my pillow, tuned low... and I listened to music and news, and conversations in different accents...

After my birthday, we went back home to San Jose, and I was enrolled in swimming lessons.” liked water, and being a chubby kid, I really had little to know concern as a 9 year old kid about what I looked like, but there was one thing... that scared the shit out of me... the deep end.

Tho the water was clear, and so chlorinated it made your teeth white, that feeling of eternity you get when you look under water towards the far end and see no end was terrifying. Of course the swim instructor had to get us to the deep end, I know now that that was the point, so we wouldn't drown if you were on the Andre Doria, so you could paddle around and save people, but I being a sissy boy, would have none of it.

All I could do was survive, thru shear panic. And so I did. I can swim, and I don't mind clear water no mater how deep as long as I can see the bottom, but looking out into infinity when snorkeling still gives me the heebie-jeebies.

But I digress.

The radio, which went with me everywhere. Was sitting on the back seat, when we went to swim lessons. When we came back it wasn't. In those days you parked the car – in this case a light blue and white Chevy four door, with the windows rolled down. No AC, so things got really hot, and besides it was the summer of 1963... crime hadn't been invented yet, along with seat belts, or signs in parking lots reminding people to keep your valuables locked. I know the parents locked the doors of the house when we left, but I also remember them being unlocked most of the time. Like I said, crime hadn't been invented yet, even in suburban California.

So when we came back from traumatic swim lessons, it was gone.

I was devastated, and being a card carrying sissy boy cried for days. Not sure what happened, I don't remember a new radio, I remember next starting 3^rd grade, and being madly in love with Miss Riggs. I remember t the day JFK was shot, as I was at the water fountain, I was a hyper active kid and always sharpening my pencil and getting a drink, when the principal came over the loudspeaker and told us that the president was dead, and that school was out... I remember Miss Riggs bursting into tears and we all were silent, and how we all walked down Foxworthy Avenue a couple of hundred kids in silence...

Yet still there was Sukiyaki... even tho the rest of week was devoted to JFK's funeral and all the mess around Lee Harvey Oswald. There was that song...

So, during this goofy time here in Brasil, I guess it was soothing to find it online and load it into my ITunes thingy.

I leave you here with it, in hopes it too takes you back, to that time before crime...

 P.S.: Its actually interesting to read that it was a protest song!

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia / Flor del dia / Flower of the Day – 10/05/2016

“Tudo o que vivemos nesse mundo é para que possamos manifestar o amor puro. Todo o sofrimento que experimentamos é para que possamos reaprender a amar. O amor puro é o maior poder nessa Terra. Ele é o solvente universal para todos os males. O mundo inteiro pode estar balançando, mas estando firmado no amor, você não cai.”

“Todo lo que vivimos en este mundo es para que podamos manifestar el amor puro. Todo el sufrimiento que experimentamos es para que podamos reaprender a amar. El amor puro es el mayor poder en esta Tierra. Él es el solvente universal para todos los males. El mundo entero puede estar sacudiéndose, pero estando afirmado en el amor, tú no caes.”

“Everything we experience here in this world is helping us be able to manifest pure love. All the suffering we experience is re-teaching us how to love. Pure love is the greatest power on this planet. It is the cure for all evil. The whole world may shake and tremble, but if we are steadfast in love, then we won’t ever fall.”

Via Daily Dharma / May 10, 2016: Seeking Wholeness

All of our lives are about going toward wholeness, completeness. To me, being a Buddhist is about living as complete a life as possible.

—Rev. Karuna Dharma, "What Does Being a Buddhist Mean to You?"

Via FB:

 

 

Buddha was not a Buddhist. Jesus was not a Christian. Muhammad was not a Muslim. Krishna was not a Hindu. Rumi was not a Sufi mystic. They were #teachers who taught love. #Love was their religion.

Via Thich Nhat Hanh - Pema Chödrön - Dalai Lama / FB:

 

 

Some people are consumed with thoughts and memories from their past. Their mourning, regretting, rehashing, and begrudging doom them to life imprisonment in their painful past.

- Thich Nhat Hanh

Graham Hancock - The War on Consciousness BANNED TED TALK

Publicado em 15 de mar de 2013

Re-uploaded as TED have decided to censor Graham and remove this video from the TEDx youtube channel. Follow this link for TED's statement on the matter and Graham's response: http://blog.ted.com/2013/03/14/open-f...

If anyone would like to prepare a transcript or caption file in any language so non-English speakers can enjoy this talk, please do so and I will be happy to upload it. Just PM me. Or the video is embedded on the Amara project website, so you can add subtitles there at: http://tinyurl.com/co6d39c

GRAHAM HANCOCK is the author of the major international bestsellers The Sign and The Seal, Fingerprints of the Gods, and Heaven's Mirror. His books have sold more than five million copies worldwide and have been translated into 27 languages. His public lectures, radio and TV appearances, including two major TV series for Channel 4 in the UK and The Learning Channel in the US - Quest For The Lost Civilisation and Flooded Kingdoms of the Ice Age - have put his ideas before audiences of tens of millions. He has become recognised as an unconventional thinker who raises controversial questions about humanity's past.

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Hancock's early years were spent in India, where his father worked as a surgeon. Later he went to school and university in the northern English city of Durham and graduated from Durham University in 1973 with First Class Honours in Sociology. He went on to pursue a career in quality journalism, writing for many of Britain's leading newspapers including The Times, The Sunday Times, The Independent, and The Guardian. He was co-editor of New Internationalist magazine from 1976-1979 and East Africa correspondent of The Economist from 1981-1983.

In the early 1980's Hancock's writing began to move consistently in the direction of books. His first book (Journey Through Pakistan, with photographers Mohamed Amin and Duncan Willetts) was published in 1981. It was followed by Under Ethiopian Skies (1983), co-authored with Richard Pankhurst and photographed by Duncan Willets , Ethiopia: The Challenge of Hunger (1984), and AIDS: The Deadly Epidemic (1986) co-authored with Enver Carim. In 1987 Hancock began work on his widely-acclaimed critique of foreign aid, Lords of Poverty, which was published in 1989. African Ark (with photographers Angela Fisher and Carol Beckwith) was published in 1990.

Hancock's breakthrough to bestseller status came in 1992 with the publication of The Sign and The Seal, his epic investigation into the mystique and whereabouts today of the lost Ark of the Covenant. 'Hancock has invented a new genre,' commented The Guardian, 'an intellectual whodunit by a do-it-yourself sleuth.' Fingerprints of the Gods, published in 1995 confirmed Hancock's growing reputation. Described as 'one of the intellectual landmarks of the decade' by the Literary Review, this book has now sold more than three million copies and continues to be in demand all around the world. Subsequent works such as Keeper Of Genesis (The Message of the Sphinx in the US) with co-author Robert Bauval, and Heaven's Mirror, with photographer Santha Faiia, have also been Number 1 bestsellers, the latter accompanied by Hancock's three-part television series Quest For the Lost Civilisation.

In 2002 Hancock published Underworld: Flooded Kingdoms of the Ice Age to great critical acclaim, and hosted the accompanying major TV series. This was the culmination of years of research and on-hand dives at ancient underwater ruins. Arguing that many of the clues to the origin of civilization lay underwater, on coastal regions once above water but flooded at the end of the last Ice age, Underworld offered tangible archaeological evidence that myths and legends of ancient floods were not to be dismissed out of hand.

Graham's next venture Talisman: Sacred Cities, Secret Faith, co-authored by Robert Bauval, was published in 2004. This work, a decade in preparation, returns to the themes last dealt with in Keeper Of Genesis, seeking further evidence for the continuation of a secret astronomical cult into modern times. It is a roller-coaster intellectual journey through the back streets and rat runs of history to uncover the traces in architecture and monuments of a secret religion that has shaped the world.

In 2005 Graham published Supernatural: Meetings with The Ancient Teachers of Mankind, an investigation of shamanism and the origins of religion. This controversial book suggests that experiences in altered states of consciousness have played a fundamental role in the evolution of human culture, and that other realities - indeed parallel worlds - surround us all the time but are not normally accessible to our senses.

http://www.grahamhancock.com

These videos are released under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license, so they can be freely shared and reposted. (from http://www.ted.com/pages/about)

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Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia / Flor del dia / Flower of the Day – 09/05/2016

“Podemos dizer que o trabalho do ABC da Espiritualidade é um instrumento que te ajuda a tomar consciência daquilo que está escondido, o que possibilita que deixemos de ser vítimas da inconsciência. Porque enquanto não nos tornarmos conscientes das partes de nós mesmos que sabotam a nossa própria felicidade, seremos conduzidos por elas. Se o seu veículo for conduzido por um motorista que você não conhece e que tem más intenções em relação a você, é possível que você seja sequestrado. Então, tomar consciência de quem está conduzindo o seu veículo é o primeiro passo para que você possa voltar a ser o condutor. Trata-se de um processo de empoderamento de si mesmo.”

“Podemos decir que el trabajo del ABC de la Espiritualidad es un instrumento que te ayuda a tomar consciencia de aquello que está escondido, lo que posibilita que dejemos de ser víctimas de la inconsciencia. Porque mientras no seamos conscientes de las partes de nosotros mismos que sabotean nuestra propia felicidad, seremos conducidos por ellas. Si tu vehículo es conducido por un chofer que no conoces y que tiene malas intenciones contigo, es posible que seas secuestrado. Entonces, tomar conciencia de quién está conduciendo tu vehículo, es el primer paso para que puedas volver a ser el conductor. Se trata de un proceso de empoderamiento de ti mismo.”

“The process we call the ABC’s of Spirituality is a tool that helps us become aware of what is hidden within us. It helps us to stop being victims of our own unconsciousness. As long as we are still unconscious of the parts within us that continue to sabotage our happiness, we continue being controlled by them. If our vehicle is being driven by an unknown driver who has bad intentions towards us, they may be kidnapping us. The first step is becoming aware of who in us is driving our vehicle so that we can regain control of the driver’s seat. This is a process of self-empowerment.”

Via Daily Dharma / May 9, 2016: Practice Is Not Painless

We all get sick, lose people we love, and each of us will die. Our practice is not to try to get rid of this pain, which would be impossible. Rather, it is to avoid constricting around our pain, or blaming ourselves or others for it, or lashing out when we feel attacked.

—Donald Rothberg, "Present Moment, Urgent Moment"

Via Ram Dass:

May 8, 2016

If we accept that the ends of our actions often prove unknowable, we’re also freer to be focused on the process of our work as it’s happening. We can be attentive to situations as they occur. What lies before us is it. Helping is right here. Not having to know so badly, not wandering off looking, we’re more able to be present, freer simply to be.

We needn’t be troubled or worn down, then, by paradox and ambiguity. The mystery of helping can be our ally, our teacher, an environment for wonder and discovery. If we enter into it openly, our actions fall into perspective, a larger pattern we can trust. At rest in the Witness, meanwhile, we greet the outcome of our action with equanimity.

Here is a final shift in perspective which can help release us from burnout: We do what we can.

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia / Flor del dia / Flower of the Day – 08/05/2016

“O portal materno nos revela os mistérios da existência. Conforme vamos integrando os aspectos relacionados à mãe na esfera pessoal, naturalmente evoluímos para experienciar a realidade maior do poder feminino, a Mãe Universal, que nos liberta de todos os apegos à Terra. O portal materno nos revela o caminho a percorrer na encarnação.”

"It is through the portal of the Mother that the mysteries of existence are revealed. As we integrate the aspects related to the mother in our personal sphere, we naturally evolve towards being able to experience the greater reality of feminine power: the Universal Mother. She frees us from all attachments to Earth. The maternal portal shows us which path to follow in life. "

Via Daily Dharma / May 8, 2016: Love Is All Around

Most of us just haven’t learned to pay much attention to the countless moments of love, kindness, and care that surround us each day: a child at the store reaching for her mother’s hand, an elderly stranger at the park who smiles upon a young family, a grocery clerk who beams at you as she hands you your change.

—John Makransky, "Love Is All Around"

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia / Flor del dia / Flower of the Day – 07/05/2016

“A equanimidade mental é uma das qualidades que possibilita irmos mais fundo no processo de autodesenvolvimento. E esse processo inclui, necessariamente, transformar o sofrimento em alegria. Ao mesmo tempo em que você trabalha na sua esfera pessoal, aprendendo a lidar com as frustrações e com as tristezas geradas pelos choques de desamor, e purificando seu sistema, você funciona como uma usina de transformação do sofrimento coletivo. A equanimidade mental te ajuda a se manter firme durante esse processo, ao mesmo tempo em que é fortalecida por ele.” 

“La ecuanimidad mental es una de las cualidades que nos posibilita ir más profundo en el proceso de auto-desarrollo. Y este proceso incluye, necesariamente, transformar el sufrimiento en alegría. Al mismo tiempo que trabajas en tu esfera personal, aprendiendo a lidiar con las frustraciones y con las tristezas generadas por los choques de desamor, y purificando tu sistema, funcionas como una usina de transformación del sufrimiento colectivo. La ecuanimidad mental te ayuda a mantenerte firme durante este proceso, al mismo tiempo en que es fortalecida por él.”

“Mental equanimity is one of the qualities that allows us to go deeper into the process of self-development. This process fundamentally includes the transformation of suffering into joy. As we work within the personal sphere, we learn how to deal with the frustration and sadness created by our traumas due to a lack of love. Simultaneously while we are purifying our systems, we operate like a factory that is transforming the collective suffering as well. During this process, mental equanimity helps us to remain firm and strengthens us.”

Via Daily Dharma / May 7, 2016: Healing Resides in the Heart

The healing power of the spirit naturally follows the path of the spirit. It abides not in the stone of fine buildings, nor in the gold of images, nor in the silk from which robes are fashioned, nor even in the paper of holy writ, but it abides in the ineffable substance of the mind and the heart of man.

—The Dalai Lama, "Brief Teachings"

Why Would God Let Trump Happen?

MAMA (Lip-Sync Video) by Sean Hayes & Scott Icenogle

Via Lions Roar: Taking Refuge in the Triple Gem

 

 

Photo by Freddie Marriage.

A personal meditation practice is the foundation of Buddhism, but do we need more? Essentially we make the journey alone, but many people find that committing themselves to the three jewels—Buddha, dharma, and sangha—helps take them further. These three make up the lineage, philosophy, and community of Buddhism, and their purpose is to deepen and expand our practice.

 

When we embark on the meditative journey, we may enter through many different gateways. We may begin to practice meditation as a way of finding a little more calm in the midst of a chaotic life, to find respite from our turbulent mind. We may begin to meditate to find a way to meet adversities with greater understanding and balance. We may be drawn to meditation through experiences of joy—glimpses of stillness, intimacy, and connectedness—that inspire us to question whether such moments could be more than just accidental encounters. Both sorrow and joy can bring us to a point where we acknowledge the urgency of finding ways to be more at peace with ourselves, to be kinder, and to be more present in all the moments of our life.

Practicing with sincerity, persevering through the peaks and valleys that are part of every spiritual path, we begin to discover that practice does indeed bear fruit. A steady mind begins to be more accessible, we are less prone to be reactive or judgmental, and greater sensitivity and mindfulness allow us to feel more connected to the present moment and to our surroundings. Our capacity to be delighted by life’s beauty is awakened, as is our ability to meet hardship without being overwhelmed.
But this is not the end of the journey. Rather, the journey has now truly begun.

As our practice deepens, our eyes open to possibilities beyond composure and balance. We open up to the possibility of an unshakeable liberation, a timeless wisdom, and being intimately part of a wider community of people who treasure compassion and integrity. We may be inspired to bind ourselves more deeply to the path and to those around us.

At this point, we may begin to ask ourselves not only what meditation practice is but what it means to live a meditative life. To help us accomplish this, we look beyond our personal practice and seek the support of what are known in Buddhism  as the three jewels. These are the Buddha, or other living embodiment of enlightenment; the dharma, the philosophy and teachings of Buddhism; and the sangha, the community of realized beings and of our fellow practitioners. As so many others have before us, we may decide to take refuge in the three jewels as a way of continuing to open to the deeper possibilities we have glimpsed. This is an important step on the journey and one we will repeat many times over. So what does it mean to take refuge and what do the three jewels really mean?

Taking Refuge

I take refuge in the Buddha
I take refuge in the dharma
I take refuge in the sangha

In monasteries around the world these three lines are chanted daily, and many meditation retreats here in the West begin with a recitation of this formula. We might see these as quasi-religious sentiments or statements of belief that seem irrelevant to our own life and spiritual practice. But the great power of taking refuge is that it opens our eyes to the whole of the teaching, not just the parts we find convenient. Taking refuge can also help us find the capacity to meet hardship compassionately—and with steadiness—rather than with flight and denial. But before that can happen, we need to come to understand what we commit to when we make these statements. Taking refuge in the three jewels (also known as the triple gem or the three treasures) is a commitment born of reflection and investigation.

“Taking refuge,” a good translation of the original Pali, literally refers to the act of returning to a place of sanctuary or shelter to find safety, peace, and protection: a child finds refuge in the arms of a loving parent; we find shelter from a storm beneath the branches of a tree; we return home to a caring relationship for sanctuary and peace.

Taking refuge in the three jewels is an inner journey, coming home to what is true. It is a profound act of devotion and inner commitment to a clear mind, an open heart, and a way of engaging with life that is pervaded with integrity, respect, and compassion. If our commitment is profound, we give ourselves unreservedly to a life of wakefulness, to bringing all that is truthful and healing into every aspect of our life. If our devotion is wholehearted, we align our thoughts, words, and acts with the teachings that lead to liberation.

Make the jump to read the rest of the article and more at Lion's Roar

Via Shambhala Online: Queer Dharma

“The aspiration is that the queer community can be an example to the greater society as humans who treat other humans well.”  — Acharya Eve Rosenthal

Make the jump here to read more