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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - January 15, 2025 💠

 

"Relationships and emotions are two of the most significant aspects of the Grist for the Mill of awakening. When it comes to love relationships, many of us are like bees looking for a flower. The predicament with emotional loving is the power of the addiction to loving somebody, of getting so caught in the relationship that you can't arrive at the essence of dwelling in love. When you hunger for love, that is the hunger to 'come home', to be at peace, to be feeling at one in the universe, where lover and Beloved merge. It's that place to feel fulfilled in the moment, a place to be fully in the moment."

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Via From the Academy: Diacritics and Translation

 

JANUARY 2025

From the Academy Welcome to “From the Academy,” a new newsletter inspired by a previous Tricycle column by the same name. This monthly email series, exclusive to Premium subscribers, introduces a topic of interest in the world of Buddhism from an academic perspective, and offers books or articles for further reading. This month’s newsletter grew out of a recent conversation in the Tricycle editorial office about translation and our use of diacritics. Diacritics and Translation What are diacritics? A diacritic is a sign written above or below a letter indicating pronunciation. The diacritical dots, lines, and squiggles have many names—such as diaeresis ï, macron ā, and tilde ñ —but they may be unfamiliar to some Tricycle readers because English usually leaves them out when borrowing foreign words. We do not stay in hôtels, and even terms like naïve, passé, and résumé are often stripped of their marks.

A dharani written in two languages – Sanskrit and central Asian Sogdian To use or not to use? When linguists convert languages such as Chinese, Sanskrit, and Pali into the Latin alphabet, they use diacritics to represent the sounds and spellings accurately. Thus, the diacritics of the Buddhist terms Ch’an, ḍākinī, or mettā indicate how to pronounce these words. Diacritics are especially useful when learning a foreign language and are used in academic writing for accuracy. Not using diacritics can create confusion with words that look similar without them.  Diacritics are less important when a commonly used foreign word appears in an English text. Sanskrit terms incorporated into the English dictionary—such as nirvāṇa, saṃsāra, śūnyatā—lose their diacritics, allowing them to become more easily integrated into general use. Tricycle typically does not employ diacritics for Buddhist terms, but we retain them in proper names or in our long-running What’s In A Word series. Tricycle addresses a popular audience, and for most readers, the primary consideration is recognizing and becoming familiar with key Buddhist terms. Further, nonspecialist readers are not likely to know how a diacritic modifies the sound of a word. Still, even among the editors, opinions vary. Diacritics and translation For translators and writers presenting Buddhist teachings in English, conversations about diacritics are part of a more extensive discussion about the movement of ideas across cultures. Translation and diacritics require a sensitivity to context: who is reading a text, where, and for what purpose. The translator Damion Searls suggests, for example, that using the Lakota name Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake, or his Anglicized name, Sitting Bull, depends on the audience. Diacritics provide a visual reminder that words and names have meaning and history in another language and culture and alert us to pay particular attention so that nothing is lost in translation. Where the rubber meets the road Teachers and translators must decide whether to tailor Buddhist ideas to their time and place or challenge an audience to engage with the complexity of foreign concepts from the distant past. For example, mindfulness (coined in the late 19th century by the scholar William Rhys Davids) has long been used to translate the Pali sati and the Sanskrit smṛti; however, these terms have a significant range of meanings. The word mindfulness simplifies things for an English speaker and, for better or worse, allows for new meanings. The power of language to shape Buddhist teachings cannot be overestimated, and we take this seriously at Tricycle. The future of translation In an upcoming Tricycle article, Donald S. Lopez Jr. discusses how the history of Buddhism is, in many ways, a history of translation. Both of these histories are on the cusp of significant changes with developments in artificial intelligence. AI might not be quite ready to translate Buddhist texts, but many scholars believe that as technology improves, so will its capacity to produce translations. How machines will handle the various choices surrounding diacritics remains to be seen. Recommended Readings Video: Jan Nattier, “The Proto-History of Buddhist Translation: From Gāndhārī and Pāli to Han-Dynasty Chinese,” 2017. An excellent and accessible presentation on the history and future of translating Buddhist texts. Damion Searls, The Philosophy of Translation (Yale University Press, 2024). Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi in conversation with Matthew Abrahams, “In Defense of ‘Enlightenment,’” Tricycle Summer 2021.

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from Frivolous Speech

 

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RIGHT SPEECH Refraining from Frivolous Speech Frivolous speech is unhealthy. Refraining from frivolous speech is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning frivolous speech, one refrains from frivolous speech. One speaks at the right time, speaks only what is fact, and speaks about what is good. One speaks what is worthy of being overheard, words that are reasonable, moderate, and beneficial. (DN 1) One practices thus: "Others may speak frivolously, but I shall abstain from frivolous speech." (MN 8) When a person commits an offense of some kind, one should not hurry to reprove them but rather should consider whether or not to speak. If you will be troubled, the other person will not be hurt, and you can help them emerge from what is unhealthy and establish them in what is healthy, then it is proper to speak. It is a trifle that you will be troubled compared with the value of helping establish them in what is healthy. (MN 103)

Reflection The guideline to refrain from frivolous speech is a recommendation that we take seriously what we say and say what is meaningful with a sense of purpose and care. It does not mean everything we say has to be profound, just carefully considered. Here we also have guidance for when to speak up and when not to. If we can help someone and make a difference by speaking out, then the fact that it is troublesome is a trifle. Daily Practice As you practice considering carefully the way you speak, the suggestion to "not hurry to reprove" someone who does or says something offensive but rather to "consider whether or not to speak" is an important suggestion. This moment of pause and reflection is itself a powerful practice in daily life and should be followed at every opportunity. Try speaking up only when you really can help a person or situation and not simply from habit or reflex. Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Social Action One week from today: Refraining from False Speech 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: Motivations for Giving

 

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Motivations for Giving When you give to others, you want to give attentively, you want to give with respect, you want to give out of compassion. And the best motivation, of course, is that you want to benefit your mind. Thānissaro Bhikkhu, “Give Before You Get” CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

When Am I? By Loch Kelly Contrary to popular belief, you can’t be in the present moment. Read more »

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Via FB // Dr. Candace Linklater

I completed my PhD!!! I am now Dr. Candace Linklater 🤩

Rez kids, you can do ANYTHING 💫💫

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My Heartfelt Acknowledgements:  

To my loving Alex, my sweetheart: you have been my soft landing, my courage, and my steady heart. Your faith in me brought me here, to this moment, and I am endlessly grateful. You are my everything, and every step of my study’s journey was taken with you devotedly beside me.

I extend my heartfelt gratitude to my parents, my sister, and my best friend. Your relentless support and love have been my anchor, and your compassion flows through this work, filling it with care and depth.

To my community, Moose Cree First Nation—the People, Land, and Waters: thank you for keeping me grounded and loved. And of course, I acknowledge, with so much love, all my previous students. You are in every word, every essence of my work.

To those who resisted the birth of this study: I acknowledge you too. I hope that one day, you open yourself to the kind of love that extends beyond walls of bigotry. Despite your resistance, here my work stands—alive, breathing, and complete.

Lastly, to the moss—the inspiration and quiet teacher of my study’s journey. I will keep learning from you, and letting your quiet resilience guide me. This work, like you, stretches forward, rooting, nurturing, and reaching toward light.

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My PhD dissertation’s title is Pedagogy of Moss in School Leadership for Indigenous 2SLGBTQ+ K-12 Students. 

My committee members will be nominating my dissertation for an award, and I can’t wait to share it with you all!

It will be available in the coming weeks–I’ll make an announcement when it’s published! 

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At the core of my study is an invitation to honor humanity and embrace relational growth, understanding that transformation, much like moss, unfolds slowly and steadily, even within moments of disruption. 

Just as moss turns what seems barren into something alive, the process of collective actualization allows us to transmute our shadows—our fears, our discomforts—into alchemy. Growth is holistic; it comes with stumbles, yet we can grow regardless. 

Each student, each educator, and each connection are an essential part of a larger, interconnected whole, like the spectrum of colors that blend into one. If you see only five colors, you’re blind to the full rainbow; if you hear only five sounds, you’re deaf to the full symphony. Similarly, when we restrict human expression and love to rigid binaries, we limit our own humanity, disconnecting ourselves from the oneness of all experiences. 

We must open our eyes, ears, and hearts to the full spectrum of human expression—embracing the complex, fluid, and expansive ways we all exist. By doing so, we create spaces where all forms of expression are celebrated, just as moss nurtures life in its quiet, resilient growth. 

Through honoring each other’s aliveness, we invite a new vision of education and the world: one that nurtures, connects, and transforms. Just like moss.

- 

I cannot imagine getting upset with moss

For not growing like the trees.

I cannot imagine telling moss

That it needs to look more like the flowers.

 

Gender expression and identity

Attraction and love

Are like the moss.

Expansive. Non-binary. A forest.

 

So why

Oh why

Are you upset

When someone doesn’t grow

The way you want them to?

 

Try getting mad at moss

For not being the grass.

Or yelling at the moss

For not being like the vines.

 

Let moss

Be moss.

Let humans

Be human.

Let love

Be love. 

An Invitation to Love by Dr. Candace Linklater

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Photographer: My sweetheart, Alex Manitopyes @alexmanitopyes

MUO: @amavi_beauty

Hair: @sydironstarbeauty

Set Assistant: @twospiritsonelove

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Equanimity

 

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RIGHT INTENTION Cultivating Equanimity 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 equanimity, for when you develop meditation on equanimity, all aversion is abandoned. (MN 62)  The function of equanimity is to see equality in beings. (Vm 9.93) Having heard a sound with the ear, one is neither glad-minded nor sad-minded but abides with equanimity, mindful and fully aware. (AN 6.1)

Reflection Equanimity is the active ingredient in mindfulness practice. Here we see it as the fourth of the brahma-viharas. Equanimity means an evenly balanced mind, like a plate on a stick that inclines neither toward nor away from an object of experience. It is the midpoint between greed (attraction) and hatred (aversion), and is therefore a state in which the mind can be free from the influence of both. Daily Practice As we cycle through the senses, we are encouraged here to work with the sense modality of sound. So often we reach for the sounds that we like and make us feel good, and avoid or recoil from the sounds that we don’t like and make us feel bad. At this basic level of sensory input, can you practice being mindful and fully aware of a sound without either favoring or opposing it? Try to let the sound be what it is, without relating it to yourself and your preferences. Tomorrow: Refraining from Frivolous Speech One week from today: Cultivating Lovingkindness Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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