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Discipline and Joy | October 26, 2014
Without spiritual discipline we are
never going to wake up or advance on our journey through this life. But
our discipline must be wedded to joy, and we must find pleasure in the
myriad wonders that this life offers.
- Joan Gattuso, "The Balancing Buddha"
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Sunday, October 26, 2014
Via Daily Dharma
Via Daily Dharma
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The Longer View | October 25, 2014
Mindlessness, however petty, is
reckless at its heart. It only postpones; it never takes us anywhere.
Mindfulness, by contrast, is patient, careful. It takes a longer view.
- Joan Duncan Oliver, "Do I Mind?"
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Saturday, October 25, 2014
Flower of the Day: 10/25/14
“Desire
adds value to the idea of ‘me.’ When one buys a new car and then drives
it, one feels fulfilled and self-satisfied. One identifies with it –
one actually becomes the car. But this satisfaction doesn’t
last very long. Soon we yearn for something else to add value to the
idea of ‘me’ – maybe a house or a partner. So we live our lives seeking
and wishing for things that could fill the inner void. This desire
becomes compulsive and stimulates comparisons, envy, jealousy and many
other negative feelings. But at some point this compulsive desire starts
to weaken because you notice that nothing outside you will bring the
satisfaction you are seeking.”
Sri Prem Baba
Friday, October 24, 2014
Via JMG: Lisa Kudrow - Gay Men Are Superior
Flower of the Day: 10/24/14
“There
is an inner path that leads you to acceptance and gratitude. We begin
by recognizing and dissolving the frozen images in our system. Next, we
become aware of our desire for negativity and pacts of revenge. We
recognize our identification with the victim in the form of the wounded
child. Through all this, we go on liberating our denied feelings. We do
our part until we break through even just one layer of the veil of
illusion that makes us see everything as a threat. Eventually we are
able to enter the inner sanctum that allows us to perceive everything as
a gift, even challenging situations that bring deep discomfort.”
Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
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The Depths of Our Experience | October 23, 2014
The work of Buddhism is to awaken, to
come out of the sleepy dreams and notions of reality that we hold to be
true and replace them with a direct experience of what is more
accurately occurring. To awaken in this way, we need to become conscious
of what’s actually going on at the very depths of our experience.
- Will Johnson, "Full Body, Empty Mind"
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Flower of the Day: 10/23/14
“I
can’t explain what oneness is, I can only show you the path that will
lead you to this experience. Silence is needed for this phenomenon to
take place, even if you are the only one in silence and the whole world
is making noise. If you are in silence, I will be able to guide you
towards this experience. Without silence you will find it difficult to
absorb the teachings that are being transmitted. Most of what is
transmitted is not picked up or received, because of the noise. Great
and rare opportunities for healing are being wasted, and this healing is
what prepares the field for the experience of oneness.”
Sri Prem Baba
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Flower of the Day: 10/21/14
“It
is important to commit to becoming aware of your paradoxes, of your
lack of integrity. When are you dishonest in life? How do you fake love
to sustain the games of your lower nature? A certain kind of courage is
needed in order to love, because you need to be whole and integral. To
love, you need to be aligned with the truth because love is a fragrance
of the truth. I am talking about the truth of the divine self, not the
transitory truth of the small self that is sustained by the mask. The
mask is not at all committed to the truth: it is merely a pretense.”
Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
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The Insight of Impermanence | October 22, 2014
To those whose knowledge is developed,
everything within and without oneself, within and without one’s house,
within and without one’s village and town, is an object at the sight of
which the insight of impermanence may spring up and develop.
- Ledi Sayadaw, "Meditation en Masse"
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Flower of the Day: 10/22/14
“It
is necessary to have an ego to live in this realm. This is one of the
laws of this world, just like gravity. We need to have a mediator
between the inner and outer world, and the ego is this mediator. It is
formed from the impressions we receive from the outer world which give
us an idea about who we are. But it has a very important role within the
game, because the ego is the one that makes the journey. The ego
identifies the lower self and becomes identified with the divine self.”
Sri Prem Baba
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Monday, October 20, 2014
Flower of the Day: 10/20/14
“I
see many spiritual seekers who disregard the possibility of
somatization, developing physical symptoms due to spiritual or emotional
distress. They believe that everything occurs in the subtle bodies, so
they don’t take enough care of their physical bodies. The opposite is
also true: some people are so identified with their bodies that they
fall into despair when they cannot find the causes of their symptoms.
The middle way is of sensibility. When you are on the path to
self-realization, you may have transcendental experiences as well as
challenging ones, but it all depends on the amount of blockages you
carry.”
Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
Cultivating Equanimity | October 20, 2014
Classical mindfulness, unlike popular
mindfulness, is all about the cultivation of equanimity. One is able to
experience both pleasure and pain without clinging to anything in the
world.
- Andrew Olendzki, "The Mindfulness Wedge"
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Via Daily Dharma
Wildness of Mind | October 19, 2014
The wildness of mind that we experience
when we sit quietly noticing our body and breathing for five minutes is
the result of everything we’ve been doing before those five minutes.
- Gaylon Ferguson, "Fruitless Labor"
Flower of the Day: 10/19/14
“The
denial of our feelings is our main poison. We can only open up to
experiencing all of our feelings once we have understood enough about
ourselves. If we have not yet cognitively understood our inner workings,
we won’t allow ourselves to dive into this experience of our feelings.
We don’t have any control over our feelings because they are completely
protected by fear, arrogance and other aspects of our lower nature.”
Sri Prem Baba
Saturday, October 18, 2014
JMG HomoQuotable - Matt Stolhandske
Labels: Christianists, HomoQuotable, LGBT rights, Matt Stolhandske, Oregon, public accommodations, religion, WaPo
Flower of the Day: 10/18/14
“Many
of the games of our lower nature which cause destruction in our lives
and in the lives of those around us come from our inability to feel
gratitude. Ingratitude results from a lack of understanding about the
game of life. This feeds the victim within us who sees fault in
absolutely everything, not just in difficult unpleasant situations, but
also in the good things of life. One of the main characteristics of the
victim is complaining and lamenting. This turns into an addiction which
is oftentimes more powerful than even the addiction to chemical
substances.”
Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
Defining Emptiness | October 18, 2014
Emptiness simply means an absence of
reactivity. When you relate to somebody, there's not you and me
and your little mind running its little comparisons and judgments. When
those are gone, that is emptiness.
- Charlotte Joko Beck, "Life's Not a Problem"
Friday, October 17, 2014
Flower of the Day: 10/17/14
“We
see reality subjectively, since we look at it through colored lenses
that distort our perception. These lenses are our mistaken ideas and
false beliefs. For example, say that your mother was betrayed and
therefore became resentful. She might have then transmitted her belief
to you that ‘men cannot be trusted because they betray you.’
Consequently, you would end up attracting men who cheat on you, because
your energy was vibrating at this frequency and these beliefs acted like
magnets. When you look at men you always become suspicious, and this
activates the worst in them. That’s how we confirm our beliefs and
maintain our limited perception of reality.”
Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
The Principle of Renunciation | October 17, 2014
The principle of renunciation is not to
encourage a state of lack, but to establish as complete a state of
simplicity as possible.
- Ajaan Amaro, "Just Another Thing in the Forest"
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Flower of the Day: 10/16/14
“Maturity
comes from comprehension. Growing spiritually means increasing your
understanding of things. A mature person is someone who understands, and
this understanding allows him or her to accept the game of life. In
this way, they can experience peace and silence, calmness and
tranquility.”
Sri Prem Baba
A buddy of mine posted this on another post:
In relation to a discussion about the Catholic Church possibly becoming more tolerant my Gay Baha'i amigo, Gary wrote:
In the end, all the very conservative religions and political parties are going to have to make a decision whether they want to cater to old people who are dying off or young people of the progressive future. The answer is, of course, obvious, but not to them. Because until now, the older fearful bigoted population was larger and more powerful. So they unwisely catered to that group (short term thinking, which also infects western capitalists). For greedy short-term easy gain, they made the worst possible long-term choice, to be conservative rather the progressive (which is what religion is supposed to be). And in doing so, they have made themselves irrelevant. And they may very well go out of business because of their refusal to adapt to an evolving world. Just like the guy who refused to stop betting on buggy whips when the automobile was first introduced. My own life is a perfect example of this huge mistake made by religion. My religion belittled and scorned me, despite my lifelong devotion to it. So I drifted away to be my true self, at a time when most of society also scorned me. And now all these years later, much of society has come around to accept me, but not my religion. In the meantime, my ordeal taught me I actually prefer my life without the religion. My life is actually much better. So now, even if the religion were to catch up with society, I would not go back. I am just one example. I can only imagine how many others have been similarly impacted by this process. It's too bad religions and political conservatives got themselves caught up on the wrong side of history in the gay civil rights movement, but they did, and they did knowing full well what the repercussions would be and they were also sufficiently warned; they did it anyway. They now will pay the price.
In the end, all the very conservative religions and political parties are going to have to make a decision whether they want to cater to old people who are dying off or young people of the progressive future. The answer is, of course, obvious, but not to them. Because until now, the older fearful bigoted population was larger and more powerful. So they unwisely catered to that group (short term thinking, which also infects western capitalists). For greedy short-term easy gain, they made the worst possible long-term choice, to be conservative rather the progressive (which is what religion is supposed to be). And in doing so, they have made themselves irrelevant. And they may very well go out of business because of their refusal to adapt to an evolving world. Just like the guy who refused to stop betting on buggy whips when the automobile was first introduced. My own life is a perfect example of this huge mistake made by religion. My religion belittled and scorned me, despite my lifelong devotion to it. So I drifted away to be my true self, at a time when most of society also scorned me. And now all these years later, much of society has come around to accept me, but not my religion. In the meantime, my ordeal taught me I actually prefer my life without the religion. My life is actually much better. So now, even if the religion were to catch up with society, I would not go back. I am just one example. I can only imagine how many others have been similarly impacted by this process. It's too bad religions and political conservatives got themselves caught up on the wrong side of history in the gay civil rights movement, but they did, and they did knowing full well what the repercussions would be and they were also sufficiently warned; they did it anyway. They now will pay the price.
Dazzled by Technology | October 16, 2014
People today are dazzled by advances in
science and technology and take human progress to be identical with
scientific discovery. This is the fundamental group stupidity of our
modern times. We must clearly distinguish between scientific advancement
and human progress.
- Kosho Uchiyama, "The Chimera of Human Advancement"
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Via Daily Dharma
Touching Enlightenment | October 15, 2014
My sense is that there is a very real
problem among Western Buddhist practitioners. We are attempting to
practice meditation and to follow a spiritual path in a disembodied
state, and our practice is therefore doomed to failure. The full
benefits and fruition of meditation cannot be experienced or enjoyed
when we are not grounded in our bodies.
- "Touching Enlightenment," Reggie Ray
Flower of the Day: 10/15/14
"The mantra Prabhu Ap Jago
is a ripe fruit from the tree of consciousness. Its power is
impressive when it is sung from the heart. It is a fragrance of the
Being, imbued with notes of compassion. This is a prayer that comes from
the depths of one’s emotional center. It is a request for God to awaken
in everyone, everywhere, and to illuminate the game of joy."
Sri Prem Baba
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
A ‘Pastoral Earthquake’: Catholic Church Proposes Extraordinary Shift On Gays And Lesbians
CREDIT: AP
A panel of high-ranking Catholic officials has proposed a dramatic change in the way the church treats gays and lesbians. The group of Cardinals, known as a synod, suggested the church is capable of “valuing their sexual orientation, without compromising Catholic doctrine.”
The document was called a “pastoral eathquake” by John Thavis, a prominent journalist who covers the Vatican. It was produced by Pope Francis’s ongoing extraordinary synod on the family. That group previously polled Catholics about their opinions on issues including same-sex marriage, divorce, and contraception. The document produced by the synod, however, does not represent a formal change in church policy.
To read the full article make the jump here
Flower of the Day: 10/14/14
"Sanatana dharma
is the path to enlightenment, the way of the eternal religion, which
leaves us some inheritances. These act like footprints of love that
serve as a map, a guide to the path of the heart. All the names and
forms of the Divine I allude to refer to the higher self that inhabits
each one of us. They’re like frequencies of light. Just as white light
is composed of all the colors of the rainbow, the higher self consists
of many aspects that act as virtues or qualities of the Being. Such
virtues are emanations of the same Being. They are scents of the
fragrance of love."
Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
Discovering Truth | October 14, 2014
Trees bend and birds are tossed high.
Lives are thrown onto new courses by the spiritual tide. In our ordinary
struggles with life and our interminable retreat into the
compulsiveness of ordinary being, if we can look honestly, we may
experience our religious sense as fully as in many high-flown writings.
Looking deeply at our foolishness, we discover truth.
- Caroline Brazier, "Discovering Truth"
Monday, October 13, 2014
Via Daily Dharma
Not What You Think | October 13, 2014
The early teachings deconstruct many
habitual ways of being and seeing. We think we’re permanent, but we’re
not. We think that by craving things we’ll find happiness, but we won’t.
One after another the Buddha challenges our established views, our ways
of constructing our version of the world, and takes them apart: you
think it’s one way but it’s not; you want an answer, but the problem is
your very wanting of an answer.
- Henry Shukman, “The Unfamiliar Familiar”
Flower of the Day: 10/13/14
"I
have called your attention to this cycle of time we are living in. I
have almost no words to express the characteristics of this period;
suffice it to say that it’s a very strange or different period. We are
entering the peak of Parivartan, the great planetary
transformation, so fasten your seatbelts, for we are entering
turbulence. Tightening one’s seatbelt means becoming steadfast in one’s sadhana,
one’s spiritual practice, because everything will shake. At the same
time, we are having wonderful opportunities to serve and to grow in all
aspects."
Sri Prem Baba
Via JMG: UPDATED: Wikipedia Marriage Map
Labels: Alaska, marriage, United States
Via JMG/ Comments:
Top 10 schadenfreude marriage equality states (so far):
1. Utah (LDS)
2. Virginia (Matt Barber, Liberty U., so many others)
3. Oklahoma (Sally Kern)
4. California (Frank Schubert, Randy Thomasson, many others, prop 8 voters)
5. Alaska (Palins)
6. Illinois (Peter LaBarbarian)
7. Massachusetts (MassResistance)
8. North Carolina (a whollllle lotta folks)
9. Hawaii (5000 speakers at the House hearings)
10. Colorado (James Dobson)
More to come, including Mississippi & Texas!
Via JMG/ Comments:
Top 10 schadenfreude marriage equality states (so far):
1. Utah (LDS)
2. Virginia (Matt Barber, Liberty U., so many others)
3. Oklahoma (Sally Kern)
4. California (Frank Schubert, Randy Thomasson, many others, prop 8 voters)
5. Alaska (Palins)
6. Illinois (Peter LaBarbarian)
7. Massachusetts (MassResistance)
8. North Carolina (a whollllle lotta folks)
9. Hawaii (5000 speakers at the House hearings)
10. Colorado (James Dobson)
More to come, including Mississippi & Texas!
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Flower of the Day: 10/12/14
"As
you cultivate silence, even if it may be in one-minute intervals, you
begin to lord over your mind, until you are able to abandon it and use
it only when necessary. You can use the mind to make calculations or
plan your day, but should be able to let it rest when it is not needed.
This is the key to freedom."
Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
What to Do When Anger Gets Hot | October 12, 2014
Americans think it is beneficial to
‘get in touch with’ their anger. That’s just the first step—recognizing
your anger. The second step is analyzing and meditating on your anger.
- Ngawang Gelek Demo Rinpoche, “What to Do When the Anger Gets Hot”
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Via Daily Dharma
The Science of Enlightenment | October 11, 2014
It is tempting for teachers to leverage
the prestige and power of science to promote a particular religious
view. Scientists used to quote scripture. Now religious leaders quote
scientific theories!
- Brad Marston, “The Science of Enlightenment”
Flower of the Day: 10/11/14
"We
want to sustain the idea of 'me' and 'mine,' and to maintain what we
call the ego. We want to keep our story, however miserable it may be,
because it is our story, and gives us some sense of identity.
But getting closer to a spiritual master means giving up this story of
ours, or at least beginning a new story, which is now based on the
present, not the past. Therefore, becoming a disciple actually means
being reborn."
Sri Prem Baba
Friday, October 10, 2014
Flower of the Day: 10/10/14
"Transformation
refers to a structural change that is possible only when we are able to
identify the fragmented parts of our personality. This occurs when we
predispose ourselves to studying these parts of our personality,
understanding that they are there to protect us from pain. When we
realize how attached we are to the negative pleasure they activate, a
pleasure that keeps us repeating negative actions, then we create the
conditions for the transformation to take place."
Sri Prem Baba
The Moon Reflected on the Water | October 10, 2014
Enlightenment is like the moon
reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water
broken. Although its light is wide and great, the moon is reflected even
in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are
reflected in dewdrops on the grass, or even in one drop of water.
- Eihei Dogen, "Genjokoan"
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Flower of the Day: 10/09/14
"Another
way to understand karma is as the traces that we leave behind. It is
our open accounts: the words unspoken or feelings unexpressed. Presence
is the master key, because only through presence can we act without
leaving a trace. If there are still traces left, then it isn’t possible
to merge with the ocean and free ourselves. We have to erase all of our
traces by settling our open accounts with all others. This is why I have
been focusing on the work of reconciliation."
Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
The Power of Custom | October 9, 2014
That the Buddhist religion has survived
so long in the world is a result not so much of the durability of
manuscripts as of the power of ideas embodied in custom; and custom, for
all our abundant sources of information, is what we lack and cannot in
the long run do without.
- Bhikkhu Nyanasobhano, "Selective Wisdom"
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Flower of the Day: 10/08/14
"Divine
justice makes use of human injustice to bring about the ultimate
justice. The human mind, although it is a great power, has its
limitations. One of the aspects of the mind is memory, but human memory
is flawed. We send out an invitation and forget we sent it, so that when
the guests arrive we don’t think we invited them. This limitation
prevents us from noticing the relationship between cause and effect. But
there is no effect without a cause."
Sri Prem Baba
The Presence of Beauty | October 8, 2014
Thomas Aquinas said that beauty arrests
motion. He meant, I think, that in the presence of something gorgeous
or sublime, we stop our nervous natterings, our foot twitchings and
restless tongues. Whatever that fretful hunger is, it seems momentarily
filled in the presence of beauty.
- Barbara Hurd, "On Silence"
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Via JMG: Human Rights Campaign Inducts 19 Members Of Congress Into Hall Of Shame
“If you want to understand why LGBT equality has hit a roadblock in Congress, you don't need to look any further than these leaders of anti-LGBT obstruction and animus,” said David Stacy, HRC’s Government Affairs Director. “These members go out of their way to oppose any step toward equal protection under the law or to protect LGBT Americans from violence, discrimination and harassment. They proactively work to undermine existing legal protections and promote anti-LGBT discrimination.”The only Democrat on the list, Rep. Mike McIntrye, has signed Rep. Randy Weber's laughably doomed bill that would limit the federal government to only recognizing same-sex marriages that are legally conducted in the state where the married couple resides. McIntrye is retiring after the current term.
Released in advance of the HRC Scorecard for the 113th Congress, HRC identified these elected officials as the most anti-equality members of Congress by looking at their voting records in this and previous Congresses, their introduction and co-sponsorships of anti-LGBT legislation, and their public statements. While there are other anti-LGBT members of Congress, these elected officials’ legislative actions, votes and anti-LGBT vitriol unfortunately marks them with a modern day scarlet letter.
Labels: GOP, HRC, Jeff Sessions, LGBT rights, Louie Gohmert, Michele Bachmann, Mike Lee, Randy Weber, Steve King, Tea Party, teabaggers, Ted Cruz, Tim Huelskamp
Via JMG: UPDATED: Wikipedia Marriage Map
UPDATE: JMG reader Bill directs us to the Flag Of Equal Marriage, which after today will be adding more stars.
Reposted from Joe Jervis
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