Today's Daily Dharma: Great Faith, Great Doubt, Great Determination

Great Faith, Great Doubt, Great Determination

These are like the three legs of a tripod. It is uncertain whether we can accomplish the dharma if one of these three legs is missing. If all three are present, however, we would be more likely to miss the ground with a hammer than we would be to miss enlightenment.   -  Koun Yamada, "Great Faith, Great Doubt, Great Determination"

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Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the day 28/06/2015

“A relação afetiva é a melhor escola. Ela é uma preparação para que você possa se relacionar e amar a Deus. Deus já sabe quem é você e não precisa da sua revelação, mas a pessoa com quem você está se relacionando precisa que você se revele e receba a revelação dela. Para isso é preciso ir além do orgulho e dos medos, é preciso ter coragem para enfrentar verdades pouco agradáveis à respeito do outro e de si mesmo.”

“La relación afectiva es la mejor escuela. Es una preparación para que puedas relacionarte y amar a Dios. Dios ya sabe quién eres y no necesita de tu revelación, pero la persona con quien te estás relacionando necesita que te reveles y recibas la revelación de ella. Para eso es necesario ir más allá del orgullo y de los miedos, es preciso tener coraje para enfrentar verdades poco agradables respecto del otro y de ti mismo.”

“Relationships are the best way to learn. They prepare us so that we may learn how to love and relate to God. God already knows who we are and does not need us to reveal ourselves, but the person with whom we are relating needs us to open up to them and to accept their revelation as well. To do this, we need to go beyond our pride and fear. It takes courage to face unpleasant truths about our partner and about ourselves.”

A Big Gay History of Same-sex Marriage in the Sangha Without fanfare, American Buddhists have been performing same-sex marriages for over 40 years.

Buddhist same-sex marriage was born in the USA. That’s a little known but significant fact to reflect on now, just after the Supreme Court has declared legal marriage equality throughout the country. Appropriately enough, it all started in San Francisco, and was conceived as an act of love, not activism.

The first known Buddhist same-sex marriages took place in the early 1970s, at the Buddhist Church of San Francisco. Founded in 1899, it’s the oldest surviving temple in the mainland United States. It’s also part of the oldest Buddhist organization outside Hawaii: the Buddhist Churches of America (BCA), part of the Shin tradition of Pure Land Buddhism.

During the Nixon years, the LGBTQ rights movement was picking up, and San Francisco was one of the primary centers of both activism and community building. Located not far from the famously gay Castro District, the Buddhist Church of San Francisco (BCSF) was attended by singles and couples, gay and straight. As consciousness rose, people began to seek the same services that heterosexuals already enjoyed in American society.

A male couple in the congregation eventually asked Rev. Koshin Ogui, then assigned to BCSF, to perform their marriage. He readily agreed, and the ceremony was held in the main hall—identical to other marriages at the temple, except for the dropping of gender-based pronouns in the service. 

Without fanfare, history was made.

Soon other BCA temples were also conducting same-sex marriages, and by the time of my research into the subject in the early 2010s, I couldn’t find a single minister in the scores of BCA temples who was unwilling to preside over same-sex weddings. Indeed, BCA ministers had already performed marriages for gay and lesbian couples, bisexuals, transgender people, and polyamorous groups. Many of these were interracial marriages, or carried out for non-Buddhists who had nowhere else to go, though most were for members of local BCA temples.

The BCA and its sister organization in Hawaii had gone on record years earlier in support of marriage equality, and even lobbied the government to change the law. This support for LGBTQ rights has been recognized by the Smithsonian, which collected a rainbow-patterned robe worn by the BCSF’s current minister for the museum’s permanent collection.

I’m ordained in the Shin tradition, so I was already aware of Shin inclusivity. (Indeed, though I’m not gay myself, I would not have joined any organization that failed to support LGBTQ rights.) But the historian in me itched to explain this phenomenon more comprehensively. Why was the BCA the first Buddhist organization to move toward marriage equality, and why hadn’t this movement provoked rancor and conservative resistance, as we’ve seen in so many other American religious denominations?

In searching for answers, I came to several interrelated conclusions. First, the history of racial and religious discrimination that the originally Japanese-American BCA faced (everything from mob violence to WWII internment camps) instilled revulsion for discrimination in Shin circles. Second, since Shin ministers are not celibate (the tradition was founded by a married monk in 13th-century Japan), they share lifestyles similar to their parishioners, and thus readily empathize with them on matters of sexuality and social relationships, which may be more abstract to celibate monks and nuns.
But most importantly, what minister after minister told me was that the fundamental point of Shin Buddhism is that Amida Buddha embraces all beings without any exceptions, without any judgments, without any discrimination. Amida opens the way to the Pure Land (and thus liberation) to the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the good and the bad, the black and the white. Therefore, Amida Buddha also embraces the gay and the straight, the gender-conforming and everyone else, without any hesitation. It is this spirit that led Shin ministers to open their doors to same-sex couples, led Shin temples to march in Pride parades across the country, to pass proclamations affirming same-sex rights and marriage in particular, and to carry out education programs in their own communities.

The Shin community hasn’t been alone in supporting LGBTQ communities in American Buddhist circles. Though not as quickly or comprehensively, many other Buddhist groups have also moved toward performing same-sex marriages and affirming the value of their LGBTQ members. In the 1980s, a handful of same-sex marriages were performed by non-BCA teachers, including Sarika Dharma of the International Buddhist Meditation Center in Los Angeles. By the end of the 1990s, American Tibetan, Theravada, and Zen teachers had all performed the first same-sex marriages in those respective traditions as well, and Soka Gakkai had gone from seeing homosexuality as a condition to be cured through Buddhist practice to performing large numbers of same-sex marriages for its members.

All of this was taking place in a country without legal recognition for married same-sex couples. They performed those ceremonies even though they knew the state would not recognize them, because it was the right thing to do.

Today those marriages are equal to everyone else’s, and there are signs that marriage equality is gaining acceptance in parts of Buddhist Asia. Taiwan held its first Buddhist same-sex marriage in 2012, with two brides in white dresses and veils presided over by a traditional shaven-headed nun. In Kyoto, Japan, Rev. Kawakami Taka of Shunkoin temple not only performs same-sex marriages at his historic Rinzai Zen temple, but has also partnered with local hotel, flower, and similar vendors to provide wedding packages for same-sex couples arriving from around the world. Step by step, the movement continues.

On Saturday morning, June 27, I gave keynote address for a seminar at the New York Buddhist Church, “Embraced by the Heart of Amida Buddha: The LGBTQ Community and Shin Buddhism.” It’s part of an educational campaign that the BCA’s Center for Buddhist Education carries out every year in late June. Speakers talked about their experiences as gay, lesbian, and transgender Buddhists, and on Sunday we’ll walk in the New York Pride parade with members of the temple. We had no idea that our event would occur at such a historic moment, but now we know that we’ll be marching as an act of pure celebration, rather than hope and defiance.

Despite the positive record of many sanghas and individuals, discrimination and ignorance remain widespread in American Buddhism. That isn’t something that will change overnight with a single Supreme Court decision, no matter how momentous. But we can genuinely take heart that American Buddhists have been working for marriage equality for more than 40 years, and that Buddhists of many traditions spoke out for equality and contributed to the movement that led to today’s ruling.

Jeff Wilson, a Tricycle contributing editor, is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and East Asian Studies at Renison University College, University of Waterloo. His most recent book is Mindful America: The Mutual Transformation of Buddhist Meditation and American Culture (Oxford University Press).

Make the jump here to read the full article at  Tricycle

Via Occupy Democrats / FB:

Today's Daily Dharma: Love Wishes the Same for All

Love Wishes the Same for All

I cannot keep love alive in my own heart if I would deny the same to someone else. Love is not selective in that way but is rather an affectionate generosity that wishes the same for all. Withheld, love isolates itself and won't long survive. A lifetime relationship of enduring love, kindness, and understanding is rare enough in human affairs without anyone trying to legislate who gets a shot at it and who doesn't. -  Lin Jensen, "Legislating Love"

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Via Occupy Democrats / FB:

Brian Sims is right. A promise is a promise! Let's see if certain opponents of marriage equality keep their word.

Image by Occupy Democrats, LIKE our page for more!

Via Jean Wyllys / FB:

Jean Wyllys's photo.

1 hr ·

Jean Wyllys

Sempre que uma minoria reivindica direitos ou procura influir na organização de relações que a oprimem e estigmatizam, os “guardiões da ordem social” – que, claro, gozam de privilégios nessa ordem estabelecida – opõem-se a tais reivindicações, às transformações e ao progresso que elas podem trazer. A atitude mais frequente desses mantenedores da ordem e da moral majoritária consiste em desqualificar os movimentos das minorias por meio de acusações infames e falácias. Um exemplo é a afirmação de que as minorias, em sua mobilização, estariam tentando estabelecer uma ditadura. Em relação às reivindicações do movimento LGBT, os “guardiões” cunharam até mesmo a descabida expressão “ditadura gay” – como se afirmar o direito à homossexualidade significasse impedir heterossexuais de serem o que são.

Outra estratégia usada pelos dominantes para defender seus privilégios consiste em reduzir a importância histórica das mobilizações reivindicatórias. É o que acontece com a Parada do Orgulho LGBT, realizada em diversos países, mas que ainda hoje é alvo de toda a sorte de acusações.

Em 28 de Junho de 1969, ocorreu em Nova York uma série de conflitos violentos entre homossexuais e a polícia americana, iniciado em um bar chamado Stonewall Inn e prolongando-se por vários dias, o episódio ficou conhecido como a “rebelião de Stonewall” e se tornou um marco na defesa dos direitos civis LGBT. Gays, travestis e lésbicas, cansados das frequentes humilhações e agressões físicas por parte da polícia local, reagiram em nome de sua dignidade, inaugurando uma nova fase do movimento homossexual, no rastro de outras manifestações de contracultura do final dos anos 1960 e início dos 1970, como o movimento hippie, o feminismo e a luta pela afirmação dos direitos civis dos negros. O levante de Stonewall inspira até hoje as paradas LGBT em todo o mundo.

O legado dos anos 1960 e 1970 e considerável e devemos defendê-lo contra todas as tentativas de retrocesso. Contudo, o que surpreende é o fato de que essa herança, que, ao menos nas sociedades ocidentais, transformou a situação das mulheres, dos gays e transexuais, não tenha alterado, em definitivo, a estrutura mesma daquilo a que o sociólogo francês Pierre Bourdieu se referiu como “dominação masculina”. Devemos refletir, portanto, não somente sobre o que mudou a partir de Stonewall, mas também analisar com atenção o que permanece, a fim de denunciar as instituições que operam para manter uma ordem social – e sexual – restrita, não inclusiva e contrária às liberdades individuais. Uma ordem em que denominações coletivas são estabelecidas, sobretudo a partir de insultos que vitimam “veados” e “sapatões” desde a infância, assim que se apresentam os primeiros sinais de divergência da heteronormatividade, seja no que se refere à identidade de gênero ou à orientação sexual, e isso na própria família, nas ruas, nas escola, no local de trabalho, enfim, em todos os lugares onde desenvolvem sua vida.

Desse modo, comemorar o levante de Stonewall nas paradas LGBT em todo o mundo é mais do que constituir uma “mitologia” para os homossexuais: é reafirmar as conquistas políticas e culturais da geração dos anos 1960-70.

Creio que muita coisa mudou ao longo dos últimos anos, graças ao surgimento, em escala internacional, de um movimento LGBT que assumiu múltiplas formas. O fato de eu, um deputado brasileiro, ter sido convidado a falar no IV Encontro sobre Dissidência Sexual e Identidades Sexuais e Genéricas, realizado na capital mexicana em 2013, é a prova da amplitude desse movimento globalizado e de seus progressos. No entanto, isso não faz desaparecer a homofobia; ao contrário, cada grande momento de afirmação sexual e de reivindicação do direito à homossexualidade provoca, invariavelmente, uma reação homofóbica. Quem se interessa pela história da homossexualidade sabe disso.

Ainda que seja utópica uma sociedade perfeitamente justa, na qual a opressão sobre a comunidade LGBT não tenha lugar, acredito que é possível construir e manter espaços de resistência política, cultural e social. As Paradas do Orgulho LGBT, como celebrações legítimas, precisam conquistar a estima da sociedade e afirmar seu intento de reivindicar direitos civis de lésbicas, gays, bissexuais e travestis e transexuais.

O trecho acima faz parte do meu novo livro, “Tempo Bom, Tempo Ruim”. Uma reflexão oportuna neste dia em que comemoramos o Dia do Orgulho LGBT.

San Francisco Celebrates Supreme Court Decision To Legalize Same-Sex Marriage

Same-sex legalization kicks off gay pride parade in San Francisco

Marriage Equality 2015 | San Francisco | Castro Dist.

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flower of the day 27/06/2015

“O maior milagre que pode ocorrer neste mundo é o perdão; é abrir o coração e amar de forma desinteressada. Isso é milagre.”

“The greatest miracle that can happen in this world is forgiveness. It opens up your heart and allows you to love selflessly. This is a miracle.”

Today's Daily Dharma: Enlightenment

Enlightenment

Ten years ago I couldn't stop thinking, feeling,  Just anger, just rage, until this moment. A crow laughs, the dust clears, I hold the arhat's fruit.   -  Zen Master Ikkyu, "Incense Thrown on the Buddha"

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Via JMG: Hillary Celebrates Marriage Equality

Labels: celebration, Hillary Clinton, marriage equality

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Big Business Celebrates Marriage

Labels: business, celebration, marriage equality

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Gustav Holst - The Planets - Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity

Tchaikovsky - Symphony No.6 "Pathétique" , third movement

Via JMG: Landmarks Love Equality

Labels: Disney, Empire State Building, LGBT rights, London, marriage equality, Niagara Falls, SCOTUS

Reposted from Joe Jervis

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JMG HomoQuotable - Andrew Sullivan

"I never believed this would happen in my lifetime when I wrote my first several TNR essays and then my book, Virtually Normal, and then the anthology and the hundreds and hundreds of talks and lectures and talk-shows and call-ins and blog-posts and articles in the 1990s and 2000s. I thought the book, at least, would be something I would have to leave behind me – secure in the knowledge that its arguments were, in fact, logically irrefutable, and would endure past my own death, at least somewhere. I never for a millisecond thought I would live to be married myself. Or that it would be possible for everyone, everyone in America. But it has come to pass. All of it. In one fell, final swoop. Know hope." - Andrew Sullivan, returning to his blog to spike the ball.

Labels: Andrew Sullivan, marriage equality, SCOTUS

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Supreme Court Victory: What You Need to Know

Gay Men's Chorus of Washington Sings National Anthem After Supreme Court Ruling

Publicado em 26 de jun de 2015

The Gay Men's Chorus of Washington performs The Star-Spangled Banner moments after the Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriage legal nationwide.

Via Facebook

Today's Daily Dharma: Skillful Speech

Skillful Speech

Few things can improve the nature of our relationships as much as the development of skillful speech. Silence offers us, and those around us, the spaciousness we need to speak more skillfully. When we speak with greater skill, our true self?our compassionate, loving self?emerges with gentle ease. -  Allan Lokos, "Skillful Speech"

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Via JMG: SCOTUS RULES FOR MARRIAGE!!!

Labels: American history, Jim Obergefell, Kentucky, LGBT History, LGBT rights, marriage equality, Michigan, Ohio, SCOTUS, Tennessee

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flower of the day 25/06/2015

“Chegou o momento de realizarmos uma revolução na consciência. Isso é possível através do comprometimento com o silêncio. O silêncio evoca a consciência, e a consciência evoca a transformação. A prática de um único minuto em silêncio por dia é capaz de iniciar a maior revolução que o planeta já viu.”

“The time has come to revolutionize our awareness. This is possible through our commitment to cultivating silence. Silence brings awareness, and awareness evokes transformation. The practice of being in silence for just one minute a day could spark the greatest revolution the planet has ever seen.”

Today's Daily Dharma: Making Wisdom Possible

 

Making Wisdom Possible

As the reordering of our life, brought about by moral training, creates the environment for meditation, the stillness of mind created by meditation will make possible the examination of reality that is the hallmark of wisdom. -  Lama Jampa Thaye, "Living by Meditation Alone"

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Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flower of the day 24/06/2015

“Por alguma razão estamos todos encarnados nessa Terra, portanto nos cabe jogar esse jogo. E não importa o quão desafiador o jogo seja, é possível vencer. Para isso é preciso ter consciência de que caímos e levantamos até que amadurecemos o suficiente para não mais cair. Quando podemos identificar a nossa intencionalidade negativa, podemos escolher fazer diferente, e portanto temos a chance de mudar nossas vidas.”

“We are each born on this Earth for a reason, so it’s up to us to play this game of life. No matter how challenging the game is, it is possible to win. In order to win, we must become aware that we will keep falling down and getting back up until we are mature enough not to fall anymore. When we are able to identify our negative intentionality, we can choose to do things differently, and we consequently have a chance to change our lives.”

Today's Daily Dharma: Exorcise the Zombies

 

Exorcise the Zombies

In samsara, the city of preconceptions, Wander the zombies of the eight worldly concerns. You are in a terrifying charnel ground; Have your guru perform an exorcism. -  Lingraepa, "From Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand"

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Today's Daily Dharma: Getting Back What We Give

Getting Back What We Give

We are always trying to get something? admiration, love, recognition, praise, acknowledgment, even just staying connected. Think how we manipulate and bargain and negotiate to turn a profit from every interaction. Much of this is subtle, unconscious habit. Even when we give, or serve, or love, or pay attention, we?re trying to get something. Sometimes it?s just to get back some of what we give. -  Sensei Nancy Mujo Baker, "On Not Being Stingy"

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#EqualDreams

JMG HomoQuotable - Jim Parsons

"I never had a coming out piece, I just didn't mention it. I took [my partner] Todd with me to events and then finally one day while working on Harvey I did a piece with Patrick Healy for The New York Times and he just point-blank asked, 'Was working on The Normal Heart meaningful to you as a gay man?' And I was like, 'Well, yeah. Yeah.'  I can't tell you what a wonderful thing that was, what a gift he gave me with one question. It was suddenly out there and official." - Jim Parsons, speaking on Inside The Actors Studio.

Labels: coming out, gay artists, Jim Parsons

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día- Flower of the day 22/06/2015

“No atual estágio da nossa jornada evolutiva a principal prática espiritual é se relacionar com o outro de forma pacífica. Todas as demais práticas devem estar a serviço disso. Muitos buscadores estão preocupados em abrir os chakras, despertar a kundalini, adquirir poderes... Mas nada disso adianta se não pudermos amar. É tempo de sustentar o seu coração aberto enquanto se relaciona com o outro. Enquanto não pudermos manifestar essa consciência amorosa, seguiremos destruindo a natureza, matando os animais e machucado os outros e a nós mesmos.”

Para ouvir o Satsang completo, acesse: bit.ly/1QYPXF2

“En el estadio actual de nuestro camino evolutivo, la principal práctica espiritual es relacionarse con el otro de forma pacífica. Todas las demás prácticas deben estar al servicio de eso. Muchos buscadores están preocupados por abrir los chakras, despertar la kundalini, adquirir poderes... Pero nada de eso sirve si no podemos amar. Es tiempo de sustentar tu corazón abierto mientras te relacionas con el otro. Mientras no podamos manifestar esa consciencia amorosa, seguiremos destruyendo la naturaleza, matando los animales y lastimando a los otros y a nosotros mismos.”

“At the current stage of our evolutionary journey, our main spiritual practice is to relate to others peacefully. All other practices should be working towards this. Many seekers are preoccupied with opening chakras, awakening kundalini, and acquiring powers. However, none of this is worth it if we are not able to love. It is time to sustain an open heart while relating to others. As long as we are not able to embody loving awareness, we will continue to destroy nature, kill animals and hurt others as well as ourselves.”

Today's Daily Dharma: Into the Valley

Into the Valley

Religious awakening does not depend initially on who we are or what we do; rather, it is becoming attuned to the working of great compassion at the heart of existence. -  Taitetsu Unno, "Into the Valley"

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Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día- Flower of the day 21/06/2015

“Embora o relacionamento amoroso seja um poderoso instrumento de aprendizado e integração de aspectos da natureza inferior, ele também pode adiar o seu desenvolvimento espiritual. Muitas vezes, preso pelo apego ou pelo comodismo, você fica no relacionamento repetindo padrões destrutivos: disputas, projeções, ciúme, e assim você passa a andar em círculos. Então você para de crescer, de expandir através do relacionamento. Nesse momento, é preciso ter discernimento, sabedoria e coragem para encerrar essa relação.”
Para ouvir o Satsang completo, acesse o link: bit.ly/1K17pq2

“Aunque la relación amorosa sea un poderoso instrumento de aprendizaje e integración de aspectos de la naturaleza inferior, también puede retrasar tu desarrollo espiritual. Muchas veces, preso por el apego o por la comodidad, te quedas en la relación repitiendo patrones destructivos: peleas, proyecciones, celos, y así das vueltas en círculos. Entonces dejas de crecer, de expandirte a través de la relación. En ese momento, es necesario tener discernimiento, sabiduría y coraje para terminar esa relación.”

“Although loving relationships are a powerful tool for learning and integrating aspects of our lower nature, they can also postpone spiritual growth. Oftentimes, we get stuck in our attachment or complacency, and we stay in the same relationship repeating destructive patterns including arguments, projections and jealousy. Thus, we continue running around in circles. We stop growing and expanding through the relationship. At a time like this, we need to have discernment, wisdom and courage in order to end the relationship.”

Today's Daily Dharma: Unlikely Transmission from Father to Son

Unlikely Transmission from Father to Son

From the ashes of [my father's] unhappiness rose the phoenix of my spiritual calling. I can?t stand in judgment of him, because I am the result of him. . . . I have inherited his spiritual discontent, and have devoted myself to overcoming it. -  Shozan Jack Haubner, "Son of a Gun"

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Honest Conversations: Fathers and Their Gay Children