Via Daily Dharma: Consider the Consequences

The efficacy of our actions will be determined by the quality of the contemplation that precedes them.

—Lama Surya Das, “Why Sit?”

Via Daily Dharma: A Love That Sees Clearly

Real love comes with a powerful recognition that we are fully alive and whole despite our wounds or our fears or our loneliness. It is a state where we allow ourselves to be seen clearly by ourselves and by others, and in turn, we offer clear seeing to the world around us. It is a love that heals.

—Sharon Salzberg, “Real Love”

Via Daily Dharma: Take a Fresh Look

When we trust with our open heart, whatever occurs, at that very moment that it occurs, can be perceived as fresh and unstained by the clouds of hope and fear.

—Dr. Jeremy Hayward, “First Thought”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - August 1, 2018

The interesting question is, how do you put yourself in a position so that you can allow ‘what is’ to be? The enemy turns out to be the creation of mind. Because when you are just in the moment, doing what you are doing, there is no fear. The fear is when you stand back to think about it. The fear is not in the actions. The fear is in the thought about the actions.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Don’t Be Afraid to Reach Out

When we smile and welcome the newbie or allow ourselves to be welcomed, we act out of our recognition that belonging is a common human need, one that is not an obstacle to, but in service of, waking up.

—Kate Johnson, “Making the First Move”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - July 29, 2018

The truth is everywhere. Wherever you are, it’s right where you are, when you can see it. And you can see it through whatever vehicle you are working with, you can free yourself from certain attachments that keep you from seeing it.

The scientist doesn’t stop being a scientist, nor does anybody stop being anything. You find how to do the things to yourself which allow you to find truth where you are at the moment. I’d say we never find out anything new; we just remember it.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Explore Your Resistance

Rather than resist our resistance, we can allow ourselves to explore it in intimate detail, like a bug traveling across a flower, petal by petal. Examined at close range and without judgment, each form of resistance reveals its own rich texture.

—Noelle Oxenhandler, “Twirling a Flower”

Via Daily Dharma: How to Approach Pain

When pain arises, instead of immediately thinking, “How can I get rid of this?” we can say “Hello” to it, and ask, “What can I learn from this?” It’s not always easy to do this, but when possible, it turns the whole experience upside down.

—Ezra Bayda, “More than This Body”

Via Daily Dharma: The Key to Awakening

Although there are many different descriptions of the enlightened mind, there is one reference point of understanding that illuminates them all: the final uprooting of greed, hatred, and ignorance.

—Joseph Goldstein, “The End of Suffering”

Via Daily Dharma: A Fearless Journey

As we individuate, we learn to remain open to the nature of uncertainty in the journey, allowing ourselves to fearlessly unfold.

—Rob Preece, “The Solace of Surrender”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - July 25, 2018

   

A lot of people try to counteract the ‘I am not good enough’ with ‘I am good enough.’ In other words, they take the opposite and they try to invest it. That still keeps the world at the level of polarities. The art is to go behind the polarities. So the act is to go not to the world of ‘I am good’ to counteract ‘I am bad,’ or ‘I am lovable’ as opposed to ‘I am unlovable.’ But go behind it to ‘I am.’ I am. I am.

And 'I am' includes the fact that I do crappy things and I do beautiful things and I am. That includes everything and I am.

- Ram Dass -

The Bahaí Faith is Homophobic and Unwelcoming to LGBTQ People

THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
DEPARTMENT OF THE SECRETARIAT
Baha’i World Centre

5 June 2018

Dear Baha’i Friend,

The Universal House of Justice has received your email letter of 3 January 2018 concerning the enrollment of individuals who are in a same-sex relationship. We have been asked to convey the following.

Although you seem to have presented information about a particular couple, the questions you raise are hypothetical in nature. Specific cases often include factors that can affect the application of general principles, and therefore it is best to refer such questions to the relevant Local Spiritual Assembly or to the National Spiritual Assembly.

As you are surely aware, the doors are open for all of humanity to enter the Baha’i community, irrespective of their present circumstances. In a letter dated 13 July 1964 and addressed to all National Spiritual Assemblies, the House of Justice explained, “Those who declare themselves as Baha’is should become enchanted with the beauty of the Teachings; and touched by the love of Baha’u’llah. The declarants need not know all the proofs, history, laws, and principles of the Faith, but in the process of declaring themselves they must, in addition to catching the spark of faith, become basically informed about the Central Figures of the Faith, as well as the existence of laws they must follow and an administration they must obey.” It is evident that an individual will grow in his or her understanding of and adherence to the Teachings over time. Yet in becoming a Baha’i, an individual freely and consciously embraces the twin duties set forth by Baha’u’llah in the Kitab-i-Aqdas: the “recognition of Him Who is the Dayspring of His Revelation and the Fountain of His laws” and the commitment to “observe every ordinance of Him Who is the Desire of the world.”

Those who come to recognize Baha’u’llah as “the representative and mouthpiece of God” in this day will naturally strive to obey, out of love for His Beauty, the laws and exhortations He has brought. It would be a profound contradiction, however, for someone to profess the intention to be a Baha’i yet consciously reject, disregard, or contend with aspects of belief or practice ordained by Him. It would only be reasonable in such instances for a person to resolve any fundamental contradiction for himself or herself before deciding whether to make the commitment to join the Baha’i community. An example of this would be someone who holds a political post and shows interest in the Cause. 

Another would be someone whose professional life is prominently associated with the manufacture or distribution of alcohol. The same principle would also apply to the example you give of an individual involved in a same sex marriage. It is clear from the Baha’i laws and principles concerning marriage and sexual conduct that marriage is a union between a man and a woman, and therefore it is not possible to recognize a same-sex union within the Baha’i community.

The House of Justice is deeply sympathetic to those who may find themselves facing such a dilemma. 

No pressure should be brought to bear by the Baha’i community on any person in this position, who must prayerfully determine the path to take. Recognition of Baha’u’llah is a matter between the individual and God. While it may not be possible for some individuals to enroll as Baha’is, they can, if they choose, continue their study of the Teachings and strive to put them into practice in their lives.

May your endeavors in the path of service to the Cause of God be bountifully blessed and confirmed.

With loving Baha’i greetings,

Department of the Secretariat

bc:International Teaching Centre Counsellors Farah Guchani-Rosenberg, Sonlla Heern, Nwandi Ngozi Lawson, and Mark Sisson
National Assembly of the United States

Via Daily Dharma: Learning from Nature

At night, alone in the moonlit fields, with the grasses and crickets to keep you company, it is possible to reclaim the vision you had when you originally set out on that path . . . Nature is the great teacher and always has been.

—Clark Strand, “Turn Out the Lights”

Via Daily Dharma: Conscious Love

When we use our attention to touch and open the deeper truth in a person, we not only catalyze the experience of love, we become love. The source of love is revealed to be within us; we no longer have to go looking for it somewhere outside.

—Nicole Daedone, “Love Becomes Her”

Via Tricycle: Ha Ha Zen

Ha Ha Zen

Finding parallels between modern-day stand-up comedians and Zen masters of the past

By Pamela D. Winfield  Summer 2018

Recently, I spent a lot of time binge-watching Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Seinfeld’s formulaic interviews with his fellow comedians on Netflix are as banal—and compelling—as his old network show. After watching a couple of seasons and for the first time seriously reflecting on comedy as a profession, I realized that many Zen masters would probably be stand-up comics today.

I am not saying that comedians are enlightened Zen masters (though who knows?—there may be some incognito bodhisattvas among us). Nor do I want to belittle the great Zen tradition by reducing it to an alternative series about the contemporary comedy circuit. But Americans treat Zen with such obsequious reverence that they often fail to realize that many of these guys were really funny characters, and that much of Zen discourse is based on their witty repartee and blistering one-upmanship.

I use the words “guys” and “one-upmanship” deliberately here, since funny Zen nuns and laywomen in Buddhist history are not well represented in the literature. There are some exceptional examples, such as the nameless woman selling rice cakes by the roadside who cleverly bests the proud Diamond Sutra scholar Deshan Xuanjian, but her gender is part of the joke. The moral of the story is that if even a simple woman can outsmart you, then you really need to up your game. Likewise today, Jerry’s guests are overwhelmingly male, as well as positively pumped to be driven around the streets of New York or Los Angeles in classic sports cars to go eat hot dogs or smoke cigars.

Besides male dominance, the traditions share other characteristics as well. Like Zen monks, stand-up comics have their own professional periods of itinerancy, their own mentoring networks, inside jokes, and a kind of certifying transmission based on their first appearance on a late-night talk show or Saturday Night Live season. For comedians and monks alike, the process of studying human nature, gathering material, and perfecting their lines is a lifelong practice and way of being in the world. They both also learn from the masters and then overturn that received knowledge, subverting expectations and articulating their own idiosyncratic take on reality. And monks drank a lot of tea back then, which is kind of equivalent to today’s consumption of coffee.

Read the rest and more here

Via Daily Dharma: Radiant Qualities of Our Being

We are, by nature, endowed with qualities of absolute goodness—purest love, compassion, wisdom, and tranquility.

—Lama John Makransky, “Love Is All Around”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - July 22, 2018

   

At some point awakening begins. The awakening happens with trauma or it happens when somebody you love dies. In sexuality you transcend separateness. It can be drugs, it can be meditation, it can be a hymn, it can be a leaf falling, it can be lying under the stars, it can be trying to solve a problem where your mind gets so one-pointed it goes through the veil. Whatever it is, you open up into other planes of consciousness that have been there in all of the splendor all the time.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Awakening Happiness

Out of the combination of concentrated stability, penetrative investigation, and mindful awareness, consciousness may awaken the unshakable nature of happiness.

—Shaila Catherine, “Equanimity in Every Bite”

Via Daily Dharma: Let Forgiveness Release You

In any moment, we can learn to let go of hatred and fear and rest in peace and forgiveness—it’s never, ever too late.

—Gina Sharpe, “The Power of Forgiveness”

Via The Four Agreements

"Be impeccable with your word.
Don't take anything personally.
Don't make assumptions.

Always do your best."

(The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz)

Via Daily Dharma: Watch The Flow of Your Mind

Spending time with your own mind is humbling and broadening. One finds that there’s no one in charge, and is reminded that no thought lasts for long.

—Gary Snyder, “Just One Breath”

Via Daily Dharma: You Are Enough

Allow yourself to let go of the idea that who you are already isn’t enough, and realize this deep acceptance is the path to real freedom.

—Mark Van Buren, “Brief Teachings”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - July 18, 2018

To live consciously you must have the courage to go inside yourself to find out who you really are, to understand that behind all of the masks of individual differences you are a being of beauty, of love, of awareness.

When Christ said, “The kingdom of heaven is within” he wasn’t just putting you on. When Buddha said, “Each person is the Buddha,” he was saying the same thing. Until you can allow your own beauty, your own dignity, your own being, you cannot free another.

So if I were giving people one instruction, I would say work on yourself. Have compassion for yourself. Allow yourself to be beautiful and all the rest will follow.

 - Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: The Subtle Means of Mindfulness

What makes mindfulness so potent a medicine is not the power of a single cataclysmic event, but the imperceptible way it permeates the everyday activities that shape our lives.

—Joseph Loizzo, “Science of Enlightenment”

Via Purple Buddha Project / 9 Motivational Quotes to Make your Day Positively Shine

Life Quotes of the Day Admit it. You aren’t like them. You’re not even close. You may occasionally dress yourself up as one of them, watch the same mindless television shows as they do, maybe even eat the same fast food sometimes. But it seems that the more you try to fit in, the more you feel like an outsider, watching the “normal people” as they go about their automatic existences. For every time you say club passwords like “Have a nice day” and “Weather’s awful today, eh?”, you yearn inside to say forbidden things like “Tell me something that makes you cry” or “What do you think deja vu is for?”. Face it, you even want to talk to that girl in the elevator. But what if that girl in the elevator (and the balding man who walks past your cubicle at work) are thinking the same thing? Who knows what you might learn from taking a chance on conversation with a stranger? Everyone carries a piece of the puzzle. Nobody comes into your life by mere coincidence. Trust your instincts. Do the unexpected. Find the others. - Timothy Leary Self-consciousness makes us see ourselves double, and we make the double image for two selves - mental and material, controlling and controlled, reflective and spontaneous. Thus instead of suffering we suffer about suffering, and suffer about suffering about suffering. - Alan W. Watts When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny. - Paulo Coelho It is never too late to turn on the light. Your ability to break an unhealthy habit or turn off an old tape doesn’t depend on how long it has been running; a shift in perspective doesn’t depend on how long you’ve held on to the old view. When you flip the switch in that attic, it doesn’t matter whether its been dark for ten minutes, ten years or ten decades. The light still illuminates the room and banishes the murkiness, letting you see the things you couldn’t see before. Its never too late to take a moment to look - Sharon Salzberg Just as we cannot live without water, so are joy and peace essential for our inner fulfillment. We may not even be aware that we are searching for something. It manifests only in our restlessness as we move from here to there, trying out different friends, different ideas, different jobs, different countries. Whatever we attempt is a reflection of our inner thirst, which we hope to quench in all these external ways. What we are looking for lies within us, and if we gave out time and energy to an interior search, we would come across it much faster, since that is the only place where it is to be found. - Ayya Khema Within the framework of the Buddhist Path, reflecting on suffering has tremendous importance because by realizing the nature of suffering, you will develop greater resolve to put an end to the causes of suffering and the unwholesome deeds which lead to suffering. And it will increase your enthusiasm for engaging in wholesome actions and deeds which lead to happiness and joy. - Dalai Lama People give flowers as a present because flowers contain the true meaning of love. Anyone who tries to possess a flower will have to watch its beauty fading. But if you simply look at a flower in the field, you’ll keep it forever. That is what the forest taught me. That you will never be mine, and that is why I will never lose you. - Paulo Coelho Let today be the day you stop being haunted by the ghost of yesterday. Holding a grudge & harboring anger/resentment is poison to the soul. Get even with people…but not those who have hurt us, forget them, instead get even with those who have helped us. - Steve Maraboli I mean, if you were to find a shattered mirror, find all the pieces, all the shards and all the tiny chips, and have whatever skill and patience it took to put all that broken glass back together so that it was complete once again, the restored mirror would still be spiderwebbed with cracks, it would still be a useless glued version of its former self, which could show only fragmented reflections of anyone looking into it. Some things are beyond repair. And that was me. - Elizabeth Wurtzel ​

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Via Daily Dharma: Don’t Forget to Laugh

Sometimes sheer silliness is the best solution to seriousness.

—Pamela D. Winfield, “Ha Ha Zen”

Via Daily Dharma: Cultivate Confidence in Yourself

Letting go of inferiority awakens our capacity for appreciative joy and reclaims the confidence so necessary to travel this path of awakening.

—Christina Feldman, “Long Journey to a Bow”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - July 15, 2018

In our relationships, how much can we allow them to become new, and how much do we cling to what they used to be yesterday?

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Unselfish Generosity

To give unselfishly is at least momentarily to be free of ourselves, free of greed and attachments, resentments and hatreds, habitual and isolating acts of self-protection.

—Dale S. Wright, “The Bodhisattva’s Gift”

Via Daily Dharma: Welcome the Ongoing Flow of Emotions

We don’t have to attach so much meaning to what arises, and we also don’t have to identify with our emotions so strongly. All we need to do is allow ourselves to experience the energy—and in time it will move through you.

—Pema Chödrön, “Meditating with Emotions”

Via Lionsroar / Forum: Do You Believe in Miracles?

Forum: Do You Believe in Miracles?

Judy Lief, Ari Goldfield, and Glenn Wallis debate the supernatural in Buddhism.

Ari Goldfield: The main point is to work with the mind. The teachings talk about the common siddhis, or powers, and the extraordinary siddhis. The common siddhis are what we would call supernatural powers—flying, walking through walls, and so forth. The extraordinary siddhi is bodhichitta, to realize the true nature of mind and to practice love and compassion. That’s the real power we are looking for when we enter the dharma. The real miracle is when you can work with negative emotions by practicing on the path, and discover compassion and wisdom, the true nature of mind. Beyond that, it’s good not to pre-judge, because if you’re open to things and do not reject the possibility of other people having these experiences, one’s own experience becomes broader, and one becomes able to relate and connect with others with less judgment.

Via Lionsroar / Four Steps to Magical Powers

Four Steps to Magical Powers

Before you fully embark on the path of the bodhisattvas and buddhas, says Chan master Sheng Yen, you must first practice the four steps to magical powers. What are these steps and what are the magical powers you need?

In both the early Buddhist and Mahayana traditions, there are records of supernatural powers being used. But what did the Buddha do when he was hungry? Did he conjure up a feast or have one catered by a deity? No, he walked around with his alms bowl begging for food. After he attained buddhahood, he walked from village to village spreading the dharma. He didn’t fly through the air. He didn’t magically erect monasteries but instead relied on laypeople to build them and to sew robes for the sangha. Before entering parinirvana, he received an offering of food that was tainted. You would think that he would have used his supernatural powers to know the food was bad, but instead he ate it and became very sick. So even though the Buddha possessed supernatural powers, he did not use them in self-centered ways.

Via Daily Dharma: Take a Chance on Peace

A good community is needed to help us resist the unwholesome ways of our time. Mindful living protects us and helps us go in the direction of peace. With the support of friends in the practice, peace has a chance.

—Thich Nhat Hanh, “The Fertile Soil of Sangha”

Via Daily Dharma: Nothing but Awareness

Awareness is nothing special. It’s natural. In fact, it may be the most natural—the only natural—thing there is.

—Andrew Olendzki, “Keep It Simple”

Via Daily Dharma: What Really Is the Present Moment?

The present moment is not defined solely by letting go of past and future, nor by accepting and appreciating what arises right now, but by choosing in this very moment how we make sense of the world.

—Jack Petranker, “The Present Moment”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - July 11, 2018

Over the years, in working with people who are grieving, I’ve encouraged them first of all to surrender to the experience of their pain. To counteract our natural tendency to turn away from pain, we open to it as fully as possible and allow our hearts to break. We must take enough time to remember our losses – be they friends or loved ones passed away, the death of long-held hopes or dreams, the loss of homes, careers, or countries, or health we may never get back again. Rather than close ourselves to grief, it helps to realize that we only grieve for what we love.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Opposing Selfishness

Our goal is to help people think like Buddhists—to get rid of the poisons of the mind and selfish opinions. It’s not to judge but rather to see the other side of a situation, and to see the other side of people.

—Interview with Mauricio Hondaku by Marie Scarles, “Meet a Sangha: Nambei Honganji, Brazil Betsuin”

Via Daily Dharma: Find Your Home Within

Anyone can build a house of wood and bricks, but the Buddha taught that that is not our real home. Our real home is inner peace.

—Ajahn Chah, “Our Real Home”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - July 8, 2018

When meditation works as it should, it will be a natural part of your being. There will no longer be anything apart from you to have faith in. Hope starts the journey, faith sustains it, but it ends beyond both hope and faith.  

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Prioritize Accomplishments That Last

The results of your actions can carry well past death, so make sure that you don’t sacrifice the goodness of your thoughts, words, and deeds to save things that will slip through your fingers like water.

—Thanissaro Bhikkhu, “What is True Safety?”

Via Daily Dharma: Be Wary of Distorted Perceptions

When layered, perceptions become distorted, sticky, and weighty. Essentially, we think we know something, then we are off and running—all based on past experiences, preferences, and beliefs. [But] usually . . . it’s all in our minds.

—Ruth King, “Mindful of Race”

Via Daily Dharma: The Power of Interdependence

When we consider that everything we experience results from a complex interplay of causes and conditions, we find that there is no single thing to desire or resent, and it is more difficult for the afflictions of attachment or anger to arise.

—H.H. the Dalai Lama, “Mahayana/Vajrayana Practice”

Happy Birthday, Tenzin Gyatso!

He’s the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, a worldwide icon for peace, and the incarnation of the bodhisattva of compassion.

But Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, prefers to think of himself as a “simple Buddhist monk.” 

 

The Dalai Lama was born 83 years ago today to a farming family in Amdo, a northeastern Tibetan province. He was recognized as an incarnation of the former Dalai Lama when he was 2 years old, and started his monastic schooling four years later. He was awarded his geshe degree—the equivalent of a PhD—in 1959, and later that year was forced to flee to India to escape the Chinese invasion. This year the Dalai Lama, who recently said he expects to live another 15–20 years, will celebrate his birthday in Ladakh. After that, it's back to his typical schedule: up at 3 a.m. for meditation, listening to the BBC while he eats breakfast, and studying Buddhist texts and commentaries.

Via Daily Dharma: Transform Anger into Clarity

Anger is traditionally thought to be close to wisdom. When not projected outward onto others or inward toward the self, it gives us the necessary energy and clarity to understand what needs to be done.

—Thanissara, “Don’t Worry, Be Angry”

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Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - July 4, 2018

 

We can’t mask impurities for very long. When we suppress or repress them, they gain energy. Eventually we all have to deal with our same old karmic obstacles. Maharaji used to enumerate them with regularity: kama, krodh, moha, lobh – lust, anger, confusion, and greed. It’s the spectrum of impulses and desires that condition our interior universe and our view of reality. We have to take care of this stuff, so we can climb the mountain without getting dragged back down.

This clearing out opens the door for dharma, for being in harmony with the laws of the universe on both a personal and social level. If you do your dharma, you do things that bring you closer to God. You bring yourself into harmony with the spiritual laws of the universe. Dharma is also translated as “righteousness,” although that evokes echoes of sin and damnation. It’s more a matter of clearing the decks to be able to do spiritual work on yourself.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Walking the Path to Inner Freedom

It is the inner meditative practice, especially in the midst of outer conditions, that leads to the unification and eventual reconciliation of inner and outer, self and other.

—Stuart Smithers, “Freedom’s Just Another Word”

Via Daily Dharma: Slow and Steady Wins the Race

To recognize our suffering and respond to it with compassion is a gradual process, and it must be done with sensitivity and care.

—Beth Roth, “Family Dharma: Leaning into Suffering”