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Via Daily Dharma: Lose Your Self

Anger is considered a poison when it’s self-motivated and self-centered. But take that attachment to the self out of anger and the same emotion becomes the fierce energy of determination, which is a very positive force … Drop the self-orientation from ignorance, and it becomes a state of unknowing that allows new things to rise.

—Roshi Bernie Glassman and Rick Fields, “Instructions to the Cook”

A Look At The Activism That Came Before Stonewall And The Movement That Came Out Of It

Via Daily Dharma: What Exists?

When we meditate, we relate to that unsettling, ineffable commodity: the present. We train in letting go of thoughts and feelings as they arise, and settle back into the present: that gap between two concepts—past and future—that don’t actually exist.

—Pamela Gayle White, “The Pursuit of Happiness”

Via Daily Dharma: On Finding Each Other

We humans have a way of touching each other’s lives deeply even despite ourselves. In finding our way to each other, we find what is, after all, already there, waiting to be found, wanting to be found.

—Andrew Cooper, “Life’s Hidden Support”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - June 26, 2019 💌

Most of the beings that we call gurus are really teachers. The likelihood of finding somebody that’s a cooked goose is reasonably slim. Since they are not cooked geese, they have their own karma, they have their own stuff. So they become somebody through whom a teaching comes, but them themselves are not truth… If there is a purity in your heart in the way you see truth, you separate this purity of their message from the stuff of their karma. You take the truth and you work with it.

- Ram Dass -

Kings Of Leon - Around The World (Official Music Video)

Taylor Swift - You Need To Calm Down

LEGO is hosting the world’s smallest Pride parade to celebrate Stonewall’s 50th anniversary This may be the only Pride event where you have to be accompanied by a child to visit.

There’s one event this June that may win the award for smallest Pride parade of the year. 

But don’t let its size fool you: the parade at the LEGOLAND Discovery Center in Westchester, New York, is more than its size.

Taking place in MINILAND, the amusement park’s recreation of parts of New York City, the parade features two floats with “Pride” and “Love Is Love” themes, an oversized “Stonewall 50” billboard, and a great number of bedazzled mini people dancing in a LEGO recreation of Times Square.

The miniature event celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion and the birth of LGBTQ Pride.

Read the full article and more here

5 Same-Sex Couples Tell Us What It’s Like To Be Legally Married

Via Daily Dharma: Breaking from the Dream

We get quiet for a moment in meditation. We sink down to a relaxedness, a calmness, abruptly free from all the crazy dreams we confuse with reality. And in that instant, by mistake maybe, or because we aren’t thinking to stop it from happening—we experience, in a flash, things as they really are.

—William R. Stimson, “My Brief Career Composing Spanish Music”

5B Official Trailer – Presented by RYOT a Verizon Media Company

Parada LGBTQ+ Avenida Paulista 23.06.19 - 3 million People!

Via Daily Dharma: The Weight of Every Step

Nothing is merely a means to an end, nothing is merely a step on the path to somewhere else. Every moment, everything, is absolutely foundational in its own right.

—Barry Magid, “Uselessness”

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

All men -- whether they go by the name of Americans or Russians or Chinese or British or Malayans or Indians or Africans -- have obligations to one another that transcend their obligations to their sovereign societies. 

-Norman Cousins, author, editor, journalist and professor (24 Jun 1915-1990)

Via India.Arie "One" - Official Video

From her 2013 album, SongVersation, India.Arie shares the song that took her a lifetime to write. "One" says everything that India once afraid to say but love for humanity and her courage for truth gave her the words and music to express the powerful and universal truth in this masterful song. This song is dedicated with love to all. #worthy

One

Billions live their lives Now

Muhammad, Krisha, or the Buddha are the way.

Still some believe it's right to say

In the name of Jesus when you pray.

[Chorus:]

We are a human kind of 7 billion

So many different races and religions

And it all comes down to one

Some say God's a him

Still many believe that He is a Her

Does God Live in our hearts?

Or is She somewhere out there in the universe.

[Chorus]

How far will have to go before we learn the lesson?

Gandhi, was a Hindu

Martin Luther King, a Christian

Regardless of religion, they knew love was the mission

And it all comes down to one.

Is there no God at all?

Or a pantheon of gods up in the sky

We can heal our broken hearts

If we give up the desire to be right.

[Chorus]

How far will have to go before we learn the lesson?

Gandhi, was a Hindu Martin Luther King, a Christian

Regardless of religion, they knew love was the mission

And it all comes down to one.

We are a human kind of seven billion

So many different races and religions

And we all want the same things

Health, Love, Prosperity and Peace Tolerance is the seed

And the gift of pure acceptance is the tree

[Chorus]

Whether you are red, brown, yellow, black, or white

Man with a husband, or a woman with a wife

We can debate until the end of time who is wrong or right

Or we can see ourselves as one

Cause it all comes down to love.

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - June 23, 2019 💌

 

All that you seek is already within you. In Hinduism it is called the Atman, in Buddhism the pure Buddha-Mind. Christ said, 'the kingdom of heaven is within you.' Quakers call it the 'still small voice within.’ This is the space of full awareness that is in harmony with all the universe, and thus is wisdom itself.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Invitations to a Clearer Mind

One of the essential elements of life is the understanding that everything we encounter—fear, resentment, jealousy, embarrassment—is actually an invitation to see clearly where we are shutting down and holding back.

—Aura Glaser, “Into the Demon’s Mouth”

Via Daily Dharma: We’re Inseparable, Naturally

There is something special and precious about meditating outside and rediscovering our deep connection with the natural world. When we do, it becomes more evident to us that the world is not a collection of separate things but a confluence of natural processes that include us.

—David Loy, “How a Growing Buddhist Movement Is Responding to the Ecological Crisis”

Via Daily Dharma: In the Real, Fast World

We do not have to be afraid of entering unfamiliar territory once we have learned how to hold experience within the gentleness of our own minds. Learning to transform obstacles into objects of meditation provides a much needed bridge between the stillness of the concentrated mind and the movement of real life.

—Mark Epstein, “Stopping the Wind”

Via Daily Dharma: How to Build a Better Future

Even though we cannot see clearly how it’s going to turn out, we are still called to let the future into our imagination. We will never be able to build what we have not first cherished in our hearts.

—Joanna Macy and Sam Mowe, “The Work That Reconnects”

Via Daily Dharma: Confronting the True Causes of Harm

Asking “Who is the villain?” is the prologue to asking who should be punished. But asking “What are the conditions that led to this?” leads us to consider how to change those conditions so that the situation is less likely to happen again.

—Matthew Gindin, “The Red Hat Rorschach Test”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - June 19, 2019 💌

One doesn’t have to beat down one’s ego for God. That isn’t the way it works. The ego isn’t in the way. It’s how we are holding the ego. It is much better to just do the spiritual practices and open to God and love God and trust your intuitive heart. As the transformation changes, the ego then becomes this beautiful instrument that’s available to you to deal with the world. It’s not in the way anymore. 

- Ram Dass -

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Via Daily Dharma: The Way to Lasting Happiness

The quick fixes and immediate gratification I think will make me happy never do in the long run, leaving me empty-hearted. Mindfulness digs the truth out from under the excuses and confusion, lighting the way to true satisfaction.

—Joan Duncan Oliver, “Do I Mind?”

The Lavender Scare - Official Trailer

https://brewminate.com/the-lavender-scare-and-beyond-documenting-lgbtq-history-from-the-great-depression-to-today/

Via Daily Dharma: Fear Is Not the Enemy

Fear is not the enemy—it is nature’s protector; it only becomes troublesome when it oversteps its bounds. In order to deal with fear we must take a fundamentally noncontentious attitude toward it, so it’s not held as “My big fear problem” but rather “Here is fear that has come to visit.” Once we take this attitude, we can begin to work with fear.

—Amaro Bhikkhu, “Inviting Fear”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - June 16, 2019 💌

For my spiritual work I had to hear what Alan Watts used to say to me: “Ram Dass, God is these forms. God isn’t just formless. You’re too addicted to formlessness.” I had to learn that. I had to honor my incarnation. I’ve got to honor what it means to be a man, a Jew, an American, a member of the world, a member of the ecological community, all of it. I have to figure out how to do that—how to be in my family, how to honor my father. All of that is part of it.
That is the way I come to God, acknowledging my uniqueness, if you will. That’s an interesting turn-about in a way. That brings spiritual people back into the world.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Softening One’s Self-Concern

All meditation practices require that one relax self-preoccupation. Just like being too tense to ride a bike, when people are too concerned with themselves it can be very difficult for the mind to be soft enough to settle into meditation.

—Gil Fronsdal, “Evaluate Your Meditation”

Via Daily Dharma: The Jeweled Net of Family

The Net of Indra is a vast, bejeweled matrix spanning and encompassing the whole universe. From every knot hangs a jewel, and each jewel reflects all the other jewels within the net. My father’s life was one jewel hanging from a knot in that infinite web, and in that jewel was reflected my life, and my brothers’ lives, and my mother’s life.

—Eugene Richards, “A Life Too Long”

Via Daily Dharma: Uncover the Value of Loving Yourself

As we become aware of the feelings in us, our self-understanding will deepen. We will see how our fears and lack of peace contribute to our unhappiness, and we will see the value of loving ourselves and cultivating a heart of compassion.

—Thich Nhat Hanh, “Cultivating Compassion”

Healing Gregorian Chant Music @432Hz || DEEPEST HEALING MUSIC || Agnus Dei

Gregorian Chants at 432Hz | 3 Hours of Healing Music

Via Daily Dharma: Making Space for Happiness

The joy of letting go comes from insight into what truly brings happiness and suffering, and choosing the lasting happiness. Letting go may take some work but it can be a joyous relief.

—Hai An (Sister Ocean), “The Joy of Letting Go: Spring Cleaning Inside and Out”

from Song of Myself by Walt Whitman (read by Tom O'Bedlam)

Via Daily Dharma: The Wonder of Not Knowing

The fact that we don’t know—that nothing is certain and we therefore can’t hold on to anything—can evoke fear and depression, but it can also evoke a sense of wonder, curiosity, and freedom. Some of our best moments come when we haven’t yet decided what will happen next.

—Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel, “Open Stillness”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - June 12, 2019 💌

Surrender who you think you are and what you think you are doing into what is. It is mind boggling to think that spirituality is dying into yourself. 

- Ram Dass -

Via Higher Perspective:

https://www.higherperspectives.com/earths-greatest-treasure-2638748161.html

Via Daily Dharma: Embrace Slowing Down

When you look at getting stuck in traffic as an opportunity to slow down (literally!), it can seem like more of a blessing than a nightmare. Getting stressed out won’t make those cars go any faster. Finding ways to enjoy it is a lot more rewarding. It makes it feel less like wasting time.

—Brad Warner, “How to Not Waste Time”

Via PsychologyToday: Buddhism and the Blues

Buddhism and the blues

Buddhist psychology’s core techniques of meditation and awareness may have much to offer ordinary Westerners.
 
By: Hara Estroff Marano
From: Psychology Today

To most people Buddhism is an ancient Eastern religion, although a very special one. It has no god, it has no central creed or dogma and its primary goal is the expansion of consciousness, or awareness.

But to the Dalai Lama, it’s a highly refined tradition, perfected over the course of 2,500 years, of analyzing and investigating the inner world of the mind in order to transform mental states and promote happiness. “Whether you are a believer or not in the faith,” the Dalai Lama told a conference of Buddhists and scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, you can use its time-honored techniques to voluntarily control your emotional state.

Yes, the Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of over 300 million Buddhists worldwide. Yes, he is the head of the Tibetan government in exile. But in the spirit of Buddhism, the Dalai Lama has an inquiring mind and wishes to expand human knowledge to improve lives. At its core, Buddhism is a system of inquiry into the nature of what is.

He believes that psychology and neuroscience have gone about as far as they can go in understanding the mind and brain by measuring external reality. Now that inner reality—the nature of consciousness—is the pressing subject du jour, the sciences need to borrow from the knowledge base that Buddhism has long cultivated.

Towards a science of consciousness
 
A comprehensive science of the mind requires a science of consciousness. Buddhism offers what MIT geneticist Eric Lander, Ph.D., called a “highly refined technology” of introspective practices that provide systematic access to subjective experience. Yet Buddhist psychology offers more than a method of investigation. Its core techniques of meditation and awareness may have much to offer ordinary Westerners, whose material comforts have not wiped out rampant emotional distress.

The Buddhist view of how the mind works is somewhat different from the traditional Western view. Western psychology pretty much holds to the belief that things like attention and emotion are fixed and immutable. Buddhism sees the components of the mind more as skills that can be trained. This view has increasing support from modern neuroscience, which is almost daily providing new evidence of the brain’s capacity for change and growth.

Buddhism uses intelligence to control the emotions. Through meditative practices, awareness can be trained and focused on the contents of the mind to observe ongoing experience. Such techniques are of growing interest to Western psychologists, who increasingly see depression as a disorder of emotional mismanagement. In this view, attention is hijacked by negative events and then sets off a kind of chain reaction of negative feeling, thinking and behavior that has its own rapidity and inevitability.

Techniques of awareness permit the cultivation of self-control. They allow people to break the negative emotional chain reaction and head off the hopelessness and despair it leads to. By focusing attention, it is possible to monitor your environment, recognize a negative stimulus and act on it the instant it registers on awareness. While attention as traditional psychologists know it can be an exhausting mental activity, as Buddhists practice it it actually becomes a relaxing and effortless enterprise.

One way of meditation is to use breathing techniques in which you focus on the breathing and let any negative stimulus just go by—instead of bringing it into your working memory, where you are likely to sit and ruminate about it and thus amplify its negativity. It’s a way of unlearning the self-defeating ways you somehow acquired of responding catastrophically to negative experiences.

Read the rest of this article

The Virtual Closet Experience - Armário Virtual.

Via Daily Dharma: Listening with an Open Mind

It’s hard to listen without judgment, to tolerate ambiguity, paradox, and in some cases, ignorance. But if we are ever to experience any measure of true peace, this is something we will all need to learn.

—Tina Lear, “Having Real Conversations (Even with My Sister)”

Via Daily Dharma: When the Curtain Drops

In order to open—in meditation and in life in general—we must let go of our familiar thoughts and emotions, we must step out from behind the safe curtain of our inner rehearsals and onto the stage of reality, even if it’s for just a brief moment.

—Michael Carroll, “Bringing Spiritual Confidence in the Workplace”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - June 9, 2019 💌

The first step of karma yoga is to get free of the attachments to your own life, to develop a witness. We have thousands and thousands of me’s and there is one me that watches all the other me’s, right? That’s the only game. It’s not trying to change any of the me’s.
It’s not the evaluator, and it’s not the judge, it’s not the super ego. It doesn’t care about anything. It just notes, ‘hmmm, there he is doing that.’ That witness, that place inside you, is your centering device. And that begins to be the work one does on oneself. Once one understands there is a place in oneself that one is not attached, the first job is to extricate yourself from attachment. 

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Beginning with the Present Momen

Even if you practice meditation to become a paragon of love and wisdom, all it can do is put you face-to-face with who you are and with what is, which is where all meditation begins.

—Stephen Schettini, “What to Expect When You’re Reflecting”

Via Daily Dharma: Let Self-Centeredness Breeze Through

Greed, hatred, and ignorance arise in our minds, and if we build a self on them, we’re trapped. But if we don’t make our nest there, though self-centered thoughts come, they also go like the wind that shakes the branches and then disappears.

—Rafe Martin, “The Brave Parrot: Being Small in a Big, Troubled World”

Via Tricycle: Five Stories to Mark 50 Years Since Stonewall

2019 marks 50 years since the New York City police officers raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village. Though police arresting people for expressing a different gender than listed on their driver’s license (or demanding bribes) was not uncommon, rebellion was, and the riots and protests that followed launched the Gay Rights Movement.

For the last 50 years, cities across the globe have held parades and cultural events during Pride Month to celebrate the LGBTQ community and to raise awareness on pressing issues such as AIDS and marriage equality.

In the words of meditation teacher Jay Michaelson: “It’s no secret that many LGBTQ people have found refuge in the dharma, and it’s easy to see why. It helps us with the wounds of homophobia, recognizing internalized self-hatred for the delusion and dukkha [suffering] that it is.” Here are five Tricycle stories to celebrate Buddhism’s inclusivity this Pride Month.

 

1.Does Buddhism Support Sexual and Gender Minorities?

Buddhism for Beginners

https://tricycle.org/beginners/buddhism/does-buddhism-support-sexual-and-gender-minorities/ 

 

2. Having Real Conversations (Even with My Sister) By Tina Lear

https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/real-conversations/?utm_source=Tricycle&utm_campaign=7b5a5bf107-Newsletter_19_6_7_Pride&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1641abe55e-7b5a5bf107-307231789

 

 

3. We’re Queer and We’ve Been Here

By Dr. Jay Michaelson

 https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/buddhisms-lgbt-history/?utm_source=Tricycle&utm_campaign=7b5a5bf107-Newsletter_19_6_7_Pride&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1641abe55e-7b5a5bf107-307231789

 

4. This Buddhist Life: Kodo Nishimura By Marie Scarles

 https://tricycle.org/magazine/buddhist-life-kodo-nishimura/?utm_source=Tricycle&utm_campaign=7b5a5bf107-Newsletter_19_6_7_Pride&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1641abe55e-7b5a5bf107-307231789

 

5. Becoming Jivaka By Pagan Kennedy

 https://tricycle.org/magazine/michael-dillon/?utm_source=Tricycle&utm_campaign=7b5a5bf107-Newsletter_19_6_7_Pride&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1641abe55e-7b5a5bf107-307231789

 

 

Intersections: Tales of the City

Via Daily Dharma: Meeting Emotions as Friends

We have our mind and our thoughts, and they can rev up emotions. But if we use our emotions as the object of meditation, as our friend and support, it’s like standing on the bank of the river and observing.

—Pema Chödrön, “Meditating with Emotions”