Via Tricycle: Enjoy this April Fools' satire on the Buddha’s virtual sermon

Archaeologists in India’s Bihar State this week unearthed what they believe to be a Buddhist sutra from the 1st century CE, which depicts the Buddha telecommuting to deliver a sermon to his followers. In the scripture, the Buddha’s attendant Ananda recounts a time when his teacher was traveling in a distant land but still wished to address the sangha. While much of the text has been damaged, researchers say that it appears to describe the Buddha miraculously projecting his image and voice onto a screen at a monastic hall, where disciples had gathered to hear his message.

Unfortunately, as the following excerpt demonstrates, the Buddha encountered some technical difficulties:

Thus have I (mostly) heard,
[…]
A monk asked the Buddha, “Lord, you have taught us to value both solitude and community. How are we to understand this?”
And the Buddha responded: “When one’s [inaudible] is [inaudible] or [inaudible], then it is paramount that [inaudible].”
At which point the Blessed One’s image on the screen did freeze, and the student asked, “Lord Buddha, are you still there?”
And the Buddha replied, “and so that is what—what’s that? Can you hear me now?”
And the monk said that he could.
The Blessed One then announced that he was moving to another room to see if there was better reception.
Seated once more, he continued: “The true nature of reality is—”
Alas, mid-word, the Buddha’s message did abruptly cease, and the screen went blank. The monks hurried to investigate the cause, puzzling over whether or not the issue was on their side, until, suddenly, they were startled by a chirp-like ring.
The Buddha’s image then reappeared.
“How does it look now?” the Blessed One asked.
And although the Buddha’s lips did not sync with the sound of his voice, the monk said, “It’s astounding, lord.”
The Blessed One said, “All things are subject (all things) to arising (are subject to) and passing (arising and) away—do you hear (away) that echo? (Do you hear that echo?)”
The monk answered, “Yes, Lord.”
And the Blessed One said, “Oh, great, now [inaudible] frozen (frozen)!”
The monk waved his hand to see if the Buddha could see him.
The Blessed One’s image did then disappear, before once again returning with greater clarity than before. The Buddha asked, “How about now?”
The monk answered, “Perfect, lord. I can see and hear you clearly now.”
[…]

The text cuts off at this point. Researchers continue to use fragments of the remaining text to reconstruct the rest of the sutra. But progress has been slow as they, too, have had to communicate via video conferencing, during which they keep talking over each other, simultaneously saying, “Sorry, you go,” and observing a brief silence, before all speaking at the same time again.

Make the jump here to read the original and more

Via Daily Dharma: Breathe with Your Whole Body

To better understand how to breathe with the conscious participation of the whole body, nothing is more helpful than to recognize that, in a deeply relaxed body, the force of breath can cause the entire body to remain in a state of subtle, constant, fluid motion.

—Will Johnson, "Breath Moves Body"

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Via Daily Dharma: Creating a Balanced and Accepting Mind

Equanimity is not insensitivity, indifference, or apathy. It is simply nonpreferential. Under its influence, one does not push aside the things one dislikes or grasp at the things one prefers. The mind rests in an an attitude of balance and acceptance of things as they are.

—Sayadaw U Pandita, "A Perfect Balance"

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Via Daily Dharma: Reveal Your True Self

Usually, it takes a few—or a number of—meditation sessions sitting with the agitated mind before the true self appears. But with each session the fog lifts a bit more.

—Joan Duncan Oliver, "The Sound of Silence"

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Via Daily Dharma: Coming to Rest, Stability, and Peace

When we meditate, and when we contemplate qualities such as love and compassion, we dissolve emotional states and allow our mind to come to rest, stability, and peace.

—Dawa Tarchin Phillips, “The Three Principles of Awakening”

Via LGBT INCLUSIVE / AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER

By Wallace Ingalls. Mouse freedom. Life is equal through & through for mice. 

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation / Words of Wisdom - April 5, 2020 💌

 

"The root of fear is a feeling of separateness within oneself. Once that the feeling of separation exists, then you process everything from either inside or outside of that model.

The transformative process of spiritual work is reawakening to the innocence of going behind that model of separation that cuts you off, which made you a tiny little fragile somebody. A lot of the power comes from a freeing of our own fragility.

When you look at social structures, you see how much is based upon the feeling of fragility within the human condition. Based on fear.

You say, 'I’m afraid of that person,' but you mean you are afraid of being socially shamed by that person. When you are socially shamed, it hurts, but then here we still are. You’re afraid of violence, and then if violence happens, sure, it’s scary and painful and then behind it, here we are.

I think that fear often feeds upon itself and we’re most afraid of the fear, which then gives it greater power… But ultimately we are afraid because we feel vulnerable."

 

- Ram Dass -

Via [Podcast] Tami Simon speaks with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh: Meditation Is for Everyone

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, poet, peace activist, and the author of over 100 books and numerous Sounds True learning programs, including The Art of Mindful Living and Living Without Stress or Fear. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Hanh about the core of Buddhist practice: discovering liberation through present-moment mindfulness. Hanh relates some of his experiences as a young monk in Vietnam, including his involvement in the "engaged Buddhism" movement. Finally, Tami and Hanh discuss why meditation is available no matter where you are or what condition you are in. (46 minutes)

https://soundstrue-ha.s3.amazonaws.com/subscriptions/media/PD06206W_Thich-Nhat-Hanh.mp3

#Planetarium Ascension Timeline/End of Coronavirus Meditation April 4th/5th 2020 – English promotional video

Guided audio in English: https://youtu.be/qPQcDyQ46lw It is time to take action again! It is time to take the destiny of our world in our own hands! We all agree that the process of planetary liberation is taking too long, and the current timeline is not going in the best direction. Here is our chance to collectively shift the timeline back into our optimal timeline for planetary liberation. Therefore we are using the opportunity of the massive astrological configuration of Jupiter Pluto conjunction on April 4th/5th to create a portal through which we will unify our consciousness and trigger the process that will solidify the optimal Ascension timeline for the planet. We will be doing this meditation at 10:45 pm EDT on April 4th in New York. This equals 9:45 pm CDT in Chicago, 8:45 pm MDT in Denver and 7:45 pm PDT in Los Angeles. Europe and Asia will already have April 5th at the moment of the activation, which will be 3:45 am BST in London, 4:45 am CEST in Paris, 4:45 am EET in Cairo, 10:45 am CST in Taipei and Beijing, 11:45 am JST in Tokyo and 12:45 pm AEST in Sydney. You can check the time of the meditation for your time zone here: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldcloc... Instructions (suggested time for our meditation is 20 minutes): 1. Use your own technique to bring you to a relaxed state of consciousness. 2. State your intent to use this meditation as a tool to shift the planet into the most optimal timeline and as a tool to completely remove the coronavirus. 3. Visualize a pillar of brilliant white Light emanating from the Cosmic Central Sun, then being distributed to Central Suns of all galaxies in this universe. Then visualize this light entering through the Galactic Central Sun, then going through our Galaxy, then entering our Solar System and going through all beings of Light inside our Solar System and then through all beings on planet Earth and also through your body to the center of the Earth. 4. Visualize this Light transmuting all remaining coronavirus on Earth, disinfecting all infected areas on the planet, healing all patients, removing all fear associated with this epidemic and restoring stability. 5. Visualize the course of events on planet Earth shifting into the most positive timeline possible, shifting away from all epidemics, away from all wars, away from all global domination. Visualize white, pink, blue and golden Light healing all inequalities, erasing all poverty and bringing abundance to all humanity. Visualize a new grand cosmic cycle of the Age of Aquarius beginning, bringing pure Light, Love and Happiness to all beings on Earth. Victory of the Light! Updates about the Ascension Timeline Meditation: http://2012portal.blogspot.com Credits: Music: Prologue & Birth – by Audiomachine (Epica) Homecoming – Two Steps From Hell (Illusions) Videos: Background Video Effects ~ BLUE Nebula Space Travel Nebula background A Space Journey (HD) Deep Field The impossible Magnitude of our Universe A Sunrise from the Edge of Space The most stunning timelapsese of sunrises and sunsets areound Sydney, Australia Alive Canada 4K Transient – 4K UHD Higher Ground FLOWERS CAN DANCE!!! Amazing nature Beautiful blooming flower time lapse video Planet Earth II Official Extended Trailer – BBC Earth Amazing Landscapes Sky Planet Earth Nature Timelapse Best Drone shots 2019 Crystalapse Frozen in Time (Iceland) Landscapes Volume 4K Earth from Space [ISS Time-lapse in 4K] Free City Videos With Music For Video Editing Free Drone Stock Footage, Free Stock Videos of Forest, Mountains, Clouds, City, Los Angeles A Shutterstock Journey in Stock Video Footage Crowd of people walking on city street sidewalk This Is a Generic Brand Video, by Dissolve The Perfect Life - A meditation flash mob in Mexico City The Sitting Project - Meditation Flash Mob in Times Square NYC Rise Lantern Festival Japan in 8K - Gamagori Fireworks Competition- 愛知県花火競技大会in蒲郡 A Breathtaking View of Jupiter's Clouds from the Juno Spacecraft What did NASA's New Horizons discover around Pluto Aquarius Constellation Zodiac - Free motion graphics Crab Supernova Explosion [1080p] TIMELAPSE OF THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE The Scale of the Visible Universe Do we live in a multiverse? The Economist What's Beyond (360° video) 4K Hubble The Final Frontier - Official Final Film #Planetarium Cut

Category

Via Daily Dharma: Seeing the Interconnectedness of All Beings

To see into the interconnectedness of all living things is to see how all living things are part of a unified field that contains all, and at the same time to see that this entire field is embodied by each being.

—Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, “The Need of the Hour”

Via Daily Dharma: What Silence Offers

Silence offers us the unique opportunity to meet our incessant internal noise, the constant stream of mental and emotional activity that generally goes unnoticed or unexamined.

—Beth Roth, “Family Dharma: The Fragility of Silence”

Weekly Resources for Resilience from Ram Dass & Be Here Now Podcast Network

Audio Teaching: Ram Dass Shares the Antidote to Fear (3:37)
How can we balance fear with equanimity? Ram Dass shares the antidote to fear, and the ways that we can allow our own humanity in order to extricate ourselves from the web of thought forms that create our own suffering.
Listen Here

 

 

 

 

Weekly Practice: Rain Meditation with Tara Brach (8:48) 
“In the moments that you really trust the purity of your heart, you really trust the wisdom and awareness that’s living through you, there’s no other, there’s nothing outside you, you are that field of awareness. Trust frees us.” – Tara Brach
Practice Here

 

 

Featured Podcast: The Road Home with Ethan Nichtern – Ep. 36 – Practicing In The World As It Is (37:57)
How can we continue practicing in the midst of this world in the grasp of a global pandemic?
On this episode of The Road Home, Ethan offers some thoughts on working with anxiety and fear, and how we can continue practicing in the world as it is during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ethan explores how we can look at our quarantine experiences as a kind of retreat on managing our relationships. He talks about how hard it can be to meditate at a time like this, and offers some tips for those who are not comfortable with a sitting meditation practice right now.
LISTEN HERE

 

 

Featured Podcast: Trudy Goodman Kornfield on the BHNN Guest Podcast – Ep. 55 – Working With the Mind (39:03)
How can we work with the neverending flow of thoughts, emotions, and sensations as they arise in the mind?
Trudy Goodman Kornfield shares a meditation and words of wisdom around cultivating the ability to work with the thinking mind.
Trudy looks at how we can work with overwhelming thoughts and emotions. She speaks to what the Buddha’s teachings on the three universal truths can teach us about working with the mind without getting swept up in what arises.
Listen Here

 

 

 

Via White Crane Institute / This Day in Gay History April 02 Born - HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN,

Hans Christian Andersen

1805 -

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN, born, (d: 1875); Forget the silly Danny Gay, um...er...Kaye movie of yesteryear in which Hans sings to inchworms and measures all the marigolds. Anderson was an odd duck, all right, but odd in ways not even hinted at in that Technicolor monstrosity.

The real story, on the contrary, might actually make a good film. One can already see the scene between his poor parents as they realize something is a little strange about the lad. When the other kids are out doing masculine things, like circle jerks and pulling wings off flies, all he wants to do is sew clothes for his dolls. 

Then we can have the scene where he decides to leave his place as an apprentice to a tailor to try to make it as an opera singer. He’s really torn about leaving, because he just loves being surrounded by all those clothes to sew. Then there’s his time of starvation on the road until he’s taken in by two Gay musicians who see to it that the hunky young man is plenty stuffed.

Passed on to a middle-aged poet, and getting a little wiser, he decides it’s much more fun being kept than taking dancing lessons, as he had originally wanted, in return for services rendered. Eventually he makes it big as the greatest fairy tale writer in Europe and the entire cast joins in the great production number, “It Takes One to Write One.”

Via Daily Dharma: Restoring Order During Painful Times

Realizing one is simply part of the machinery, or the music, of the universe, with its resonating structure of wave patterns: this one giving rise to this one, giving rise to this one … to hear this music, piercing as it is, restores a measure of order in the havoc of pain.

—Noelle Oxenhandler, “A Streetcar in Your Stomach”

Via Daily Dharma: What Can Inspire Your Practice?

Experience is the seed of aspiration, the deeply rooted commitment to know. That aspiration then drives one into the difficult and transformative realm of spiritual pursuit, into the realm of practice.

—Adam Frank, “In the Light of Truth”

Via White Crane Institute / RACHEL MADDOW

---

Rachel Maddow

1973 -

Today is the birthday of American television anchor and political commentator RACHEL MADDOW. Her syndicated talk radio program, The Rachel Maddow Show, aired on Air America Radio. She was also a guest host of Countdown with Keith Olbermann and Race for the White House.

Maddow now hosts a preeminent nightly television show, The Rachel Maddow Show, on MSNBC and she was the first out Gay anchor to be hired to host a prime-time news program in the United States.  Rachel (don't you feel like you can call her by her first name even if you haven't actually ever been introduced?) earned a degree in public policy from Stanford University in 1994. At graduation, she was awarded the John Gardner Fellowship.

She was also the recipient of a Rhodes Scholarship and began her postgraduate study in 1995 at Lincoln College, Oxford. In 2001, she completed her Doctor of Philosophy degree (DPhil) in politics from Oxford University. Her doctoral thesis is titled HIV/AIDS and Health Care Reform in British and American Prisons. She was the first openly gay American to win a Rhodes scholarship.

Maddow wrote Drift, which examines attitudes toward and policies about war. It was hailed by every critic as a concise and well thought out treatise of the subject. Her analysis is on point at every turn. 

In these troubled days she is must-watch television (even if she is annoyingly repetitive and pedantic from time to time…Rachel…hire a good editor!...we love you!)

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation / Words of Wisdom - April 1, 2020 💌

"The path to freedom is through detachment from your old habits of ego. Slowly you will arrive at a new and more profound integration of your experiences in a more evolved structure of the universe. That is, you will flow beyond the boundaries of your ego until ultimately you merge into the universe. At that point, you have gone beyond ego. Until then you must break through old structures, develop broader structures, break through those, and develop still broader structures. "

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Notice the Truth of the Moment

Noticing what is taking place—as opposed to what one wishes would take place, or what one fears might take place, or what one grieves over as having already taken place—is a way of life that is completely free of all self-imposed restrictions and conflicting states of mind.

—Diana St. Ruth, “The Way”

Via Daily Dharma: Waking Up on Your Own

The Buddhist prohibition against intoxicants isn’t about bad drugs versus good drugs. It’s about learning to wake up on your own.

—Brad Warner, “The Enlightenment Pill”

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation / Words of Wisdom - March 29, 2020 💌

"Each of us is living in our own universe, created out of our projected attachments. That’s what we mean when we say, 'You create your own universe.' We are creating that universe because of our attachments, which can also be avoidances and fears. As we develop spiritually and see how it all is, more and more we keep consuming and neutralizing our own reactivity.
Each time we see ourselves reacting we’re saying, 'Right, and this situation too, and this one too, Tat Tvam Asi, and that also, and that also, and that also.' Gradually the attachments start to lose their pull and to fall away. We get so that we’re perfectly willing to do whatever we do – and to do it perfectly and without attachment. "

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Break the Cycle of Reaction

When there is no attachment or identification with thoughts and feelings, there is no reactive push into action creating more doing, more karma. … We get to the point where our acts are not done out of attachment but instead are just done as they’re done, and no new stuff is being created.

—Ram Dass, “Karmuppance”

Via FB:

Saiu a Modelagem Estatística do Imperial College London para os Cenários do COVID-19 no Brasil

Antes, uma introdução. No começo da pandemia o governo do Reino Unido havia decidido apostar em uma estratégia de “imunidade de massa”, que consistia em não tomar medidas restritivas; em vez de parar o país, deixariam que o vírus infectasse a população de modo que rapidamente as pessoas pudessem ficar imunizadas.

Porém, o governo do Reino Unido desistiu dessa ideia quando uma equipe de especialistas epidemiológicos do Imperial College of London apresentou uma previsão de como se desenrolaria a disseminação do COVID-19 em diferentes cenários de contenção para o Reino Unido e para os Estados Unidos. Para elaborar essa previsão, utilizaram dados de contágio, estatísticas de hospitalização e óbitos vistos em outros países, estudaram como o vírus se dissemina em diferentes ambientes etc..

Como um breve resumo: se circular livremente, o vírus tem a capacidade de infectar cerca de 80% da população geral em um período muito curto. Das pessoas infectadas, cerca de 20% precisam de hospitalização, 5% dos casos são críticos e precisam de UTI e suporte respiratório, e cerca de metade dos casos críticos vêm a óbito.

No entanto, o súbito aumento de casos ultrapassa a capacidade do sistema de saúde, gerando colapso, e disso resulta um número muito maior de mortes — de covid-19, assim como de outras causas — simplesmente porque não há hospital para tratar todas as pessoas que precisam.

Segundo a previsão, se não houver restrições nos contatos, no mundo inteiro seriam 7 bilhões de pessoas infectadas com covid-19 e 40 milhões de mortes neste ano.

Os números previstos por esses estudos fizeram com que governos desistissem das posturas mais relaxadas e tomassem as medidas mais restritivas para evitar o colapso do sistema de saúde e um número muito maior de mortes.

Ontem, no dia 26/03/2020, o Imperial College of London soltou números previstos para os desfechos da pandemia em todos os países, nos cenários sem intervenção, com mitigação, e com supressão.

Mitigação envolve proteger os idosos (reduzir 60% dos contatos) e restringir apenas 40% dos contatos do restante da população.

Supressão envolve testar e isolar os casos positivos, e estabelecer distanciamento social para toda a população.

Supressão precoce – implementada em uma fase em que há 0,2 mortes por 100.000 habitantes por semana e mantida

Supressão tardia – implementada quando há 1,6 mortes por 100.000 habitantes por semana e mantida.

No Brasil os cenários previstos são os seguintes:

Cenário 1- Sem medidas de mitigação:

- População total: 212.559.409

- População infectada: 187.799.806

- Mortes: 1.152.283

- Indivíduos necessitando hospitalização: 6.206.514

- Indivíduos necessitando UTI: 1.527.536

Cenário 2 - Com distanciamento social de toda a população:

- População infectada: 122.025.818

- Mortes: 627.047

- Indivíduos necessitando hospitalização: 3.496.359

- Indivíduos necessitando UTI: 831.381

Cenário 3 - Com distanciamento social E REFORÇO do distanciamento dos idosos:

- População infectada: 120.836.850

- Mortes: 529.779

- Indivíduos necessitando hospitalização: 3.222.096

- Indivíduos necessitando UTI: 702.497

Cenário 4 – Com supressão tardia

- População infectada: 49.599.016

- Mortes: 206.087

- Indivíduos necessitando hospitalização: 1.182.457

- Indivíduos necessitando UTI: 460.361

- Demanda por hospitalização no pico da pandemia: 460.361

- Demanda por leitos de UTI no pico da pandemia: 97.044

Cenário 5 – Com supressão precoce

- População infectada: 11.457.197

- Mortes: 44.212

- Indivíduos necessitando hospitalização: 250.182

- Indivíduos necessitando UTI: 57.423

- Demanda por hospitalização no pico da pandemia: 72.398

- Demanda por leitos de UTI no pico da pandemia: 15.432

Faço algumas observações:

Os próprios autores do estudo comentam que modelaram essas curvas com base nos padrões de dispersão dos países ricos e que nos países pobres os resultados da pandemia podem ser piores do que o previsto. Esses números previstos não levam em conta a existência de favelas, comunidades sem abastecimento de água e/ou saneamento, entre outros complicadores que temos no Brasil.

É preciso comentar que os números reais da pandemia no Brasil, seus casos e óbitos, estarão amplamente subnotificados devido à falta de testes e demora nos resultados. As estatísticas oficiais publicadas pelo Ministério da Saúde mostrarão apenas a ponta do iceberg.

Mesmo nos melhores cenários, lentificando a transmissão e aumentando os recursos do sistema de saúde, deve faltar UTI e respirador para parte dos doentes.

Em resumo, a diferença entre ficarmos todos em casa (supressão) ou adotar uma estratégia mais branda de mitigação e proteção apenas dos grupos de risco pode ser da ordem de MEIO MILHÃO de vidas.

Os diversos relatórios estão disponíveis no site do Imperial College of London: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/mrc-global-infectious-disease-analysis/news--wuhan-coronavirus/?fbclid=IwAR0GeexFNu6ezOVclPBVW5x3Z3yOn5N1X6siDO5P7ezUOm_UwOUu31RBoAY

Link para o trabalho “The Global Impact of COVID-19 and Strategies for Mitigation and Suppression”: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/sph/ide/gida-fellowships/Imperial-College-COVID19-Global-Impact-26-03-2020.pdf

As tabelas com os números oferecidos constam no apêndice: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/sph/ide/gida-fellowships/Imperial-College-COVID19-Global-unmitigated-mitigated-suppression-scenarios.xlsx

Robin S - Show Me Love (Official Music Video) [1993]

Via Daily Dharma: Forgive Yourself for Failing

Falling down is what we humans do. If we can acknowledge that fact, judgment softens and we allow the world to be as it is, forgiving ourselves and others for our humanity.

—Lin Jensen, “An Ear to the Ground”

Via Insight Meditation Sangha

Firm confidence in the Buddha;

Firm confidence in the Dharma;

Firm confidence in the Community;

Being accomplished in noble virtue.

~ Bhikku Anālayo ~

May you be healthy, happy, safe and protected, and may we all find peace and liberation in the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, and in noble virtue.

Via Daily Dharma: Getting Along with People Who Bother You

A Buddhist practices nonattachment to views. If we human beings are going to stick around on this earth, we need to learn to get along not just with the people who share our views, but also, and more to the point, with the people who get our goat. And remember—we get their goat, too.

—Susan Moon, “Ten Practices to Change the World”

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation / Words of Wisdom - March 26, 2020 💌

"The universe is made up of experiences that are designed to burn out our reactivity, which is our attachment, our clinging, to pain, to pleasure, to fear, to all of it. And as long as there are places where we’re vulnerable, the universe will find ways to confront us with them. That’s the way the dance is designed..."

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: How to Respond to Anger

If you are angry and you meditate to get rid of your anger, you will only frustrate yourself. Meditate because you are angry, not to eliminate it.

—Mark Epstein, “I’ve Been Meditating for Ten Years, and I’m Still Angry. What’s the Matter with Me?”

One Day More - A Quarantined #BroadwayLipSync

Via the Gay Buddhist Fellowship in San Franciso

“The more closely we contemplate our bodies and minds and the world we live in, the more profoundly we become aware of the fragility and instability. When a crisis like this pandemic lays bare the unreliable and uncertain nature of the world, we are unsurprised. We know that what is happening right now is not a deviation from the norm. It is merely that the covers have been dragged away from truths that most people spend their lives trying to ignore. With a daily grounding in the way things are, we can remain free from panic, anxiety, and depression. We can turn our minds to compassion.

Faced with a suffering of this depth and range, we form the heartfelt wish that all people, young and old, in all countries of the world be free from infection. If they have contracted the virus, may they recover. If they do not recover may they be able to endure their pain with patience and acceptance; may they have a refuge in their heart to turn to; and in their final days may they be surrounded by love and kindness.”

~Ajahn Jayasaro

Via Daily Dharma: Diluting Your Ego

Each deepening of refuge is a lessening of ego.

—Dharmavidya David Brazier, “It Needs Saying”

Via One Day More!

Via Daily Dharma: You Are Enough

The ground of renunciation is realizing that we already have exactly what we need, that what we have already is good.

—Pema Chödrön, “Renunciation”

Via Daily Dharma: Reconnect with Interconnection

There is a truth to our lived experience, to our births, to our deaths, to our existence in separate bodies. But that doesn't deny that we are interconnected, that we all originated from the same point.

—Sebene Selassie, “Mindfulness of the Four Elements: Reconnecting with the World”

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation / Words of Wisdom - March 22, 2020 💌

"One of the big traps we have in the West is our intelligence because we want to know that we know. Freedom allows you to be wise, but you cannot know wisdom. You must be wisdom. When my guru wanted to put me down, he called me ‘clever.’ When he wanted to reward me, he would call me ‘simple.’ The intellect is a beautiful servant, but a terrible master. Intellect is the power tool of our separateness. The intuitive, compassionate heart is the doorway to our unity. "

- Ram Dass -

Via White Crane Insitute: GAVIN ARTHUR

Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989
This Day in Gay History
March 21 Born Gavin Arthur 1901 - GAVIN ARTHUR, American writer, grandson of President Chester A. Arthur (d: 1972); Grandson and namesake of U.S. President Chester Alan Arthur, he was Alan Watts' father-in-law. An adventurous soul, he worked his way around the world as a merchant seaman. He has been described as "an Ivy League dropout, an Irish Republican Army activist, an experimental-film actor, a commune leader, a gold prospector, a teacher at San Quentin, and a bisexual sexologist/astrologer. An early Gay Rights activist and a practical prototype for the hippies." In 1962, Arthur published The Circle of Sex, a book that analyzed human sexuality through the lens of astrology. Rather than the linear scale developed by Alfred Kinsey, Arthur envisioned sexuality as a wheel with twelve orientations. The twelve types corresponded to the zodiac and Arthur illustrated each with an historical archetype (e.g., Don Juan, Sappho, Lady C).  He appears in James Broughton's film The Bed as the man receiving last rites from Alan Watts Arthur, bisexual himself, was said to have been intimate with Edward Carpenter and Neal Cassady. Arthur was also a friend to many of the beat generation, including Allen Ginsberg and Alan Watts, and was active in the early Gay Liberation movement movement. Arthur married for the third time in 1965 to Ellen Jansen. He wrote an enlarged edition of The Circle of Sex the following year. He used astrology to determine the date to hold the Human Be-in in 1967. In 1968, he debated fellow astrologer Dane Rudhyar on the topic of the Age of Aquarius. In 1972, Arthur died in San Francisco. Having no children himself, he was the last living descendant of his grandfather, President Chester A. Arthur. His papers, including many family papers, were donated to the Library of Congress.

Via Daily Dharma: Why We Really Practice

We need to lessen our attachment to the cushion and remember meditation’s true purpose: to transform our minds. We can do that anywhere.

—Mindy Newman, “Ask a Teacher”

Via Daily Dharma: Others Have Felt What You’re Feeling

Whatever it is that you’re feeling, recognize it. In that instant of separation and acknowledgment, … use your imagination to recognize that there are other people on the planet at this very moment feeling just like you feel. You are no longer alone.

—Lama Kathy Wesley, “Your Mistakes Are Progress”

Via White Crane Institute / RICHARD FRANCIS BURTON

Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989
This Day in Gay History
March 19 Born Richard Francis Burton 1821 - RICHARD FRANCIS BURTON, legendary British explorer, diplomat and author was born (d. 1890); an English explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, ethnologist, linguist, poet, hypnotist, fencer and diplomat. If we left anything out it’s hard to imagine what it might be. Burton was "the most interesting man alive" before there was such a thing. He was known for his far-flung and exotic travels and explorations within Asia and Africa as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures. According to one count, he spoke 29 European, Asian, and African languages. His best-known achievements include traveling in disguise to Mecca, making an unexpurgated translation of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (the collection is more commonly called The Arabian Nights in English because of Andrew Lang's abridgment) and the Kama Sutra and journeying with John Henning Speke as the first white men guided by the redoubtable Sidi Mubarek Bombay to discover the Great Lakes of Africa in search of the source of the Nile. Allegations of homosexuality followed Burton throughout most of his life, at a time when it was a criminal offense in the United Kingdom. Biographers disagree on whether or not Burton ever experienced Gay sex (he never directly acknowledges it in his writing). These allegations began in his army days when General Sir Charles James Napier requested that Burton go undercover to investigate a male brothel reputed to be frequented by British soldiers. It has been suggested that Burton's detailed report on the workings of the brothel may have led some to believe he had been a customer. Burton was a party boy and a heavy drinker at various times in his life and also admitted to taking both hemp and opium. Friends of the poet Algernon Swinburne blamed Burton for leading him astray, holding Burton responsible for Swinburne's alcoholism and interest in the works of the Marquis de Sade.