Via Rev. Patricia Mushim Ikeda, East Bay Meditation Center: Prayers and Climate Blessings

Prayers and Climate Blessings

 

National Climate Prayer

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Interfaith Climate Prayer in English and Spanish ( La bendición climática)

We Hold the Earth

We hold brothers and sisters who suffer from storms and droughts intensified by climate change.

We hold all species that suffer.

We hold world leaders delegated to make decisions for life.

We pray that the web of life may be mended through courageous actions to limit carbon emissions.

We pray for right actions for adaptation and mitigation to help our already suffering earth community.

We pray that love and wisdom might inspire my actions and our actions as communities. . .

     so that we may, with integrity, look into the eyes of brothers and sisters and all beings and truthfully

     say, we are doing our part to care for them and the future of the children.

May love transform us and our world with new steps toward life

Sostenemos la tierra

Sostenemos la tierra.
Sostenemos hermanos y hermanas quienes sufren de tormentas y sequías intensificadas por el cambio climático.
Sostenemos todas las especies que sufren.
Sostenemos líderes mundial delegados a tomar decisiones por la vida.
Rezamos que la red de la vida se pueda reparar a través de acciones valientes en limitar la emisión de carbono
Rezamos por acciones correctas en ajustacion y mitigación para ayudar nuestra comunidad mundial que sufre
Rezamos que el amor y sabiduría enspire mis acciones y nuestras acciones como comunidad…
para que podamos, con integridad, mirar a los ojos de los hermanos y hermanas y todos los seres y en verdad
digamos, estamos haciendo nuestra parte para cuidar de ellos y el futuro de los niños
Para que el amor nos transforme y el mundo con nuevos pasos hacia la vida.

Prayer for our Earth from Pope Francis Encyclical ( English and Spanish)

A prayer for our earth

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love,
that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace, that we may live
as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God of the poor,
help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives,
that we may protect the world and not prey on it,
that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction. Touch the hearts
of those who look only for gain
at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,
to be filled with awe and contemplation,
to recognize that we are profoundly united
with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day.
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle
for justice, love and peace.

Download the English version here.

Oración por nuestra tierra

Dios omnipotente,
que estás presente en todo el universo
y en la más pequeña de tus criaturas,
Tú, que rodeas con tu ternura todo lo que existe,
derrama en nosotros la fuerza de tu amor
para que cuidemos la vida y la belleza.
Inúndanos de paz, para que vivamos como hermanos y hermanas
sin dañar a nadie.
Dios de los pobres,
ayúdanos a rescatar
a los abandonados y olvidados de esta tierra
que tanto valen a tus ojos.
Sana nuestras vidas,
para que seamos protectores del mundo
y no depredadores,
para que sembremos hermosura
y no contaminación y destrucción.
Toca los corazones
de los que buscan sólo beneficios
a costa de los pobres y de la tierra.
Enséñanos a descubrir el valor de cada cosa,
a contemplar admirados,
a reconocer que estamos profundamente unidos
con todas las criaturas
en nuestro camino hacia tu luz infinita.
Gracias porque estás con nosotros todos los días.
Aliéntanos, por favor, en nuestra lucha
por la justicia, el amor y la paz.

Prayer of Stewardship by Catholic Relief Services

God of all Creation,

At the beginning of time
You placed a single mandate on humankind
To be stewards of Creation
To replenish and nurture all generations
What you have made

We kneel today amid that same Creation-
A world that is, in many ways, more splendid than ever
But, in too many ways, scarred beyond recognition

Turn us from our unmindfulness
Help our tough be light
Help us renew the worlds that supports us
So we may once more know Creation
As it was in the beginning

Amen

Dios de la Creacion,

Al principio de los tiempos nos diste un mandato:

Cuidar y ser responsables de la creacion cultivando
a traves de las generaciones lo que Tu habias creado.
Hoy, nos arrodillamos en este mismo mundo
que es parte de tu creacion.
Un mundo que en muchos aspectos y lugares es mas esplendido
que nunca antes,
y en otros, lo hemos mancillado hasta dejarlo irreconocible.

Aparta de nosotros nuestra propia inconsciencia.
Ayudanos para que nuestras obras sean reflejo de tu luz. Ayudanos a reparar el mundo que creaste para nuestro sustento
de modo que podamos volver a ver en el la belleza
y armonfa que tu creaste.

A Buddhist Prayer

New Mexico IPL uses this as a commitment at each of our Earth Sabbath monthly gatherings

I vow to myself and to each of you:

To commit myself daily to the healing of our world and the welfare of all beings.

To live on Earth more lightly and less violently in the food, products, and energy I consume.

To draw strength and guidance from the living Earth, the ancestors, the future generations,

and my brothers and sisters of all species.

To support others in our work for the world and to ask for help when I need it.

To pursue a daily practice that clarifies my mind, strengthens my heart, and supports me in

observing these vows.

Shantideva’s Prayer, as recited by Rev. Patricia Mushim Ikeda, East Bay Meditation Center

       May I be a protector to those without protection,

       A leader to those who journey,

       A boat, a bridge, a passage to those desiring the shore of non-suffering.

       May the pain of every living creature Be completely cleared away

       May I be the doctor, and the medicine, and may I be the nurse for all sick beings until everyone is healed.

       Just like space And the great elements such as Earth may I always support the life of all the many creatures.

       And until they pass away from pain, may I also be the source of life for all the realms of varied beings that reach into the ends of space.

Prayer of Love and Healing for Earth

O God of All Names and Beyond All Names,

I pray in great gratitude this holy day for Love.

Love raises the sun and greets me

in each drop of water I drink,

in each crumb of bread I taste,

in each smile and tear I touch,

in each child I meet.

In a mantle of awe I stand enwrapped.

My feet rest upon Earth and my head meets the moon.

O Holy One, our times are fraught with challenge.

Our Earth suffers climatic chaos,

Men, women and children suffer from wounds of conflict,

droughts, floods and crumbling economic systems.

All manner of suffering and questions press into my soul.

My small beating heart does not seem large enough…

yet daily it keeps expanding beyond body boundaries into Compassion.

Each morning Love rises beyond a known horizon in the unknown day.

Each morning Hope beckons me into my stardust destiny.

Each noontime Grace feeds me with Love.

Each evening an invisible Breath enfolds me in a shawl of mercy.

O Holy one Who Is Love, Hope, Grace and Breath

transform our sadness and doubt into songs for Life.

We pray for our beloved planet and all brothers and sisters.

May healing waters bathe the rivers and oceans.

May small, deliberate actions grow seeds of Earth justice.

May one prophetic note of the smallest birdsong courageously sung

on a busy street at dawn inspire leaders to free their voices to speak

for the Common Good and future generations.

O God of All Names and Beyond All Names, Whose Face is Love

May I and we collectively

Be the face of Transforming Love

In this moment, In this day, In these times. Amen.

From “Full Circle” by Howard Shapiro
Nature Suite

And we shall pass from this scene
And from this stage called life
Yet the Earth will always be
And her children
The wind, the sky, the land, the sea
Shall ever sing songs of praise to the Creator
Their Nature Suite

Wilderness

O vast and untamed wilderness
Where wind and river speak
Against the untainted electra sky
Live the hunter and the meek

Where no foulness of society
Has corrupted what God has wrought
Unconscious memories of visions past
No possession to be kept or bought

For within the soul of each city street
Beneath the oppressive mass
Lives the spirit of the unbridled frontier
To some a time that’s past

But in the stories born in our hearts
Conceived before our births
The wilderness will always be
The calling of the Earth

Prayer by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Through the silence of nature,
I attain Thy divine peace.
Oh sublime nature,
in thy stillness let my heart rest.
Thou art patiently awaiting the moment
to manifest through the silence of sublime nature.
Oh nature sublime, speak to me through silence,
for I am awaiting in silence like you the call of God.
Oh nature sublime,
through thy silence I hear Thy cry.
My heart is tuned to the quietness,
that the stillness of nature inspires.

Prayer from The Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative Judaism

Praised are you Adonai our God, who rules the universe, which lacks
nothing; for God created fine creatures and pleasant trees in order that
humans might enjoy them.

Prayers from The Rabbinical Assembly of the United Synagogue of America

Light and Darkness, night and day. We marvel at the mystery of the stars.
Moon and sky, sand and sea. We marvel at the mystery of the sun.
Twilight, high noon, dusk and dawn. Though we are mortal, we are Creation’s crown.
Flesh and bone, steel and stone. We dwell in fragile, temporary shelters.
Grant steadfast love, compassion, grace. Sustain us, Lord; our origin is duest.
Splendor, mercy, majesty, love endure. We are but little lower than the angels.
Resplendent skies, sunset, sunrise. The grandeur of Creation lifts our lives.
Evening darkness, morning dawn. Renew our lives as You renew all time.

Prayer by Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb, Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation
 Modim anachnu lach – מוֹדִים אֲנַחְנוּ לָךְ – grateful, we are, to You – Source of Life:
For Earth’s intricate, interconnected, interdependent biosphere. For the marvelous riot of flora and fauna filling every niche. For the diversity of life, among millions of species; and for the diversity of humanity, each of us a unique reflection of Your image. For the gift of Existence, which we must never take for granted!
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’, אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, עוֹשֶׂה מַעֲשֵׂה בְרֵאשִׁית
Barukh ata HAVAYA, Eloheinu Ruach ha’olam, oseh ma’aseh v’reisheet
Blessed are You, Eternal our G!d, Spirit of the universe, maker of the works of Creation.
Modim anachnu lach – מוֹדִים אֲנַחְנוּ לָךְ – grateful, we are, to You –  
Source of Connection:
For our humble, critical place in Your world. For relationships between people; among all peoples; among all creatures; and with You, Holy Blessed One. For the first enduring covenant You made – not with one group or one species but with kol chai, All Life (Genesis 9) – our enduring call to remember that we’re all in it together:
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’, אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, זוֹכֵר הַבְּרִית וְנֶאֱמָן בִּבְרִיתוֹ וְקַיָם בְּמַאֲמָרוֹ.
Barukh ata EHEYEH, Eloheinu Ruach ha’olam – zocher ha’brit, v’ne’eman bi’vrito, v’kayam b’ma’amaro
Blessed are You, Eternal our G!d, Spirit of the universe – who remembers the rainbow covenant, and is faithful in the divine covenant, and sustains the divine word.
Modim anachnu lach – מוֹדִים אֲנַחְנוּ לָךְ – grateful, we are, to You –  
Source of Purpose:
For setting the very first human mission l’ovdah ul’shomrah (Gen. 2:15), to serve and to guard the ecosystem within which we are one beautiful part. For guiding us lirdof tzedek, to pursue justice, for all Your children. For implanting within us awareness, intelligence, wisdom, and goodness, by which we make meaning for our own lives, and contribute to the good of all.
נברך את עין החיים שנתן לנו הזדמנות לתקן את העולם
N’varekh et Ain Ha’chayim – sh’natan lanu hizdamnut l’taken et ha-olam
Let us Bless the Source of Life – who has given us the sacred opportunity to repair the world.
Mostly traditional prayers, woven together by Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb of www.adatshalom.net and www.coejl.org, incorporating phrases from Marcia Falk and Danny Nichols.      
              
A note on names and metaphors for G!d – the original Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey name is unpronounceable, for which “Adonai” (‘My Lord’ or ‘My Master’ is the most common convention. Gender-neutral images like “Havaya” (existence) and “Eheyeh” (“I Will Be,” from Exodus 3) are traditionally rooted too, and no less accurate. If you choose to read this set of prayers, use any names or images for G!d that feel right for you…

Hindu Prayer

May the waters flow peacefully; may the herbs and plants grow peacefully; may all the divine powers bring unto us peace. May the rain come down in the proper time, may the earth yield plenty of corn, may the country be free from war. The supreme Lord is peace.

Pawnee prayer

Oh, Eagle; come with wings outspread in sunny skies.
Oh, Eagle, come and bring us peace, thy gentle peace.

Oh, Eagle, come and give new life to us who pray.
Remember the circle of the sky; the stars, and the brown eagle,
the great life of the Sun, the young within the nest.
Remember the sacredness of things.

Hawaiian Prayer

Let us give thanks for the world around us.
Thanks for all the creatures, stones and plants
Let us learn their lessons and seek their truths,
So that their path might be ours,
And we might live in harmony, a better life.

May the Earth continue to live,
May the heavens above continue to live,
May the rains continue to dampen the land,
May the wet forests continue to grow,
Then the flowers shall bloom
And we people shall live again.

By Hildegard of Bingen

God is the foundation for everything
This God undertakes, God gives.
Such that nothing that is necessary for life is lacking.
Now humankind needs a body that at all times honors and praises God.
This body is supported in every way through the earth.
Thus the earth glorifies the power of God.

By St. Basil the Great

O God, enlarge within us the sense of
fellowship with all living things,
our brothers the animals to whom thou
gavest the earth as their home in
common with us.

We remember with shame that in the past
we have exercised the high dominion
of man with ruthless cruelty
so that the voice of the earth,
which should have gone up to thee
in song, has been a groan of travail.

May we realize that they live not for
us alone but for themselves and for
thee, and that they love
the sweetness of live.

Prayer from the National Council of Churches

Gracious God, your amazing love extends through all time and space, to all parts of your creation, which you created and called good. You made a covenant with Noah and his family, putting a rainbow in the sky to symbolize your promise of love and blessing to every living creature, and to all successive generations. You made a covenant with Abraham and Sarah, blessing them and their descendants throughout the generations. You made a covenant with Moses and the Israelite people to all generations, giving them the 10 commandments and challenging them to choose life. In Jesus, you invite us to enter into a new covenant, in communion with all who seek to be faithful to you.

As people of faith, we are called into covenant. Your covenant of faithfulness and love extends to the whole creation. We pray for the healing of the earth, that present and future generations may enjoy the fruits of creation, and continue to glorify and praise you.

New Zealand Prayer – From “A New Zealand Book of Prayer”

Eternal Spirit, Earth-Maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all, Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name shall echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed
by the peoples of the earth!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom
sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
now and forever.
Amen.

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

"Here is where we come to suffering, because what suffering tells you is where the mind is clinging. Now, I am talking about your suffering. I am not talking about somebody else’s suffering. Let’s just deal with us. For me, suffering is telling me where my mind is clinging. If I experience suffering because I am getting old, it’s because I have a model of myself that’s other than what this is. This is what this is, including dying, pain, loss, all of it.
The models in our heads about it, and the way we cling to it, is where the root of suffering is. So when you wanna get free badly enough, you begin to experience your own suffering as grace. You don’t ask for it. You don’t say, 'Give me suffering,' but when it comes you see it as something that’s showing you a place where you are holding. That's the place to release."

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Realize Your Communion with All Life

Alive in the present moment, held in the arms of nature, and knowing our direct communion with life, we breathe out and our hearts are at peace.

—Zachiah Murray,“Mindfulness in the Garden: Zen Tools for Digging in the Dirt”

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Via Daily Dharma: Accepting Responsibility for Your Freedom of Mind

No matter what happened in the past, the practice tells us, we are now solely responsible for our own freedom.

—John Kain,“The Beautiful Trap”

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Via Guia Gay São Paulo

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Via Daily Dharma: Accepting the Way Things Are Right Now

When practicing mindfulness, even directed toward something as ordinary as breathing, we enhance the part of the mind that is aware of the way things are while diminishing the part that is stressed because things are not the way we want them to be.

—Andrew Olendzki,“What’s in a Word? Sati”

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Via FB:

Hold Your Head Up High - Darlingside (Lyrics)

Lyrics

 

How it rambles 'round the moon
A let-go-of balloon
Nothing is forever, everything is soon

And my father as he stands
A perfect cartoon man
Heavy-sighed and open-eyed, I heard him speak

Hold your head up high
Hold your head up high

Rise it up, it's fine terrain
The time will come again
And misery's no rest for weary gentlemen

See that humankind is you
Like all the rest, down to
The scratches on the album that you're singing to

Hold your head up high
Hold your head up high

Through the light and through the shadow
I won't wait it out, wait it out

Hold your head up high
Hold your head up high
Hold your head up high

Biting clovers in the lawn
A solitary fawn
Underground, the new life thunders up and on

 

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Caitlin Elizabeth Canty / Auyon Mukharji / Harris Andrew Paseltiner / Donald Lewis Mitchell / David Culver Senft

Hold Your Head Up High lyrics © Silver Giblet Publishing

Via FB: Rather than a Wall

Via Jean Tetsuj / Budismo FB:

"Pelo mérito de todas as boas ações que acumulei até agora, que eu possa ser aquele que enxerga todas as coisas.
Que o meu Voto Universal jamais desapareça.
Que o meu Voto Universal se realize.
Que o mérito de minhas boas ações seja suficiente para alcançar e beneficiar todos os seres viventes.
Que eu e somente eu, possa colher os severos frutos de todos os maus atos praticados por mim.
E desta forma, executarei a minha prática no mundo.
Executando a prática com a mente sem-apego.
Girarei a Roda do Dharma sem igual, honrado e reverenciado pelos Devas e pelos homens.”

「私が今まで積んできた善によって、一切を見る者となるように。私の誓願がなくなってしまわないように。私の誓願が実現するように。私が積んだ善根がすべての衆生に十分であるように。私がなした悪業が私だけに厳しい果となるように。このように私は世間で行じよう。このように無執着の心を以て行じよう。無二なる法輪を転じよう。天、人によって尊重され、尊敬されるように。」

Tradução Revª. Sayuri Tyôjun

Votos feitos por Shakyamuni em vidas passadas quando se encontrou com o Buda Dipamkara

CHOIR sings OM SO HUM Mantra (Must Listen)

Panic Attacks and Getting out and Over it

Last night, I stayed up for an online concert (One World: Together At Home Special to Celebrate COVID-19 Workers) well worth it, of course, I missed the part where it went live earlier, so I stayed up late watching and enjoying way past 2am, and so I woke up about 10am. I had a few strange and not too Freudian dreams, to make a long story longer, and resolved that I would go out and walk in the morning. 

Background: I have been increasingly more and more freaked out every time I go out. I wear a mask, and as soon as I get to the house, I remove my shoes and clothes and put clothes in the washing machine and take a shower. But I only go out on Mondays as I have a doctor appointment with Fernando the acupuncturist, about 8 or 9 blocks down Rua Alvarenga. It´s all good, people either wave and say hi because you have a mask on or glare at you because you have a mask on. I resolved that particular assault on my self-esteem problem by taking my glasses off (they do get foggy with the mask), and so then I can´t really see folks all that well.

But I get a bit jiggy, nervous and very, very sad. I really hit us when we went to the grocery store on Thursday before  Good Friday and the Supermarket was full, and no one really social distancing, and a lot of seniors mixing with families, and only a few of the employees were masked. We couldn´t wait to get out of there, and spent the next few days really sad, as one felt that a lot of the folks there were going to die. My heart just breaks. So, we resolved to order wine online and therefore avoid the supermarket. So now via a wine club, a couple of boxes is headed our way. I forgot to say, the reason we had gone to the supermarket was to grab a few things but stock up on wine.  

After that I began having some nervous attacks… nothing serious that a few hours of mahjong or SimCity didn´t cure. But just thinking about leaving the front door, got me more and more nervous. I realized about that time, that going to visit my kids in Denmark or parents and friends in the States, is going to be at least 2 years away now… as going to the USA or Denmark (borders closed) but if I did make it in, I´d have to quarantine myself  for 2 weeks there, and then 2 weeks back here… 4 weeks of quarantine for a hug and the Apple Store just doesn´t seem right. So, until vaccination is discovered and made available, here we are, face timing it and skyping. I am perfectly happy with staying remote in relation to my classes and colleagues, but my kids… I descended into deep weepy sadness on the verge of depression.

So, listening to the concert was good, some happy stuff, and feeling the energy and hopefulness helped a lot. One of the dreams I had was related to my resolving my fear of electrical saws, that I beat when I was in Sacramento. After talking to a couple of psychology amigos, and my counselor, I bought a saw, got a bunch of chocolate, and scraps of lumber, and sent Spencer and Milton away for the day. Every time I turned on the saw… I let it run until I broke out in a sweat, and then took a bite of chocolate… by the time the guys came home, I was cutting up wood and made plans for some shelves I needed to build with bricks´n boards. There I was in my dream, sawing away with gusto, and Spencer came in while I was working the saw, and said, “you can use this to get outside”. It made little sense but when I woke up I realized, all I needed to do was walk on our little street (we live on a flat dead-end street). 

So this morning, I got up, had coffee, some yogurt n granola, did my yoga online class (See: Manflow Yoga) and then went out, first put on my walking shoes and mask (not in that order) and started walking… stopping once in a while to say hello to neighbor ladies in their windows, and asking a couple who looked out from the 2^nd story apartment if everything was ok. When I got nervous, I took out my gel and gave myself a handwash and smelled the fragrance… no chocolate, as I figured that it was counter-productive. A couple of laps later, and I looked, and I had walked over a km, and so kept going… up and down, one end of the street to the other, soon it was almost 30min and over 2km and I was happy. GOOOOLLL!

Tomorrow, we need to go to the bank/ATM and my doctor's appointment. Sigh… a bunch of folks are organizing help for those who need food and help, and so to pay, we have to make a bank transfer. Masks on!

P.S. NPR had a fun story of a mayor in the States who was having fun with posts, at the end he mentioned that everyone is feeling a little crazy, and nervous, and its ok to go to your mailbox in your boxers, just don´t show your stuff. Just for the record I wasn´t in my underwear.

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - April 19, 2020 💌

"The Living Spirit, the Beloved, is always right here. It is merely your mind that prevents you from acknowledging its existence. The minute you either quiet your mind or take your heart and open it out so that it draws your mind along with it, only then do you rend the veil to see that the Beloved is right there."

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Changing Your Mind’s Patterns

Purification is not about being pure. Purification is about changing our relationship with the reactive patterns that run our lives. 

—Ken McLeod,“Forgiveness Is Not Buddhist”

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Via Sounds True // [New Podcast] Meet Tara, the Beloved Female Buddha

According to Dr. Rachael Wooten, a Zurich-trained Jungian analyst and author of the new book Tara: The Liberating Power of the Female Buddha:

Tara appears in a beautiful, subtle body of green light, and she appears with her right foot forward. That right foot forward symbolizes that she's ready to come the minute you think of her. In the tradition, the idea is that Tara is already here, but if we're not thinking of her, we don't really know that. When we think of her … we might say her mantra, we might visualize her … then she's instantaneously ready to come to our assistance.

Dr. Rachel Wooten reports that some people, when they hear about Tara, about her origin story or her mantra, or when they see a picture of one of her emanations, feel an immediate draw to connect in a deeper way. If you are one of those people, I encourage you to follow your instinct and explore your own connection with this inner and outer presence that is always available and known in Tibetan as Dolma, "She Who Liberates, the One Who Brings Us Across." You can listen to the podcast here.

Via Daily Dharma: How Mindfulness Can Benefit Your Life

When the Buddha taught mindfulness, he always taught it as part of a whole. He never said, “Pay attention to your breath and you will be free of suffering.” More like, “Pay attention to your breath as a way of steadying the mind, and then look at your life.”

—Craig Hase and Devon Hase, “In Brief”

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Via One Earth Sangha

May our fierce and tender longing
fuel the fire in our souls. When we
stand side by side, let us dare to focus
our desire on the truth. 

— from Danna Faulds "Sangha"

Via Tricycle: What If Buddha and Jesus Were Roommates?

An award-winning manga about the Buddha and Jesus living in modern Tokyo, now available in English, offers a humorous yet profound commentary on the role of religion in contemporary life.

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Via Daily Dharma: Let Go of What You Cannot Change

Why be unhappy about something
If it can be remedied?
And what is the use of being unhappy about something
If it cannot be remedied?

—Shantideva,“Shantideva Patience”

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Via Daily Dharma: Realizing that Thoughts Are Not Facts

Once we recognize that thoughts are empty, the mind will no longer have the power to deceive us. 

—Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, “Teachings on the Nature of Mind and Practice”

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation / Words of Wisdom - April 15, 2020 💌

"If we only work with our intellects and with the emptying of our minds, as in some yogas, and we fail to open our hearts, our journey becomes very dry and brittle. Ultimately, no matter what our methods, we have to find a very even balance between our energy, heart, and mind. "

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: How to Turn Suffering into Connection

Compassion allows us to use our own pain and the pain of others as a vehicle for connection. 

—Sharon Salzberg, “A Quiver of the Heart”

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#COVID19 #BOSarts #LGBTQmusic From Our Homes to Yours - Everything Possible - Boston Gay Men's Chorus

Via Daily Dharma: Embarking on an Optimistic Path

Buddhism is a path of supreme optimism, for one of its basic tenets is that no human life or experience is to be wasted or forgotten, but all should be transformed into a source of wisdom and compassionate living.

—Taitetsu Unno, “Number One Fool”

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Via Daily Dharma: How to Develop Real Intimacy

There is no such thing as two people—whether baby and mother, two lovers, or teacher and student—being perfectly in sync with each other’s needs and wishes. Real intimacy arises from an ongoing process of connection that at some point is disrupted and then, ideally, repaired.

—Pilar Jennings, “Looking into the Eyes of a Master”

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation / Words of Wisdom - April 12, 2020 💌

"Over the years we develop strong habits of perceiving the universe, and we come to be very secure within these habits. We selectively perceive our environment in ways that reinforce them. This collection of habits is what we call ego. But meditation breaks the ego down. As we begin to see through it we can become confused as to what reality is. What once seemed absolute now begins to seem relative.
When this happens, some people get confused; others fear they may be going insane. The best strategy for dealing with this disorientation is to note it and let it be. 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 experience 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. Until then you must break through old structures, develop broader structures, breakthrough those, and develop still broader structures."

- Ram Dass -

via Daily Dharma: Wise Mind, Not Blank Mind

The purpose of Zen is not to become people who don’t think, but to think only what we need to; not to be lost in unnecessary thoughts, but to see what is most necessary right now.

—Shodo Harada Roshi, “Finding Our Essence of Mind”

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Via Daily Dharma: The Power You Hold

Buddhism is a demanding moral practice; it turns over to each person the power to decide what is right to do in any given moment.

—Sallie Tisdale, “A Life in Her Hands”

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Via Ram Dass / A Breath Exercise for Suffering and Joy

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A Breath Exercise for Suffering and Joy

Posted August 20, 2019

In the 11th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna shows Arjuna all the forms of the Universe, turning back into the pure form from which they were manifested.

The forms of the Universe: Breathe them in. Take in the baby’s crying, the sound of traffic, it’s all energy, it’s all shakti in form. As you draw it into your being, let the forms go, let your concepts about it all go, turn it back into pure shakti. Sit straight, draw it all into your chest.

All of your thoughts now, your memories, think of the political world, a breath for that.

See all the candidates, all of the international intrigue, all of the genuine seeking for peace, a breath for that.

See it all; the play, the dance, the forms, the mother, the mother at play, all aspects of the mother. Draw it back into its pure form within you, Mother shakti. Draw it into your heart.

Think of all the things that fill you with love and tenderness, a child’s smile, a flower, the smell of Spring, feeling love for another human being or from another human being, seeing peace exist between two people, moments of gratification.

As they come to mind, notice them, allow them, see them as forms, draw them in upon your breath. You are forming a relationship with the Mother, for these are all aspects, the beautiful aspects of the Mother. These are Durga, Lakshmi, Mary, Rachel, all the beautiful aspects.

Now bring to mind all the heavy aspects of the Universe: violence, suffering, physical pain, incredible loneliness, paranoia, people out of control on drugs, tensions between generations, races, religions, man’s ecological shortsightedness, our greed, lust, our anger.

Draw it all in on the breath. These are the other faces of the Mother. This is Kali Ma; the Mother whose tongue hangs out dripping with blood, who wears a circlet of skulls around her neck, who is ugly beyond belief.

If you’re going to have a love affair with the mother, you can’t just have the beautiful aspects, you’ve got to take it all.

Are you strong enough and quiet enough to give space to all the faces of the Mother, to all the forms? Hey Ma, you’re really ugly, oh Ma, I love you so much. Can you love the Universe that much?

Can you find a place in yourself where you don’t judge God? Where you look upon it all and see it’s perfection, including its horror?

– Ram Dass

Make the jump here to read the orginal and more

Via Daily Dharma: Living a Life of Compassion

Compassion is one of the principal things that make our lives meaningful.

—H. H. the Dalai Lama, “Consider Yourself a Tourist”

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Via FB: What if???

What if??? ❤️❤️❤️
If they cancel the rest of the school year, students would miss 2.5 months of education. Many people are concerned about students falling behind because of this. Yes, they may fall behind when it comes to classroom education...
But what if...❤️❤️❤️

What if instead of falling “behind", this group of kids are ADVANCED because of this? Hear me out...❤️❤️❤️
What if they have more empathy, they enjoy family connection, they can be more creative and entertain themselves, they love to read, they love to express themselves in writing. ❤️❤️❤️
What if they enjoy the simple things, like their own backyard and sitting near a window in the quiet. ❤️❤️❤️
What if they notice the birds and the dates the different flowers emerge, and the calming renewal of a gentle rain shower? ❤️❤️❤️
What if this generation are the ones to learn to cook, organize their space, do their laundry, and keep a well run home? ❤️❤️❤️
What if they learn to stretch a dollar and to live with less? ❤️❤️❤️
What if they learn to plan shopping trips and meals at home. ❤️❤️❤️
What if they learn the value of eating together as a family and finding the good to share in the small delights of the everyday? ❤️❤️❤️
What if they are the ones to place great value on our teachers and educational professionals, librarians, public servants and the previously invisible essential support workers like truck drivers, grocers, cashiers, custodians, logistics, and health care workers and their supporting staff, just to name a few of the millions taking care of us right now while we are sheltered in place? ❤️❤️❤️
What if among these children, a great leader emerges who had the benefit of a slower pace and a simpler life to truly learn what really matters in this life?❤️❤️
What if they are AHEAD? ❤️❤️❤️❤️
(Copied and pasted from a friend but too good not to share! ❤️)

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation / Words of Wisdom - April 8, 2020 💌

"Compassion in action is paradoxical and mysterious. It is absolute yet continually changing. It accepts that everything is happening exactly as it should, and it works with a full-hearted commitment to change. It sets goals but knows that the process is all there is. It is joyful in the midst of suffering and hopeful in the face of overwhelming odds. It is simple in a world of complexity and confusion. It is done for other, but it nurtures the self. It shields in order to be strong. It intends to eliminate suffering, knowing that suffering is limitless. It is action arising from emptiness..." 

- Ram Dass -