Via Lion´s Roar // Koans for Troubled Times

Koans for Troubled Times

How do we as Buddhists meet the challenges of our time? Joan Sutherland shares the history of koans, which were created to deal with a difficult period in Chinese history.

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

I’ve learned to slow down and not move as fast through things as my mind would like me to, but to feel at home in the process. See, the process and product are so interwoven that getting there is half the fun. How you get there is as much of a part of the game as getting there is.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Open to Your World

We may come to our meditation with the hope of reducing our stress or perfecting our technique or maybe even attaining enlightenment. But we very soon discover that the practice requires that we drop such ambition and sit still on the cushion, letting go of our internal dialogue, opening to our world—very simply, very directly.

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

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Via Daily Dharma: Helping Yourself to Help Others

It’s important to remember that until we straighten up our own lives, we probably won’t be that much help to anyone else.

—Clancy Martin, “It’s All for the Better”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Floating Along the Milky Way (in 4k60p)

Deep Field: The Impossible Magnitude of our Universe

Via Daily Dharma: The Action of Prayer

[Through] prayer, you go to the edge of the world as you know it and reach out...  you step into the unknown, and you meet the hesitation, unwillingness, and raw fear that you encounter when you go beyond the confines of your conditioning. That’s where practice becomes real.

—Ken McLeod, “Say a Little Prayer”

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David Richo: Love

Via Daily Dharma: Awakening an Enlightened Mind

Awakening the enlightened mind may not be a question of self-improvement, which is never-ending; it may be a question of faith, which is always available right now.

—Hannah Tennant-Moore, “Buddhism’s Higher Power”

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Via White Crane Institute // CARL JUNG

This Day in Gay History

July 26

Born

Carl Jung

1875 -

CARL JUNG, Swiss psychiatrist born (d. 1961) Jung's unique and broadly influential approach to psychology has emphasized understanding the psyche through exploring the worlds of dreams, art, mythology, world religion and philosophy. Although he was a theoretical psychologist and practicing clinician for most of his life, much of his life's work was spent exploring other realms, including Eastern and Western philosophy, alchemy, astrology, sociology, as well as literature and the arts.

His most notable contributions include his concept of the psychological archetype, the collective unconscious, and his theory of synchronicity. Jung emphasized the importance of balance and harmony. He cautioned that modern humans rely too heavily on science and logic and would benefit from integrating spirituality and appreciation of the unconscious realm. It is for this reason that Jungian ideas are not typically included in curriculum of most major universities' psychology departments, but are occasionally explored in humanities departments.

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

The art of growth has to do with how quickly you admit error. What we do is constantly make decisions from where we’re sitting; then that decision leads to a new moment, and then in the new moment you listen again, and often you realize that the new moment suggests that that previous decision just led you into a new moment in which there is another decision that isn’t gonna be consistent with the last one.
To the extent that you define yourself as somebody, it is very hard to be inconsistent, to the extent that you keep coming back into the the existential situation with the trust that if I keep listening to the moment, and keep being true to what I’m hearing, while people may be upset with me, because I am not consistent, I will stay as close to the truth as I hear it, and that’s what I can offer myself and the universe.

- Ram Dass -

Via BBC Heart and Soul // Could you be silent for ten hours - for ten days?

Vipassana, which means to see things as they really are, is one of India's most ancient techniques of meditation. It was taught by the Buddha more than 2,500 years ago as a universal remedy for universal ills. The practice died out in India, but survived in Burma, and is now a growing movement around the world.

Hear Jide and Rosie, two participants in the UK, talk about their experience of it here.

Via FB

Via BBC Heart and Soul // Vipassana: 240 hours of silence

Inside the world of vipassana meditation - 10 days of demanding, illuminating silence.

Make the jump here to listen

Listen to this week’s podcasts from the Be Here Now Network

Mindrolling – Raghu Markus – Ep. 351 – Remembering Civil Rights Leader John Lewis w/ Danny Goldberg

July 24, 2020

Danny Goldberg returns to the Mindrolling Podcast to honor the life of civil-rights leader and former United States House Representative John Lewis. John Robert...

Listen Now

Via Daily Dharma: Realizing How Connected We Are

As we realize how truly connected we are to others, our loneliness recedes, we feel lighter and more resilient, and we move forward in our lives with a greater appreciation for our shared humanity.

—Mindy Newman, “Healing from Miscarriage”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

To Paint The Portrait Of A Bird // a poem by Jacques Prevert

a poem by Jacques Prevert
 (translated by Lawrence Ferlinghetti)

First paint a cage
with an open door
then paint
something pretty
something simple
something beautiful
something useful
for the bird
then place the canvas against a tree
in a garden
in a wood
or in a forest
hide behind the tree
without speaking
without moving...
Sometimes the bird comes quickly
but he can just as well spend long years
before deciding
Don't get discouraged
wait
wait years if necessary
the swiftness or slowness of the coming
of the bird having no rapport
with the success of the picture
When the bird comes
if he comes
observe the most profound silence
wait till the bird enters the cage
and when he has entered
gently close the door with a brush
then
paint out all the bars one by one
taking care not to touch any of the feathers of the bird
Then paint the portrait of the tree
choosing the most beautiful of its branches
for the bird
paint also the green foliage and the wind's freshness
the dust of the sun
and the noise of insects in the summer heat
and then wait for the bird to decide to sing
If the bird doesn't sing
it's a bad sign
a sign that the painting is bad
but if he sings it's a good sign
a sign that you can sign
so then so gently you pull out
one of the feathers of the bird
and you write yours name in a corner of the picture

thezensite

Via How to Live a Spiritual Life in a Capitalist World

Confronting the Dangers of a Materialistic Culture
 

As the COVID crisis continues, we’ve seen some of the most harmful ideologies underpinning our culture—including racism and runaway capitalism—pushed to a breaking point.

Dr. Bokin Kim, a Won Buddhist minister and President of the Won Institute of Graduate Studies in Philadelphia, describes the current pandemic as a warning signal for us to examine the materialistic foundations of our culture and the suffering it has caused.

Materialism has always been a central concern of Won Buddhism. The tradition was founded 100 years ago in South Korea with the guiding motive “As material civilization develops, cultivate spiritual civilization accordingly.” Concerned by rapid industrialization and the decline of moral values, the Korean founder of Won, Venerable Sotaesan set out to create a “buddhadharma of the future” that would make the Buddha’s teachings applicable to everyday life in modern society. Won principles can provide insight on the roots of human suffering in the 21st century and valuable guidance for navigating the fragile world we live in.

Watch our July Dharma Talk series with Dr. Kim to discover wisdom and practical tools for finding the right balance between our spiritual and material lives.

Watch now »

Via White Crane Institute // Hiram Bingham

Noteworthy

Hiram_Bingham III in 1916

1911 -

HIRAM BINGHAM III "re-discovers" Machu Picchu “Lost” City of the Incas". Whoever left their intricately stone carved city of about 1,000 at 11,000 feet above the Urubamba River, please use the White Courtesy telephone.

Bingham is credited with becoming the first outsider, in 1911, to visit the ruins of Machu Picchu, the now-famous Inca settlement in the Peruvian Andes that was built in the 15th century and abandoned around the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire in the 16th century. Born in 1875 to Christian missionaries in Hawaii, Bingham earned a Ph.D. from Harvard and married a Tiffany & Co. heiress, whose wealth helped fund his expeditions. In 1911, Bingham, then a Yale University faculty member specializing in South American history, was in Peru searching for Vilcabamba, the last Inca outpost before it fell to the Spanish, when he encountered a local farmer who directed him to the ruins of Machu Picchu. Although the site was known to peasants living in the region, its existence had never been publicized. Bingham, who returned to Machu Picchu (meaning “old peak” in Quechua, one of Peru’s native languages) in 1912 to conduct a major excavation and made a third visit to the area in 1914-15, documented his sensational findings in a series of articles and books. Although some experts later contended that missionaries and other non-locals might have visited Machu Picchu before Bingham, he was the first to conduct a scientific exploration of the site.

In addition to his days as an explorer, Bingham commanded a flight school in France for the American military during World War I then went on to represent Connecticut in the U.S. Senate from 1925 to 1933. He died in 1956. In 2010, after a lengthy custody dispute, Yale University reached an agreement with the Peruvian government to return thousands of artifacts Bingham had excavated from Machu Picchu.

Via Daily Dharma: The Foundation of Spiritual Growth

Skillful attitudes of mind are the key to facing potentially explosive situations and the ongoing highs and lows of life and practice. In fact, recognizing these attitudes and cultivating their antidotes is the foundation for all spiritual growth.

—Steve Armstrong, “Got Attitude?”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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

The first being one must have compassion for is oneself. You can't be a witness to your thoughts with a chip on your shoulder or an axe to grind.
Ramana Maharshi said, "If people would stop wailing alas I am a sinner and use all that energy to get on with it they would all be enlightened."
He also said, "When you're cleaning up the outer temple before going to the inner temple, don't stop to read everything you're going to throw away..."

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: What Anger Indicates

When anger arises, it is pointing to something. Our anger is a clue to our underlying beliefs about ourselves.

—Jules Shuzen Harris, “Uprooting the Seeds of Anger”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Via Daily Dharma: Drop Your Negative Stories

The more we learn to let go of thoughts, the more we gain the ability to drop our negative stories. As we continue to practice, we may begin to catch ourselves earlier in the chain—perhaps even noticing dislike at the feeling level and choosing a mindful response rather than automatic reaction. 

—Sean Murphy, “Get Out Of Your Head”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Via Daily Dharma: Fostering Peace

Real peace is not simply the absence of violent conflict but a state of harmony: harmony between people; harmony between humanity and nature; and harmony within ourselves. 

—Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, “Fostering Peace, Inside and Out”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Dennis McEoin: Iran targets its largest minority, the Bahai

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

The final step in integrating meditation into your awareness is to use the stuff of daily life as part of your meditation. There are ways of perceiving the world and the way you live in it such that each experience brings you more deeply into the meditative space.

At the same time, however, this kind of meditation requires firm grounding: you must continue to function effectively in the world as you meditate on it. This is meditation in action. It finally becomes the core of a consciously lived life, a meditative space within you. This space stands between each thing you notice and each response you make, allowing a peaceful, quiet, and spacious view of the universe.

- Ram Dass _

Via Daily Dharma: Finding Steadiness of Mind

Equanimity is steadiness of mind, unshakeableness, imperturbability.

—Peter Doobinin, “Sutta Study: The Failings of the World”

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Via Daily Dharma: Let Yourself Rest

Through prolonged practice, we meditators may begin to recognize that we are simply worn out from the striving—and thus open a door to deeper understanding of the dharma.
—Sarah Conover, “‘Minefulness’: A Case Study”
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What if...

Namaste

Via Daily Dharma: Set Your Thoughts Free

Ordinary discursive thoughts will just rear up again
Like poison that’s lain dormant,
Until you’ve really understood the subtle crucial point—
How thoughts are set free just as they arise.

—Patrul Rinpoche, “Liberating Your Thoughts”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Via White Crane Institute // ANTINOUS

This Day in Gay History

July 16

Born

Antinous

0110 -

ANTINOUS born (d: 130 C.E.); If there was an All Time Beautiful Men contest, this man would have been a contender if he didn’t just walk away with the cup. And like most beauties, be married well. Antinous was a famous beauty of the ancient world who became the beloved of the emperor Hadrian.

He may have been a male prostitute when Hadrian met him, but his origins are obscure though later on he was believed to have been the product of a virgin birth. All that is known for certain is that Hadrian was immediately and utterly smitten with the beautiful 15-year-old.

From that time on, Antinous was with the emperor constantly until a journey to Egypt where he was drowned in the Nile. Some say that Antinous, knowing that a prophecy had declared the death of Hadrian unless a living sacrifice were to be offered in his place, died so that his lover might live. Others believe that Antinous, growing into young manhood, was ashamed of playing mistress to the emperor.

The most poignant story is that the boy killed himself because he couldn’t bear the idea of growing old. What we know for certain is that Hadrian’s grief at the death of Antinous was uncontained and nothing short of monumental. He deified him and founded the city of Antinopoölis in Egypt in his honor (and many other Antinopoölises elsewhere in the world) and renamed the boy’s birthplace Antinopoölis as well.

A cult was inaugurated in his honor that focused on the youth who was born of a virgin and went on to sacrifice his own life for the good of mankind. Coins were minted with his likeness and numerous busts and shatteringly beautiful statues were erected to commemorate the beauty of this youth and the love the emperor felt for him (there are so many beautiful images that are purported to be Antinous it is hard to choose which one to include here).

After deification, Antinous was associated with and depicted as the Egyptian god Osiris, associated with the rebirth of the Nile. Virgin birth. Risen from death. Sacrificed for the benefit of all people. 

Sound familiar?

Antinous was depicted as the Roman Bacchus, a god related to fertility, cutting vine leaves. Sociologist Royston Lambert wrote an utterly fascinating study of the relationship of Hadrian and Antinous as well as an equally intriguing discussion of the parallels between this story of a young man, sacrificed and associated with rebirth, and another contemporaneous story about a young man from Nazareth.

Highly recommended: Check this out on Amazon .

Via Daily Dharma: Celebrate the Light

Threaded through the dark tangle of our misery are strings of light. We are no more responsible for the light than for the dark, but surely it is wise to celebrate the beauty of the light that has manifested in and through us.

—Matthew Gindin, “Putting to Rest the Myth of the Heroic Self”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Via Daily Dharma: Befriend Who You Already Are

Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending who we are already.

—Pema Chödrön,“Nothing to (Im)prove”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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

If we accept that the ends of our actions often prove unknowable, we’re also freer to be focused on the process of our work as it’s happening. We can be attentive to situations as they occur. What lies before us is it. Helping is right here. Not having to know so badly, not wandering off looking, we’re more able to be present, freer simply to be.
We needn’t be troubled or worn down, then, by paradox and ambiguity. The mystery of helping can be our ally, our teacher, an environment for wonder and discovery. If we enter into it openly, our actions fall into perspective, a larger pattern we can trust. At rest in the Witness, meanwhile, we greet the outcome of our action with equanimity.
Here is a final shift in perspective which can help release us from burnout: We do what we can.

- Ram Dass -

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Via Daily Dharma: The Beginning of Healing

To recognize suffering is the beginning of healing.

—Dr. Bokin Kim, "Material and Spiritual Balance"

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Via Daily Dharma: Cultivate Open Awareness

Cultivation of open awareness contributes to more flexibility of the mind and a concurrent ability to include more perspectives. Our powers of observation become more acute, and we can actually see our prejudices arise, noticing how we cling to fixed views. Eventually, it becomes easier to relinquish them and be open to new ways of seeing.

—Diane Musho Hamilton, Gabriel Menegale Wilson, and Kimberly Loh, “In Brief”

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Heart Sutra Live Looping Remix【Loopstation RC-505】

Via Daily Dharma: Anchoring in the Present Moment

Most people think that thoughts and emotions are the enemy. But we can use thoughts and emotions, even the bad ones, to actually bring us into the present moment.

—Phakchok Rinpoche, “Creating a Confident Mind”

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

It's the expectations of your own mind that creates your own hell. When you get frustrated because something isn't the way you thought it would be, examine the way you thought, not just the thing that frustrates you. You'll see that a lot of your emotional suffering is created by your models of how you think the universe should be and your inability to allow it to be as it is.

- Ram Dass -

NiT GriT - The Awakening

Via Daily Dharma: How to Become Whole

To have well-being means to be whole—not split. It means being able to accept one’s own life—including one’s past—without striving for something else or wanting to be somebody else. 

—Interview with Werner Vogd by Susanne Billig, “Becoming Whole”

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Via Daily Dharma: Letting Go of Suffering

Unwholesome states have already arisen and the work is to abandon them now, rather than to regret that they have arisen at all. 
—Leora Fridman,“Notes on Abandon”

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The Far Side!

https://www.thefarside.com/new-stuff/115/taxidermist

Cacao: Food of the Gods - a film about the origin of cacao ceremonies