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Monday, February 16, 2015
Via Daily Dharma
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Via BNR LGBT / FB:
If you haven't already, sign for LGBT marriage equality! 38 down, 12 more states to go: http://actionsprout.io/C345D4
Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 15/02/2015
“Em ambientes de crueldade, onde as forças contrárias ao Amor atuam
livremente, é muito difícil sustentar a conexão. Sustentar a conexão, em
outras palavras, significa sustentar a presença do amor. E o que te faz
sentir-se bem é justamente o amor fluindo do seu coração. Mas, o amor
não pode se expressar em um ambiente de crueldade, pois essas forças
restringem sua capacidade de amar - elas fecham seu coração. Isso acontece
quase como uma proteção, para a sua sobrevivência. Porque ao manter-se
aberto a crueldade entra e você começa a se machucar.”
“En ambientes de crueldad, donde las fuerzas contrarias al Amor actúan libremente, es muy difícil sustentar la conexión. Sustentar la conexión, en otras palabras, significa sustentar la presencia del amor. Y lo que te hace sentir bien es justamente el amor fluyendo de tu corazón. Pero el amor no puede expresarse en un ambiente de crueldad, porque esas fuerzas restringen tu capacidad de amar – ellas cierran tu corazón. Eso sucede casi como una protección para tu supervivencia. Porque al mantenerte abierto, la crueldad entra y tú comienzas a lastimarte.”
"In cruel environments where the forces opposing love reign freely, it’s very difficult to maintain our connection by sustaining the presence of love. What makes us feel good is feeling love flowing from our heart. However, love cannot express itself in a cruel environment because these forces restrict our ability to love, and they close our heart. This happens almost like a protection mechanism for our own survival. If we remain open, the cruelty enters and we begin to get hurt.”
Acesse ao Satsang Completo: bit.ly/16rNZe0
“En ambientes de crueldad, donde las fuerzas contrarias al Amor actúan libremente, es muy difícil sustentar la conexión. Sustentar la conexión, en otras palabras, significa sustentar la presencia del amor. Y lo que te hace sentir bien es justamente el amor fluyendo de tu corazón. Pero el amor no puede expresarse en un ambiente de crueldad, porque esas fuerzas restringen tu capacidad de amar – ellas cierran tu corazón. Eso sucede casi como una protección para tu supervivencia. Porque al mantenerte abierto, la crueldad entra y tú comienzas a lastimarte.”
"In cruel environments where the forces opposing love reign freely, it’s very difficult to maintain our connection by sustaining the presence of love. What makes us feel good is feeling love flowing from our heart. However, love cannot express itself in a cruel environment because these forces restrict our ability to love, and they close our heart. This happens almost like a protection mechanism for our own survival. If we remain open, the cruelty enters and we begin to get hurt.”
- Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
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Saturday, February 14, 2015
Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 14/02/2015
“Quando o buscador chega, inicio um trabalho de cura para tratar das
suas feridas emocionais e purificar seu coração das mazelas do passado.
Esse trabalho continua até que ele possa se harmonizar com seu passado e
se libertar dele, ou seja, até que ele possa olhar para trás e
verdadeiramente agradecer por absolutamente tudo que aconteceu na sua
vida. Nesse momento, ele estará pronto para renascer no espírito. Na
verdade, é nesse ponto que a jornada
espiritual realmente inicia. Porque até então era um trabalho
psicoespiritual de cura e transformação da natureza inferior.”
“Cuando el buscador llega, inicio un trabajo de cura para tratar sus
heridas emocionales y purificar su corazón de los males del pasado. Ese
trabajo continúa hasta que pueda armonizarse con su pasado y se libere
de él, o sea, hasta que pueda mirar para atrás y verdaderamente
agradecer por absolutamente todo lo que sucedió en su vida. En ese
momento, estará listo para renacer en el espíritu. En verdad, es en ese
punto que el camino espiritual realmente inicia. Porque hasta entonces
era un trabajo psicoespiritual de cura y transformación de la naturaleza
inferior.”
"When the seeker arrives, a healing work begins to address one’s emotional wounds and to purify the heart’s ailments from the past. This work continues until one can be in harmony with one’s past and be liberated from it; until one can look back and truly be thankful for absolutely everything that has happened in one’s life. At this moment, one is ready to be reborn in spirit. In fact, this is when the spiritual journey actually begins. Everything up until this point was merely a psychospiritual work of healing and transforming one’s lower nature."
"When the seeker arrives, a healing work begins to address one’s emotional wounds and to purify the heart’s ailments from the past. This work continues until one can be in harmony with one’s past and be liberated from it; until one can look back and truly be thankful for absolutely everything that has happened in one’s life. At this moment, one is ready to be reborn in spirit. In fact, this is when the spiritual journey actually begins. Everything up until this point was merely a psychospiritual work of healing and transforming one’s lower nature."
- Sri Prem Baba
Via JMG: From Alabama's Largest Newspaper
The Birmingham News has been absolutely relentless in their
supportive coverage of Alabama's marriage battle and one of the stars of
that coverage has been cartoonist JD Crowe. Hit the link for a slideshow of Crowe's work about Judge Roy Moore.
Reposted from Joe Jervis
Via JMG: Antonin Scalia: Don't Paint Me As Anti-Gay
"The issue of gay rights, on abortion, on many of the issues in which
Ruth’s opinions and mine differ does not pertain to the substance. It
doesn’t pertain to whether gay people ought to have those rights or
whether there ought to be a constitutional right or a right to an
abortion. That isn’t the issue. The issue is who decides. That’s all. I
don’t have any public views on any of those things. The point is who
decides? Should these decisions be made by the Supreme Court without any
text in the Constitution or any history in the Constitution to support
imposing on the whole country or is it a matter left to the people? But
don’t paint me as anti-gay or anti-abortion or anything else. All I’m
doing on the Supreme Court is opining about who should decide."
-
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, speaking last night at the George Washington University event where Ruth Bader Ginsburg made her "not 100% sober" comment.
Reposted from Joe Jervis
Via JMG: OREGON: Democratic Gov. John Kizhaber Resigns In Scandal Over His Fiance, Successor Kate Brown Is Openly Bisexual
Via Bloomberg:
Reposted from Joe Jervis
Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber’s almost four-decade political career fell apart Friday, as he heeded calls from fellow Democrats to resign after a scandal involving his fiancee’s use of his office to generate business for her energy-consulting firm. Kitzhaber, a 67-year-old re-elected to a fourth term in November, announced his departure in a news release. Secretary of State Kate Brown, also a Democrat, will assume the office until 2016.Oregon's now governor-to-be Kate Brown is married to a man and is openly bisexual, which will make her the first openly LGBT governor in American history. Unless you count former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevy, which you shouldn't.
Via Daily Dharma
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Friday, February 13, 2015
Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 13/02/2015
“Ao praticar técnicas sexuais com várias pessoas diferentes você acaba
criando situações perigosas. Isso porque você amplia seu poder e
magnetismo, o que deixa seu ego mais robusto e astuto. E o principal
poder que você desenvolve é o poder de manipulação. Mas porque você quer
ter esse poder? Você quer manipular o outro para ter domínio sobre ele e
para fugir de si mesmo. Ter domínio sobre uma pessoa não é diferente de
ter um carro novo ou de ter bastante dinheiro na conta bancária – tudo
agrega valor à falsa ideia de quem é você. No mais profundo, você está
em busca de uma identidade; está tentando suprir uma carência.”
Acesse ao Satsang Completo: bit.ly/prembaba01
“Al practicar técnicas sexuales con varias personas diferentes
terminas creando situaciones peligrosas. Porque amplías tu poder y
magnetismo, lo que deja a tu ego más robusto y astuto. Y el principal
poder que desarrollas es el poder de manipulación. ¿Pero porqué quieres
tener ese poder? Quieres manipular al otro para tener dominio sobre él y
para huir de ti mismo. Tener dominio sobre una persona no es distinto
de tener un auto nuevo o de tener bastante dinero en la cuenta bancaria –
todo agrega valor a la falsa idea de quien eres tú. En lo más profundo,
estás en búsqueda de una identidad, estás intentando suplir una
carencia.”
"Practicing sexual techniques with many different people can end up creating dangerous situations. One may increase one’s power and allure, which makes the ego more robust and cunning, but the main power that develops is manipulation. Why would one want to have this power? In order to manipulate the other and dominate them, while avoiding looking at oneself. Having dominion over the other is no different than having a new car, or having a lot of money in one’s bank account. Everything adds value to the false idea of who we are. On a deeper level, one is seeking an identity, and this is an attempt to compensate for a neediness."
"Practicing sexual techniques with many different people can end up creating dangerous situations. One may increase one’s power and allure, which makes the ego more robust and cunning, but the main power that develops is manipulation. Why would one want to have this power? In order to manipulate the other and dominate them, while avoiding looking at oneself. Having dominion over the other is no different than having a new car, or having a lot of money in one’s bank account. Everything adds value to the false idea of who we are. On a deeper level, one is seeking an identity, and this is an attempt to compensate for a neediness."
- Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
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Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day -12/02/2015
“Muitas vezes damos passagem para determinados impulsos que não
gostamos e não aceitamos, e que gostaríamos que fossem diferentes. O que
faz uma pessoa refém do ciúme e da inveja? Refém da insegurança e da
vingança? Refém do medo? É a ignorância a respeito da natureza desse
impulso. Isso porque tudo o que é negado e relegado ao plano da sombra
acaba ganhando força justamente por ficar no inconsciente.”
Acesse ao Satsang Completo: bit.ly/25012015
Acesse ao Satsang Completo: bit.ly/25012015
“Muchas veces damos pasaje a determinados impulsos que no nos gustan y
no aceptamos, y que gustaríamos que fuesen diferentes. ¿Qué hace a una
persona rehén de los celos, de la envidia? ¿Rehén de la inseguridad y de
la venganza? ¿Rehén del miedo? Es la ignorancia al respecto de la
naturaleza de ese impulso. Eso porque todo lo que es negado y relegado
al plano de la sombra acaba ganando fuerza justamente por estar en el
inconsciente.”
"Oftentimes we give way to certain impulses that we do not like nor accept, and that we wish would be different. What makes a person hostage to jealousy and envy? What makes one hostage to insecurity, revenge and fear? It is the ignorance about the nature of this impulse. Everything that is denied and banished to the realms of the shadow ends up gaining strength simply by remaining unconscious."
"Oftentimes we give way to certain impulses that we do not like nor accept, and that we wish would be different. What makes a person hostage to jealousy and envy? What makes one hostage to insecurity, revenge and fear? It is the ignorance about the nature of this impulse. Everything that is denied and banished to the realms of the shadow ends up gaining strength simply by remaining unconscious."
Via Daily Dharma
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Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 11/02/2015
“Ao entrega-se para a vontade divina, a vontade do seu Eu superior,
você se torna uma testemunha silenciosa; um canal puro do amor. Cada
ação é como uma prece ao Divino e sua vida se torna devoção. Nada do que
você faz é para si mesmo: a graça, a alegria, a cura e o amor passam
por você para chegar ao outro, e assim você vai experimentando a
plenitude e o contentamento – você vai provando pílulas de samadhi, o
êxtase místico. E a cada vislumbre do
Eterno, a natureza inferior vai se dissipando, e você vai se aproximando
da sua verdadeira essência.”
Acesse ao Satsang Completo: bit.ly/1CviIRC
“Al entregarse a la voluntad divina, la voluntad de tu Yo superior, te vuelves un testigo silencioso, un canal puro del amor. Cada acción es como una plegaria al Divino y tu vida se vuelve devoción. Nada de lo que haces es para ti mismo: la gracia, la alegría, la cura y el amor pasan por ti para llegar al otro, y así vas experimentando la plenitud y el contentamiento – vas probando las píldoras de samadhi, el éxtasis místico. Y a cada vislumbre del Eterno, la naturaleza inferior se va disipando, y vas aproximándote a tu verdadera esencia.”
"When you surrender to the divine will, the will of your higher self, you become a silent witness and a pure channel of love. Each action turns into a prayer to the Divine and your life becomes devotion. Nothing you do is for yourself. Grace, joy, healing and love pass through you to reach the other. In this way, you go on experiencing fulfillment and contentment. You experience samadhi pills: mystical ecstasy. At every glimpse of the Eternal, the lower nature begins to dissipate, and you come closer to your true essence."
“Al entregarse a la voluntad divina, la voluntad de tu Yo superior, te vuelves un testigo silencioso, un canal puro del amor. Cada acción es como una plegaria al Divino y tu vida se vuelve devoción. Nada de lo que haces es para ti mismo: la gracia, la alegría, la cura y el amor pasan por ti para llegar al otro, y así vas experimentando la plenitud y el contentamiento – vas probando las píldoras de samadhi, el éxtasis místico. Y a cada vislumbre del Eterno, la naturaleza inferior se va disipando, y vas aproximándote a tu verdadera esencia.”
"When you surrender to the divine will, the will of your higher self, you become a silent witness and a pure channel of love. Each action turns into a prayer to the Divine and your life becomes devotion. Nothing you do is for yourself. Grace, joy, healing and love pass through you to reach the other. In this way, you go on experiencing fulfillment and contentment. You experience samadhi pills: mystical ecstasy. At every glimpse of the Eternal, the lower nature begins to dissipate, and you come closer to your true essence."
- Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
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Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Flower of the Day: 02/10/15
“Different spiritual traditions invoke the Divine in specific ways, but there is a common denominator amongst them. For example, bhajans, devotional
chants, evoke the deities of the Hindu tradition. Through their
symbolism, these deities, or names and forms of the Divine, represent
aspects of the Divine that dwell within us all. Everything is inside of
us. The Divine works through each one of us, and that which is not here
is nowhere."
Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
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Flower of the Day: 02/09/15
"It
is true that the spiritual master is One, that the truth is One, and
that the path is One. However, it’s necessary to be aware of the
importance of focusing and connecting with the channel that represents
the bridge to this oneness for us at this precise moment. Compulsion can
manifest in different ways in the many areas of life, and if we are in a
particular place but cannot relax and surrender to the process, then we
won’t be able to benefit from it. In order to benefit from the path we
are on, we must enter into communion with it. For this to occur, we need
to focus, surrender and relax."
Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
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Via Daily Dharma
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Sunday, February 8, 2015
Via Daily Dharma
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Friday, February 6, 2015
Via JMG: 81% Of College Freshmen Back Marriage
In its annual American Freshman Survey, UCLA researchers polled over 150,000 incoming freshmen at 227 colleges and universities. This year's result on marriage:
Reposted from Joe Jervis
The survey last asked about same-sex marriage in 2012. In the interim, support for same-sex couples having the legal right to marry has increased 6.5 percentage points to 81.5%. This increase covers a span of time where the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California’s state ban on same-sex marriage. Additionally, since these Supreme Court decisions, state-level same-sex marriage bans have fallen across the country in U.S. Circuit and District courts; as of January 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up four pending cases from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Figure 10 breaks support for same-sex marriage down by political ideology. The findings show that only students who identify as “far right” do not support same-sex marriage. Just 44.3% of students identified as “far right” either “agreed somewhat” or “agreed strongly” that same-sex couples should have the legal right to marry. This figure contrasts with 56.6% of “conservative” students, 84.7% of “middle-of-the-road” students, 93.9% of “liberal” students, and 90.5% of “far left” students. It is clear that same-sex marriage is no longer an issue for the vast majority of entering college freshmen.We can't wait for Tony Perkins to spin this one.
Via Daily Dharma
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Flower of the Day: 02/06/15
"By
deepening the practice of self-observation, we may reach the surprising
conclusion that we feel pleasure through our negative actions in the
world. There is a pleasure connected to the negative situation that
repeats itself in our lives. Our vital energy is invested into this
destructive action. As we deepen even further into this practice of
self-observation, we realize that this may be the only way we know how
to feel pleasure. Oftentimes, the positive manifestation of pleasure is a
threat to the human being. Since we are so identified with this
negativity, we suffer the terror of being annihilated in its absence.
Unconsciously, we believe that letting go of this negativity would mean
death."
- Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
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Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 04/02/2015
“Alguns seres que atingiram a meta da autorrealização enxergam esse
planeta como uma prisão. Eu prefiro vê-lo como uma escola, onde a
principal matéria é o amor desinteressado. Mas, para amar de forma
desinteressada você precisa aprender a perdoar e agradecer, e para
perdoar e agradecer, você tem que aprender muitas outras coisas.”
“Algunos seres que han alcanzado la meta de la autorrealización ven este planeta como una prisión. Yo prefiero verlo como una escuela, donde la principal materia es el amor desinteresado. Pero para amar de forma desinteresada, precisas aprender a perdonar y agradecer, y para perdonar y agradecer, tienes que aprender muchas otras cosas.”
“Algunos seres que han alcanzado la meta de la autorrealización ven este planeta como una prisión. Yo prefiero verlo como una escuela, donde la principal materia es el amor desinteresado. Pero para amar de forma desinteresada, precisas aprender a perdonar y agradecer, y para perdonar y agradecer, tienes que aprender muchas otras cosas.”
"Some beings who have attained the goal of self-realization see this
planet as a prison. I prefer to see it as a school, where the main
subject matter is selfless love. To be able to love selflessly, we must
learn to forgive and give thanks. In order to forgive and thank, we have
to learn many more things."
- Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
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Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Via Daily Dharma
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Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 03/02/2015
“Toda a entidade humana em evolução carrega partes dentro de si mesma
com as quais não pôde chegar a um acordo; partes que, de alguma maneira,
ela se envergonha ou não compreende, e por isso as mantêm separadas,
trancadas em negação. Mas, a negação é o principal obstáculo para a
felicidade, pois é somente através da integração dessas partes negadas e
separadas que se pode ter um vislumbre da Unidade, e por consequência da paz e do amor.”
Acesse ao Satsang completo: bit.ly/1uTivU9
“Toda la miseria que vemos en este mundo es causada por el olvido de nuestra verdadera naturaleza espiritual. La crisis que vemos en todas las áreas de la sociedad se debe a este olvido. Podemos decir que nuestra sociedad está psicótica, porque existe una profunda identificación con el falso yo. Todos están demasiado ocupados en mantener y embellecer la propia historia, pero no saben que ella no es más que una ficción, una gran mentira; y para sustentarla son capaces de cualquier cosa.”
“All evolving human entities carry parts of themselves that they have not yet come to terms with. They somehow still feel ashamed of these parts within them or have not yet been able to fully understand them, so they keep these feelings separate, locked up in denial. Denial is the main obstacle towards happiness, because only by integrating these denied and separate parts can one have a glimpse of unity and, consequently, of peace and love.”
“Toda la miseria que vemos en este mundo es causada por el olvido de nuestra verdadera naturaleza espiritual. La crisis que vemos en todas las áreas de la sociedad se debe a este olvido. Podemos decir que nuestra sociedad está psicótica, porque existe una profunda identificación con el falso yo. Todos están demasiado ocupados en mantener y embellecer la propia historia, pero no saben que ella no es más que una ficción, una gran mentira; y para sustentarla son capaces de cualquier cosa.”
“All evolving human entities carry parts of themselves that they have not yet come to terms with. They somehow still feel ashamed of these parts within them or have not yet been able to fully understand them, so they keep these feelings separate, locked up in denial. Denial is the main obstacle towards happiness, because only by integrating these denied and separate parts can one have a glimpse of unity and, consequently, of peace and love.”
- Sri Prem Baba
Monday, February 2, 2015
Via JMG: Obama's Budget Gives Social Security Benefits to Gay Couples Nationwide
Via Talking Points Memo:
Reposted from Joe Jervis
In his fiscal 2016 budget, released Monday, President Barack Obama proposed allowing married same-sex couples to receive spousal Social Security benefits, regardless of which state they live in. Currently, married same-sex couples lose their benefits it they move to a state that does not recognize their unions. "The budget proposes to amend the Social Security Act to ensure all lawfully married same-sex couples will be eligible to receive Social Security spousal benefits, regardless of where they live," Obama's proposal states. "Under this proposal, such married couples would have access to these benefits," the budget says. Same-sex marriages are currently recognized in 36 states, as Bloomberg noted. The proposal would have to be approved by the Republican-led Congress to take effect.Freedom To Marry reacts via press release:
Once again, President Obama has demonstrated his commitment to fairness and freedom for all Americans, including same-sex couples and their families. His proposal to ensure equal Social Security benefits would fix a crucial gap in federal protections for same-sex couples.President Obama's leadership in helping bring the freedom to marry to all Americans will be a shining part of this president's legacy. Of course, the only way to ensure same-sex couples nationwide have all the protections of marriage is for the Supreme Court to put the country on the right side of history by ending marriage discrimination throughout the United States, leaving no family and no state behind.
Labels: Barack Obama, feds, Freedom To Marry, LGBT rights, marriage equality, Obama administration, Social Security
Via JMG: Julian Bond For Mississippi Marriage
"Mississippians know sexual orientation or gender identity shouldn’t
matter when it comes to working hard and taking care of your neighbor.
Mississippians know all children are valued, no matter who they are. And
Mississippians know that above all, treating one another with dignity
and respect is what counts.
"The fight for basic civil rights is not a quest for superiority or an unvoiced desire for power. It is, at its root, a battle to raise us all up. We all deserve the right to try and fail, move forward and fall back, and ultimately succeed on our own merits and individual gifts. But for many of us, our ability to dream of a greater and more brilliant future is limited by the color of our skin, the texts of our religious tomes, and the gender of whom we love and who we are.
"The push for full equality for all Americans has always come with hurdles and setbacks. But we are not dissuaded from our path. LGBT Mississippians and their families yearn for a better day, one that we can work together to create. Let’s begin right now." - NAACP chairman emeritus Julian Bond, writing for the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. Hit the link and read the full op-ed.
Reposted from Joe Jervis
"The fight for basic civil rights is not a quest for superiority or an unvoiced desire for power. It is, at its root, a battle to raise us all up. We all deserve the right to try and fail, move forward and fall back, and ultimately succeed on our own merits and individual gifts. But for many of us, our ability to dream of a greater and more brilliant future is limited by the color of our skin, the texts of our religious tomes, and the gender of whom we love and who we are.
"The push for full equality for all Americans has always come with hurdles and setbacks. But we are not dissuaded from our path. LGBT Mississippians and their families yearn for a better day, one that we can work together to create. Let’s begin right now." - NAACP chairman emeritus Julian Bond, writing for the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. Hit the link and read the full op-ed.
Via Tricycle: Was the Buddha an Atheist?
Preeminent Buddhist thinkers—Badiner, Kornfield, Batchelor, and Thurman—weigh in.
"The Buddha was an atheist."
Writer Allan Badiner made this bald pronouncement in the midst of a conversation that spanned the wee hours of a cloudless Burning Man night. Sitting in a vast tent where, during the day, scores of partygoers had washed off their dust and grime in a plexiglass chamber, we discussed prevailing notions of a Buddhist godhead and, conversely, our mutual embrace of the religion in its secular form.
I was most intrigued, though, by Badiner’s description of the Buddha as an atheist. I asked for sources.
Allan’s first response:
I would need time to do it, but there are passages from the Tripitaka that strongly indicate that the Buddha denied the existence of a creator god. Rather than classify him as an atheist or an agnostic, it would be more appropriate to use the term nontheist. An atheist believes only what he can see but, of course, the Buddha suggested that not all that you see is real.I responded with enthusiasm and persistence: "I like nontheist—thanks—but do send me the citation when you can."
He did:
According to Stephen Batchelor’s Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist, on the few occasions in the [Pali] Canon . . . where the question of God is addressed, Gautama is presented as an ironic atheist. The rejection of God is not a mainstay of his teaching, so he did not get worked up about it. Such passages have the flavor of a diversion, a light entertainment, in which another of humanity’s irrational opinions is gently ridiculed and put aside. This approach stands in contrast to the aggressive atheism that periodically erupts in the modern West. The Buddha regarded questions about the cause of the universe, or other questions related to a creator god as not useful, in light of the more important task of bringing about the cessation of human suffering.A few weeks later, at a conference on psychedelic research in Marin, California, I asked Insight Meditation Society cofounder Jack Kornfield the same question: "Was the Buddha an atheist?"
He responded later in an email, in his usual sweet manner:
"Yes, the Buddha was a nontheist. But he believed in and talked a lot about Brahma, King of the Gods and about other Gods . . .”
He continued, rather cryptically, with a quote from the Buddha himself: A star at dawn, a drop of dew, an echo, a rainbow and a dream.
Now we were getting somewhere, or perhaps nowhere, or maybe somewhere rather koan-istic.
Then Stephen Batchelor himself weighed in on our group email:
I’m happy you are happy with nontheist. The problems are manifold. The term atheist as we use it today would not have been used in that way at the Buddha’s time. Nor, for that matter, would the concept nontheist. There are no equivalents for either in Pali or Sanskrit, though many Hindus today still regard the Buddha as a nastika, usually translated as nihilist but which means something like one who asserts there is nothing.Stephen, as usual, had cut through the Gordian Knot with that “practice the dharma” thing—or get over yourself with the intellectual stuff that leads to more intellectual stuff: the obsessional path. It stung like the smack of the keisaku provoking a kensho.
Again, the Buddha would have rejected this since he warns against the two extremes of atthi [it is] and natthi [it is not] and seeks to establish his dharma in the middle (madhyama), which does not lapse into the extremes of eternalism or annihilationism. The Buddha simply did not define himself or his teaching in such ways. So trying to capture him in these terms is bound to misrepresent him.
On the other hand, the only way we can talk about him and his vision is via the concepts of our own time and language, which has been the case throughout Buddhist history in the different countries in which it took root. I take nontheist to mean one who does not employ God as a necessary term in his or her teaching. In this sense, yes, the Buddha was a nontheist.
However since he is recorded in the Agganna Sutta as mocking and rejecting the very idea of God, he also comes close to being an atheist in the modern sense. It is probably best to drop trying to categorize the Buddha in any of these ways, to cultivate a healthy skepticism regarding views and opinions, and to concentrate on practicing the dharma instead.
Then, some weeks later when I had almost given up, Bob Thurman, noted Columbia University Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, gave his view:
From the records we have, I think we can fairly say that Buddha was a non-monotheist—or non-creator-theist— and also a non-atheist, since he was in conversation with various gods quite often, actually one of his names was devamanusyanam shasta (Pali), or teacher of gods and humans. So the Buddha is an example of one who can be a theist while rejecting a creator. As I like to say, no one person is to blame for creating this whole mess—other than each of us, that is!So there you have it—as close to the horses’ mouths as I can get. Pick and choose from atheist, nontheist, agnostic, non-creator-theist, and non-atheist; or make up one of your own.
Did I learn something from this? Yes. For one, as Stephen said, pinning the Buddha down to a specific category of belief is a difficult thing, because we live in a different time with a different set of values and a whole other language to express them. Therefore, we cannot know the Buddha directly as a historical personage. Moreover, Buddhism has been of such benefit to a variety of practitioners, its modifications and commentaries leaves grown from a single tree. Why hold the Buddha stuck in place? The dharma is a moving thing. And clearly, he, Gautama, touched its essence. For that wisdom we owe great gratitude to the Buddha, atheist or not, and all those who have breathed life into his path.
Phil Wolfson is a psychiatrist and secular Buddhist practitioner. He lives in the Bay Area.
Image: Chris Sorensen/Gallerystock
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Sunday, February 1, 2015
Via Beloved Festival / FB:
I looked in temples, churches & mosques. I found the Divine within my Heart. ~Rumi
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