Sunday, July 5, 2015

Today's Daily Dharma: Wherever the Mind Points, It Goes


Wherever the Mind Points, It Goes
In this historical moment when American democratic ideals of freedom, civility, pluralism, altruism, and individualism make America the most comfortable home on earth for the individual pursuit of enlightenment, it is an essential form of Buddhist practice to participate in politics, to vote, to speak out, to encourage those who agree, to reason with those who disagree. It is wisdom. It is meditation. It is compassion. It is ethics.
 
Sarah Harding, "Won't It Be Grand"

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Via Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian / FB:


Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 04/07/2015

Quando começa a retirar os amortecedores que te impedem de sentir, e entra em contato com a dor de ter machucado alguém, fique atento para não cair na armadilha da culpa. Às vezes ela é tão grande que você começa a se punir severamente até que não veja outra saída a não ser amortecer de novo.”

“Cuando comienzas a retirar los anestesiadores que te impiden sentir, y entras en contacto con el dolor de haber lastimado a alguien, estate atento para no caer en la trampa de la culpa. A veces ella es tan grande que empiezas a castigarte severamente hasta que no ves otra salida que no sea anestesiarte de nuevo.”

"When we start to remove the layers of numbness that prevent us from feeling, and we get in touch with the pain of having hurt someone else, we must be careful not to fall into the trap of guilt. Sometimes the guilt is so great that we begin to punish ourselves severely, until there is no other choice but to numb ourselves yet again."

Today's Daily Dharma: American Buddhism Calls for Participation

American Buddhism Calls for Participation
In this historical moment when American democratic ideals of freedom, civility, pluralism, altruism, and individualism make America the most comfortable home on earth for the individual pursuit of enlightenment, it is an essential form of Buddhist practice to participate in politics, to vote, to speak out, to encourage those who agree, to reason with those who disagree. It is wisdom. It is meditation. It is compassion. It is ethics.
 
Robert A. F. Thurman, "The Politics of Enlightenment"

First Ladies of Disco - Show Some Love Official Video Debut


Via JMG: SCOTUS Fallout: Decade-Old Pride Image Spawns Death Threat For Photographer



Via the Washington Post:
More than a decade ago, photographer Ed Freeman set out to capture the gay rights struggle in a photograph for the cover of Frontiers, a gay magazine. To do so, he relied on an image — the flag-raising at Iwo Jima — that has been imitated and adapted countless times since it was captured in the midst of one of America’s bloodiest battles. [snip] More than a decade after his adaptation of the photograph was published, it circulated on social media following the Supreme Court’s decision Friday to allow same-sex marriage in all 50 states. That prompted a backlash against Freeman — including a death threat he says he reported to the FBI. “He said if he ever saw me, he’d kill me,” Freeman said in a phone interview. “I got swamped with vitriolic hate mail.” Freeman said there is “no way in hell” that he meant his adaptation of the Iwo Jima image to be provocative. “This picture was just a flashpoint for a lot people who are looking for a reason to lash out, so I guess I get to be the whipping boy,” he said. “I’m fine with that if that’s what it takes.
Haters are going nuts on Twitter.


Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: POLL: Majority Backs SCOTUS Rulings



Via YouGov:
The opposition to legal same-sex marriage is both partisan and generational. Two-thirds of Republicans oppose same-sex marriage, as does a majority of those 65 and older. Two in three Democrats and adults under 30 are in favor. Some of the opposition is clearly religious: 57% of those who say religion is very important to them oppose the ruling (a third approve). Among Catholics, there is a close division with nearly half approving. There is more support in the Northeast and West than there is in the Midwest and South.

But same-sex marriage has already become part of the American landscape. 44% say they know a gay or lesbian married couple. More than half of those with higher incomes and half of women do, but only 29% of African-Americans say they know a gay or lesbian couple that is married. Those who know a same-sex married couple approve of the Court’s ruling by two to one. While many people know a same-sex married couple, only 7% have attended a same-sex wedding. Three times as many Democrats (11%) as Republicans (3%) and eight times as many liberals (16%) as conservatives (2%) have done so.
46% of all Americans say they'd attend a same-sex wedding.


Reposted from Joe Jervis

Friday, July 3, 2015

Via Tricycle: May I Become an Island

© Jeff Greenwald

To the Buddhas residing in all directions
With my palms pressed together I make this request
Please continue to shine the lamp of Dharma
For living beings lost and suffering in the darkness of ignorance.

May I become an island for those seeking dry land
A lamp for those needing light,
A place of rest for those who desire one,
And a servant for those needing service.

From Guide to the Bodhisattiva's Way of Life by Shantideva, © 2002 by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso and New Kadampa Tradition. Reprinted with permission of Tharpa Publication, www.tharpa.com.
Image: Buddha statue in the town of Akurala, on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka, after the tsunami. Photo by contributing editor Jeff Greenwald who is in Sri Lanka working with the Mercy Corps relief agency.

West Wing Week: 07/03/15 or, “Amazing Grace”


Via Purple Clover / FB:


Kids React to Gay Marriage Ruling


Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the day 02/07/2015

“Nosso destino é construído através de cada pensamento, cada palavra e cada atitude - tanto o destino pessoal quanto o destino coletivo. Nossas ações determinam nosso futuro. A cada instante temos a chance de escolher entre ações que nos afastam ou ações que nos aproximam da nossa própria liberdade.”

“Nuestro destino se construye a través de cada pensamiento, cada palabra y cada actitud - tanto el destino personal como el destino colectivo. Nuestras acciones determinan nuestro futuro. A cada instante tenemos la oportunidad de elegir entre acciones que nos alejan o acciones que nos acercan a nuestra propia libertad.”

“Our destiny is created through every thought, word and action. This can be said for both our personal and collective destiny. Our actions determine our future. Every moment, we have the opportunity to choose between actions that will either take us further away from or bring us closer towards our own freedom.”

Today's Daily Dharma: The Acknowledgment of Suffering Is a Gift


The Acknowledgment of Suffering Is a Gift
As the early Buddhist teachings freely admit, the predicament is that the cycle of birth, aging, and death is meaningless. They don't try to deny this fact and so don't ask us to be dishonest with ourselves or to close our eyes to reality. As one teacher has put it, the Buddhist recognition of the reality of suffering, so important that suffering is honored as the first noble truth, is a gift, in that it confirms our most sensitive and direct experience of things, an experience that many other traditions try to deny.
 
Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "Lost in Capitulation"

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Pink Moon: A Short Film About LGBTQ and Reproductive Rights


The 'Queens' of Camp Comedy 'What A Performance' - Williams, Grayson, Everett


How gay men used to speak - A short film in Polari


JMG Quote Of The Day - Evan Wolfson



 
"I always believed we would win, but what a joy and relief it was when our victory came. As I read the Supreme Court opinion, as I followed the stories across the country of couples getting married, and as so many people wrote me with wonder, attaching pictures of their families, their kids, their weddings ... well, I cried and cried again.
"We won. We did it. The freedom to marry is now the law of the land throughout our whole country. At long last, loving and committed same-sex couples are able to share in the joy, the protections, the vocabulary, and the institution of marriage.

"We've been fighting this campaign for decades, and not a single step has come easily. To overcome the obstacles and to seize the opportunities, with stumbles and then successes, we built a machine that could guide and leverage a movement, driving a strategy — and machines take fuel. Without your support, this transformation and triumph would not have happened.

"And our win is America's win. Love won. We all did.

"Now — as Freedom to Marry prepares to wind down — we must remember that there's still much work to do in our own LGBT movement and in the broader movements we are part of.

"I am grateful to my incomparable Freedom to Marry team, our close movement colleagues, the entire family of supporters and partners in the work, our allies, and our country. How lucky we are to see our work rewarded with the change and victory we sought and deserved.

"All that's left is to say, with all my heart, is congratulations — mazel tov! — and thank you." - Freedom To Marry founder Evan Wolfson, via email.


Reposted from Joe Jervis

#LoveWins: A celebration of the freedom to marry


President Obama Reacts to Historic Supreme Court Decision on Gay Marriage