A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
"One day I was sitting in a motel in middle America, and it was one of
those really plastic Holiday Inn type places, and I had arrived and I
went into my room and I sat down and set up my little puja table and you
know, all that stuff. Moving the menu and stuff, and it was kind of
depressing, and I thought, 'Well, a few more weeks and I'll be done with
this tour and I can go home.' And then I saw the pain that that thought
was creating for me.
So I got up and I walked out of the room, closed the door, walked down
the hall, turned around, came back, unlocked the door and yelled, 'I’m
home!' And I came in and I sat down, and I looked and, you know, I
wouldn’t have decorated particularly this way, but what the hell, you
know? I thought, if I’m not at home in the universe, boy, I got a
problem. If I say, 'I can only be home here, not there.'
What is home? Home is where the heart is. Home is the quality of presence. It’s the quality of being wherever you are."
Today marks the first day of the “Saga Dawa” observed during the fourth month of the Tibetan calendar. The Saga Dawa called the “month of
merits” is the month during which five important life events of Lord
Buddha took place. It is believed that Lord Buddha was conceived, born,
defeated evil forces attained enlightenment and passed away into parinirvana on the 15th day of this month. Therefore, this month is one of the most auspicious times for Buddhists. It is said that both
positive and negative deeds during this month is multiplied 100,000
times.
Intelligence
or lack of it does not matter; between the dull and the sharp-witted
there is no distinction. If you concentrate your effort single-mindedly,
that in itself is negotiating the Way.
Gay rights pioneer, martyr and San Francisco city supervisor HARVEY MILKwas
born on this date. Milk was an American politician and Gay Rights
activist and the first openly Gay city supervisor of San Francisco,
California. He was often called, "the first openly Gay man elected to
any substantial political office in the history of the planet," though
this slights others who were elected before him in cities not so
associated with Gay life.
What is not as well-remembered was his amazing ability to bring communities and neighborhoods together for progressive ends.
The U.S. Postal
Service officially revealed the Harvey Milk Forever Stamp in 2015. The
stamp’s official first-day-of-issue ceremony took place at the White
House. The public was invited to attend the May 28 Harvey Milk Forever
Stamp special dedication ceremony in San Francisco. Customers may order
the Harvey Milk stamp now through this link for delivery following the
May 22 stamp issuance.
The stamp image
is based on a circa 1977 black and white photograph of Milk in front of
his Castro Street Camera store in San Francisco taken by Danny Nicoletta
of Grants Pass, OR. Antonio Alcalรก of Alexandria, VA, was art director
for the stamp.
Buddhism
emphasizes love’s beneficial power. Because its nature is joy and because it always brings about happiness and well-being, to love is the most meritorious action.
—Karma Trinlay Rinpoche, “What We’ve Been All Along”
30-year-old Francisco Josรฉ Alvarado is a family doctor at Lavapiรฉs Health Center in Madrid. While working tirelessly to help COVID-19
patients back in March, he contracted the virus. After making a full recovery, he returned to work. Now, he’s just been named Mr. Gay World
Pride.
REVEREND ROBERT WOOD, author of historic book Christ and the Homosexual (1960) was born. Wood's book is considered one of the first positive treatments of homosexuality and Christianity.
Wood, himself a
Gay man was ministering at the time in New York City and was well
acquainted with the ostracism experienced by the gay subculture at the
hands of what he saw as “a society which in most cases has not taken the
time to study the facts and to know the individuals involved.”
“Christ and the
Homosexual” was the first book published merging these two subjects, and
groundbreaking in its poignant critique of the Church, and in its
description, support, and affirmation of the Gay community.
All 3,000
hardbound copies sold at a cost of $3.95 each. Copies of the book are extremely scarce today as no further editions were printed.
You
have to get dirty with your emotions. Meditation allows us to feel them, live them, and taste them completely. It gives us a lot of insight into why we do the things we do and why other people do the things they do. Out of this insight, compassion is born.
All
experience arises in the present, does its dance, and disappears.
Experience comes into being only tentatively, for a little time in a
certain form; then that form ends and a new form replaces it moment by
moment.
Sanskrit: Bhaiแนฃajyaguru (เคญैเคทเค्เคฏเคुเคฐु)
Chinese: Yร oshฤซfรณ (่ฅๅธซไฝ); Yร oshฤซrรบlรกi (่ฅๅธซๅฆไพ)
Japanese: Yakushi (่ฌๅธซ); Kusurishi Nyorai (่ฌๅธซๅฆๆฅ)
Korean: Yaksayeorae, Yaksabul (์ฝ์ฌ์ฌ๋, ์ฝ์ฌ๋ถ)
Mongolian: ะัะพั ะะฐะฝะปะฐ
Bhaiแนฃajyaguru, more formally Bhaiแนฃajyaguruvaidลซryaprabharฤja (เคญैเคทเค्เคฏเคुเคฐुเคตैเคกूเคฐ्เคฏเคช्เคฐเคญाเคฐाเค; "Medicine Master and King of Lapis Lazuli Light"), is the buddha of healing and medicine in Mahayana Buddhism.
In the English language, he is commonly referred to as the "Medicine Buddha". The use of the analogy of a Buddha being depicted as a doctor who cures the illness of suffering using the medicine of his teachings appears widely in Buddhist scriptures.
In the Bhaiแนฃajyaguruvaidลซryaprabharฤja Sลซtra, the Medicine Buddha is described as having entered into a state of samadhi called "Eliminating All the Suffering and Afflictions of Sentient Beings." From this samadhi state he spoke the Medicine Buddha Dharani.
Buddhists recite the mantra of the Medicine Buddha to overcome sickness. He is also closely associated with ceremonies for temple donors and for transferring of merit to such donors.
Phแบญt Dฦฐแปฃc Sฦฐ (tiแบฟng Phแบกn: bhaiแนฃajyaguru; chแปฏ Hรกn: ่ฅๅธซไฝ; nghฤฉa lร "vแป Phแบญt thแบงy thuแปc"), cรฒn gแปi lร Dฦฐแปฃc Sฦฐ Lฦฐu Li Quang Phแบญt, (bhaiแนฃajyaguruvaidลซrya-prabha-buddha; ่ฅๅธซ็็ๅ ไฝ), lร vแป Phแบญt ฤแบกi diแปn cho sแปฑ trแปn vแบนn cแปงa Phแบญt quแบฃ ngแปฑ cรตi phรญa ฤรดng (lร cรตi Tแปnh Lฦฐu ly). Tranh tฦฐแปฃng cแปงa vแป Phแบญt nร y hay ฤฦฐแปฃc vแบฝ vแปi tay trรกi cแบงm thuแปc chแปฏa bแปnh vร tay mแบทt giแปฏ แบคn thรญ nguyแปn.
Phแบญt Dฦฐแปฃc Sฦฐ thฦฐแปng ฤฦฐแปฃc thแป chung vแปi Phแบญt Thรญch Ca Mรขu Ni vร A Di ฤร , trong ฤรณ phแบญt Dฦฐแปฃc Sฦฐ ฤแปฉng bรชn trรกi cรฒn Phแบญt A Di ฤร ฤแปฉng bรชn phแบฃi Phแบญt Thรญch Ca. Trong kinh Dฦฐแปฃc Sฦฐ, hiแปn nay chแป cรฒn bแบฃn chแปฏ Hรกn vร chแปฏ Tรขy Tแบกng, ngฦฐแปi ta ฤแปc thแบฅy 12 lแปi nguyแปn cแปงa vแป Phแบญt nร y, thแป cแปฉu ฤแป chรบng sinh, vแปi sแปฑ giรบp ฤแปก cแปงa chฦฐ Phแบญt, Bแป Tรกt vร 12 vแป Hแป Phรกp vร Thiรชn vฦฐฦกng.