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.
Saturday, August 15, 2020
Via Daily Dharma: Understanding Difficult Emotions
When
you ignore [a] difficult emotion, that's delusion, that's ignoring it. …
When we have wisdom, mindfulness, and understanding, then we can
resolve emotions.
—Bhante Buddharakkhita, “Overcoming Difficult Emotions in a Chaotic World”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Via Tricycle: How to Cultivate an Unshakable Inner Peace
With
so much chaos swirling around our world, many of us are experiencing
waves of heightened anxiety, fear, anger, grief, despair, loneliness,
and other difficult emotions.
It’s easy to get swept up in the storm, but the teachings of Buddhism remind us that even in the midst of external chaos we can cultivate an unshakable inner peace. We can’t change what’s happening in the world, but we can choose to stay present no matter what’s going on around us.
Mindfulness can act as an anchor, helping us to stay steady through these turbulent times. In our August Dharma Talk series, “Overcoming Difficult Emotions in a Chaotic World,” Bhante Buddharakkhita, a Ugandan Buddhist teacher, monk, and author, offers a series of mindfulness practices for navigating whatever emotional states may be arising for you right now.
Watch the four-part series to better understand the roots of difficult emotions and learn how to apply mindfulness to overcome them.
Also this week:
- Aging as a Spiritual Practice
starts September 14! Join Zen teacher and author Lewis Richmond for a
six-week course on finding ease in the process of growing older.
- In a new essay for the Fall 2020 issue, Stephen Batchelor considers the benefits of contemplating the extinction of humankind.
- Two chief architects of the Paris Climate Agreement say the first step to saving the planet is changing our mindset—and embracing an attitude of “gritty optimism.”
- Find instant relief and resilience during difficult moments with the short and sweet practices featured in our new podcast, For the Moment.
Friday, August 14, 2020
Via FB // Spinoza Einstein
Via Daily Dharma: The Power of Forgiveness
Without forgiveness, we’re forced to carry the sufferings of the past.
—Gina Sharpe, “The Power of Forgiveness”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Thursday, August 13, 2020
Happy VERTUMNALIA! via The White Crane Insitute
VERTUMNALIA – Roman festival in honor of Vertumnus and Diana, on the Aventine Hill. In Roman mythology, Vertumnus is the god of seasons, change and plant growth, as well as gardens and fruit trees.
He could change form, at will; using this power, according to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, he tricked Pomona into talking to him by disguising himself as an old woman and gaining entry to her orchard, then using a narrative warning of the dangers of rejecting a suitor (the embedded tale of Iphis and Anaxarete) to seduce her. The Ides of August was also sacred to Jupiter and known as the feriae Jovi, or Festival of Jove, and to Diana, the goddess of the moon, and called the Festival of Diana.
Diana was sometimes viewed as Jupiter's female equivalent (not his wife, who was Juno). On this day, Diana's temple on the Aventine Hill was consecrated; today cow horns (symbols of Hercules), were hung in the front of the temple.
Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - August 12, 2020 💌
"The transformation that comes through meditation is not a straight-line
progression. It’s a spiral, a cycle. My own life is very much a series
of spirals in which at times I am pulled toward some particular form of
sadhana or lifestyle and make a commitment to it for maybe six months or
a year.
After this time I assess its effects. At times I work with external
methods such as service. At other times the pull is inward, and I
retreat from society to spend more time alone. The timing for these
phases in the spiral must be in tune with your inner voice and your
outer life.
Don’t get too rigidly attached to any one method – turn to others when their time comes, when you are ripe for them."
- Ram Dass -
Via FB // John Pavlovitz
Apparently, I’ve been radicalized and I wasn’t aware.
Via Daily Dharma: Coming to Terms with Reality
More
often than we might think, there is nothing we can do beyond coming to
terms with our experience not as we want it to be, but with it as it is.
— Meikyo Robert Rosenbaum, “Breathless”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Tuesday, August 11, 2020
Via White Crane Institute // Today's Gay Wisdom
TODAY'S GAY WISDOM
Notable ancient Greek warriors who had same-sex love relationships:
ARISTOMENES — Prince of the Messenians and Arcadians
CIMON — leader of the Delian League forces and the Athenian navy, gaining notoriety in the Persian Wars
ASOPHICHUS — great warrior and lover of Epaminondas
CAPHISODORUS — warrior and lover of Epaminondas whom he died with at the battle of Mantineia
CLEOMACHUS — led Chalcis to victory in the Lelantine Warns and introduced pederasty to the area
PAMMENES — general who was supposed to assume leadership after Epaminondas
THERON — warrior from Thessaly
HARMODIUS — credited with bringing about Athenian democracy with Aristogiton
ARISTOGITON — credited with bringing about Athenian democracy with Harmodius
PELOPIDAS — general of the elite Sacred Band of Thebes
EPAMINONDAS — Theban general and commander of the Boeotian army credited with ending Sparta’s dominance Lover of Asophichus.
GORGIDAS — established the Sacred Band of Thebes selecting male couples within the Theban army
MELEAGER — infantry commander under Alexander
HEPHAESTION — top general and lover of Alexander
Via Daily Dharma: How to Cultivate Generosity
Like
any form of strength, generosity needs to be intentionally cultivated
over time, and everyone must begin in whatever state of mind they
already happen to be.
—Dale S. Wright, “The Bodhisattva’s Gift”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Monday, August 10, 2020
Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - August 9, 2020 💌
You start to use your life as your curriculum for coming to God. You use the things that are on your plate, that are presented to you. So that relationships, economics, psychodynamics—all of these become grist for the mill of awakening. They all are part of your curriculum.
Just Beyond Yourself - David Whyte
Just beyond
yourself.
It’s where
you need
to be.
Half a step
into
self-forgetting
and the rest
restored
by what
you’ll meet.
There is a road
always beckoning.
When you see
the two sides
of it
closing together
at that far horizon
and deep in
the foundations
of your own
heart
at exactly
the same
time,
that’s how
you know
it’s the road
you
have
to follow.
That’s how
you know
it’s where
you
have
to go.
That’s how
you know
you have
to go.
That’s
how you know.
Just beyond
yourself,
it’s
where you
need to be.
Via Shambal Mountain Center // OM VOTE HUM
OM VOTE HUM
Back in May, over 100 Buddhist leaders signed a letter stressing the necessity of voting in the coming US election, and also of working to ensure that as many eligible voters as possible do so as well. In the weeks leading up to November 3, this message is worth repeating like a mantra—so we’re re-publishing the letter in full here, which includes clear steps you can take to help Get Out the Vote. // Read more >>Via Daily Dharma: Create Space for Your Natural Joy
Meditation practice allows our natural flow of being to come forth and provides a space for our natural joy to come out.
—Roshi Pat Enkyo O'Hara, “Turn Into the Skid”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE