Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from False Speech

 



RIGHT SPEECH
Refraining from False Speech
False speech is unhealthy. Refraining from false speech is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning false speech, one dwells refraining from false speech, a truth-speaker, one to be relied on, trustworthy, dependable, not a deceiver of the world. One does not in full awareness speak falsehood for one’s own ends or another’s ends, or for some trifling worldly end. (DN 1) One practices thus: “Others may speak falsely, but I shall abstain from false speech.” (MN 8)

When one knows covert speech to be true, correct, and beneficial, one may utter it, knowing the time to do so. (MN 139)
Reflection
There is nothing wrong with speaking privately and even secretly to someone as long as what is said is true and beneficial. There are times when discretion is entirely appropriate. The thing to guard against is resorting to covert speech as a way of hiding something that is not worthy of being spoken in the open. A good rule of thumb is to refrain from saying anything in private you would be ashamed of saying publicly.

Daily Practice
The restraint of false speech is important because what you say has an effect not only on other people but also on yourself. Pay attention to the quality of your mind when you speak covertly to someone and check to make sure that you are not drifting into states of mind that are harmful, such as ill will, hatred, or cruelty. You can learn to be intuitively aware of the quality of your emotions as you speak. 

Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Bodily Action
One week from today: Refraining from Malicious Speech

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Via Daily Dharma: When Troubles Arise

When Troubles Arise

Our problems arise when we subordinate this moment to something else, our self-centered thoughts: not just this moment, but what I want. We bring to the moment our personal priorities, all day long. And so our troubles arise.

Charlotte Joko Beck, “Attention Means Attention”


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Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Via White Crane Institute // DR. TOM WADDELL

 

Died
Dr. Tom Waddell
1987 -

DR. TOM WADDELL was a gay American physician, sportsman and competitor at the 1968 Summer Olympics, who died on this date (b: 1937). Waddell founded the Gay Olympics in 1982 in San Francisco. The international sporting event was later renamed the Gay Games after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) sued Dr. Waddell for using the word "Olympic" in the original name. The Gay Games are held every four years.

Tom Waddell attended Springfield College in Massachusetts on a track scholarship. Originally majoring in physical education, he switched to pre-medicine following the sudden death of his best friend and co-captain of the gymnastics team, an event that moved him deeply. At Springfield, he competed on the gymnastics and football teams. In the summer of 1959, Tom worked at a children's camp in western Massachusetts, where he met his first lover, socialist Enge Menaker, then a 63-year-old man. They remained close for the rest of Menaker's life, which ended in 1985 when he was 90 years old.

Dr. Waddell traveled on a U.S. State Department-sponsored track and field tour of Africa in 1962. At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, he placed sixth among the 33 competitors. He broke five of his own personal records in the 10 events. In 1972, in a track meet in Hawaii, he injured his knee in a high jump, which ended his career as a competitive athlete.

Soon after returning to San Francisco in 1972, Waddell joined a gay bowling league. It inspired him to consider organizing a gay sporting event modeled on the Olympics. He followed through with the idea in the early 1980s. The first "Gay Olympics" was to take place in San Francisco in 1982 in the form of a sports competition and arts festival. But a few weeks before the event was to begin, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) sued the organization over its use of the word "Olympic."

Despite the fact that the IOC had not previously protested when other groups had used the name, they alleged that allowing "Gay Olympics" would injure them. They succeeded in securing an injunction just nineteen days before the first games were to begin.

Nevertheless, the games, now re-christened the "Gay Games," went forward. It was and remains a great success, perhaps because they emphasize sportsmanship, personal achievement, and inclusiveness to a far greater degree than the Olympics. There is a famous story of Waddell meeting Leonard Bernstein at a party in San Francisco, related in Douglass Shand-Tucci's The Crimson Letter. Waddell was telling Bernstein about his plans for the Gay Olympics, to which Bernsteion replied "My god--who needs Gay Olympics?" Waddell related that he turned on his heels and walked away. At which point Bernstein, in a stage voice that pursued Waddell across the room, asked "Who's that fucking queen?" Waddell allowed that, had Bernstein not been drunk, he would have slugged him.

In 1981, while founding the Gay Games, Waddell met two people with whom he formed major relationships. One was public relations man and fundraiser Zohn Artman, with whom he fell in love and began a relationship. The other was lesbian athlete Sara Lewinstein. Both Tom and Sara had longed to have a child, and they decided to have a child together. Their daughter, Jessica, was born in 1983. To protect Jessica's and her mother's legal rights, Tom and Sara married in 1985.

In 1985, he was diagnosed with AIDS. Although dogged by the IOC's lawsuit, Waddell lived to see the success of Gay Games II in 1986, and even participated, winning the gold medal in the javelin event.

Dr. Tom Waddell died from HIV-AIDS on this date, aged 49, in San Francisco, California. His last words were "Well, this should be interesting." His battle against HIV/AIDS is one of the subjects of the award-winning documentary Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt. With sports writer Dick Schaap, Waddell wrote an autobiography titled Gay Olympian.


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Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute

"With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson

Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989!
www.whitecraneinstitute.org

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The Untold Truth about Vikings and Homosexuality

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Lovingkindness

 


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RIGHT INTENTION
Cultivating Lovingkindness
Whatever you intend, whatever you plan, and whatever you have a tendency toward, that will become the basis upon which your mind is established. (SN 12.40) Develop meditation on lovingkindness, for when you develop meditation on lovingkindness, all ill will will be abandoned. (MN 62) 

The near enemy of loving kindness is attachment. (Vm 9.98)
Reflection
Attachment is called a near enemy of lovingkindness because it can seem like kindness while actually being very distinct from it. Think of the person who “loves” their partner so much that they must control their loved one and prevent them from having other friends. In popular culture attachment is often seen as a demonstration of lovingkindness, but in Buddhist thought the two are very different: one is healthy and the other not. 

Daily Practice
See if you can practice lovingkindness without attachment. This involves caring deeply for the well-being of another but on their own terms and not in ways that are bound up with your own agenda or sense of self. Remember the phrase found in the Metta Sutta: “May all beings be happy in themselves!” Attachment always includes some measure of self-interest, while true lovingkindness is entirely free of this.

Tomorrow: Refraining from False Speech
One week from today: Cultivating Compassion

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Via Daily Dharma: The Wisdom of Discomfort

 

The Wisdom of Discomfort

The practice of seeing clearly is what finally moves us toward kindness. Seeing, again and again, the infinite variety of traps we create for seducing the mind into struggle, we feel compassion for ourselves. And then, quite naturally, we feel compassion for everyone else.

Sylvia Boorstein, “The Wisdom of Discomfort”


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Monday, July 10, 2023

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right View: Understanding the Noble Truth of Suffering

 


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RIGHT VIEW
Understanding the Noble Truth of Suffering
When people have met with suffering and become victims of suffering, they come to me and ask me about the noble truth of suffering. Being asked, I explain to them the noble truth of suffering. (MN 77) What is suffering? (MN 9)

Association with the unpleasant is suffering. Whenever one has unwanted, disliked, unpleasant objects of sight, sound, smell, taste, tangibles or mind, or whenever one encounters ill wishers, wishers of harm, of discomfort, of insecurity, with whom they have concourse, intercourse, connection, union—this too is suffering. (MN 9)
Reflection
One obvious form of suffering is having to deal with things that are unpleasant and that we don’t like. This can take the shape of sensual inputs, such as horrible visual images, annoying sounds, foul flavors and odors, and painful physical sensations, and it can include mental images and thoughts that are repugnant. Notice also that the text mentions people who are difficult and even hostile as sources of suffering.

Daily Practice
Just as it is inevitable that you will experience painful sensations in your body from time to time, it is equally inevitable that you will come into contact with people who are unfriendly and even wish you ill. This is an opportunity for practice. It is a chance to respond to such people with caution, yes, but also with equanimity, at least, and perhaps even with kindness. Do not allow the ill will of others to provoke ill will in yourself.

Tomorrow: Cultivating Lovingkindness
One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering

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Via Daily Dharma: Recognizing Suffering

 

Recognizing Suffering

If you are genuinely able to have compassion toward all sentient beings without exception, then this means that you are also able to recognize the suffering of all sentient beings all the time.

Constance Kassor, “The Discomfort of Compassion“


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