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.
· October 7-8, 2023, a hybrid conference, "Mindfulness: What's Next?" from the Mangalam Research Center in Berkeley. For info and registration see https://www.mangalamresearch.org/special-events/
Alzak Amlani has
been practicing Buddhism for 20 years and in the last ten years has
been a student of the Diamond Approach. He is a practicing psychologist
and teaches in the Integral Counseling Program at the California
Institute of Integral Studies, where his work focuses on integrating
spiritual approaches and multiculturalism into psychotherapy. He is of Indian origin and grew up in Uganda, East Africa.
American author, poet and activist,PERRY BRASSwas
born today Brass grew up in Savannah, Georgia grew up in the 1950s and
60s in equal parts Southern, Jewish, economically impoverished, and very
much gay. To escape the South’s violent homophobia, he hitchhiked at
age 17 from Savannah to San Francisco — an adventure, he recalls, that
was “like Mark Twain with drag queens.” He has published fourteen books
and been a finalist six times in three categories (poetry; gay science
fiction and fantasy; spirituality and religion) for national Lambda
Literary Awards.
One of the main
themes in his writing has been the integration of sexuality and the
religious or spiritual impulse, as exemplified in his novels Albert: or, The Book of Man, Angel Lust, and Substance of God.
His writings have attempted to answer questions such as: Why are so
many gay men religious and political conservatives? Why is the need for
God so important to us? What is our own place in nature and the world?
Among the early anthologies that included Brass's work were The Male Muse, the first anthology of openly gay poetry ever published, edited by Ian Young; The Gay Liberation Book from Rolling Stone Press, including work by John Lennon; The Penguin Book of Homosexual Verse; and Gay Roots from
Gay Sunshine Press. His work can be found in over 20 anthologies of
poetry, short stories, essays, memoirs, and other writings. A poetry
cycle called "Five Gay Jewish Prayers" was used as part of the high
holiday service at New York's Beth Simchat Torah congregation. The text
of this poem was accepted (in 1985) as one of the first gay Jewish
documents in the YIVO Archives of Jewish history. This poem was set to
choral music by Chris De Blasio, as "Five Prayers," which has been sung
by several gay choruses.
In 1984, his play Night Chills,
an early play dealing with the AIDS crisis, won a Jane Chambers
International Gay Playwriting Award. Brass’s collaborations with
composers include the words for "All the Way Through Evening," a
five-song cycle set by DeBlasio, which was featured on the AIDS Quilt Songbook CD from Harmonia Mundi, France, and Heartbeats from
Minnesota Public Radio; "The Angel Voices of Men" set by Ricky Ian
Gordon and commissioned by the Dick Cable Musical Trust for the New York
City Gay Men’s Chorus, which has featured it on its CD Gay Century Songbook;
"Three Brass Songs" with Grammy-nominated composer Fred Hersch; and
"Waltzes for Men" also commissioned by the DCMT for the NYC Gay Men’s
Chorus and set by Craig Carnahan.
Brass's non-fiction book, How to Survive Your Own Gay Life (Belhue
Press, 1999) deals with the psychic and physical survival of gay men,
with their spiritual and psychological growth, and with achieving
happiness and maturity. It was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award
in religion and spirituality, and has been the basis for many LGBT
discussion and support groups, classes, and workshops.
Noteworthy
The European Parliament
1996 -
The EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT calls for an end to "all discrimination against homosexuals."
|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|
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
Just
as it is only the real Self that can see the real world behind
appearances, so it may be that it is only the real seeker who can
recognize a genuine man or woman of wisdom.
Whatever a person frequently
thinks about and ponders, that will become the inclination of their
mind. If one frequently thinks about and ponders unhealthy states, one
has abandoned healthy states to cultivate unhealthy states, and then
one’s mind inclines to unhealthy states. (MN 19)
Abandoning doubt, one abides having gone beyond doubt; unperplexed about
healthy states, one purifies the mind of doubt. (MN 51) Just as a
person, laden with goods and wealth, who undertakes a long journey
across a dangerous wilderness, would make it safely through with their
goods to safety, so would one rejoice and be glad about the abandoning
of doubt. (DN 2)
Reflection
Our text likens
doubt to the insecurities felt while undertaking a dangerous journey,
something that would have been commonplace to the merchants of ancient
India. It is a sense of uneasiness around vague but real threats, and
the image describes very well what today we might call anxiety. Might
anxieties be regarded as unhealthy states, and might it be possible to
simply abandon them, as described here?
Daily Practice
Notice when you
feel anxious about or wary of little things in your daily experience,
and see if you can just abandon them. I'm not referring to a diagnosed
anxiety disorder here but to the many small worries we have that might
respond to this sort of approach. Ask yourself if these doubts are
helpful, and when you realize they are not, see if you can let go of
them simply by deciding "not to go there” just now.
Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling and Abiding in the Second Jhāna One week from today: Developing Unarisen Healthy States
Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel
RIGHT LIVING Undertaking the Commitment to Abstain from Taking What is Not Given
Taking what is not given is
unhealthy. Refraining from taking what is not given is healthy. (MN 9)
Abandoning the taking of what is not given, one abstains from taking
what is not given; one does not take by way of theft the wealth and
property of others. (MN 41) One practices thus: “Others may take what is
not given, but I will abstain from taking what is not given.” (MN 8)
On touching a bodily sensation with the body, one does not grasp at its
signs and features. Since if one left the body faculty unguarded,
unwholesome states of covetousness and grief might intrude, one
practices the way of its restraint, guards the body faculty, and
undertakes the restraint of the body faculty. (MN 51)
Reflection
The sense of
touch is so basic, so intimate, and so alluring a feature of embodied
existence that we generally cannot help reaching for what feels good and
recoiling from what feels bad. Yet by doing this we are in a way taking
more than is given, as we try to leverage the raw sensations and
manipulate the next moment into something more favorable for us. This
is, in fact, the source of most of our problems.
Daily Practice
Practice
regarding the physical sensations that constantly flow from your body to
your mind with detached curiosity. Some feel good, some feel
bad—interesting! Resist trying to shape the next moment into something
other than what it will naturally become by grasping for more
gratification or pushing away any discomfort. This ability to be with
what is, rather than yearning for something else, eliminates most
suffering.
Tomorrow: Abandoning Arisen Unhealthy States One week from today: Abstaining from Misbehaving Among Sensual Pleasures
Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel
However the seed is
planted, in that way the fruit is gathered. Good things come from doing
good deeds; bad things come from doing bad deeds. (SN 11.10) What is the
purpose of a mirror? For the purpose of reflection. So too verbal
action is to be done with repeated reflection. (MN 61)
When you are doing an action with speech, reflect upon that same verbal
action thus: “Is this action I am doing with speech an unhealthy bodily
action with painful consequences and painful results?” If, upon
reflection, you know that it is, then stop doing it; if you know that it
is not, then continue. (MN 61)
Reflection
Speech is a
form of action, and all actions have their consequences. Using
mindfulness as a kind of mirror, pay attention to the effect your verbal
actions have on those you speak to, as well as the effect they have on
your own mental and emotional states. If you detect that people are
being harmed by what you say, or if you notice your own mood turning
toward the unhelpful spectrum, then stop saying what you are saying.
Daily Practice
A careful
speaker is consciously aware of what they are saying while they are
speaking and also takes notice of how their words are affecting others.
Practice speaking carefully. It takes some extra effort to both compose
your words and reflect upon them, as with a mirror, but it is worthwhile
effort. Words are like seeds, and as the discourse reminds us, “However
the seed is planted, in that way the fruit is gathered.”
Tomorrow: Abstaining from Taking What is Not Given One week from today: Reflecting upon Mental Action
Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel
