The Nature of Emptiness

A beautiful teaching by Thich Nhat Hahn on the nature if inter-being and emptiness. Especially wonderful is the time lapse photography of flowers opening, vines creepings, and seeds on the wing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYhti6fcVIk

Where Science and Buddhism Meet

A discussion in 2 parts (about 20 minutes) about the nature of reality, specifically how quantum physics can be seen as supporting the buddhist idea of non-duality. If you think you have it all figured out, this is the film for you. We are just beginning to crack the truth about the nature of reality.

May we awaken to a new global vision that sees
not hatred, but love
not division, but unity
not conflict, but compassion

May everyone be happy
May everyone be free of suffering
May no one ever be separated from their happiness
May everyone have equanimity
May everyone be free from hatred and attachment

Click on the title to access the clips

Peace Is Always There

"Peace is always there, to some extent. And if you know how to practice, then you can always be in touch with peace, to some degree, for your nourishment and healing. And then you'll be strong enough to face, to deal with, the opposite side, the negative side."

--Thich Nhat Hanh

Farewell Howard Zinn

Howard Zinn was a historian, political scientist, social critic, activist and playwright, best known as author of the bestseller A People's History of the United States. Zinn was active in the Civil Rights and anti-war movements in the United States. The author of some 20 books, Zinn was Professor Emeritus in the Political Science Department at Boston University. He lived in Massachusetts with his wife, the artist Roslyn Zinn. He passed away on January 27, 2010 at the age of 87.


Here's a quote from Howard that Steve has sent me.  If we can only remember this in the midst of our despair, and keep on trying to do the right things even when no one seems to notice, and loving even when surrounded by hate or indifference, there will always be hope.



The struggle for justice should never be abandoned because of the apparent


overwhelming power of those who have the guns and the money and who seem


invincible in their determination to hold on to it. The apparent power has,


again and again, proved vulnerable to human qualities less measurable than


bombs and dollars: moral fervor, determination, unity, organization,


sacrifice, wit, ingenuity, courage, patience—whether by blacks in Alabama


and South Africa, peasants in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Vietnam, or workers


and intellectuals in Poland, Hungary, and the Soviet Union itself. (And I


would add, by people all over the world to prevent a nuclear holocaust.) No


cold calculation of the balance of power need deter people who are persuaded


that their cause is just.




The following links contain a small amount of the wisdom that was Howard Zinn. There is more insight into the nature and condition of the world today contained in the 9 short responses given to a variety of questions in the first link (bigthink ,total of 27 minutes), as you are likely to get from countless evenings in front of the tele. For those with a bit more time, the Bill Moyers interview (pbs.org) contains a fascinating look into Zinn's genious in a Bill Moyers interview. (Howard comes onto the program at about the 26:30 minute mark)

Follow the link for short interviews in which he tells a bit about his ideas on a range of topics.

http://bigthink.com/howardzinn/

http://video.pbs.org/video/1356508776/

Create your own Happiness

Folow the link for a short talk by Harvard psychologist Tal Ben Shahar on how to increase your happiness. Very simple and concrete ways to increase happiness are explained. Be Happier!!

http://bigthink.com/ideas/16660

Blessing the meal

Here is a simple prayer to say before eating. By taking a moment to reflect a bit on the nature of food production and the work required to make your meal possible, we can begin to see how we participate in a great complex web of inter-being.

This food is the gift of the whole universe;
The earth, the sky, and much hard work.

May we live in a way that makes us worthy to receive it.

May we transform our unskillful states of mind,
Especially our greed.

May we take only foods that nourish us and prevent illness.

We accept this food so that we may realize the path of practice.

Ancient Ribbons

Ancient Ribbons

I do not know how to begin.

I do not know how to earn a closeness to you, God.

I feel your presence at my heels,

Where my feet collide with the earth.

I hear your breath mix with mine,

As my mouth learns to form words and sing.

But

This conflict I see in man

This relentless gallop we find ourselves in, moving in the

confines

Of a lifeless, dry corral-

Somehow my feet and mind

Have known all along

The path that leads to Your door.

Somehow the hooves of wild happiness,

Groomed and at attention,

Have been ready all along to take us there.

If only we would turn and see them in the Open fields,

And, Like ancient ribbons tied to a tail,

Follow.

Tracey Schmidt
www.traceyschmidt.com

A Collective Awakening for the Survival of the Planet

Follow the link for a dharma talk given by Thich Nhat Hahn on the 5 main precepts of mindfulness practice. This talk takes approximately 1 hour and 17 minutes. Find a nice comfortable, quiet place to listen to this very powerful talk. It is well worth the time you spend listening.

Thay Thich Nhat Hanh offers this special Dharma Talk to the 2009 Parliament of World Religions being held in Melbourne Australia. This very special and powerful talk, transmitted by video to hundereds of people in Australia, opens the doors of practice available through the Five Mindfulness Trainings. The Five Mindfulness Trainings offer a concrete path of practice that can lead to a collective awakening, that can transform our hatred, fear and greed, and in turn bring healing to ourselves and our planet, thus solving the problems of climate change, terrorism, and poverty at their root.

http://www.plumvillage.org/dharma-talks.html

Whale Songs and Elephant Loves

Katy Payne has spent a lifetime studying the planet's largest mammals and has discovered some amazing things about the way they communicate. She has also discovered surprising ways that humans are similar to these creatures. She makes a passionate plea and argument about protecting the amazing diversity of life here on the planet. It is unimaginable that we are playing fast and easy with life on the planet. One in Four species of mammal are under threat of extinction according to her. Humans must relearn how they are part of the web of life and realize that there are consequences for our destructive behavior that are most likely deadly to us in the final analysis.
Follow the link for an interview with Katy Payne on Speaking of Faith. There are many interesting links to all the elements of the program, including very touching and rare footage of elephants in mourning.

http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/2010/whale-songs/

The Existence of a Seperate Soul

Archaeologists in southeastern Turkey have discovered an Iron Age (1200-550BCE) chiseled stone slab that provides the first written evidence in the region that people believed the soul was separate from the body.


Follow the link for the report of this discovery

http://news.uchicago.edu/news.php?asset_id=1486

Five wonderful Mindfulness Trainings

The Five Wonderful Mindfulness Trainings are Zen Master Thich Nhat's Hanh's translation of the 5 basic precepts as taught by the Buddha Shakyamuni. The Buddha offered these precepts to both his ordained and lay followers so that they could have clear guidelines to lead mindful and joyful lives on the path to awakening. Thich Nhat Hanh has updated the precepts so that they are beautifully appropriate and relevant in today's society. In his book entitled "For a Future to be Possible", Thich Nhat Hanh describes in detail how the Five Wonderful Mindfulness Trainings can be used by anyone in today's world to create a more harmonious and peaceful life.)

The First Mindfulness Training:

Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I vow to cultivate compassion and learn ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to condone any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, and in my way of life.

The Second Mindfulness Training:

Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing and oppression, I vow to cultivate loving kindness and learn ways to work for the well being of people, animals, plants and minerals. I vow to practice generosity by sharing my time, energy and material resources with those who are in real need. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others. I will respect the property of others, but I will prevent others from profiting from human suffering or the suffering of other species on Earth.

The Third Mindfulness Training:

Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I vow to cultivate responsibility and learn ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families and society. I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without love and a long-term commitment. To preserve the happiness of myself and others, I am determined to respect my commitments and the commitments of others. I will do everything in my power to protect children from sexual abuse and to prevent couples and families from being broken by sexual misconduct.

The Fourth Mindfulness Training:

Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I vow to cultivate loving speech and deep listening in order to bring joy and happiness to others and relieve others of their suffering. Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I vow to learn to speak truthfully, with words that inspire self-confidence, joy and hope. I am determined not to spread news that I do not know to be certain and not to criticize or condemn things of which I am not sure. I will refrain from uttering words that can cause division or discord, or that can cause the family or community to break. I will make all efforts to reconcile and resolve all conflicts, however small.

The Fifth Mindfulness Training:

Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I vow to cultivate good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking and consuming. I vow to ingest only items that preserve peace, well-being and joy in my body, in my consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family and society. I am determined not to use alcohol or any other intoxicant or to ingest foods or other items that contain toxins, such as certain TV programs, magazines, books, films and conversations. I am aware that to damage my body or my consciousness with these poisons is to betray my ancestors, my parents, my society and future generations. I will work to transform violence, fear, anger and confusion in myself and in society by practicing a diet for myself and for society. I understand that a proper diet is crucial for self-transformation and for the transformation of society.

(Excerpted from "For a Future to Be Possible: Commentaries on the Five Wonderful Precepts" (1993) by Thich Nhat Hanh, with permission of Parallax Press, Berkeley, California.)

Last updated January 21st, 2004.

Follow the link for a cemmentary on each of the precepts

http://dharma.ncf.ca/introduction/precepts.html

Follow the link below for Plum Village in France

http://www.plumvillage.org/

Be like a Tree

The power to bring happiness to others comes from the grace that fills your own being when you are more fully awake to your own essential goodness, one might even say divinity. This comes from "being" totally free of wanting to do anything since the wanting can lead us down a path of attachment. Of course in some way we must have the intention to uncover our own goodness and this is an active process but the intention is more open and spacious and not so dependant on rigid outcomes. With time the messages we received that convinced us that we were in some way not good enough (illusion) will fall away and reveal our true nature. And this will be enough to bring happiness, light, and refuge to all that comes into contact. This grace can be felt when in the presence of beauty in all its forms. Having the intention to discover or uncover that which is true within you (beauty) will bear fruit and radiate outwards into the world. A tree does not work for our approbation. It's very presence is enough to provide support for an abundance of life as well as nourishment for the soul. Standing in it's shade or climbing its limbs we are in touch with peace and happiness and in some way share in a rootedness with the earth that is both sustaining to us spiritually and also something which we deeply recognize in our own genetics. A tree is fully in its truth or essence and this touches us. In the same way, a person fully in their essence and living in their truth has uncovered the well-spring of happiness and can not help but share this with those who come into their cool shade. When we open to our essential goodness we are like a tree spreading shade and calm in all directions, deeply connected with our source. Nothing is more beautiful.

Follow the link to find out how you can help plant a forest:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdoe_gI_fSs

Or go to http://www.plant-trees.org/ to find out more

Aiming Downward (How to be an Underachiever)

In our society we are taught to be the best we can be, to constantly strive to be better and to live up to our potential. Pretty daunting and not a little oppressive given that apparently everyone around us is busy doing just that, and quite a few of them seem to be functioning at a pretty high level if we are to believe what we see in the media. In the book The Underachiever's Manifesto; A guide to Accomplishing Little and Feeling Great by Ray Bennet M.D. he says:

The pleasures of underachievement are many, but they are all too often lost in the pressure for success…. The achievement lobby is powerful, and underachievement is, surprisingly, not as easy as it should be. Our world is so full of unrelenting messages about being the best you can be that it may not have even occurred to you to try anything less. We’ve been brainwashed over many years to believe that striving for success is essential to our well being…. It’s an endless exhausting litany, thanks to advertising stars and corporate executives busy cashing in our inadequacies for their overpriced sneakers and shiny BMWs.

How many of us have stopped in the middle of our constant push to achieve more and better and wondered where the passion went? Is it possible that happiness might be found in abandoning the relenless pursuit of success?

One of my favorite places in France is La Maison Picassiette. This little house was recently classed as a Heritage Site and is considered as representative of the cultural vibrancy and creativity of France. Here is the little brick house of a street sweeper Raymonde Isidore who patiently turned every broken pottery shard found discarded on his rounds between 1938 and 1964 into exquisite mosaic. Every square inch of space on every flat surface has been transformed into colorful representations of all the important religious sites in France. He was a man of great religious conviction yet one who in some ways set his sights pretty low considering his occupation.

How fortunate for the world he did not give in to the temptation to make something better of himself, to become more than a simple street sweeper. One can only imagine how often he was encouraged to aim higher in life. Yet, he followed his heart in some way, taking on a job that did not define him but rather allowed him the space to define himself on his own terms.

If we need more convincing here are some thoughts on the subject written by the man himself, Pablo Picasso:

You must always work not just within, but below your means. If you can handle three elements, handle only two. If you can handle ten, then handle only five. In that way, the ones you do handle, you handle with more ease, more mastery, and you create a feeling of strength in reserve.

For a look at La Maison Picassiette follow the link

http://www.thejoyofshards.co.uk/picassiette/index.shtml

Small is Strong

In the words of Margaret Mead,

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Hear are some ideas about how to leverage your strength to change the status quo regarding the recent Supreme Court decision.

http://ssomail.charter.net/do/redirect?url=http%253A%252F%252Fe2ma.net%252Fgo%252F6585614515%252F208090918%252F211209280%252F29568%252Fgoto%253Ahttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.movetoamend.org%252Ftake-action

Deep Relaxation music

Don't forget to breathe!

Follow the link for 3 beautiful tracks of calming music.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=zencollection&annotation_id=annotation_108347&feature=iv#p/c/6CAD8CA86EC5053E/1/6A1FREzu-Zg

Plainte de nos aieux (After viewing the archive of Native American Photographs in the Library of Congress)

Plainte de nos aïeux

Voila maintenant devant nous
Une vaste obscurité descend où
La lumière et l'amour
Divins et inséperables
Sont exclus et
Au fond du puit autrefois
Doux et comble de joie
Je n'entends que
La peine de la trahison
Dans la lamentation du vide
Ou jadis démeurait la beaute


Brisée pour toujours
La mémoire de l'union divine
Taillée de nos os
D'un couteau amer
Qui nous laisse porter
Un panier triste et plein
De cendres
Dans de longues ténébres

William Stanhope Asheville 2010 

Native American Images (Library of Congress)

Follow the link at the bottom (or click on the title) to the complete collection (more than 700 images) of Edward S. Curtis's photographs of the Native American. These images have for me a special significance since they embody in many ways a different relationship with the natural world, a fundamental connection that we seem to have lost in the modern world. Perhaps these images can help to rekindle some respect for living closer to nature. Click on volume than gallery view when the list of plates comes up. You can move from group to group as you navigate the collection. You can enlarge if you want and save images to your own files as I have done for this blog. I like to listen to the chants while looking at the images.

For 2 powerful native chants follow the links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17JyYno8eP4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbQnxls4ZB8&feature=related

For a related site about Native Americans follow the link:

http://www.franksrealm.com/sivu-indians.html

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award98/ienhtml/curthome.html

N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa Elder) on the sacred

Here the Pulitzer prize winner N. Scott. Momaday speaks about the importance of the sacred, especially the concept of place as sacred, a fundamental tenant of native American indigenous philosophy. Echoing the words of Marcia Elliad (Romanian writer) he says...The sacred in all times is the revelation of the real; an encounter with that which saves us by giving meaning to our existence. In otherwords, in order for our existence to have meaning we must reconnect with and protect that which is sacred. This is a hard concept to understand in a society that relegates sacredness to the church and essentially removes God from the natural world by making him solely the creator and not the inhabitor of all creation. If we hold to that idea, we would have to treat the planet in a sacred (or at least respectful) way, something akin to the way some (if not all) native americans did before having their culture largely obliterated through contact with the european; every particle of the natural world embued with the sacred. Follow the link for an audio file of this talk

http://www.wisdomoftheelders.org/program01.html

Move to Amend

The following editorial is from the Huffington Post:

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Citizen United v. Federal Elections Commission case sold America down the river. It opens the floodgates to unfettered -- unlimited! -- corporate and union spending on candidate elections by overturning state and federal restrictions on electioneering. This will affect all elections: school board, zoning commissions, state and municipal judges, state representatives, congressional delegates, President.
The Supreme Court ruling means Americans can kiss goodbye whatever shred of faith we had left in the electoral process.

Forget dissent.

Forget debate.

Forget reason.

Corporate-owned media megaphones will drown out any troublesome voices. Our elected officials will henceforth represent corporations first and people second -- bluntly and boldly -- if they want to serve in "public" office.
Our ExxonMobil-funded officials will tell us climate change is good for us as they open America for coal and oil leasing. Our Big Pharma- and Big Insurance-backed congressional delegates will tell us you-don't-really-want-a-public-option in health care reform. Our Monsanto-owned officials will give us growth hormones in milk and GMO diets.

Goodbye Republic.

Goodbye Democratic Process.

Hello Corporate America.
Constitutional scholars are calling this is the most tragic assault on our human rights in the 220-plus years of our Republic. How did things come to this?
The expansion of corporate rights began over 200 years ago as the anti-corporate fervor from the American Revolution began to fade. The U.S. Supreme Court blurred the distinction between "natural persons," or real living human beings, and "artificial persons" -- corporations -- in 1886 when it conferred the 14th Amendment right of "equal protection of the laws" to an artificial person, a railroad corporation in Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad. Since then, the Supreme Court has handed out other human rights to artificial persons (corporations), including the battery of First Amendment rights leading to Citizens United.
There were early attempts to reverse parts, but not all, of the trend to give human rights to corporate persons. Specifically, under First Amendment issues, Congress passed the Tillman Act in 1907 to prohibit corporate expenditures in candidate elections to end an era of big money corruption and usher in campaign finance regulation. However, regulating something allows it to happen to the extent allowed by law and laws can change.
Starting in the 1970s, the Supreme Court began to chisel away our election integrity by granting corporations First Amendment rights including: "commercial speech," as in free speech equals money; "political speech," as in unlimited corporate spending for ads to overturn citizen initiatives; "negative speech," as in the right not to speak and disclose harmful contents of products; and "false speech," as in the right to blatantly lie in advertising under the guise of let the buyer beware. "Robust speech" or unlimited corporate spending on elections is just the next chip to fall from our First Amendment protections. It may be the last chip as there's really nothing left to protect from corporate usurpation.
When I recently asked a class of fifth graders in Santa Barbara who were the "people" referred to in our Constitution, there was a stunned silence. Finally, one boy jabbed his thumb into his chest and said in an exasperated tone, "WE!" Surely our Founders had only this WE in mind when they drafted our Constitution and Bill of Rights. After all, WE had just rebelled against the monarchy and moneyed corporations of the time. When we first set out on the new adventure of our Republic in 1888, corporations were carefully controlled creatures of state legislatures. They had privileges, not rights. But no more. Powerful corporations burst their legal shackles using a backdoor approach through the Supreme Court to amend the real people's Constitution by judicial fiat. Our democracy has been hijacked by corporations through illegitimate usurpation of rights intended for human persons. It makes no sense to fifth graders that fake persons have the same rights as real people - and it shouldn't make sense to the rest of us either. The United States is no longer a government of, for, and by the real people: human rights are being trumped by fake persons - corporate - rights and power. It's time to change the rules. Our Founders knew that the ultimate defenders of the U.S. Constitution were not the government or the court. The ultimate defenders are WE, the real people. It's time to amend our Constitution through the front door approach spelled out in the Constitution. It's time to make what is obvious to fifth graders the law of our land: People rule, not property! WE need to amend the Constitution to affirm that only human beings have constitutional rights, not artificial persons, not corporations.
Riki Ott

Follow the link for Senator Feingolds remarks before the decision in which he explains why the court should respect settled expectations (past decisions).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lACObXtlFM

And for Howard Fineman's opinion of the decision

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOO1nIndyho

Nearly 39,000 people have signed this petition to amend the constitution and prevent corporations from having an inordinate amount of influence in our democratic process. Please follow the link to add your voice.

http://movetoamend.org/we-corporations

Avatar and the Power of Corporations

The subtitle of this blog contains a quote from Thomas Berry: The universe is a communion and a community. We ourselves are that communion become conscious of itself. The movie Avatar very powerfully shows what can happen if we lose sight of this truth. We must begin to rediscover our true place in the web of creation and abandon our arrogant claim to superiority and dominion of the natural world. We must begin to see that we are a part of a complex and interdependent system and that damage to one part has consequences that reverberate throughout the entire system. Thich Nhat Hahn's idea of interbeing very nicely encapsulates this essential truth.

The idea of interbeing is based on the 14 principles of mindfullness as expressed by the Order of Interbeing. Follow the link for an explanation of these principles.

http://www.orderofinterbeing.org/wiki/index.php?title=Fourteen_Mindfulness_Trainings

For a video clip of Thich Nhat Hahn speaking about Interbeing, follow the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azOZ8d0UvVs

I was struck with the timing of this movie to the recent Supreme Court Ruling giving corporations the same rights as individuals and allowing them to fund political candidates with the full measure of their financial clout. We would do well to heed the message here; corporations are beholden to themselves, their shareholders, and their profitability. They are by nature short sighted and unlikely to see the broader implications of their actions as a projection over time. Their boards are under constant pressure from share holders to increase profitability thus justifying just about any action that does that. It is Orwells 1984 revisited if we go down that path, and indeed it seems that we have started to do just that.

Many very intelligent and informed journalists and commentators are calling for a robust response to this recent development. And the window of opportunity is not large since with time, politicians will all be beholden to their corporate sponsors and not to their constituencies who will have the facts so spinned to them they will be unable to tell the difference between fact and untruth. We will be like lambs to the slaughter over time. Many are indeed calling for large scale demonstrations, even revolution in some cases. For Keith Olbermann's view from msnbc, follow the link

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34981476/ns/msnbc_tv-countdown_with_keith_olbermann

We must all take it upon ourselves to resist the temptation to give up in the face of this

egregious attack on the democratic process by redoubling our efforts to remain actively engaged in the process. If politicians receive just 30 calls on a particular issue they take notice.

My wish is that this film acts as a consciousness raiser for the people who see it and that somehow the message comes through.

Alan Wallace

Explore some of his writings on buddhist thought and practice. Follow the lower link for web page containing many interesting links. In particular see the article on lucid dreaming (under writings/popular essays/Awakening to the Dream) at this link

http://www.alanwallace.org/awakendream.pdf

http://www.alanwallace.org/index.htm

Understanding and Happiness

Alan Wallace speaks about the need to understand the nature of reality and the profound interdependence therein as the way to attain true happiness. Follow the link for the 6 minute clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bf6D5T-EVw

Life clock

Want to know how your life style affects your longevity? It might be a good reason to try to break some of those persistent negative habits. You can enter different parameters to see how that will affect your lifespan. If you don't get much improvement, might be a reason to keep some too!!!

http://www.bellaonline.com/misc/quiz/lifeclock.asp

Why Blog?

Prayer Flag

Let us each hoist an invisible flag of love to flutter and bear witness constantly to the only thing that has any intrinsic merit in our lives, LOVE.

All that surrounds me is Love.

All that I experience is Love.

I see Love.

I feel Love.

I know Love.

I believe in Love.

This is my truth

and no illusion of fear

enters my being.

I am one with God.

God is one with me.

God surrounds me.

God.

Love.

Me.

Help for Haiti

Follow the link to find a number of ways you can help financially.

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=888369

Breaking Free of Addiction

A wonderful teaching on breaking free of addiction or How to stop gathering dust on our woolly tails!

http://www.shambhala.org/teachers/pema/addictions.php

Transforming anger

Ram Dass interviews Thich Nhat Hahn on the topic of anger. Follow the link for the 9 minute clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZKrl5n79hY&feature=related

I Have A Dream

Follow the link for the uncut historic speech given in Washington . While much has been done to end the blatant discrimination through legislation, racist attitudes continue to play a role in our society as evidenced by the reaction of some to the election of Barac Obama. It is telling that the comments section to this link has been disabled due to hatred and racist remarks. Perhaps this struggle to end oppression will never really end and we will always be called to interrupt oppression wherever we find it in what ever way we can manage, in both large and small ways. Be inspired by the prophetic words and continue to work for social justice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk

And here is the text of the speech

http://www.mlkonline.net/dream.html

On Civil Disobedience

Thoreau speaks on the topic of moral responsibility, consciousness, and the role of government in society. Thoreau admonishes us to take an active and conscious role in shaping the machinery that governs us if we do not wish to have that machine crush us. The recent election of Barak Obama represents, I think, a move to reclaim responsible government, a government that commands the respect of the people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjCB6W1TKcc&feature=related

Avatar Meher Baba Trust

Follow the link for access to many of Baba's writings.

http://www.ambppct.org/index.php

Creativity and Education

Sir Ken Robinson speakes at this TED conference about the importance of creativity in education. He interjects some funny kid stories while making the point that creativity should be as important as literacy in the educational process.


Why don't we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it's because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies -- far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity -- are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. "We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says. It's a message with deep resonance. Robinson's TEDTalk has been distributed widely around the Web since its release in June 2006. The most popular words framing blog posts on his talk? "Everyone should watch this."


http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

Walden Pond

Listen to a description of the famous pond that inspired HDT accompanied with a video of the pond as it appears today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Quw_RPB0U

Chogyam Trungpa Rimpoche

Chogyam Trungpa Rimpoche web page containing many recorded teachings based on the teachings of CTR who was the teacher of Pema Chodron and the founder of the Shambala center.

http://www.chronicleproject.com/index.html

An Interview with Jane Goodall

Here Bill Moyers interviews Jane Goodall about the state of affairs in the chimpanze world.

Follow the link

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/11272009/watch.html

An Interview with Pema Chodron

In this engaging and articulate interview, Pema explores the concept of "shempa", how we get hooked into habitual ways of dealing with the world, ways that are not in sync with our desire to be happy and content. She speaks about working with "groundlessness' and how becoming more comfortable with the fluid nature of the universe and abandoning our more rigid perspective can reduce personal and global suffering. She distinguishes the difference between suffering and pain and articulates how not to use "kerosene to put out the fire". There is great hope for the direction of mankind in her belief that all beings are capable of awakening, and that it is through working skillfully with negativity that we can accomplish this.

Follow the link for a Bill Moyers interview with the abbess of Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia

http://www.pemachodronfoundation.org/bill-moyers-with-pema-chdrn/

Mind Waker

Follow the link for a daily spectacular image designed to put things into proper perspective!


http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html

The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson

Follow the link. I especially love his detailed description of Thoreau.

http://www.rwe.org/

The Thoreau Reader

The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?"

Follow the link for a collection of writings by the trascendendalist philosopher and other related links.

http://thoreau.eserver.org/

Manas Journal on-line

Follow the link for the Manas Journal, a journal of independent inquiry concerned with the study of principals which move world society on its present course, and with search for contrasting principals that may be capable of intelligent idealism under the conditions of life in the 20th century. Thanks Steve for this link.




http://www.manasjournal.org/

l'Arche community

Click on the title for a look at the l'Arche community Tahona Hope, embodying the ideals of love and compassion. Follow the link below to read a letter from Jean Vanier concerning the community.

http://larcheusa.org/files/letter_from_jean_vanier_may_2009.pdf


If you are interested to become involved in some way, follow the link


http://larcheusa.org/become-an-assistant.html

Jean Vanier; icon of compassion

Jean Vanier is the Canadian naval commander turned philosopher and social activist who founded l'Arche, communities centered on caring for and living with people having profound mental disabilities. Jean speaks of his understanding of what being human means and of the profound grace that comes from living a life of caring and compassion. He speaks of the basic human need to be loved and seen by others.

There is something incredibly tender and wise here. Here is man who comes from a lifetime of military training (commander of an aircraft carrier)and yet who embodies the very essence of peace and love, caring and compassion.

Follow the link or click on the title for the Speaking of Faith interview and related links.

http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/2009/wisdom-of-tenderness/

Egolessness

Egolessness means that the fixed idea that we had about ourselves as solid and separate from each other is painfully limiting. That we take ourselves so seriously, that we are so absurdly important in our own minds, is a problem. Self-importance is like a prison for us, limiting us to the world of our likes and dislikes. We end up bored to death with ourselves and our world. We end up very dissatisfied.

We have two alternatives: either we take everything to be sure and real, or we don't. Either we accept our fixed versions of reality or we begin to challenge them. In Buddha's opinion, to train in staying open and curious--to train in dissolving the barriers that we erect between ourselves and the world--is the best use of our human lives. (From Comfortable with Uncertainty by Pema Chodron)

by Brian Vaugh

Click on the title for a link to this blogspot


http://buddhismtoday-brianvaugh.blogspot.com/

Ten Great Precepts of Buddhism

The Ten Great Precepts of Buddhism are:
Refrain from taking life.
Refrain from stealing.
Refrain from sexual misconduct.
Refrain from lying.
Refrain from using intoxicants.
Refrain from gossiping.
Refrain from praising oneself.
Refrain from meanness.
Refrain from aggression.
Refrain from slandering the Three Jewels(Dharma, Sanga, Buddha).

The following is an excerpt on Avoiding the Ten Evils from Paul Carus' Buddha, The Gospel (1894):

THE Buddha said: "All acts of living creatures become bad by ten things, and by avoiding the ten things they become good. There are three evils of the body, four evils of the tongue, and three evils of the mind.

"The evils of the body are, murder, theft, and adultery; of the tongue, lying, slander, abuse, and idle talk; of the mind, covetousness, hatred, and error.

"I exhort you to avoid the ten evils: 1. Kill not, but have regard for life. 2. Steal not, neither do ye rob; but help everybody to be master of the fruits of his labor. 3. Abstain from impurity, and lead a life of chastity. 4. Lie not, but be truthful. Speak the truth with discretion, fearlessly and in a loving heart. 5. Invent not evil reports, neither do ye repeat them. Carp not, but look for the good sides of your fellow-beings, so that ye may with sincerity defend them against their enemies. 6. Swear not, but speak decently and with dignity. 7. Waste not the time with gossip, but speak to the purpose or keep silence. 8. Covet not, nor envy, but rejoice at the fortunes of other people. 9. Cleanse your heart of malice and cherish no hatred, not even against your enemies; but embrace all living beings with kindness. 10. Free your mind of ignorance and be anxious to learn the truth, especially in the one thing that is needful, lest you fall a prey either to skepticism or to errors. Skepticism will make you indifferent and errors will lead you astray, so that you shall not find the noble path that leads to life eternal."


Click on the title for a short 8 minute dharma talk on the precepts by Buddhist priest Brian Vaughn

Tibetan Monks Chant

These chants from Tibet seem to be grounded in the very belly of the high mountains. Listening to the sound and vibration brings a sense of calm. Here we see a very strong intention to connect with the sacred dimensions. I am grateful that there are human beings who take seriously the power of prayer and who work tirelessly to affect human spiritual evolution through prayer. Of course there is real work to be done on the physical plane to reduce suffering, but we should not lose track of the importance of prayer in our practice to reduce suffering in the world. We do need to remind ourselves to be prayerful throughout the day. Thich Nhat Hahn suggest using a mindfulness bell to remind us to stop and look deeply into the moment. Of course this bell can be anything that makes you veer away from the path of mindfulness practice, usually the difficult parts of the day or of personal interactions. Anytime we feel tempted to turn away from compassion and understanding is the very moment to connect with our deeper seeing and innate wisdom.


Click on the title for the video clip of chanting monks

Become the Fire

We Who Are Blessed

We who are blessed to live well
We are the kindling
and the logs.

In our living, longing
and loving
we become the fires
that light and warm the universe
and the mysterious pathways
where our lovers journey.

Steve Norris (2010)