The Patience of Cultivation

When you plant seeds in the garden, you don’t dig them up every day to see if they have sprouted yet. You simply water them and clear away the weeds; you know that the seeds will grow in time.

Similarly, just do your daily practice and cultivate a kind heart. Abandon impatience and instead be content creating the causes for goodness; the results will come when they’re ready.

http://www.tricycle.com/feature/meditators-toolbox

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Being Vs. Doing Vs. Idealism – what do you think?

I am nice to people and people are nice to me.

I give money freely and my own bank account grows.

I have a good thought, something good happens.

I think of nice people I know, nice people come to know me.

I trust people, people trust me.

I am peaceful with people, people are peaceful with me.

I love and I am loved.

I accept others, others accept me.

 

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Joy in Giving

One way that the giver sees his or her generosity return is found in “instant karma,” the Buddhist idea that acts that you do have direct consequences on the state of your mind and heart, even as you do them. The consequences of giving are quite wonderful in the present moment; if we are present for them, we can receive these wonderful consequences during the act of giving. 

http://www.tricycle.com/feature/joy-giving

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Brothers & Sisters

A profound statement: Brothers can’t live beside each other once they’re married, but sisters can.

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The Hierarchy of Conversations

“When talking about others is motivated by thoughts of ill will, jealousy, or attachment, conversations turn into gossip.

“These thoughts may seem to be subconscious, but if we pay close attention to our mind we’ll be able to catch them in the act. Many of these are thoughts that we don’t want to acknowledge to ourselves, let alone to others, but my experience is that when I become courageous enough to notice and admit them, I’m on my way to letting them go.

“Also, there’s a certain humor to the illogical way that these negative thoughts purport to bring us happiness. Learning to laugh at our wrong ways of thinking can be therapeutic.”

-Thubten Chodron, “The Truth About Gossip”

-http://www.tricycle.com/-practice/truth-about-gossip

When reading this, I was reminded of a conversation with a former boss of mine, Sam Robinson.  We had just had an dinner with our wives and some really great conversations.  “You know, Tom, the best conversations are about philosophy and intellectual awareness.  Then, there are conversations about things and places. Then, lastly there are conversations about people.  We had a great conversation tonight.”

 

 

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Nomad Girl and The Good Samaritan

From a story in Parabola, I read yet another metaphor – about Tara, the Nomad Girl, who nurtured an injured man back from near death.  Similarly, the parable of the Good Samaritan came to mind.

These are not stories, in my opinion, designed to sustain and justify a religion (Tara was Buddhism and the Good Samaritan Christianity), but to indicate how we should treat mankind.

As noted in comments before, I don’t think Jesus’s intent was to start a religion, nor was Buddha’s.  To me, that’s the direction we should take – no religion, but kindness to mankind.

http://www.parabola.org/

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Trusting

Read this today, along with having some conversations recently with friends who are unsure of their gifts in life.  Sometimes, it seems, that we base distrust on very few situations, and trust on not too many situations. Overall, are we in a better place in life to trust than to distrust?

Granted, we get taken advantage of on occasions, but do those situations outweigh what trusting situations can bring us?

Overall, I would say – what can we do to make things better?  I’m not just talking right here, or at work, or home or anywhere geographically. I’m talking about a lifestyle of helping, trusting, believing and, as I think the Latin Poet Horace, Carpe Diem.

I think to myself, am I in a better place when I am angry, discontent, untrusting, cynical and disruptive; or, am I in a better place when I focusing on what I’m doing right now, not letting the past dictate my emotions.  Now, granted, one cannot take that to an extreme – one has to be cognizant on pitfalls and have avoidance radar, but, overall, for me at least, I’m much better when I’m trusting, even if I do get taken advantage of occasionally.  

http://www.tricycle.com/dharma-talk/first-thought

 

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Made in America Vs. Made by Man

Similar to our paradigms on who has the better religion, the better state, the better race, or the better intellect – we also are in the midst of our own self-consuming “Made in America” moniker.  But, isn’t that judgmental as well?  Or, even “Made in this World,” if you’re among those that believe in life not like ours from outer space (although, I guess, my hope is that they are human)?  Why must we compare by geography?  Let’s accept these differences, find our own niche, and make the most of what we can do.  We call contribute to this world

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More great thoughts from Tricycle

Accept Where You Are and Work From There

In human life, if you feel that you have made a mistake, you don’t try to undo the past or the present, but you just accept where you are and work from there. Tremendous openness as to where you are is necessary. This also applies to the practice of meditation, for instance. A person should learn to meditate on the spot, in the given moment, rather than thinking, “…When I reach pension age, I’m going to retire and receive a pension, and I’m going to build my house in Hawaii or the middle of India, or maybe the Gobi Desert, and THEN I’m going to enjoy myself. I’ll live a life of solitude and then I’ll really meditate.” Things never happen that way.

—Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

http://www.tricycle.com/practice/your-life-your-practice

The Path is Personal and Intimate

It is essential at the beginning of practice to acknowledge that the path is personal and intimate. It is no good to examine it from a distance as if it were someone else’s. You must walk it for yourself. In this spirit, you invest yourself in your practice, confident of your heritage, and train earnestly side by side with your sisters and brothers. It is this engagement that brings peace and realization.

– Robert Aitken Roshi

http://www.tricycle.com/-practice/the-teacher-everything

Turn Down the Heat

Something empowering happens when we begin to see these problems as internal rather than external. We have access to ourselves. We have the ability to make internal changes when the mechanisms for change are within our reach. A slight shift of attitude, a minor adjustment of priorities, an occasional opening to a wider perspective, the glimpse of a good greater than the merely personal— these all contribute in a small way to turning down the heat. And since we are faced not with a single enormous fire but with billions of little fires, each one ablaze in one person, miniscule changes in one mind here and one heart there can add up to a dramatic reduction of greenhouse defilements.

Andrew Olendzki, “Burning Alive”

http://www.tricycle.com/thus-have-i-heard/burning-alive

 

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The Dharma Within

From Tricycle: When people genuinely meet the dharma, they realize it directly within themselves. So the Buddha said that he is merely the one who shows the way. In teaching us, he is not accomplishing the way for us. It is not so easy as that. It’s like someone who sells us a plow to till the fields. He isn’t going to do the plowing for us. We have to do that ourselves.

http://www.tricycle.com/dharma-talk/meeting-dharma-alone

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Pass Through Information from Tricycle

The Choppy Seas of Conversation

Like surfing, staying present is always a challenge, but doing it while interacting with others tends to be like managing in choppy, cross-current seas. We have not only our own thoughts and impulses to contend with but also those of our conversational partners. So if we can stay present and compassionate when, say, a coworker is kvetching, odds are we can do it anytime.

http://www.tricycle.com/feature/talk-buddha

Welcome to the Revolution

The Buddha was a revolutionary, a radical advocate for personal and social transformation. He rejected the religious forms of his time and renounced all forms of greed, hatred, and delusion. He dedicated his life to going “against the stream,” to the subversive path of an outlaw transient. He wasn’t afraid to speak out against the ignorance in this world’s political, social, and religious structures, but he did so from a place of love and kindness, from an enlightened compassion that extended to all living beings. The Buddha’s teachings are not a philosophy or a religion; they are a call to action, an invitation to revolution.

http://www.tricycle.com/community/heart-revolution

Awaken Aspiration

When the clarity of practice becomes obscured by the dark and swirling energy of emotional distress, it is useful to have some clear and concise reminders to bring us back to reality. The first reminder is to awaken aspiration. On an elementary level, to awaken aspiration means simply that we remember to practice. Once we remember to practice, to awaken aspiration means that we see our particular distress as our path. Instead of seeing our distress as the enemy, as something to get rid of; instead of giving it juice by solidifying the thoughts around it into the heaviness and drama of “me,” we learn to view distress as our opportunity to see and to open.

http://www.tricycle.com/practice/bursting-bubble-fear

We Will Our Lives

We will our lives with activities. Many of them are really very good activities but if we are not careful, they can just be an escape. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t do good and necessary things, but there has to be breathing in as well as breathing out. We need to have both the active and the contemplative.

http://www.tricycle.com/blog/three-kinds-laziness

The Controlling Faculties of Mind

Acquiring skillful attitudes involves developing two qualities: continuity of awareness and insight knowledge, which is the progressively refined intuitive understanding of impermanence (anicca), unsatisfactoriness (dukkha), and conditionality (anatta). Stabilizing the mind and refining wisdom are the natural results of developing faith, energy, and awareness through insight practice. These five qualities together—faith, energy, awareness, stability of mind, and wisdom—are known as the “controlling faculties of mind.”

http://www.tricycle.com/dharma-talk/got-attitude

Sangha is Essential

Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha are three precious jewels in Buddhism, and the most important of these is Sangha. The Sangha contains the Buddha and the Dharma. A good teacher is important, but sisters and brothers in the practice are the main ingredient for success. You cannot achieve enlightenment by locking yourself in your room. Transformation is possible only when you are in touch. When you touch the ground, you can feel the stability of the earth and feel confident.

http://www.tricycle.com/insights/fertile-soil-sangha

The Importance of Giving

Giving needs to be practiced and developed because our underlying tendency toward attachment, aversion, and confusion so often interferes with a truly selfless act of generosity. An act of giving is of most benefit when one gives something of value, carefully, with one’s own hand, while showing respect, and with a view that something wholesome will come of it. The same is true when one gives out of faith, respectfully, at the right time, with a generous heart, and without causing denigration.

http://www.tricycle.com/-practice/dana-practice-giving

 

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Heritage Division

Lately, I’ve been wondering about what makes heritage such a sacred, passionate and provoking division among us.

We have African-Americans, Irish-Americans, Italian-Americans, Puerto Rican-Americans, Native Americans, Gay American.  And, we defend those and are proud of those designations.  

Additionally, there are larger dichotomy thoughts about just being an American, or whatever country from which you came.

These thoughts, to me, seem to create even more division in our world. What makes us proud of this?  What is it that is driving us to create division?  What is our goal by creating this division?

We are saying, in some ways, that we are better than another by taking our heritage as a badge of courage, aren’t we?  Do we really feel that because we were born into a certain heritage that somehow we are better than another?

We are all humans, aren’t we?  Do we need a common enemy to create unity?  One could argue our unity is based on war?

Next time we choose to defend or wear our heritage courage, maybe we could look at the our Spiritual Way Showers and see how they approached this.  

Peace, Love, Acceptance.  No War.  No Hate.  No Heritage.

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How Deep is non-judgmental

Most people think of being judgmental in the confines of race, religion and sexual orientation.  But, it’s deeper than that, and it has more bands.

For instance, think of blue collar and white collar. Think of managers and reports. Think of Exempt and non-exempt.  Then, go even deeper – what about Executives, Directors and Managers, or veterans, supervisors and newbies.

By breaking down those stigmas, we can begin to see real people and not what they do.

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Total Consciousness – So I got that going for me, which is nice.

The brain acts as a receiving set for energy patterns … which exist as conscousness expressed in the form of thought.  It’s the vanity of the ego that claims thoughts as “mine.”  Genius, on the other hand, commonly attributes the source of creative leaps of awareness to that basis of all consciousness, which has traditionally been called divinity.  – Power Vs. Force by Hawkins

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Heroes are everywhere

Lead by Being Led. – MLK

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Positive Force

True peace is not merely the absence of negative force, but the presence of positive force. 

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Look – a metaphor

“Everything that is transitory, is a metaphorical reference.”

– Joseph Campbell

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Aum

A – The beginning of life. The wonder. Ahhh.

U – The life itself. Full of experiences, agony, pleasure, love and distrust.

M – Life’s end.  Hmmm. It was a good life.

Then, the silence before the cycle continues.

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Persian Metaphor

The great Persian Myth that explains how Iblis (Satan) was sent to hell because he would not serve Humans and would only serve God rings true throughout the ages – as long as we recognize it’s metaphorical meaning.  

His love of God was more than his love of mankind; therefore, he was sentenced to hell.

The meaning, it appears to me, is that we must love our fellow man more than we love our God, or we get caught in the crossfire of judgmental paradigms.  When looking at world history, it appears that most wars were in the name of God – meaning we are fighting for our God, and not our fellow human beings.

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Evoke your higher nature

“Your life evokes your nature and you learn more about yourself as you go on. Put yourself in situations which evoke your higher nature.”  — Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

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Creators

If God created us in him image, then he created us as creators.

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Myth or Miss

If most Christians can understand the mythology of the sacrament and the mass (communion), then it should logical to understand the virgin birth and the crucifixion as equally powerful metaphors.

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Heroes

When we recognize our metaphysical connection to others, we enable the Hero within us.

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The answer to the Riddle:

“I don’t know.”

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Judgment Day

Funny how this classic Dualistic day is the end of Dualism for those that believe in dualism.

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Dualism Riddle

When Descartes met Ramana Maharshi he asked him: “Do you believe in Dualism?

What was he answer?

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Duality = Judgemental

If there is judgement, then there is duality. If there is duality, then there is good an evil.  In Unity, it feels as though there is no judgmental nature. It’s a paradigm of Christianity that gets lost many times.  But, after all, wasn’t one of Jesus’s great teachings about not judging others.  That’s non-duality.  There’s not a matter of being right and wrong, because it’s all here for us. As Joseph Campbell says, it’s the experience.

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Metaphysical Catch 22

I think about the Unity message of “put your own mask on first” which is a metaphor of how airlines instruct passengers – you’re no good if you can’t breath yourself.  But, my problem, even though I like to give, is that I have an expectation back. That’s something I need to get over.  I need to give and that’s it. I have had the mentality that “if” I “give” then people will give to me.  Well, that’s misplaced expectation, attracting those that expect me to give to them.  I need to not expect from others, and give freely. Whether or not I get anything from anyone in return should be superfluous. If I expect, then I’m not giving.  So, here I go down that metaphysical dichotomy of Catch 22’s. 😉

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Bellefontaine Vs. Urbana

One experience I had that has stuck with me, I believe, is based on the invisible connectivity of humans.  It’s also part of the whole competitive paradigm.  Let me explain.

Bellefontaine and Urbana were arch rivals.  From the first games I remember playing in Junior High – those that had competition outside the city, Urbana was our fiercest foe.  We were well-matched, too. Towns were less than 20 miles apart. Social patterns were the same.

Anyway, our basketball team won the district championship, and our trip to the regional event took us directly through Urbana.  When we got there, all the lights changed to flashing, a police cruiser escorted us through the city, and Urbana residents lined the road with signs of encouragement – like “Win Regionals and Go to State!”

I had goose bumps. I was swimming in emotions that I didn’t understand at all.  These people were our enemies – but were now acting like our neighbors.

I was with the assistant coach sitting in the front seat of the car, and he told me later that the look on my face was wonder and bewilderment.

As it turned out, our team (and I) played two of the best games ever played by a Bellefontaine team, and, indeed, we did get to the State Tournament.  After the win that got us there, I remember trying to vocalize the feeling, which was still with me in the locker room.  But, alas, I could not. I just remember saying something like – “When we came through Urbana, I knew …”

Next: Duality?

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Say no more

Sorry for not writing lately, been busy.

Not much better today, other than including this video:

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/caddy-shack/A5C82AA1CB82F4550930A5C82AA1CB82F4550930

Next: Peak Experience

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