lotusinthemud

our minds are used to thinking

Our minds are used to thinking, but when we want to become calm and peaceful that is exactly what we have to stop doing. It is easier said than done, because the mind will continue to do what it is used to doing. There is another reason why it finds it difficult to refrain from its habits: thinking is the only ego support we have while we are meditating, and particularly when we keep noble silence. "I think, therefore I am." Western philosophy accepts that as an absolute. Actually it is a relative truth, which all of us experience. When we are thinking, we know that we are here; when there is no chattering in the mind, we believe we lose control. . . Our first difficulty is that although we would like to become peaceful and calm and have no thoughts, our mind does not want to obey. . . So instead of trying over and over again to become calm we can use whatever arises to gain some insight. A little bit of insight brings a little bit of calm, and a little bit of calm brings a little bit of insight.

~ Ayya Khema, When the Iron Eagle Flies

compassion is not weak

Sometimes we think that to develop an open heart, to be truly loving and compassionate, means that we need to be passive, to allow others to abuse us, to smile and let anyone do what they want with us. Yet this is not what is meant by compassion. Quite the contrary. Compassion is not at all weak. It is the strength that arises out of seeing the true nature of suffering in the world. Compassion allows us to bear witness to that suffering, whether it is in ourselves or others, without fear; it allows us to name injustice without hesitation, and to act strongly, with all the skill at our disposal. To develop this mind state of compassion... is to learn to live, as the Buddha put it, with sympathy for all living beings, without exception.

~ Sharon Salzberg, Lovingkindness

unsatisfactory

The Buddha declared that all our experiences of joy, indifference, and pain are unsatisfactory. Are not even our greatest mundane pleasures tainted with dissatisfaction? When these pleasures pass away are we not left with unfulfilled longing and discontent? But in spite of this, we tend to cling to the pleasures of life, ignoring their transient nature

The suffering we must recognize includes not only the kind we experience at the loss of a loved one, or when we lose our job, for example, but also includes the more fundamental conditions of our human existence, namely, aging, sickness, and death.

~ B. Alan Wallce, Tibetan Buddhism from the Ground Up

waterboarding: any of the bush administration want to try it?

::boing boing:

After Christopher Hitchens wrote a Slate article suggesting that waterboarding wasn't really torture, readers suggested that he try it himself. He did.

So what did it feel like? Hitchens recounts how he was lashed tightly to a sloping board, then, "on top of the hood, three layers of enveloping towel were added. In this pregnant darkness, head downward, I waited until I abruptly felt a slow cascade of water going up my nose ... I held my breath for a while and then had to exhale and - as you might expect - inhale in turn."

That, he says, "brought the damp cloths tight against my nostrils, as if a huge, wet paw had been suddenly and annihilatingly clamped over my face. Unable to determine whether I was breathing in or out, flooded more with sheer panic than with water, I triggered the pre-arranged signal" and felt the "unbelievable relief" of being pulled upright.

The "official lie" about waterboarding, Hitchens says, is that it "simulates the feeling of drowning". In fact, "you are drowning - or rather, being drowned".

::read more

a great responsibility

Sometimes religion becomes yet another source for more division and sometimes open conflict. Because of that situation, I feel the different religious traditions have a great responsibility to provide peace of mind and a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood among humanity

~ His Holiness the Dalai Lama

effort

Upon the oxen of a mind free from doubt I put the yoke and plow of skillful means and wisdom. Steadfastly I hold the reins without distraction. Cracking the whip of effort, I break up the clods of the five poisons. I cast away the stones of a defiled heart, And weed out all hypocrisy. I cut the stalks and reap the fruit of action leading to liberation.... Realization does not arise out of words. Understanding does not come from mere suggestions. I urge all those who work for Enlightenment to meditate with perseverance and effort. Endurance and effort overcome the greatest of difficulties. May there be no obstacles for those who seek enlightenment.

~ The Life of Milarepa, trans. by Lobsang P. Lhalunga

economy and the human and environmental impact

Awakening entails economic pursuits that foster self-respect and self-reliance and that serve to integrate, rather than disperse, the energies of the local community. From the perspective of the Dharma, economic goals include not only production and profit, but also their human and environmental impact. The conservation of material resources, their humane use, and their equitable distribution are taken as preeminent concerns.

~ Joanna Macy in Mindfulness and Meaningful Work by Claude Whitmyer

rachel becomes an amida-shu member

On the evening of 1st July 2008 Rachel Abel became a member of the Amida School, Amida-shu at a ceremony held at Amida Sanctuary, the home of Amida Newcastle. She also took the Five Precepts in the Amida-shu form of the Five Prayers of Upasikas.

The celebrant was Rev Sujatin, Bellmaster Sophie Williams and the congregation included Rachel's mother, on a visit from Colorado, Rachel's husband Enrique and a friend, regular sangha member Jackie and long-term friend of Amida, David.

dharmavidya's quotation on the 'do no harm' site

Do No Harm is one of those wonderful impossible ideals that inspire us. "Cease from ill; Do only good; Do good for others. Purify your mind." As what the Japanese call "bombu" i.e. ordinary fallible beings of wayward passion and boundless karma we all do harm while wishing to do less of it and it always helps to have that aspiration strengthened as it is by the love of our friends. The key is to embrace, to esteem all that is in our world as best we can. Esteem and embrace the other. All forms of enlightenment are intended to help us become open to others. Shakyamuni became enlightened when he saw the morning star - our life is full of such stars and if we can allow each thing to be a star it will start to glow and our world will be full of new light.

These days there is a strong tendency to see everything in selfish terms. The reason for doing something is, apparently to be located in the good that will come back to us. No doubt good does come back... however, it is just possible that the impulse to love is actually more fundamental in our lives than the impulse to gain. Whether it is true or not, simply thinking so makes huge difference to one's life. How lucky we all are to have such a beautiful world full of loveable beings of so many kinds.

Dharmavidya (David Brazier)
http://www.amidatrust.com

::link to 'do no harm'

new pureland buddhist book: 'never die alone'

The book, Never Die Alone: Death as Birth in Pure Land Buddhism, published by Jodo Shu Research Institute is on the brink of publication and copies can be pre-ordered from Amazon. Authors include: Mark Blum author of The Origins and Development of Pure Land Buddhism; Carl Becker author of Breaking the Circle: Death and the Afterlife in Buddhism; David Brazier (Dharmavidya), head of the Amida Order, author of Who Loves Dies Well: On the Brink of Buddha’s Pure Land; Yoshiharu Tomatsu the Director of the Jodo Shu Research Institute’s Ojo and Death Project; and a group of Thai Buddhists offering a different view of Buddhist dying.

::link

one emotion at a time

It's impossible to take note of your mind all of the time. You would tie yourself up in knots and run off the road. Instead of going to an extreme, begin by concentrating on one particular emotion in yourself. Choose the emotion that bothers you the most, or the one that is most prominent in you...

For many people, anger is a good starting point because it is easily noticed and dissolves faster than most other emotions. Once you begin to watch your anger, you will make an interesting discovery. You will find that as soon as you know you are angry, your anger will melt away by itself. It is very important that you watch without likes or dislikes. The more you are able to look at your own anger without making judgments, without being critical, the more easily the anger will dissipate.

~ Thynn Thynn, Living Meditation, Living Insight

ignorance

Imagine walking along a sidewalk with your arms full of groceries, and someone roughly bumps into you so that you fall and your groceries are strewn over the ground. As you rise up from the puddle of broken eggs and tomato juice, you are ready to shout, You idiot! Whats wrong with you? Are you blind? But just before you can catch your breath to speak, you see that the person who bumped you is actually blind. He, too, is sprawled in the spilled groceries, and your anger vanishes in an instant, to be replaced by sympathetic concern: Are you hurt? Can I help you up?"

Our situation is like that. When we clearly realize that the source of disharmony and misery in the world is ignorance, we can open the door of wisdom and compassion. Then we are in a position to heal ourselves and others.

~ B. Alan Wallace, Tibetan Buddhism from the Ground Up

unsatisfactoriness

Suffering is a big word in Buddhist thought. It is a key term and it should be thoroughly understood. The Pali word is dukkha, and it does not just mean the agony of the body. It means that deep, subtle sense of unsatisfactoriness which is a part of every mind moment and which results directly from the mental treadmill.

The essence of life is suffering, said the Buddha. At first glance this seems exceedingly morbid and pessimistic. It even seems untrue. After all, there are plenty of times when we are happy. Aren't there? No, there are not. It just seems that way. Take any moment when you feel really fulfilled and examine it closely. Down under the joy, you will find that subtle, all-pervasive undercurrent of tension, that no matter how great this moment is, it is going to end. No matter how much you just gained, you are either going to lose some of it or spend the rest of your days guarding what you have got and scheming how to get more. And in the end, you are going to die. In the end, you lose everything. It is all transitory.

~ Henepola Gunaratana

heaven or hell, it's up to us

I once heard a story about a visit to heaven and hell. In both places the visitor saw many people seated at a table on which many delicious foods were laid out. In both places chopsticks over a meter long were tied to their right hands, while their left hands were tied to their chairs.

In hell, however much they stretched out their arms, the chopsticks were too long for them to get food into their mouths. They grew impatient and got their hands and chopsticks tangled with one another's. The delicacies were scattered here and there.

In heaven, on the other hand, people happily used the long chopsticks to pick out someone else's favorite food and feed it to him, and in turn they were being fed by others. They all enjoyed their meal in harmony.

~ Shundo Aoyama, Zen Seeds

wholehearted commitment and spiritual practice

Few people are capable of wholehearted commitment, and that is why so few people experience a real transformation through their spiritual practice. It is a matter of giving up our own viewpoints, of letting go of opinions and preconceived ideas, and instead following the Buddha's guidelines. Although this sounds simple, in practice most people find it extremely difficult. Their ingrained viewpoints, based on deductions derived from cultural and socila norms, are in the way.

We must also remember that heart and mind need to work together. If we understand something rationally but don't love it, there is no completeness for us, no fulfillment. If we love something but don't understand it, the same applies. If we have a relationship with another person, and we love the person but don't understand him or her, the relationship is incomplete; if we understand the person but don't love him or her, it is equally unfulfilling. How much more so on our spiritual path. We have to understand the meaning of the teaching and also love it. In the beginning our understanding will only be partial, so our love has to be even greater.

~ Aya Khema, When the Iron Eagle Flies, from Everyday Mind, a Tricycle book edited by Jean Smith

pureland buddhism: introductory retreats in august and september

Pureland Introductory Retreats
9-10 August
and
19-21 September
Learn the basics of Pureland practice and find out what it means to practise.

This introductory retreat is open to all. We will introduce some basic concepts found in the Amidist approach to Pureland Buddhism and spend some time practising together. Amida retreats are friendly, informative, and replenishing. This will be a good time for those interested in taking time out from a busy or stressful life to relax, chant, explore one's faith and spirituality and experience life in a Buddhist community.

For more information see: August Retreat; September Retreat
or call The Buddhist House 0116 286 7476

transparent and clear

There is a famous saying: "If the mind is not contrived, it is spontaneously blissful, just as water, when not agitated, is by nature transparent and clear." I often compare the mind in meditation to a jar of muddy water: The more we leave the water without interfering or stirring it, the more the particles of dirt will sink to the bottom, letting the natural clarity of the water shine through. The very nature of the mind is such that if you only leave it in its unaltered and natural state, it will find its true nature, which is bliss and clarity. So take care not to impose anything on the mind, or to tax it. When you meditate there should be no effort to control, and no attempt to be peaceful. Don't be overly solemn or feel that you are taking part in some special ritual; let go even of the idea that you are meditating. Let your body remain as it is, and your breath as you find it. Think of yourself as the sky, holding the whole universe.

~ Sogyal Rinpoche, in The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

the moment we want happiness...

The moment we want happiness, we start to cling to it in our mind. First, we cling to our own idea of happiness. We relate to the outside world as a source of satisfaction and look outward for the things we normally associate with happiness - accumulating wealth, success, fame or power. As soon as we become attached to any idea - happiness, success or whatever - there is already some stress. Clinging is itself a stressful state, and everything that derives from it is also stressful. For example, try to clench your hand to make a fist. As soon as you start to clench your hand, you have to use energy to keep your fingers clenched tightly. When you let go of the clenching, your hand is free again. So it is with the mind. When it is in such a state of clenching, it can never be free. It can never experience peace or happiness, even if one has all the wealth, fame and power in the world.

~ Thynn Thynn, Living Meditation, Living Insight

like a movie

Life is like a movie. It is like an unfolding story that we read and interpret, while identifying with the stars (i.e., gods) and immersing ourselves in the drama. When we start to notice this, life becomes lighter. The monotony fades and the magic begins. For when we turn our attention to our bodies, feelings, perceptions, impulses, and consciousness, we find that we are woven of the quixotic threads of ongoing stories. For only such a self can create and be created. A fixed, intractable one is as good as dead.

~ Stephen Batchelor

dharmavidya and prasada on dvd and youtube

Last year Dharmavidya, the head of my Order, and Prasada, his wife, spoke at St James' church, Piccadilly as part of St James' Alternative series of talks. There's now a DVD available and you can view 2 clips from the talk on You Tube.

Clip one

Clip two

california dreamin'

A dream well worth actualising, California and the rest of the world:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California on Thursday took a major step forward on its global warming fight by unveiling an ambitious plan for clean cars, renewable energy and stringent caps on big polluting industries. The plan, which aims to reduce pollutants by 10 percent from current levels by 2020 while driving investment in new energy technologies that will benefit the state's economy, is the most comprehensive yet by any U.S. state.

::link

anti dalai lama speech investigated

By Nick Mulvenney

BEIJING (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is investigating a speech made by Tibet's Communist Party boss at the end of last weekend's Beijing torch relay leg in Lhasa in which he denounced the Dalai Lama.

But it was not immediately clear what the IOC, which is unlikely to resort to its ultimate sanction of withdrawing the Games from China, could do. It has said before it has "no political mandate" to instruct countries how to behave.

IOC communications director Giselle Davies said Beijing organizers (BOCOG) had been asked to provide the contents of Zhang Qingli's speech and said it "would regret very much" if media reports were accurate.

::read more here

saving gas (or petrol, as we brits call it)

Save Gas, Save Money: 66 Ways To Spend Less On Gasoline:

While the rising cost of oil has the price of gasoline skyrocketing faster than global warming is melting glaciers, people everywhere are preparing for cross-country road trips to Grand Canyon National Park and summer camps in Maine. We can't really argue with that innate desire to get closer to nature and out on the open road, and whether you're a die-hard cyclist or a still driving an SUV, chances are you plan to get in a car to go somewhere this summer. So whether you're packing up the Prius for some close-to-home camping, towing the boat to far-away shores, or merely fighting the crosstown traffic, these money- and gas-saving tips are designed to help you squeeze every last bit of power out of that precious petrol--and cause fewer CO2 emissions, too. It's a comprehensive list--several tasks should be done before even starting your car; others require minor adjustments to your driving style. All of them aim to help you drive a little greener.

::read more here

twenty years from now...

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did.

~ Mark Twain
via big happy buddha

seeing the tashi lhunpo monks next week

I'm so looking forward to this and grateful to jackie for organising it

Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, founded by the first Dalai Lama in the fifteenth century, and the seat of the Panchen Lama, is one of the most important monasteries in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Now re-established in exile in South India, the monastery is once again becoming one of the major centres of learning, best known for its artistic tradition of masked dances and sacred music. This performance features a mix of colourful dances, processions and prayers, with introductions to all the items. The monks will also be creating a beautiful mandala – a colourful design crafted from sand – on the Concourse from Monday 30th June.

::link

allegation - china demolished mosque for not supporting olympics

It's just too convenient to label anyone who doesn't go along with you a terrorist. It's not just the Tibetans who are being treated this way If the chinese Government wants to drive the Uyghur people into the arms of al Qaeda this would be the way to do it:

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese authorities in the restive far western region of Xinjiang have demolished a mosque for refusing to put up signs in support of this August's Beijing Olympics, an exiled group said on Monday.

The mosque was in Kalpin county near Aksu city in Xinjiang's rugged southwest, the World Uyghur Congress said.

::link

china condemns dalai lama in tibet

By Chris Buckley

LHASA, China (Reuters) - Chinese Communist Party officials in charge of restive Tibet used the passing of the Olympic torch relay through the capital Lhasa on Saturday to defend their control and denounce the exiled Dalai Lama.

The torch procession ended under tight security below the towering Potala palace after having been run for just over two hours before a carefully-selected crowd, some three months after the region was convulsed by anti-Chinese protests.

"Tibet's sky will never change and the red flag with five stars will forever flutter high above it," Tibet's hardline Communist Party boss Zhang Qingli said at a ceremony marking the end of the two-hour relay through strictly guarded streets.

::link

intelligent practice......

......... always deals with just one thing:  the fear at the base of human existence, the fear that I am not. And of course I am not, but the last thing I want to know is that. I am impermanence itself in a rapidly changing human form that appears solid. I fear to see what I am: an ever-changing energy field... So good practice is about fear. Fear takes the form of constantly thinking, speculating, analyzing, fantasizing. With all that activity we create a cloud cover to keep ourselves safe in make-believe practice. True practice is not safe; it's anything but safe. But we don't like that, so we obsess with our feverish efforts to achieve our version of the personal dream. Such obsessive practice is itself just another cloud between ourselves and reality. The only thing that matters is seeing with an impersonal searchlight: seeing things as they are. When the personal barrier drops away, why do we have to call it anything? We just live our lives. And when we die, we just die. No problem anywhere.

      

~ Charlotte Joko Beck, Everyday Zen, from Everyday Mind, a Tricycle book edited by Jean Smith

dalai lama hopes china talks will resume in july

SYDNEY (Reuters) - The Dalai Lama hopes postponed talks between China and his envoys will resume next month, he said on Thursday, adding he supported China's desire for stability but that it must come "from the heart not the gun".

::read more

an answer to the question "what does Buddhism say about 'religions'..?"

::stableboy says:

It doesn't say much really. But you can infer some things from what it DOES say:

- Buddhist teaching generally challenges the notion of a fixed self or entity which serves as the core of being. In Buddhist ontology, all things are considered to be composites -- you and I are the result of the conditions which produce our existence, and those conditions are in turn produced by other conditions, ad infinitum. So nowhere can you get your hands on some solid unchanging "essence of being".

This is what it means when Buddhism talks about "no self". It's not that there's no self at all, it's that there's no permanent entity like a core upon which our qualities and characteristics are "glued". The implication for other religions is that Buddhism challenges the existence of the soul as it's normally conceived -- a permanent essence which transcends the conditions of body, time, space, cause-and-effect.

- Buddhism is silent on the existence of God. So in a sense, it does not conflict with religions which place God at the center of everything. Buddhism neither denies nor affirms the existence of God -- that is considered a matter which is outside the scope of Buddhism's concerns. Buddhism is concerned with awakening -- recovering the true nature of being in a practical way which makes a practical difference in ordinary life. It's not particularly interested in large-scale metaphysical questions about the origin of man or the nature of God, etc. Those are basically considered irrelevant to the core problem Buddhism addresses: suffering.

- Buddhism is strongly critical of the human tendency to cling to beliefs of any kind. That doesn't mean Buddhism is intolerant of beliefs in general, it means that CLINGING is considered very unwise. So since many religions implicitly encourage the very clinging that Buddhism is working to disrupt, in that sense Buddhism is anti-religion. However, it is possible (and some people do it) to merge other religions with Buddhism... i.e. I know Christian Buddhists who believe in the redemption offered by Christ, etc., and still practice Buddhism. I presume they've dialed down the clinging aspect of their Christianity to make it all work, but don't really know the details.

In general, Buddhism promotes tolerance and peaceful coexistence as essential qualities to be developed by all humans, regardless of their religious orientation. It would be completely antithetical to Buddhist teachings to (for example) discriminate against others based on their religion, and completely unthinkable to use religious differences to justify a conflict or war. While Buddhism doesn't really promote the notion that "all religions are one", it promotes the notion that all of REALITY is one, and religions are a part of reality as a whole. In that respect, it makes no sense for Buddhism to adopt an aggressive or hostile stance toward other religions.

::link

earth from mars

Stunning photos of the Earth and the Moon taken from Mars by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera
::link to boingboing

the worst enemy of all: delusion

There is really no reason to kill our ordinary enemies; death will come to them naturally in the future anyway. Despite this fact there are some soldiers who engage in fearsome battles, willing to fight even though their enemies have superior weapons. They ignore the pains of battle and continue to fight until they are victorious. If there are people who are willing to expend such great effort in order to kill an ordinary enemy, then why do we not strive unceasingly to destroy the worst enemy of all: the delusion that is the cause of all of our suffering? To overcome such a powerful foe we must certainly expect to experience great hardships, but is there any need to mention the absolute necessity of attacking this enemy diligently?

~ Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, in Meaningful to Behold

fill the minds of all your enemies with loving kindness

Remember that your thoughts are transformed into speech and action in order to bring the expected result. Thought translated into action is capable of producing a tangible result. You should always speak and do things with mindfulness of loving kindness

For all practical purposes, if all of your enemies are well, happy and peaceful, they would not be your enemies. If they are free from problems, pain, suffering, affliction, neurosis, psychosis, fear, tension, anxiety, etc., they would not be your enemies. Your practical solution toward your enemies is to help them to overcome their problems, so you can live in peace and happiness. In fact, if you can, you should fill the minds of all your enemies with loving kindness and make all of them realize the true meaning of peace, so you can live in peace and happiness. The more they are in neurosis, psychosis, fear, tension, anxiety, etc., the more trouble, pain and suffering they can bring to the world. If you could convert a vicious and wicked person into a holy and saintly individual, you would perform a miracle. Let us cultivate adequate wisdom and loving kindness within ourselves to convert evil minds to saintly minds.

~ Henepola Gunaratana, Mindfulness in Plain English

biking it

Presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama has won our admiration before, thanks to his support of cycling and his support of public transportation, as well as his eagerness to address climate change, as exemplified by the fact that he would want Al Gore to help him on climate issues (however, we have also been less-than-impressed with Obama's stance on "clean coal" technology). Now, after a protracted, difficult campaign, Obama has finally won the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. So how did he celebrate? According to the Associated Press, the Senator took the weekend off and "joined family and neighbors for a bicycle ride along the shores of Lake Michigan on Sunday."

::link to story and photos

news about buddhafield

Here's a post about the Buddhafield festival this summer, with links to news coverage. Amida will have a presence there for the third time this year, led by Sr Modgala, with Rachel and Sally, who are presently and previously part of the Amida Newcastle sangha:

The Buddhafield Festival has for some years been the FWBO’s largest event outside India. It’s been held every year since 1996 and has gone from strength to strength, quietly building a loyal following almost entirely by word of mouth. This year they plan to move to a new site – the third since the Festival began – and increase the size slightly, to 3,000.

::read more here

growing up

To take refuge in the Buddha is to take refuge in someone who let go of holding back just as you can do. To take refuge in the dharma is to take refuge in all the teachings that encourage you and nurture your inherent ability to let go of holding back. And to take refuge in the sangha is to take refuge in the community of people who share this longing to let go and open rather than shield themselves.

The support that we give each other as practitioners is not the usual kind of samsaric support in which we all join the same team and complain about someone else. It's more that you're on your own, completely alone, but it's helpful to know that there are forty other people who are also going through this all by themselves. That's very supportive and encouraging. Fundamentally, even though other people can give you support, you do it yourself, and that's how you grow up in this process, rather than becoming more dependent.

~ Pema Chödrön

civility can prevail between tibetans and han hinese

A couple of weeks ago, Tim Johnson wrote:

A good sign on Tibet issue

Civility can prevail between Tibetans and Han Chinese.

It didn’t seem that was possible just a few weeks ago. At university campuses across the U.S., students squared off into two distinct communities: those favoring greater independence for Tibetans and Chinese nationalists angry over anti-Chinese riots in Lhasa in mid-March.

On many campuses, tensions escalated into threats and witch hunts. The parents of one young Chinese woman at Duke University were forced to flee their home in Dalian, China, because of threats from people opposed to her daughter’s views.

But this week, there was a positive sign at Harvard University. On Monday night, a panel that included two Han Chinese and two Tibetans presided over a civil forum of 150 people.

::read more here plus interesting comments

the judging mind

When you dwell in stillness, the judging mind can come through like a foghorn. "I don't like the pain in my knee... This is boring...I like this feeling of stillness; I had a good meditation yesterday, but today I'm having a bad meditation... It's not working for me. I'm no good at this. I'm no good, period..."

This type of thinking dominates the mind and weighs it down. It's like carrying around a suitcase full of rocks on your head. It feels good to put it down. Imagine how it might feel to suspend all your judging and instead to let each moment be just as it is, without attempting to evaluate it as "good" or "bad." This would be a true stillness, a true liberation. Meditation means cultivating a non-judging attitude toward what comes up in the mind, come what may.

~ Jon Kabat-Zinn, from Wherever You Go, There You Are

the necessary condition is love

Dharmavidya has written:

29 May 2008:

Writing: The past week I have been writing pretty solidly. Since my last weblog entry I have written more than 54,000 words, which constitutes the main body of the new book. I expect it will be called "The Necessary Condition is Love: An other centred approach", or something like that. It develops the ideas first set out in the article that I published in my Beyond Carl Rogers fifteen years ago. This all came about because I was invited to give a day seminar on that paper at a psychotherapy institute on 15th May. It went well. Afterwards it occurred to me that the principles in the paper are still central to my conception of life, spirit and therapy and that perhaps there was the makings of a book, so I set to work and this is the result. Still quite a bit of revision and editing to do but the basic work is complete.

::and more here

does time run backward in other universes?

Rebecca has linked to this Scientific American article

That would mean decreased entropy - so, how do I get there?