Rational Nation USA

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What do Buddha quotes teach us about thoughts and thinking?   Our thoughts shape us, and the world around us. “All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain?” — Buddha “An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.” — Buddha “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” — Buddha “He is able who thinks he is able.” — Buddha “It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.” — Buddha “The mind is everything. What you think you become.” — Buddha “Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.” — Buddha “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.” Sources of Insight

  Be your suffering, Hold it in your hands, Feel it – smooth, clay, porcelain, Feel the enclave Of its cheek-bones, The protrusion of its lips, Search its detail, its intricacy, With the intention Of wisdom, Of acceptance, Of acute subtle awareness. Watch it as it changes, Melts, dissolves, Falls to pieces in your hands, No longer defined, definable. No longer "me” And “my suffering,” Just suffering, Coming and going, Passing through, Coinciding with the self. This way and that, Time and time again, Habits, Responses, Expectations, Loss, Nothing unique, Nothing personal, Just the mind Clinging to an idea of itself. Pieces of clay, Pieces of suffering, Fragments of change, Resting in my hands, Ready to become anything... SOURCE

 

 

  The craving of one given to heedless living grows like a creeper. Like the monkey seeking fruits in the forest, he leaps from life to life (tasting the fruit of his kamma).   Whoever is overcome by this wretched and sticky craving, his sorrows grow like grass after the rains.   But whoever overcomes this wretched craving, so difficult to overcome, from him sorrows fall away like water from a lotus leaf. This I say to you: Good luck to all assembled here! Dig up the root of craving, like one in search of the fragrant root of the birana grass. Let not Mara crush you again and again, as a flood crushes a reed.   Just as a tree, though cut down, sprouts up again if its roots remain uncut and firm, even and again.  The misguided man in whom the thirty-six currents of craving strongly rush toward pleasurable objects, is swept away by the flood of his passionate thoughts.  [21]  Everywhere these currents flow, and the creeper (of craving) sprouts ...

 

  Being an American Buddhist I oppose almost everything Donald J. Trump stands for. Perhaps that's partially because the only thing DJT really stands is himself.  After his rally in Ohio the other day I was in a bit of a funk because what was glaringly obvious to anyone not drinking the Trump Kool-Aid  was that fascism is alive and working to fundamentally change America forever. And apparently the once proud party of Lincoln lacks the wisdom and fortitude to tell their now standard bearer to take a long walk off a very short political pier. Whatever that parties current values or agenda are no one really knows. Beyond trying to undo everything this democratic republic has stood for historically. So, taking a stroll through the archives of  Tricycle  magazine I just happened to run across an article, written in 2016 about DJT when he was campaigning against Hillary Rodham Clinton. The actual winner of the popular...

  As long as the evil deed does not bear fruit, the fool thinks it is sweet like honey; but when his evil deed does bear fruit, the fool suffers for it. Even though, month after month, the fool (living in austerity) takes his food sparingly with the tip of a grass blade, he is not worth even one-sixteenth part of those who have comprehended the Truth . An evil deed does not immediately bear fruit, just as the newly-drawn milk does not curdle at once; but it follows the fool burning him like live coal covered with ashes. The skill of a fool can only harm him; it destroys his merit and his wisdom .  Indeed, the path that leads to worldly gain is one and the Path that leads to Nibbana is another. Fully comprehending this, the bhikkhu, the disciple of the Buddha, should not take delight in worldly gain and honour, but devote himself to solitude, detachment and the realization of Nibbana. SOURCE

  Buddhism teaches that no innate self exists. That we are interconnected, and that the ego self is really an accumulation of our experiences.  Which includes the conditioning by parents, teachers, spiritual guides, employers, and all the societal norms of the culture one lives in.  Given all the influences and pressures exerted by those who want to "mold" children into something they themselves are comfortable with and approve of it's easy to lose the sense of who or what they really are. If the conditioning is deep enough it is quite possible, the child never fully realizes the "real" them. When a child is born, they are like the sponge you wash your dishes with. Bright eyed and non-judgmental (it takes adults to teach children to be judgmental) they look at experience (phenomenon) with wide eyed curiosity and wonder. The early years, when children are most malleable and easily influenced, are the years that set the child on the p...

  America's Fascist Movement - Led By One of  America's Former Presidents and Reality Show Host - Donald J. Trump

 

  And Now... Save the Soil Song

      Photo by Richard Ellis / Alamy Stock Photo Photo by Sonam Zoksang. Melvin McLeod:  How did you first make your connection to the Dalai Lama and the people of Tibet? Richard Gere:   Well, it’s a long story, as most of these are long stories, but I’ll make it as brief as I can. In my early twenties, I was searching to make sense of myself in the world. Zen was what captured my imagination. I was a student of Zen for many years and had a regular practice that came from that. When I was in my late twenties, I went to Asia for the first time. My first film was at the Cannes Film Festival, and I took the opportunity after Cannes to go to India and Nepal. That was the first time I met Tibetans, in a refugee camp outside of Pokhara in Nepal. I was struck by the utter normalcy of His Holiness, and how quickly he was able to get past my defenses and my romanticism. I was kind of floored by the experience. I felt it was otherworldly, but really it’s not otherworldly....

 

  Well, well, well. Finally, President Biden called out the fascist ideology that has been growing in the GQP (formerly GOP) since Trump put the party on a more authoritarian footing.   In fact it was long overdue and absolutely needed. For indeed Both Trump and his supporters are  FASCISTS. President Biden was absolutely spot on with his remarks calling out Trump and the 35% of Americans who continue to support him. For indeed they are the biggest domestic threats to our republic since the Civil War. J6 2021 should be all anyone needs to realize this. GIZMODO -  President Joe Biden delivered an important speech in Philadelphia on Thursday night about the threat that Donald Trump and his followers pose to the future of American democracy. It was fiery and blunt by Biden standards. And there’s probably no better proof that Biden’s speech was desperately needed than the reaction it received online. Trump’s army of whiners and assholes absolutely lost their shit. ...

  Democratic Party... We hope you receive the memo. The opportunity to issue a knockout blow to the Trumpublican party is nigh this coming November. Organize the party's efforts and give the people a clear and powerful message with a clear and doable vision. A vison of America that 65% of Americans actually want.

  Nothing is permanent. As Mitch McConnell may be finding out this glorious summer & autumn to be. Karma has a way of exacting accountability and justice. As McConnell and his party of no and division is finding out as polls trend pro democratic at this juncture. The negative karma (actions) generated by Trump and his party appears to be slowing working its way towards exacting a just price. We pray the negative karma of the republican party in general, and Trump specifically, comes home to roost this coming November 2022. Now for the featured article: Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky had a disastrous summer as President Joe Biden racked up wins and will be facing an "autumn of discontent" as Congress returns to D.C. after Labor Day weekend, according to a new report in The New York Times. The newspaper  reported  McConnell's "party’s crop of candidate recruits has struggled to gain traction, threatening his chances of reclaiming the Senate majo...