Second-annual Buddhist Geeks Conference: Registration is open
Second-annual Buddhist Geeks Conference: Registration is open |
- Second-annual Buddhist Geeks Conference: Registration is open
- Pema Chödrön on how to practice
- New Crucial Point: The Journal of Mangala Shri Bhuti
- A taste of impermanence
- The Tao of Joy Every Day by Derek Lin.
| Second-annual Buddhist Geeks Conference: Registration is open Posted: 15 Dec 2011 07:00 AM PST
All that's needed now is you. And registration for the conference, which will take place in Boulder from August 9th – 11th is open now. So just click here for more information and to sign up. We hope to see you there! Read More @ SourceThai Buddhist Paritta Chanting 泰国象妙舍利子佛行 
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| Pema Chödrön on how to practice Posted: 15 Dec 2011 05:00 AM PST
Want more classic encouragement, Pema-style? See our special Spotlight page of her teachings. Read More @ Source
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| New Crucial Point: The Journal of Mangala Shri Bhuti Posted: 14 Dec 2011 04:00 PM PST
HOW TO BE A BODHISATTVA IN MODERN TIMES by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche THE ORIGIN OF THE LONGCHEN NYINGTIK LINEAGE by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche NATURALLY ELECTRIFIED by Tsoknyi Rinpoche REMOVING THE BLOOD FROM THE YOGURT by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche RENUNCIATION: THE SKY IS THE LIMIT by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche TICKET TO REALIZATION by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche CHILDREN'S Q&A with Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche Crucial Point is available in two formats. Click below to purchase:
All proceeds from Crucial Point are used to support the production of the journal. Thank you for your interest, and we welcome your feedback at crucialpoint@mangalashribhuti.org. Read More @ SourceNOW! Buddhism - series pilot - pt1 
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| Posted: 14 Dec 2011 01:00 PM PST
We were a few days into a week-long silent meditation retreat and pecan bars were on the lunchtime dessert menu. I was particularly into the process of bringing mindful awareness to mealtime. In the past, the practice resulted in loosening knots in my mind so I felt open to the possible surprises this retreat might offer. A sign next to the dessert tray listed the ingredients: brown sugar, butter, eggs, pecans. I decided to indulge and took one pecan bar to my seat at the massive, dark table in the silent dining room of this one-time monastery. It was small, soft, and barely held the rectangular shape into which it had been cut. I placed it in my mouth and felt the sweetness on my tongue. Served at room temperature, the pecan bar began to melt in my mouth — literally. Since I was practicing mindful eating, I didn't chew at first. For many moments I held a nutty morsel in my mouth. Over time, my saliva dissolved the sugary brown butter. Sitting in attentive stillness I noticed the changing size and shape of this small mouthful. Over time, my mouth held nothing more than pecan fragments. Slowly I chewed and swallowed them. A remarkable thing about this experience of mindful eating was that it provided an embodied way to appreciate the phenomenon of weathering — the process by which Himalayan-sized mountains get transformed into Appalachian-sized nubs. It's not an easy transformation to envision — 24,000 feet-high mountains being reduced an order of magnitude to 2,000 feet in hundreds of millions of years. And yet it is true that impermanence applies to Earth formations as well as to mental ones. Even seemingly permanent landscapes don't last forever in the fullness of geologic time. How does this happen? Mindful consumption of pecan bars shows the way. Because pressure and temperature conditions deep inside the Earth differ substantially from those above ground, rocks and minerals experience a change of state from equilibrium — a mineralogical equivalent of equanimity, if you will — to disequilibrium when they become exposed at the surface. Rocks and minerals disintegrate and decompose as they readjust to the changed conditions. Without needing to be transported, they are chemically and mechanically transformed. Rocks and minerals are not organic, living beings and yet they are impermanent. During the type of chemical weathering known as dissolution, fluids alter the structure of a mineral by adding or removing elements. It is by this process that marble monuments become less defined when subjected to acidic rainwater.
In the case of the melting pecan bars, the moist warmth of the mouth provides both a chemically active fluid and temperature conducive to the breakdown of sugar crystals.
During mechanical weathering, rocks disintegrate physically into smaller fragments, each with no chemical transformation. In the case of those easy-to-swallow pecan bars, teeth did the mechanical work of breaking down the resilient nuts. Though I often find that earth processes recapitulate the dharma I was delighted to experience in this instance an example of mindfulness practice illuminating earth processes. Impermanence holds true for human beings and mountains but how nice it was to become aware of this benign example during the retreat. Read More @ Source 
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| The Tao of Joy Every Day by Derek Lin. Posted: 14 Dec 2011 11:00 AM PST  The beauty of Taoism is that the wisdom is simple yet profound and that is the strength of Derek Lin's book, The Tao of Joy Every Day: 365 Days of Tao Living. Its easy reference style makes it a great gift for those who are often too busy for deep, extended, contemplative meditation. The book offers up easily digestible wisdom for when you need a quick bit of inspiration. It is a great way to start the day, and it's small size makes it ideal for a nightstand book. It's short but powerful entries are great for settling the mind before bedtime, or on nights when you can't sleep. Another aspect of the book that I enjoyed was the ancient, Taoist wisdom is translated for a modern audience and tailored for today's society. Therefore, it's quite easy to see how the Taoist wisdom can be applied in our every day actions and situations. It's a great "stocking-stuffer" gift for this, and any other holiday season. It's a great addition to any Eastern wisdom book collection. ~I bow to the Buddha within all things~  A Course in Miracles and Buddhism 
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"My middle way and your middle way are not the same middle way. For instance, my style is to be casual and soft-edged and laid-back. For me to do what usually would be called a strict practice is still pretty relaxed, because I do it in a relaxed way. So strict practice is good for me. But perhaps you are much more militant and precise. Maybe you tend toward being tight, so you might need to find out what it means to practice in a relaxed, loose way. Everyone practices in order to find out for him- or herself personally how to be balanced, how to be not too tight and not too loose. No one else can tell you. You just have to find out for yourself." — from 
In this new post, geoscientist and Shambhala SunSpace contributor Jill S. Schneiderman shares 
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