we are all connected. all life is connected. this is why so many of us believe in prioritizing gun reform, poverty, hunger, universal healthcare, peace, climate change, along with other causes. to act as if we are individual and separate is to act in opposition to the reality we live in, contrary to life itself. this disharmony is destructive and harmful. and to be aware of the harm, to see the destruction happening, while those in power either do little to nothing to address the harm, or even add to the harm, is deeply unsettling.

how to remain steady, resilient, and clear within such insanity?

this is what we practice for, so in that in rough, violent seas, we can remain buoyant, able to breathe, and still see the horizon. the horizon is still present, the ability to breathe and float are still present.

allow time for nature.

allow time for silence.

allow time for relationships.

allow time for service.

allow time for love.

invest in connection. this is how we know what connection is when so much is disconnecting around us. we recognize love, we recognize clarity, and harmony by practicing love, clarity, and harmony. and when we practice in this way, when we can see the abiding power of love that pervades, when we feel connected, we have less fear, we have less anger, and then we have less aggression, violence, and harm.

we need to engage in such a way that is healing, harm ending, and beneficially transformative, in a way that recognizes our interconnection with all life and then honors it, even while others engage in harm.

we can do it. we need to do it, if we want to survive, if we want future generations to survive. 

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

#interdependence #connection #harmony #awareness #OpenHeart #sanity #nonharming #nonviolence #healing #path #practice #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga #NeilDeGrasseTysonQuotes

please please please, if you are a Christian, do not support the marriage of Jesus with that of using gun violence as an answer. it’s the antithesis of Jesus’ message. it’s an abomination. it’s a marriage made in hell.

i’ve seen some ads from the firearms company, Daniel Defense, that are just an abomination. i won’t show them here, but will describe them. one shows a young child holding an assault rifle with the magazine detached and a hand pointing where it goes under the headline “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”  another on Easter shows a gun with a cross necklace resting on it, with the headline, “He is risen.”

i see some of these Right Wing preachers promoting more guns as the answer, putting guns in the hands of teachers, and making statements that a horrific tragedy like this means we need prayer back in schools. i bet there was a lot of prayer going on that day in those moments and there are still 19 children and 2 adults dead.

even though i’m Buddhist, i was raised Christian and Jesus (and his message) deeply resonates with me. i feel protective over it. what he taught is the complete opposite of what we are seeing, what these people are believing, and what these charlatans are preaching.

knowing that my voice as a Buddhist (and a part of the LGBTQ+ community) undermines any moral authority in the narrow view of those on the Christian Right, i’m offering some wisdom from some contemporary Christian leaders, speakers, who are setting the record straight.

if you disagree, so be it. peace be upon you. i don’t debate this topic, so please don’t expect me to engage.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

#EndGunViolence #GunReformNow

good description by RuPaul 

👍🏻💛🙏🏻

if you want to try out some meditation, join me for Self-Care Saturdays at 10am PST this weekend. free or by donation, $10 suggested. ✨

link: https://linktr.ee/jaysenwaller

#meditation #mindfulness #awareness #lovingkindness #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #RuPaulQuotes

the tendency is to close up, to shut down, to become hardened and firm, or to run away and stick our head in the sand.

but who benefits when we avoid the pain and the suffering we see? 

if we want to better this world, we need more people willing to be IN this world as aware, attentive, open, tender and caring people. people willing to be engaged, willing to speak up, and willing to take action from a place of fierce compassion.

to do this, we can practice in this way, we can approach life in the way this quote prescribes: we can first acknowledge, then allow space to feel, and the allow what we feel to soften us. 

being soft, means being in touch with our open, tender heart. it means being in a place of love. there is no better place, no greater power to act from. and act we must, because love doesn’t sit out. 

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

#harm #suffering #awareness #attention #OpenHeart #love #compassion #EngagedBuddhism #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #GilFronsdalQuotes

hypocritical? 

yes.

also:

immoral, unethical, perverse, and certainly not “pro-life”.

our empathy, our compassion, our kindness are just further wounding and harm without action, without engagement.

thoughts and prayers are but mere shadows of love lost to us if we aren’t ready to acknowledge the problem and do the work needed to lessen and end such harm.

may hearts open.

may sanity prevail.

may we embrace love.

may we let go of our addiction to guns, to violence, and aggression both in speech and action.

what will it take???

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

#GunViolence #aggression #insanity #GunReform #OpenHeart #nonviolence #nonaggression #EngagedBuddhsim #JinpaLhaga #MiroslavVolfQuotes

a really beneficial story and wise advice from Sharon Salzberg below.

this is one i’m still learning. remembering that we must include ourselves in our compassion as well as others. that compassion includes the whole situation and sometimes includes healthy boundaries. most situations aren’t perhaps as big or vital as the one referred to in the Dalai Lama story below. in any case though, healthy boundaries can be challenging for many of us and some situations make it even more challenging. my current circumstances make it near impossible, but setting healthy boundaries – even small ones – can be a beneficial practice and can be an act of compassion for oneself and also for others. when we don’t, it can lead to frustration, stress, anger, and even resentment, all of which add to suffering for ourselves and others. 

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

#compassion #boundaries #selfcare #health #lovingkindness #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #SharonSalzberg #DalaiLama

Posted @withregram • @sharonsalzberg Compassion needn’t be divorced from insight and intelligence. For example, it doesn’t always mean reconciliation. We can remain apart from someone while still having compassion for them. I can remember when a longtime student of the Dalai Lama asked him, great vessel of love and compassion that he is, if she should go see her mentally ill mother, who had been a danger to her physical well-being in the past and who was now asking to see her. “You should offer your mother a tremendous amount of lovingkindness,” advised the Dalai Lama, “from a distance. It’s not safe to go see her.”

[Image Description: Photo of graffiti hearts with white box superimposed with text reading, “Compassion needn’t be divorced from insight and intelligence.”]

a practice.

we should allow for balance. not just for our own well-being, but also for the well-being of others.

it is helpful to take a wider view. to recall that even at night the sun is still shining, that the impermanence of life means there is opportunity for conditions to change resulting in better outcomes. that if we look closely, we will see love making its way through hearts in this world – the open ones, humble in spirit. if we look closely, we will see that even the slightest crack can let light in.

life is movement, even though all may feel stuck. nature shows how life flows. we are part of nature, so we should get out into it and be reminded of who we are. 

we honor life and each other by bearing witness. so yes, we must bear witness to the harm, to all that pulls on the shroud of darkness to cover this world, while working for destruction. but we must also bear witness to all that is gentle and kind, warm and luminous, to all that embodies love and inspires compassion.

it is important recognize love, to name it, to give it voice. it is important to do so.

we can make this a practice. we can simply sit and recall that which is good and beneficial in our lives, as part of our meditation, or by saying them out loud, or journaling them into recognition. 

there is goodness. there is kindness. there is beauty. there is love.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

#BearWitness #goodness #kindness #beauty #love #WideView #luminous #beneficial #practice #path #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

“Some seeds will come to fruition quickly, some slowly, but our work is simply to plant the seeds.” ~ Sharon Salzberg

even as some are bent on destruction, from our own open hearts, we can plant seeds of empathy, understanding, warmth, kindness, tenderness, compassion, and healing. 

even in darkness, seeds of love grow of their own light.

~j

⭕️♥️🌱🙏🏻

#PlantingSeeds #OpenHeart #love #light #empathy #kindness #compassion #path #practice #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #SharonSalzbergQuotes

it is a common misconception that kindness is the same as niceness. nope. being nice and polite simply to be nice and polite, to not stir the pot, can continue the status quo – even if that status quo is harmful. 

kindness, however, is an extension of love. kindness is focused and concerned about the well-being of ourselves and others. kindness is focused and concerned about ending harm.

so if we want to be a people of kindness, interdependent as we are, we have a responsibility to each other, an obligation to call out hate, to call out harm, to call out destruction every single time we see it. to do so is an act of kindness, an act of love.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏻 

#kindness #love #OpenHeart #interdependence #RightSpeech #RightAction #EngagedBuddhism #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #EthanNichternQuotes

and not just the mind. fear, hatred, and suspicion also close up our heart.

there are antidotes to these poisons. awareness transforms ignorance and delusion, which pulls the rug out under fear. with fear removed, we also become free of suspicion. when we practice meditation we allow space for awareness to arise. when we practice lovingkindness, we are opening our heart and allowing for empathy and our natural capacity to love to arise. empathy and love put into action, is compassion. in such space, with awareness and open-heartedness, there is no room for hate.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

if you’d like to practice meditation with me, i offer Self-Care Saturdays at 10am PST, where we practice mindfulness awareness and lovingkindness meditation. the sessions are free or by donation. $10 suggested. link: https://linktr.ee/jaysenwaller

#fear #hatred #suspicion #awareness #lovingkindness #meditation #OpenHeart #empathy #compassion #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #DalaiLamaQuotes