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may we be up to the task, for the benefit of all life. ⚡️

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#fascism #BoundlessCompassion #OpenHeart #path #practice #BPF #JinpaLhaga

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this is a clarifying moment for all of us to bravely choose love, over & over again. a love that includes all beings, all life. a love that calls us to speak the truth & protect the vulnerable, to continue the needed work of equity & justice, to choose healing over destruction, generosity of heart rather than greed & desperation for power.

this is my vow.

may open hearts, steady – focused – calm minds, & wisdom arise & prevail in our time for the benefit of all beings in all realms & directions.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#ChooseLove #vow #OpenHeart #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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on this, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, may Dr. King‘s words in the tradition of all the great prophets, calling upon us to not only bear witness, but to tend to our responsibilities in this moment, our responsibility to each other, to our nation, & to our world, find a place in our heart, in our words & in our actions. 

may it be so.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#MLKday #MLKjr #MartinLutherKingJr #DrKing

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friends –

i have many book suggestions for these times, but see pics & list below for some book suggestions regarding developing practices for open-heartedness, clarity, knowledge, resilience, & balance. qualities i believe will be not just beneficial, but necessary in this time. all of these teachers are of immense integrity, & some are teachers i’ve studied directly or indirectly with. 

may these books be of benefit.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#dharma #practice #knowledge #openheartedness #clarity #resilience #balance #lovingkindness #compassion #bearingwitness #path #practice #JinpaLhaga

Start Here Now by Susan Piver

Confidence by Ethan Nichtern

Standing At The Edge by Roshi Joan Halifax

Steady, Calm, and Brave by Kimberly Brown

Calming The Fearful Mind by Thich Nhat Hanh

Comfortable with Uncertainty by Pema Chodron

Lovingkindness by Sharon Salzberg

True Peace Work by various teachers

Radical Dharma by Rev. angel Kyodo williams & Lama Rod Owens, with Jasmine Syedullah, PhD

Mindful of Race by Ruth King

Time To Stand Up by Thanissara

Ecodharma by David R. Loy

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may it be our intention, commitment, & practice now & in the times ahead to engage & cultivate our capacity for empathy. our empathy can connect us to the tenderness in our heart & motivate our compassion. having empathy for others opens our awareness to the connection we already have with each other as interdependent life on this planet & in this universe. as our awareness opens to our connection each other, this also increases our capacity for empathy for each other. in this way, we are offering our lives as instruments of love & healing, even while some in their delusion may seek ever increasing power at the cost of others, leaving harm & destruction in their wake. being in touch with our empathy, increasing our capacity for empathy for all, is our superpower. this capacity for empathy, for open-heartedness, for tenderness, warmth, & compassion (all of which is to say – love), is what may very well save this world. 

how incredibly blessed are we who understand this as a privilege, as a responsibility, & can participate with such love for the benefit of all?

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#empathy #love #compassion #tenderness #warmth #OpenHeart #SuperPower #interdependence #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

study

practice

refuge

#JinpaLhaga #JMWart #buddhadharma #meditation #OpenHeart #SteadyMind #mindfulness #awareness #lovingkindness #compassion #BWphotography #photography

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“This life that is so short, so tenuous,

so precious, so valuable, so necessary, 

a life not to be squandered 

but to be used impeccably and usefully 

for the benefit and welfare of all.”

~

Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche

may every breath be filled with gratitude, aligned with love, & offered as a benefit to all without bias or exclusion.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#life #gratitude #offering #service #OpenHeart #love #NyoshulKhenpoRinpoche #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #PhotoArt #photography

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“When buddhas don’t appear and their followers are gone, the wisdom of awakening bursts forth by itself.”

~

Nargarjuna 

out of the darkness & into the light, love manifests presence, a lotus flower rising from the dark depths revealing its beauty for all to know.

who or what can stop such BEing?

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#awakening #presence #darkenss #light #buddhanature #wisdom #love #OpenHeart #enso #Nargarjuna #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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an important reminder in this last week before the next administration begins:

the abandoning of facts & objective truth propels forward a society where nothing matters, so anything goes – except that it isn’t “anything”, rather it is whatever those who propagandize & are in power say is so. what & where is the barometer to measure, if we do not accept facts as facts or objective truth as objective truth?

this leads to a “post-truth” culture, a culture where ignorance & indifference lead to harm, destruction, & death.

if we say we are devoted to love & its embodiments of empathy, tenderness, kindness, compassion, generosity, equity, justice, & peace, then we have an obligation to speak out on harm, to build against such destruction, to breathe healing life into death, to defend objective truth, & to do our due diligence to align with facts, & to speak no “post-truth.”

may we rise to this moment & may our democracy survive this era.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#RightSpeech #facts #truth #ObjectiveTruth #love #OpenHeart #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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it’s important to honor our feelings of pain & suffering, feelings of overwhelm, of fear, of loss & grief. we should meet these experiences & feelings that arise with the same warmth & tenderness that we would offer for a loved one. but when we are in the middle of extreme challenges & difficulties, our view can narrow & increase the intensity & weight of the emotions we are experiencing. so, it can be helpful to remember to take a wider view as well, both in regards to space & time. we can recall the stories from those who have been through similar & made it through. we can also bring to mind when we went through other challenges, even if smaller in scale & intensity, & how we also made it through.

the world is still spinning, we are still here with heart beating, breath cycling, surrounded by others experiencing similar on this journey. life continues to flow & so do we, together.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#WiderView #perspective #life #community #OpenHeart #tenderness #warmth #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart