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all of these STILL matter.

please still live a life of principle in love. it is important, it still matters, perhaps more now than at any point within most of our lifetimes. make a vow & commit to it. 

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#empathy #compassion #kindness #generosity #integrity #dignity #decency #equality #justice #values #principles #LiveByVow #OpenHeart #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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to my LGBTQIA+ family, i say, WE BELONG HERE.

to the women in my life, i say, YOU BELONG HERE.

to my Black, Indigenous, Asian & beautifully diverse friends of color, i say, YOU BELONG HERE.

to my Latino friends & immigrant families, to all immigrants including those undocumented, i say, YOU BELONG HERE.

to my friends who belong to religious communities outside of alignment with Christian Nationalism or are not part of a religious community at all, i say, YOU BELONG HERE.

this is the ultimate view – our birthright is LOVE & no one can truly take that away from us. yet, on a relative level real harm can happen. marginalization exists, oppression exists, destruction exists. so the ultimate view is worth remembering in such times & it is worth standing up for & speaking up for. it is worthy of our unity & community building, so let’s look out for one another & recommit ourselves to love.

may all those opposed to such love, to the sacredness of all beings without exception, be blessed hard out of their ignorance, fear, & aggression, & into the grace & vastness of love.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#YouBelong #LoveWins #Divserity #Beauty #Sacred #Love #OpenHeart #Path #Practice #community #Bodhisattvas #Community #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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dearest friends – 

i will not diminish the darkness of this moment. many of us are hurting & afraid of what may come, much of that due to what Trump & those around him have proclaimed & promised to do. the grief of this moment is justified & is not resolved with simple platitudes.

however, know this from my heart to yours – the light of love will not be extinguished, even as those who choose cruelty & destruction work hard to diminish its shine. history is filled with stories of the subtlety & resilience of love’s power within community to lift up, heal, & light a path through any darkness. perhaps this is how love succeeds, in the alchemy of our recognized interdependence, & the change impermanence promises. 

as a Buddhist, a follower of Jesus’ teachings & mystics across traditions, i know my role is to choose love in the face of whatever comes, to embody fierce compassion in healing wounds, holding hands, breaking bread, breaking systems & structures of harm, opening hearts, & working to end suffering for all who suffer & all that is suffering in the world.

this will be my path, my practice, my work – to work on the side of love, to stand in solidarity with my fellow LGBTQIA+ family, with women, with the undocumented, the immigrant, the Indigenous, Black & POC communities, & all who may be targeted, marginalized, & oppressed. you are love embodied, sacred, & worthy of the fullness & joy of life. 

love also speaks truth without fear or favor, so a warning in & with love to all who align with cruelty – all suffer under fascism, all tyrants fall in time, & we cannot serve two masters. choose love.

the light will not be extinguished. our light will not be extinguished.

with love & solidarity.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#Election2024 #democracy #love #light #OpenHeart #path #practice #bodhisattvas #vow #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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dearest friends – 

whatever the results of today’s election, one thing is clear for me, the only path forward & through this fraught & liminal time is the Way of Love.

the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, said – 

“For hate is not conquered by hate: hate is conquered by love. This is a law eternal.” (Dhammapada vs. 5)

i feel so strongly about this that i had this text tattooed along with the image of the unalome (spiritual symbol representing the life journey & path to awakening) prior to this election. whatever is ahead, i want it to be crystal clear for myself as a reminder & to those who see it, that Love IS the Way.

may open hearts, calm-steady minds, and wisdom prevail on this day & all the days ahead.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#ElectionDay #election2024 #vote #love #mindfulness #lovingkindness #OpenHeart #path #practice #Buddha #SiddharthaGautama #Dhammapada #AncientLaw #EternalLaw #JinpaLhaga

*a huge THANK YOU to Sergio Santiago at 454 Tattoo for this newest piece. he’s a great human, tremendous fine artist & tattoo artist. 🤩🙏🏼

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advice for #ElectionDay:

breathe

VOTE

be calm

stay kind

have patience

unless there is an absolute blow out by one of the candidates (which is unexpected) today, we won’t likely know the results/winner of this election until tomorrow or even later in the week if the incoming results are close (which is expected). SO my friends, practice your breathing, having a calm steady mind, stay kind to yourself & those around you, & practice having patience as every vote is counted. WE WANT EVERY VOTE COUNTED. that is what democracy is. so if a certain candidate claims victory early (as he did in 2020) & calls to stop counting votes (as he did in 2020), see it for what it is & stay focused & support the electoral processes of our democracy.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#vote #election2024 #democracy #breathe #calm #kind #patience #OpenHeart #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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in honor of and in the spirit of All Souls’ Day today, i would like to offer a prayer i wrote up this past year as a part of my daily/morning practice. the prayer/practice includes some lovingkindness phrases that i revised from the traditional phrases.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#AllSoulsDay #death #transitions #prayer #practice #OpenHeart #metta #lovingkindness #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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it should be our practice to open the borders of our hearts.

pay attention to what is said & who says it – the rhetoric & the language being used to sow division, to target & harm immigrants, the undocumented, people of color, the LGBTQIA+ community, political opponents, & those who speak truth to power. the language of harm & destruction, of marginalization & oppression, of division & despair, is not the path of love, it is not the teaching of the Buddha, it is not the way of Christ.

please do not allow your hearts to be indifferent to the rhetoric of hate & harm, violence & destruction. do not allow the harming of others to be normalized. open the borders of your heart.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#vote #NoFascism #democracy #NoHarm #immigration #OpenHearts #love #inclusion #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart 

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something’s up with Jack,

something’s up with Jack…

HE’S MEDITATING!

what better way to meet the monsters inside & out, than with a calm, steady mind, & an open heart.

Happy Halloween, All Hallow’s Eve, & a blessed Samhain to you all, dear friends! 🎃👻💀🧙🏽‍♀️

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#Halloween #AllHallowsEve #Samhain #ritual #love #OpenHeart #path #practice #meditation #mindfulness #metta #JackSkellington #NightmareBeforeChristmas #Disney #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #photography

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the sacredness of life & the preciousness of this life are informed by its characteristics of impermanence & interdependence. whatever our belief of what happens after this life, the inescapable truth for all of us is that this particular incarnation, this specific life, will come to an end. the conditions that have come together to allow for our lives, are in constant movement. this is the nature of all in this life. we see it constantly day to day, season to season. none of us escape this truth, including leaders and empires no matter how desperately they try to hold on. we all fall. our only true choice, the only true power we have been gifted, is whether or not we do so with love & in love. how we treat others is testimony of how well we understand & accept this truth.

so every moment counts – every word, every action counts & is an opportunity to participate in & embody love. because of interdependence, how we live deeply matters & defines our lives.

this includes our #vote.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#life #death #impermanence #interdependence #love #OpenHeart #path #practice #MatthieuRicard #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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in Buddhism, it is that all beings have Buddhanature, the seed that is already awakened, luminous, & whole. 

likewise Franciscan contemplative, Father Richard Rohr, has often quoted author Paula D’Arcy who has written, “God comes disguised as our lives.”

knowing this, believing in the sacredness of every life, how can any of us support any potential leader who reduces the humanity of another calling them vermin, animals, & impure?

we cannot love thy neighbor & then proceed to label them in such ways, to marginalize them, to oppress them, to banish them, to kill or destroy them.

we cannot love our neighbor & supports such fascist rhetoric or actions.

this is a look ourselves in the mirror moment. this is a look within our hearts moment.

may open hearts, sanity, & wisdom prevail.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#LoveThyNeighbor #immigrant #sacred #buddhanature #OpenHeart #path #practice #AldousHuxley #PaulaDArcy #JinpaLhaga