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“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” ~ William Shakespeare

call IT what you will, all names fall short. call it God, call it Dao, call it Ultimate Reality, the Universe, Buddhanature, the Ground of Being, The Beloved, even call it the Force, if you want. i call it Love. it is beyond all of this, yet within all of this. the main thing is that we let go of all we cling to and think we know, and open our hearts to it, engage with and dance, and laugh and sing and cry and sit with it.

i’m less interested in what religion, spiritual tradition, or belief system someone belongs to – people go to wars over this! people divide, marginalize, target and harm over this! we are seeing it right now not just in other countries, but right here in the USA in politics and in extremist groups.

instead, show me how you choose to live, tell me how you love! 

may we all have a beginner’s mind and an open heart. may we see this life with fresh new eyes in every moment, interdependent, interconnected, and filled with impermanence and possibility. 

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

#God #UltimateReality #Dao #GroundOfBeing #Universe #TheForce #Buddhanature #Love #BeginnersMind #OpenHeart #TrueNature #Path #Practice #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga #JetsunmaTenzinPalmo #JetsunmaTenzinPalmoQuotes

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originally posted on the @cacradicalgrace IG account. this is needed/beneficial teaching for our time from one of Zen Buddhism’s most influential contemporary voices. 

i’ve been reading the quote over and over, it’s so perfectly succinct in its wisdom, so forgive my rambling thoughts on it that follow.

this is true Mahayana Buddhist view, that our liberation, our awakening, our freedom from suffering is tied together. in fact many Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhists (which includes Zen and Tibetan Buddhism respectively) take the Bodhisattva Vow embodied in Shantideva’s words, “As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then, may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world.” 

the Buddhist view (and i think reality bares this out) is that we are interdependent and interconnected, so there is no separate me that is not influenced by and does not influence others. if this is the case, collective liberation (collective transformation, collective change) is really the most authentic, fully realized, ultimate liberation. what happens to you, matters to me. what happens to me, matters to you. 

how can Authentic Love leave anyone out???

and when we think about systems and structures, is this not the same? if we take this larger Mahayana view and want to end suffering, then even if individuals have an awakening, a conversion of heart, and no longer harm, but the larger systems and structures continue to harm and destroy – then unnecessary suffering continues. 

collective change, collective transformation, collective liberation cannot genuinely and fully happen outside of individual change, transformation, or liberation. and individual change, transformation, liberation should lead (and if it is the genuine work of Love, i believe it does) to disruption and change of the systemic and structural status quo, which always leaves someone(s) out!

~j

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#CollectiveChange #CollectiveLiberation #Love #Justice #Interdependence #Suffering #FreedomFromSuffering #OpenHeart #Path #Practice #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga #Zen #Buddhism #RevAngelKyodoWilliams #RevAngelKyodoWilliamsQuotes

obsession with devils, performance art, drag shows, and pronouns as some sort of evil distracts from and enables the very real evils of preventable poverty, out of reach health care, unnecessary war, erasure/revision of history, and attacks on the targeted and marginalized. 

it’s a sham for personal and political gain. it isn’t the genuine work of love.

may we wake up to the real harm and suffering that needs the genuine work of love – our attention and care, and may we hold our leaders accountable to do the same.

~j

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#WakeUp #Harm #Suffering #Distraction #OpenHeart #Love #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #BuddhistArt #Enso #Calligraphy #ContempativeArt #Art

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wisdom quote from Ruth King. 

kindness as a choice. a choice, a vow even, to be kind is a decision to be brave, to stay open in heart and steady in mind.

path and practice.

~j

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#Kindness #OpenHeart #Path #Practice #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga #RuthKing #RuthKingQuotes

Posted @withregram • @tricyclemag 

Kindness is a decision. It’s a decision to incline the heart toward goodwill for all beings, especially those that are suffering in ignorance, knowingly or unknowingly.

Ruth King, “Ungripping the Heart and Mind: Practicing Kindness”

🔸 

Link in bio. #DailyDharma

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or in the words sung by Gloria Estefan – Get on your feet! Get up and make it happen!

may we, with open hearts and steady minds, engage our world with love embodied as empathy, kindness, compassion to be a healing force of action with wisdom and light.

~j

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#SitDownRiseUp #OpenHeart #Love #Empathy #Kindness #Compassion #EngagedBuddhism #Path #Practice #JinpaLhaga #GloriaEstefan #DalaiLama #DalaiLamaQuotes

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“The biggest thing in this world, bigger than the ocean and the sky, is your heart.”

~ Do Hyun Choe

yes, your heart. 

and my heart.

trusting love. trusting opening and vulnerability, giving rise to connection, empathy, tenderness, and compassion.

with curiosity, bravery, intention, and some humor. 

returning again and again, beginning anew.

planting seeds of resilience, healing, and beauty.

path and practice. 

~j

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#OpenHeart #Love #BigLove #LoveWins #Path #Practice #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #Photography #BWphotography #DoHyunChoeQuote

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so many of us searching for the meaning of life, why we are here. what if it is this? to wake up to our interdependence, to wake up to our true nature, to wake up to love and to be the face of love, the hands of love in this world, to speak the words of love into this world for the benefit of all.

may it be so.

~j

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#embodiment #love #peace #life #path #practice #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga #Sufism #HafizQuotes

we really cannot continue to grieve Love and Life this way. when will we tire of the word “again”? 

this country and its systems are ill with delusion, aggression and violence. so ready to so easily, indifferently destroy and take life as if we ever truly, legitimately have the right to do so.

Tyre Nichols’ earthly life was a luminous embodiment of Life itself, an embodiment of Love, a sacred embodiment of the Divine. may he, no longer bound to this realm, transcend all realms, held in the Great Love which holds and heals all things. 

prayers for his family, friends, and for all feeling this so deeply.

~j

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Posted @withregram • @berniceaking 

“Besides, 

They’ll see how beautiful I am 

And be ashamed— 

I, too, am America.”

~ Langston Hughes

#TyreNichols

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in response to the harm we see, may we keep eyes and hearts open. 

may we know who, what, and why we serve.

~j

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#love #embodiment #empathy #FierceCompassion #justice #service #work #OpenEyes #OpenHeart #path #practice #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga

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″Not causing harm requires staying awake. Part of being awake is slowing down enough to notice what we say and do. The more we witness our emotional chain reactions and understand how they work, the easier it is to refrain. It becomes a way of life to stay awake, slow down, and notice.″

~ Pema Chödrön

non-harming is both path and practice, how we relate to and move within this world. it is a choice we can make. in Buddhism it is also a vow. it is a practice we commit to returning to time and again. 

and ultimately it is a way of embodying love.

~j

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#nonharming #DoNoHarm #FirstPrecept #vow #OpenHeart #path #practice #EngagedBuddhism #PemaChodronQuotes #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #calligraphy #Zen #Buddhism #BuddhistArt #ContemplativeArt #art