Rev. Danny Fisher

Just a Buddhist Minister Trying to Benefit Beings
January 28, 2010

A Gift of Dharma for 1.28.10

Today’s dharma quote is yet another from the Vidyādhara, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche (1939-1987), whom I first quoted and wrote a little bio for here.  It’s from his book The Sanity We Are Born With: A Buddhist Approach to Psychology, pg. 28 (via the Chronicles of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche):

A common misunderstanding is that the meditative state of mind has to be captured and then nursed and cherished. That is definitely the wrong approach. If you try to domesticate your mind through meditation—try to possess it by holding on to the meditative state—the clear result will be regression on the path, with a loss of freshness and spontaneity. If you try to hold on without lapse all the time, then maintaining your awareness will begin to become a domestic hassle. It will become like painfully going through housework. There will be an underlying sense of resentment, and the practice of meditation will become confusing. You will begin to develop a love-hate relationship toward your practice, in which your concept of it seems good, but at the same time, the demand that rigid concept makes on you is too painful.

January 28, 2010

Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly on Thailand’s Socially Engaged Forest Monks

Read the transcript of this report at Religion & Ethics Newsweekly‘s website here.

January 28, 2010

J.D. Salinger (1919-2010)

The following is said by “Mr. Antolini” in chapter twenty-four of the late J.D. Salinger‘s The Catcher in the Rye:

Among other things, you’ll find that you’re not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You’re by no means alone on that score, you’ll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You’ll learn from them – if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It’s a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn’t education. It’s history. It’s poetry.

January 28, 2010

The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund

This from the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund:

The earthquake that rocked the coast of Haiti killed or injured a devastating number of people. Even more were left in need of aid, making this one of the major humanitarian emergencies in the history of the Americas. In the aftermath of the disaster, President Barack Obama asked President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush to raise funds for immediate, high-impact relief and long-term recovery efforts to help those who are most in need of assistance. In response, the two Presidents established the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund (CBHF) to respond to unmet needs in the country, foster economic opportunity, improve the quality of life over the long term for those affected, and assist the people of Haiti as they rebuild their lives and “build back better.” The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund will do this by working with and supporting the efforts of reputable 501(c)(3) nongovernmental and nonprofit organizations. Presidents Clinton and Bush oversee the CBHF through their respective nonprofit organizations, the William J. Clinton Foundation and Communities Foundation of Texas. One hundred percent of donations received by the Clinton Foundation and the Communities Foundation of Texas go directly to relief efforts. For more information, visit www.clintonbushhaitifund.org.

You can contribute in any of three ways:

  • visit our secure online donation page

  • Text the word “QUAKE” to 20222 to donate $10 to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, charged to your cell phone bill.

  • Mail

    The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund
    c/o William J. Clinton Foundation
    Donations Department
    610 President Clinton Avenue
    Little Rock, AR 72201

    OR

    The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund
    c/o Communities Foundation of Texas
    5500 Caruth Haven Lane
    Dallas, TX 75225

For additional information please see our FAQs. To get in touch for general inquiries, please consult our contact page.

Visit http://clintonbushhaitifund.org for more ways to help.

1 comment
January 28, 2010

Check Out My Picks for the Ten Best Films of 2009 at elephant journal!

Over at elephant journal, I’ve just posted my picks for the “Ten Best Films of 2009″.  I hope you’ll stop by and check them out here.  (By the way, the picture to the right is a not-so-subtle hint about one of them.)  As usual, I had a lot of fun putting this post together.  I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.  And, please, share your picks in the comments for the post at elephant.

As I previously mentioned, I’ve got a couple of dharma-related posts about the year and the decade in the works for elephant.  Stay tuned for more.  And until those appear, keep your eye on elephantjournal.com for more year-end/decade-end goodies.