Rev. Danny Fisher

Just a Buddhist Minister Trying to Benefit Beings

Month: January, 2010

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.

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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.

January 28, 2010

Howard Zinn (1922-2010)

I was sad to hear the news yesterday of the death of Howard Zinn, Boston University history professor, public intellectual, activist, and author of the really, really important book A People’s History of the United States: 1492-The Present.  He was a vitally important thinker, and, as his friend Caryl Rivers called him, “a happy warrior.”  He will be missed.

Here’s a lovely tribute to him that showed today on Democracy Now!:

January 27, 2010

A Gift of Dharma for 1.27.10

Today’s quote is another from my first Buddhist teacher, the late Godwin Samararatne (1932-2000), whom I first quoted and wrote a little biography for here.  I swiped this quote from the great Molly De Shong at Shambhala Sun Space, who found it in the Vipassana Fellowship‘s March 2009 newsletter.  As Molly explains, “It’s an excerpt from a recording he made for a young cancer patient.”  Here it is:

See how far you can gently soften, accepting yourself as you are, without any notion of what you should become. Making friends with who you are—and really feel that friendship, that kindness.

Then can you extend that friendship, gentleness, softness even to those who have hurt you, disappointed you, frustrated you. Letting go of the hurts and wounds you have been carrying by learning to forgive, by learning to accept our common human-ness.

Learn to forgive yourself too for all the mistakes you have made in the past, not holding onto these wounds by having guilt and remorse in relation to them; and also letting go of the wounds that have been created by others. Learn to accept yourself as you are, and learn to accept others as they are, without an image of how you or they should be. Learning to be gentle to oneself and gentle to others.

Thinking: May all beings be well and happy; may all beings overcome the suffering that they create themselves.

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