Today’s quote is from Tara Brach, a clinical psychologist, senior teacher and founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, and author of Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha. This is it:
If at any moment I stop and ask myself what I really care about, my life becomes aligned. It doesn’t matter what I’m in the midst of doing. If I reflect on what’s important, I’ll remember to pause, relax, and open my heart.
"A protest today in New Delhi by Burmese pro-democracy groups against the visit of Than Shwe, head of Burma's military junta." Photo by Gurinder Osan for the Associated Press.
This from The Guardian:
Burma’s military leader, Than Shwe, arrived in India today for a controversial five-day visit aimed at deepening ties between the neighbouring countries and gaining international legitimacy for elections he is expected to call in less than three months.
Shwe, who heads the military junta that has ruled Burma for nearly five decades, began his tour at Bodh Gaya, in Bihar, east India, one of the world’s most important sites of Buddhist pilgrimage. He then went to several Buddhist temples in Kushinagar.
Burmese government sources were quoted by Indian media as describing the trip as “religious in nature”. Shwe is expected to hold talks with the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, and other senior political leaders on Tuesday in Delhi before signing agreements on economic cooperation, drug smuggling and terrorist activities across the India-Burma border.
Read the rest here.
This from the Agence France-Presse:
About 150 Khmer Rouge victims gathered at the site of a notorious regime prison for a Buddhist prayer ceremony Sunday, on the eve of the first verdict at Cambodia’s UN-backed war crimes court.
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. This is it:
The practice of meditation is taking your seat in the warrior’s world. Then, throughout your life, meditative awareness shows you how to regain your balance when you lose it, and how to use the messages from the phenomenal world to further your discipline. The practice of meditation also allows you to be completely grounded in reality. Then, if someone asks, “How do I know that you are not overreacting to situations?” you simply reply, “My posture in the saddle, my seat on the earth, speaks for itself.”
An image from Nati Baratz's documentary "Unmistaken Child."
…and I really, really liked it. Sure, it’s right in my wheelhouse, but I’m also a film snob who doesn’t necessarily hold every film about Buddhism in high regard. Unmistaken Child is a remarkable documentary about the search for one reincarnate Tibetan Buddhist lama in particular that ends up being a fascinating, balanced, ultimate memorable look of the whole tulku system. Filled with striking moments, it places an all-too-rare trust in its audience to look at a complicated situation and sort it out for themselves. Bravo, director Nati Baratz!
Go rent it, everybody–you won’t regret it.
