When I first heard the Buddhist teachings on loving kindness, compassion, and forgiveness, I was incredibly skeptical.
In the beginning, I don't think forgiveness was even in my vocabulary. The only reason I opened myself to these meditation practices, often called heart practices, at all was because I had tremendous faith in the practices of mindfulness (paying attention to the present moment), the Buddha, and my teachers, who assured me that it was safe to love again.I heard things like "love is your true nature" or "the heart has a natural tendency toward compassion." Now I had already been meditating for some time, examining my inner-world through mindfulness, and I didn't see any of the love and compassion of which these teachers spoke.
When I looked into my heart and mind I only saw fear, anger, hatred, judgment, more fear, and a lot of lustful cravings. When I sat quietly, paying attention to my breath, my attention was repeatedly drawn into fantasies of vengeful destruction or pornographic sex:
One moment I was bashing in my stepfather's head with a Louisville slugger, the next I was in a threesome with Madonna [pictured here in green cap] and Traci Lords [against wall].
I was pretty sure that was all that was in there. Mindfulness helped me deal with my inner confusion. It allowed to me to ignore my mind at times or not take it so personally at others, but it didn't seem to be magically creating a loving heart out of my inner-critic/terrorist/pervert/tough guy.
In the early days of my meditation practice I was only interested in mindfulness. I was introduced to breath awareness meditations and as a result I experienced the direct benefits of concentration and mindfulness. I immediately found temporary relief from fear of the future and shame about the past.
Learning to train my mind to pay close attention to the present moment was difficult, but fruitful. I experienced the immediate, if only momentary, relief from the suffering I created with my mind's tendency to be lost in the future and past.
Before I began my meditation practice, when my mind started to worry about what would happen in the future, I would get completely sucked into the fears and often become convinced that the worst-case scenario would play out.
Mindfulness gave me the tools to let go of those thoughts and to bring my attention into the body's experience of the breath. Mindfulness made sense to me and it wasn't difficult to gain a verified faith [saddha] in that aspect of Buddhism. For me, mindfulness proved to be the doorway to the rest of the Buddha's Dharma, or teachings. I came to believe that it was going to be possible to train my mind, but I still had no hope for my heart. More
How does one meditate? It is the easiest thing to learn yet one of the hardest to practice. Ven. Yuttadhammo explains how in the first video in his series. But why meditate?
Physically, we do not want to sit still without sleeping. Mentally, we are restless or lustful, angry or fearful, bored and confused. So a practice that brings clarity, energizes us, and somehow brings relaxation and serenity? The mind will say, "Impossible! I can do it better" as it thinks us into a tizzy or a dead end.
In my ongoing effort to find ways to adapt Buddhism to modern American life, I have long been influenced by the example of Vimala-Kirti, the "householder sage" of ancient India (pictured).There are several English translations of the Vimala-Kirti Sutra. The one I like best is by Dr. Robert A. Thurman entitled The Holy Teaching of Vimala-Kirti. Dr. Thurman's translation is from the Tibetan, as the Sanskrit original has been lost.
Like the better-known Heart and Diamond Sutras, the Vimala-Kirti Sutra was an important text for the Zen traditions of China and Japan. In many Japanese Zen monasteries even today there is an alcove with a statue of Vimala-Kirti, wearing the hair and clothing of a layperson, expounding the teaching.
In Zen, Vimala-Kirti is best known for his "thunderous silence," referring to the time when he ended a long debate about the essence of wisdom by saying nothing at all. Vimala-Kirti was a popular figure among the ruling classes of ancient China, who could identify with his role in society.
The highest spiritual stage in Zen is called "return to the marketplace," in which the spiritual adept, after long years of spiritual training, returns to society to live as an ordinary person and teach others. Vimala-Kirti is traditionally seen as the embodiment of this highest stage.
This is how the sutra describes Vimala-Kirti's lifestyle:
It makes me wonder though, why do we unquestioningly buy into this terrible fantasy? Every girl wants to be looked up to, but do we want to rule and be worshiped as "royalty"?
Whereas we're the United States, Britain one once the United Kingdom, a multinational EMPIRE that did not keep its hegemony and tyranny a secret. We keep ours a secret, built in secret by economic hitmen and jackals. Of course, it's not us and it wasn't them; we're all victims of our governments do in our name. More cake and parades for everyone!
I want to be rich and famous, too, like Evita singing Don't cry for me, Argentina! But not on the backs of "commoners," which by default means everyone but royals. I prefer castles and mansions everyone can visit and hang out at over a "to the manor born" attitude that means everyone else sleeps in a barn with the livestock.
The wealth on parade -- the royal grounds, jewels, cars, carriages, and architecture -- was all stolen. It is the booty of war, invasions, and conquests, not to mention working on the backs of the Island's own peasants, lords, and patriots.
Recently, the FBI opened "The Vault," revealing memos it has denied for decades. Not only has the government been lying to us, which is hardly news to anyone in the United States, there is absolutely no doubting that it has been deceiving us.
In 1950, controversial author Frank Scully released the book, "Behind the Flying Saucers." This effort, written during the beginnings of UFO awareness in the United States, was considered to contain fabricated, or sensationalized accounts of four UFO crashes.One of the accounts covered an alleged crash at Aztec, New Mexico in 1948, only a brief period of time after the famous Roswell incident.
Scully's information came largely from a mysterious Dr. Gee. Depending on which commentary you read, the identity of this physician is attributed to either a real doctor, or a fictitious person who was composed of elements of several different witnesses.
Scully described the Aztec crash as that of a craft which was measured at exactly 99.99 feet in diameter, covered by a material which resembled a light weight, shiny metal that possessed incredible strength and durability. It seems that nothing on this earth could penetrate or damage the hull of this craft from another world. More
How better to make a splash than to employ a little shock value? It would not be the first time, as Kate's see through college dress (right) shows. Her official selection was see through but longer than expected:
The most photographed woman on Earth, the beautiful Princess Kate Middleton (not to be her official title due to House of Windsor technicalities), has to surprise the world. And what better way than following on the heels of her last runway modeling adventure? We predict that she will be showing off her youthful form. Not since Jackie O's , Jennifer Aniston's hair, or Princess Diana's dress has there been this much made of a fairytale wedding.
Karma distinguishes beings -- high and low, beautiful and homely, rich and poor, smart and slow, long-lived and short-lived, coupled and alone, and so on.
"Love at first sight" is no accident but the result of karma (Lin Pernille/Flickr.com).
Understanding this, beings are wise to engage again and again in meritorious deeds (good karma, any actions motivated by nongreed, nonhatred, and/or nondelusion). It is not every world that one has the opportunity to make good karma -- whether by negligence in superior worlds of pleasure or preoccupation with pain in inferior worlds.
An elderly couple once came to the Buddha. They expressed their love for one another, having been promised in marriage to each other from a young age.
What does it mean to say "We are all one"? A very spiritual girl I knew scoffed at the notion. Even after becoming an expert Buddhist meditator, she did not speak of nonduality, Oneness, or unity. She could see through the delusion of separation, yet she would not make the claim of all being one. She asked, "Do you think we're all one? What does that even mean?"
Official trailer for Tom Shadyac's film, "I AM" now in theaters: iamthedoc.com
It might be better to ask, In what way are we actually different? Take a set of building blocks and build something. Everything tangible is the same. Everything intangible (the arrangement of all the tangible things) is within the potential of others.
When we're in love, we love connecting, merging, losing our burdensome ego (our sense of separateness or isolation). But even when we hate someone or something, we are bonding with it by our attention/intention, and so we run into it again and again. How great, then, to cleanse the heart of bias and partiality and accept everything with the same equanimity and peace of mind that still allows us to act and respond appropriately without getting snared and entangled.
Our main separation -- and our main problem -- is the delusion that we are apart, independent actors, isolated, alone, abandoned, forgotten, or left behind. We are not.
We are united (whether we like it or not at any given moment), we are together, we are in the same boat (Earth as our own Easter Island, and we all know what happened there -- and if not, we can all get on the same Network and find out), we are inter-dependent, we are All One in this sense and probably many others.
And it is possible to glimpse in a mystical/shamanic/DMT (the spirit molecule)-fueled state that this is literally true at all times and in all situations even though we now look back and feel we were alone a lot of the time. We were never alone. She agreed.
It's easy to forget this growing up in our competitive society watching "Survivor" and wondering why Donald Trump seems to get off firing people and feeding a scarcity mentality. But even Christians have an easy reference to this universal truth in theistic terms: There's that poster in the bathrooms of footprints in the sand; when we felt most alone and look back to prove it, we were actually being carried.
It said polythene bag factories that failed to close would lose their operating licenses and face legal action. The move comes two years after authorities in Burma's central city of Mandalay successfully prohibited polythene bags to protect the environment.
Sean David Morton "Prophecy 2012: Road to Tomorrow and Beyond"
In this amazing talk framed in terms of Mayan calendar prophecy, a talk also given at the October 2010 Conscious Life Expo, Sean David Morton makes sense of what is really going on.Some ideas may sound so outlandish as to put mainstream listeners off until these ideas are combined with irrefutable facts: Much of what Morton was saying in 2009 that was unbelievable then has already come true!
The rest of what he is saying, therefore, becomes more believable. He is not giving breaking news on specifics (that was already done by others, and each key term such as "FEMA camp" or "Promise 2 software" can be fruitfully explored with any browser).
He is tying together an incredible array of specifics from a spiritual perspective, as contrasted with the scientific perspective provided by his co-presenter in another talk.
A new film titled Karma: The New Revolution explains the role of Karma in golfer Tiger Woods’ apology. It explains the role karma played in the death of entertainment icon Michael Jackson and highlights how Karma Yoga has helped individuals overcome the credit crunch, cancer, and crime. Filmed in over a dozen countries, it is presented by Acharya Zen, who was reportedly quoted as saying: Karma and redemption go hand in hand and in Verse 173 of The Dhammapada, the Buddha states that "a person who makes amends for mistakes can light up the world like the Moon emerging from clouds." This suggests that Tiger Woods can redeem himself by following the Buddha’s last words "Be lamps unto yourselves" (Appo deepo bhava) or, as the film's tagline runs, “Take Charge of your Destiny!”
It's not clear how this "settles" anything. It might have been better to convincingly answer why it was so hard to produce this evidence until now, or to explain why millions of dollars were spent on behalf of Obama to cover his history and paper trail. 
Try to interview anyone or to follow his meteoric rise from a poor school in Hawaii to Harvard. The best explanation was provided by Dave Emory, suggesting that Obama was groomed for many years by clandestine services and installed. How does providing a government document from a corrupt government prove anything? After all, how hard is it for the CIA to produce the necessary documents to prove anything they want? Spy organizations do it all the time. The fix is in, and it has been for years.
They already pulled strings to make him a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Never mind that he abandoned his campaign promises to pull out of Afghanistan and close the US torture facility/prison at Guantanamo. Far from becoming more peaceful since being crowned a Nobel Peace laureate, he has orchestrated more war and causes of war:
Obama has backed more corporate exploits and has successfully done more to further Bush administration policies than a President Dick Cheney ever could have.
Pres. Obama may not, legally speaking, be president of the United States as we know it. But, according to investigator and analyst Sean David Morton, he is president of the Corporation of the United States (US, Inc.). According to investigator and analyst Sean David Morton, that is why he "fumbled" the public oath of office and then did a re-do in closed chambers. 
There was no chance the Donald Trump was going to depose the possible future leader of the unfree world, a world-president.
What this public display between Birthers and Apologists reveals is amazing: It is not Republicans vs. the USA, nor is it Democrats vs. the USA. Both parties are partly in collusion and partly in the dark.
There is a "shadowy government" (Sen. Inouye) and a "military-industrial complex" (Pres. Einsenhower) that makes the decisions regardless of whether a Democrat or a Republican is in office.
They select who holds office, then they tell them what to say not by force but through advisers and pulling the strings of the media, industry, banking, and clandestine services (American spying agencies).
The hope that by voting for "change" we'll get actual change is revealed as a fantasy.
We're lucky to have a handsome, thoughtful, well-spoken fraud in Barack "Barry Soetoro" Obama.
What will we be offered as an "alternative" in 2012, a Sarah Palin/Donald Trump ticket? The bottom line is, We don't need a third party. We need a second one.
51. Now at that time a wandering ascetic named Subhadda was dwelling at Kusinara. And Subhadda the wandering ascetic heard it said: "Today in the third watch of the night, the final passing (parinirvana) of the ascetic Gautama will take place."
Have all of these attained realization, as each of them would have it believed, or has none of them, or is it that some have attained realization and others not?"
60. "Enough, Subhadda! Let it be as it may, whether all of them have attained realization, as each of them would have it believed, or whether none of them has, or whether some have attained realization and others not. I will teach you the Dharma, Subhadda; listen and heed it well, and I will speak."
"So be it, venerable sir."
The Buddha's Lion's Roar
61. And the Buddha spoke, saying: "In whatsoever teaching (dharma) and discipline, Subhadda, there is not found the Noble Eightfold Path, neither is there found a true wandering ascetic of the first, second, third, or fourth degree of enlightenment (saintliness).
But in whatsoever dharma and discipline there is found the Noble Eightfold Path, there is found a true ascetic of the first, second, third, and fourth degrees of saintliness.
Now in this Dharma and Discipline, Subhadda, is found the Noble Eightfold Path. And in it alone are also found true ascetics of the first, second, third, and fourth degrees of enlightenment.
Devoid of true ascetics are the systems of other teachers. But if, Subhadda, the recluses live rightly, the world will not be destitute of saints.
62. "In age but 29 was I, Subhadda,
When I renounced the world to seek the Good;
Fifty-one years have passed since then, Subhadda,
And in all that time a wanderer have I been
In the domain of virtue and of truth,
And except therein, there is no saint
(of the first degree).
Siddhartha renouncing the world at age 29 with his charioteer Channa and his beloved white stallion Kanthaka on the outskirts of the Shakyan territory (ancient northwest Indian frontier).
"And there is none of the second degree, nor of the third degree, nor of the fourth degree of saintliness. Devoid of true ascetics are the systems of other teachers. But if, Subhadda, the recluses live rightly, the world will not be destitute of saints."
63. When this was said, the wandering ascetic Subhadda spoke to the Buddha, saying: "Excellent, O venerable sir, most excellent, O venerable sir! It is as if, venerable sir, one were to set upright what had been overthrown, or to reveal what had been hidden, or to show the path to one who had gone astray, or to light a lamp in the darkness so that those with eyes might see -- even so has the Blessed One set forth the Dharma in many ways [suggesting he must have said more than is recorded here]. And so, O venerable sir, I go for guidance (sarana) to the Blessed One, the Dharma, and the Community of wandering ascetics. May I receive from the Blessed One admission to the Community and also the higher ordination."
64. "Whoever, Subhadda, having been formerly a follower of another creed (dharma or teaching), wishes to receive admission and higher ordination in this Dharma and Discipline, remains on probation for a period of four months. At the end of those four months, if the recluses are satisfied with him, they grant him admission and higher ordination as a recluse. Yet in this matter I recognize differences among people."
65. "I... will remain on probation for a period of four years. And at the end of those four years, if the recluses are satisfied with me, let them grant me admission and higher ordination as a recluse."
66. But the Buddha called Ven. Ananda and said to him: "Ananda, let Subhadda be given admission into the Community." Ven. Ananda replied: "So be it, venerable sir."
67. Then the wandering ascetic Subhadda said to Ven. Ananda: "It is a gain to you, friend Ananda, a blessing, that in the presence of the Buddha himself you have received the sprinkling of ordination as a disciple."
68. So it came about that the wandering ascetic Subhadda, in the presence of the Buddha, received admission and higher ordination. And from the time of his ordination Ven. Subhadda remained alone, secluded, heedful, ardent, and resolute [determined to reach the ultimate goal].
And before long he attained to the goal for which a worthy person goes forth rightly from the household life into homelessness, the supreme goal of the monastic life. And having by himself realized it with higher knowledge, he dwelt in it. He knew, "Destroyed is birth; the higher life is fulfilled; nothing more is to be done, and beyond this nothing more remains." Ven. Subhadda became yet another among the saints, the last disciple liberated by the Buddha himself. More
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) – Thai and Cambodian forces battled for a fourth straight day along their disputed border Monday [April 25], as Cambodia accused its neighbor of damaging two ancient temples in weekend clashes.
