Showing posts with label resilience. Show all posts
Showing posts with label resilience. Show all posts

Friday, October 31, 2025

Signs of progress in meditation (Rinpoche)


How do I know if I'm becoming a better meditator? Signs of progress with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
(Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche) Premiered Aug. 20, 2024: Although meditation instructions are often simple and easy to understand, knowing whether we are practicing correctly can be difficult. [There's nothing easy about applying the easy instructions, nothing simple about actually doing the practice that sounded to terribly simple that there should have been nothing to it.] How do we know if it is being effective and helping us progress along the path of awakening (enlightenment)? In this monthly teaching, Mingyur Rinpoche gives helpful advice to assess how our "calm abiding practice" (samatha) or "insight meditation practice" (vipassana) is progressing.

🔗 Joy of Living Meditation Program: Learn meditation under the skillful guidance of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche at own pace. https://joy.tergar.org/ 🔗 Vajrayana Online: Study and practice of the Tibetan Buddhism with Mingyur Rinpoche. https://learning.tergar.org/ 🔗Online events, retreats with Mingyur Rinpoche https://events.tergar.org/ 🔗 About Tergar Path: https://tergar.org/programs/
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Monday, September 22, 2025

Train like a Jedi: U.S. nun Pema Chodron



Pema Chodron is a wise woman (Medium)
American Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist nun Pema Chödrön, author of When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times, is like female Yoda, a character fashioned after a Tibetan Buddhist lama or master (with an ejaculatory speaking pattern and syntax of the 14th Dalai Lama).

Here the great monastic writer has advice on rousing ourselves when energy dwindles. We can train like Jedis under a master and view it as Obi-Wan Kenobi would.

One of Ven. Chödrön's most famous books, When Things Fall Apart, discusses uncertainty and how to find the good in discomfort and difficulty.


It's counterintuitive, but try it.
How can we live our lives when everything seems to fall apart—when we are continually overcome by fear, anxiety, and pain?

The answer, American Pema Chödrön suggests, might be just the opposite of what we would expect.

Here, in her most beloved and acclaimed work, she shows that moving toward painful situations and becoming intimate with them can open up our hearts in ways we never before imagined.


What will we do then?
Drawing from traditional Buddhist wisdom, she offers life-changing tools for transforming suffering and negative patterns into habitual ease and boundless joy.

Pema Chödrön's perennially best-selling classic on overcoming life's difficulties cuts to the heart of spirituality and personal growth.

Now in a newly designed 20th-anniversary edition, to which she's added a new afterword, it makes for a perfect gift and addition to one's spiritual library.  More
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Saturday, September 13, 2025

Regrow Altadena: Free Fest (9/13-14)


Regrow Altadena (BASEstud.io)
REGROW ALTADENA: Here's the overview: We are hosting a "FREE Regrow Altadena: Resilient, Sustainable Communities" beginning on Saturday, Sept. 13th.

This FREE two-day event brings together innovation and community, featuring resilient and affordable homebuilding and home hardening solutions, people-focused mobility, community emergency hub concepts, and shared neighborhood resources like solar, fire detectors, and gardens.

The program also features panel conversations (one with Dharma Buddhist Meditation's Seven)—hosted by and centered on Altadena voices—with active audience participation.
TOPICS INCLUDE:

RESILIENCE and COMMUNITY ASSETS Community + Climate + Culture 🌱 Regrow Altadena is where innovation meets community.

Join R.A. for two days of hands-on climate solutions, resilient home ideas, shared gardens, local food, and music that moves the soul. And all of it is 100% FREE.

Together, we’re building a future where neighborhoods are stronger, greener, and more connected. #RegrowAltadena #ClimateSolutions #CommunityStrong

Hands in the soil, feet on the dance floor
We're here to rock out and move our bums!
From solar powered neighborhoods to thriving community gardens, Regrow Altadena is about solutions all can see, taste, and feel. And yes—it’s free with live music.

Music by Soul Force Project (with Paul Livingstone, Alma Cielo, and band). 🎶 Bring family, ideas, and some dancing shoes! #ClimateAction #LocalLove

Where neighbors become a movement
This isn’t just an event—it’s a blueprint for a resilient Altadena. 🌞 Affordable, fire-hardened homes 🌿 Fresh, local food 🎵 Live music that keeps us inspired Come for the ideas. Stay for the connection. Leave with hope. #Vegan #ResilientCommunities #ClimateFuture

Power in what we share 🌞

The sun will rise again over this city.
From solar panels to shared gardens, Regrow Altadena is about building community assets that keep us strong. Add fire detectors, clean energy, and the wisdom of local voices—and together we’ve got a neighborhood that thrives, no matter what comes our way. FREE and for everyone. #SharedStrength #CommunityPower

Voices + Solar + Safety Altadena’s greatest resource? Its people. 💬 That’s why Regrow Altadena is weaving local voices together with practical tools—solar power, thriving gardens, and fire detection that saves lives. Because resilience isn’t built alone—it’s built together. #ResilientTogether #LocalVoices

BUILD BETTER & HOME HARDENING Safer Homes, Stronger Communities 🏡✨ Regrow Altadena is FREE and open to everyone! Learn how to fire-harden a home and keep our neighborhoods resilient. Add in local food, gardens, and live music—and we’ve got a weekend that’s both fun and future-proof. #FreeEvent #ResilientHomes

Protect what's loved

Wildfires are real—but so are solutions. 💪 At this FREE Regrow Altadena event, discover simple ways to make local homes more fire-resistant, explore resilient community ideas, and celebrate with food, neighbors, and live music. Let’s protect Altadena, together. #FireSafe #CommunityStrong

From Roofs to Roots FREE weekend event → real-world solutions. 🔥 Fire-hardened homes 🌱 Community gardens 🎶 Local music 🌞 Clean energy Regrow Altadena is where resilience meets joy. Bring family, connect with neighbors, and leave with tools to build a safer, greener future. #FreeEvent #ResilientAltadena #ClimateAction

Build homes that stand strong
Learning from Pacific Palisades Fire 2025
🏡 Fire seasons are changing—but our homes can adapt. At Regrow Altadena, explore fire-resilient building ideas: ember-resistant materials, smart design, and landscaping that protects. It’s FREE, it’s practical, and it’s about protecting what we love most—our families and our community. #FireResilientHomes #StrongerTogether

Safer by Design 🔥 The future of homebuilding is fire-resilient. From non-combustible, fast, and efficient new build solutions to defensible space, Regrow Altadena is bringing builders, designers, and neighbors together to share the tools and know-how. All free. All for a safer and more connected community. #ClimateReadyHomes #ResilientLiving

Tomorrow’s Homes, Today We don’t just rebuild—we rebuild smarter. 🌿 Join us at Regrow Altadena to learn how homes can be both beautiful and fire-resilient, Free resources, free inspiration, and live music to fuel the spirit. #FireSmart #CommunityStrong

PEOPLE FOCUSED MOBILITY Streets for People FREE event 🚲🚶‍♂️ Regrow Altadena is about people-first mobility: safer streets, green transit, and walkable neighborhoods. Come imagine a future where getting around is healthy, fun, and connected. #MobilityForAll #FreeEvent

Move together

What if streets were built for people, not just cars? 🚦 At FREE Regrow Altadena, explore people-focused mobility solutions, from walkable design to clean transport. Plus food, music, and neighbors. #CommunityStrong #MobilityMatters #FreeEvent

Step Into the Future Resilient streets, safe walking, clean rides. 🚴‍♀️ At Regrow Altadena, we’re reimagining mobility—together. It’s FREE, it’s fun, and it’s for everyone. #PeopleFirst #ClimateSolutions

CLEAN and HEALTHY LIVING Eat Green, Live Clean FREE event! 🥗🌱 Discover plant-powered meals, local gardens, and fresh ways to eat clean and live healthy. Add in music and community—this is food for body + soul. #PlantBasedLiving #EatGreen

Fresh from the garden, straight to the table
Can we grow groves of delicious fruit?
At Regrow Altadena, taste how clean eating and local growing can transform our health. Vegan flavors, fresh ideas, and music that moves us—all FREE. #HealthyEating #VeganVibes

Food That Loves You Back Plant-based. Fresh. Local. 🌿 Join us at FREE Regrow Altadena and explore how clean eating fuels healthy, resilient living. Bring an appetite for change (and good food). #CleanAndGreen #EatLocal #FreeEvent

Rebuilding with native plants panel
FIRE-ADAPTIVE VEGETATION and HEAT ISLANDS Cool the Block, Protect the Home FREE event 🌱☀️ Learn how fire-smart gardens and shade trees can keep our homes safe and our streets cooler. Solutions that grow with us. #FireSmart #BeatTheHeat
  • PANEL on Sunday at 7:00 pm focuses on fire risk. Rising temperatures are reshaping how communities manage landscapes. This panel explores how native vegetation, shaded corridors, and green infrastructure can reduce wildfire risk while lowering urban heat. Panelists discuss approaches to land stewardship that balance ecological health with public safety, how residents can turn yards, parks, and public spaces into buffer zones against wildfires and extreme seasonal temperatures.
Green Shields Against Fire + Heat Plant choices matter. The right trees and gardens can protect homes from fire and cut neighborhood heat. 🌿

🔥 Find out how at FREE Regrow Altadena—where solutions grow stronger together. #ClimateReady #ResilientAltadena #FreeEvent

Shade, Safety, and Shared Roots: From cooling tree canopies to fire-hardened yards, we’re building a safer, cooler future—together. 🌳 Join us for FREE workshops, food, and music at Regrow Altadena. #FireResilient #CoolCommunities

FUTURE ALTADENA Future Altadena: Strong roots, bright future

🌄 What does tomorrow look like for Altadena? A community that protects its people, preserves its history, and plans smart for the future. At Regrow Altadena, the Future Altadena panel will explore how neighborhoods can thrive through thoughtful design, resilient infrastructure, and equity-centered growth. FREE, community-driven, and full of inspiration. #FutureAltadena #ResilientCommunities

Imagine Altadena, Reimagined ✨ The future isn’t something that happens to us—it’s something we build together. From local identity and grassroots organizing to climate-ready development, the Future Altadena panel brings voices from across the community to shape a stronger, more sustainable tomorrow. And yes—there’s food, music, and connection. All FREE. #AltadenaStrong #CommunityFuture

From Past to Future, Together Altadena’s story is rooted in resilience. 🌳 Now it’s time to write the next chapter. At Regrow Altadena, the Future Altadena panel dives into how housing, small business, culture, and green innovation can create a future where everyone thrives. Join us—free, local, and full of ideas worth sharing. #FutureAltadena #CommunityStrong

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS
The BASEstud.io Regrow Altadena Expo is looking for dedicated volunteers to help facilitate our two-day event focused on resilient, sustainable communities. This is a unique opportunity to gain experience in event management, network with innovators, and support community-responsive innovation.

Our exhibitors and speakers will focus on practical solutions for sustainable rebuilding. If you have a passion for climate solutions, green technology, or community impact, we'd love to have you on our team. Volunteer roles offer a behind-the-scenes look at the future of sustainable development. Learn more and apply to volunteer here.

Let's restore the foothills with native plants.
Want to build resilient communities? 💪 Volunteer for the BASEstud.io Regrow Altadena Expo! Help innovators and neighbors on Sept. 13-14th and make a tangible impact. ➡️ Learn more and APPLY TO VOLUNTEER HERE. #RegrowAltadena #Volunteer #CommunityBuilding #Altadena Join the BASEstud.io family!

🌱 Help us create a more sustainable Altadena at our two-day Expo, Sept. 13-14, 2025. Meet awesome people, learn about green innovation, and give back. Sign up. #Altadena #VolunteersNeeded #CommunityImpact #SustainableLiving

Gain behind-the-scenes experience at the BASEstud.io Regrow Altadena Expo, Sept. 13-14. Network with innovators from LACI and help build a greener future. Volunteer with us! #VolunteerOpportunity #CleanTech #EventManagement #LACI #ResilientCommunities
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Tuesday, July 30, 2024

Greatest American for a day: Simone Biles

Team USA raises the American flag after winning gold with Simone Biles Owens in the center

Back, long ago, before Paris, Team USA succeeded. And now Simone Biles wins gold (CNN).
Team USA's Jade Carey (left), Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee, and Simone Biles celebrate after winning gold during the gymnastics team final at Bercy Arena on Tuesday in Paris (Wally Skalij/LA Times).
.
Look, Everybody, I can fly! Gymnast Biles in air
(LA Times) Fans at Bercy Arena wore white T-shirts with the Olympic rings printed across the front. Each ring featured a photo of a U.S. gymnast inside. Underneath, there was a single word: “Redemption.”
This felt like more. It was relief. It was a release. It was gold. The four members of the Olympic team who remembered their Tokyo disappointments rewrote their narratives by leading the United States of America back to gold with a dominant wire-to-wire performance in the team final on Tuesday.

Finishing with an untouchable 171.296 score, the north Americans ran across the floor after Simone Biles clinched the victory on floor, raising the U.S. flag to all sides of the arena and posing for photos.
Three years after withdrawing in the Olympic final because of "mental health" concerns, Biles blew a kiss to the crowd as she saluted the judges after her floor routine. More:

I don't like this slave Jesse Owens fellow.
Her name is Simone [Aryan] Biles OWENS? And no one has noticed the similarity to that other great Olympian, Jesse Owens? He humiliated Hitler, Nazi officials, and white supremacists everywhere as a Black American beating the "master" race and others while Adolf and colleagues sat in the stands having to explain it to themselves. That was the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Blacks are better at sports? Diverse Americans are better than monochromatic Germans?


Ha, ha, Hitler! Eat this flag. This one's for Jesse Owens, furor! Go, Team USA, go!

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Thursday, July 25, 2024

US Buddhist Sharon S. on The Moth (audio)

Who's the beautiful hippie on the left next to Dipa, Dipa's mom (Dipa Ma), and Jesus' brother?




We wondered about her weight until we met her
Sharon Salzberg is a pioneer in the field of Buddhist meditation, a world-renowned JuBu teacher and New York Times bestselling author.

She has played a crucial role [along with her colleagues and fellow travelers Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein] in bringing meditation and mindfulness to the West and into mainstream culture since 1974, when she first began teaching.
Back in old Calcutta with Saint Dipa Ma
Salzberg is the co-founder of the first Western meditation center in the US: The Insight Meditation Society, in Barre, Massachusetts.

She has authored ten books, including the New York Times bestseller, Real Happiness, her initial work, Lovingkindness, and her 2017 release, Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection.

She's a great teacher full of quotes.
Acclaimed for her down-to-earth teaching style, Salzberg offers a secular, modern approach to Buddhist Teachings (Dharma), making them instantly accessible.

She is a regular columnist for ON BEING, a contributor to the Huffington Post, and the host of her own podcast, THE METTA HOUR, with over 70 episodes. Learn more about all of these at sharonsalzberg.com.
What about her weight?


In the world, is there Real Happiness to be found?
If you're like us, you may wonder about an attained person being obese. (How dare us acknowledge that as if it matters!)

We wondered about Sharon Salzberg's weight, which was an issue for us if not for her or anyone else. We went to meet her in person in Hollywood at the new (now defunct) InsightLA East on Melrose years ago. All we wanted to do was get an answer to a vexing question about the behavior of stream enterers and noble ones: Shouldn't their morality (sila) and conduct (karma) be perfect, unblemished, now spotless no matter how mottled it was beforehand?

Dr. Gabor Mate and Sharon Salzberg at the Living An Authentic Life Summit.

The body today is a reflection of the past.
She laughed, we laughed, what a silly question. (We have asked others, being so privileged in this life to having met about 21 noble ones and maybe even seven arhats).

There is a widespread belief, particularly in Theravada Buddhist countries, that sotapannas ("stream enterers," those persons who have entered the first stage of Buddhist enlightenment, which come in various grades according to The Path to Freedom).
It is simply not true. We have seen this with our own eyes. The evidence that they are capable of being immoral (doing wrong things) is right in the Ratana Sutta ("Jewel Sutra," "Treasure Discourse"), one of the most widely chanted sutras and parittas in all of Theravada.

Sharon is our kalyana-mitta, noble friend.
But try to tell that to anyone, and all they will say is that that person must just not be one. The person CAN be one and slip up or choose to do wrong or do wrong by habit or do wrong unawares, but they cannot conceal the wrongdoing. (Even this is shaky because they can change the subject, not respond, play dumb, choose not to talk about it, so long as they've mumbled a confession or voiced one to someone else, when the text reads as if they are perfectly transparent, full of admission, and apologetic. This has not been our experience).

Who writes about faith but those who need it most?
Even, and this is shocking, an arhat (arahant, a fully enlightened person) is capable of breaking monastic rules. (This is important because, according to the tradition, one would pass away after attaining final liberation unless one could become a monastic and live in a sangha of moral people, a view widely accepted except for Dr. Daniel Ingram, a self-proclaimed arhat who is not a monk but is the author of the great work, Hardcore Dharma).

Surely, if such beings were perfect, the ones they are liable to break would not be specified in the Vinaya texts. What is true is that different types of enlightened beings, aryans, are not capable of breaking certain rules of the moral code, but to think that one is morally perfect at stream entry is a MYTH. It does not accord to reality.

Another belief is that an enlightened person cannot be mentally imbalanced, and this is likely true. But it's only true of arhats. If a person with a learning disability or worse were to awaken, that would all clear up. The evidence for this is the story of a simpleton monk, within whom the Buddha saw potential. So he gave him the simplest meditation of all -- to simply rub a clean white cloth with his clean hand.

In doing so, it is said, the cloth became discolored, and the monk realized impermanence (anicca) as his hand was wearing away, sweating, or became soiled, and its cells were rubbing off, staining the white cloth. As soon as he fully awakened, his previous mental incapacity was instantly cured. (To read the story, one gets the sense that retardation or other disability are like a spell, like when a person suffering from laryngitis and does not have a voice is asked something and answers perfectly. Someone notices and asks, "So you can talk now?" And the laryngitis is instantly back. This may be true with all kinds of illnesses, like they are illusions we bought into or powered by karma).

What's the point?

Are we "fat shaming"? What's our point? Maybe there's a glandular issue.

We may be immature and jerks, but we notice weight and other characteristics -- unlike our readers, who are all openminded, tolerant, accepting, celebratory, and pro-everything.

Others, nonreaders, might wonder how a person so advanced in meditation, having attained the noble path, could suffer an illness that we all regard as having to do with self-control and morality. Morality?  Yes. Kamesu-micchacara (usually translated as "sexual misconduct") actually means "SENSUAL misconduct," which includes gluttony, excess consumption, hedonism of the tongue's taste buds.

Take the annual Meditation Challenge
We know, thanks to Dr. Gabor Mate, that childhood trauma -- which Salzberg suffered, which we suffered, which what American hasn't suffered, and we're said to be the lucky ones living on top of the world (when we know we have it pretty bad emotionally and psychologically inside the Empire) -- is at the root of addictions (see In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts) and illnesses (When the Body Says No).

So wouldn't a person at realization suddenly be healthy in mind and body? No, not necessarily. It might be so for arhats, but we wouldn't think so.

"We can always begin again" - Sharon Salzberg
Now, there's no problem with it if one knows that   At least we used to. We judge people who are heavy. We are heavy.

A beautiful story Sharon told us as we sat with her trying to whisper our questions but then attracted a group of people afraid to ask their own tough questions was about how she came to write Lovingkindness. We might have pointed out how "real" and "honest" she was when she spoke, not at all the "Metta Booster" we thought she would be. She smiled broadly because she had heard this before and said something like, "Do you think people who write books about metta do it because they have so much metta?"

We all laughed again. We did think that before we thought about it. What could be further from the truth? We write books about what we need to learn most. That's what we teach. This website should be called "Dummy Quarterly," because, you see, we're dumb.

The way of wisdom is approaching the wise.
We're trying to be transcendentally wise and liberated. We are not saying we're there only that we're going. Going where? Wisdomville, beyond the Beyond. But we won't be getting there without asking a lot of dumb questions first. The only "dumb" question is the one that doesn't get asked (or the one so weighed down with assumptions that it boggles the mind).

If we've done wrong or offended readers in talking about this, we can always begin again. It's back to the mat and noble silence. We're the fortunate ones because we met and fell in love with Sharon Salzberg, who may not have been born a loving and faith-filled person but sure is one now. 😍😇😂
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