Dalai Lama @ MindSay

Life has been pleasantly busy these days, it and work at "the village" have kept me away from the computer a bit and more focused when I do get on line.
Today I was particularly touched by the fact that the Dalai Lama is in Toronto and will be addressing Toronto's Buddhist community tomorrow. That  he was bestowed with an honorary Canadian Citizenship in 2006 was also a lovely thing to be reminded of during his visit. I was sad to hear there were some who were displeased with Canada's respect and admiration for him.
I attended a ceremony at a Buddhist temple in Toronto many years ago and participated in chanting with a large group of people. My sensations of the experience were very enjoyable and memorable.

Of all the things to occur on a Halloween day I hadn't imagined such an occasion as a world revered monk talking about peace, love and joy and the need for respect for one another and human rights for all people. Wow! Compared to the material world and the wild and wonderful world of thrift-retailing; news of the Dalai Lama's visit is so reassuring for this soul!

Anyway - a quick update - I just wanted to note this... there's so much more going on to write about but I'm rather just enjoying the ride right now and might get a chance to write about it later! In the meantime my idea about team building went on hold as I try to wade through and organize where researching that topic took me!

Hard to believe October is almost over...

I found out through facebook that his Holiness the Dalai Lama is coming to Madison, Wisconsin to do a public lecture in the Kohl center, so I immediately bought a ticket. I don't know how I'm going to get there or back, and it's right on top of finals week, and I'm going to have to skip my last ever classes in Italian and Journalism - but come on! It's the Dalai Lama for christ's sake! How could you pass that up? That's a once in a lifetime opportunity, I had to get a ticket.

 

So I am very excited about that! :) Should be amazing.

On This Chinese New Year...send China's government a message, awaken their sense of fairness!
- make Yourself familiar with the plight of Tibet
- their own New Year is soon to arrive
- let's help them celebrate their own New Year by supporting the petition that asks the Olympic Committe to ensure China ends it's abuses of Tibetian people and Tibetian land.

Here's what I added to the letter that will go to the International Olympic Committee;

Tibet is a beautiful and unique country with an incredible culture. I wish to honour the beautiful people of Tibet and their country and their leader. Just because they are a peace loving, generous and kind people is no reason the world should sit back and allow them to be held hostage by any country, including China. They should be adopted by the UN and allowed to flourish. Their underlying beliefs systems are something the whole world could be well served to preserve and learn from. Blessings to the gentle people of Tibet. May the world hold her in it's bossom and protect her people's rights. Long live Tibet! May their prayers hung high atop the world be answered in the best and highest good for all of earth's people! May I have a chance someday to visit her high mountains and pristine lakes, to enjoy salty yak butter tea with her gentle people and chant high above the world in prayer for peace to our earth in a free Tibet!

(there was a time we all spoke similar words for South Africa - this is not an impossible dream!)

Please sign  the petition, linked below, and become part of the beginning of a solution for a beautiful people and the beautiful lands where they live! If you aren't certain of Tibet's beauty, go to http://Flickr.com and perform a search under the word "Tibet" and you will be asounded at the beautiful photographs available to view there!

I URGE YOU ALL! Click the link below, sign the petition and leave your positive and affirming message! Make your thoughts known to the organization that can help to make a difference for Tibet.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/313171490

It takes nothing but a bit of your time that might make a big difference in the lives of many in one of the most sacred and highest places on the face of our planet. To know Tibet and her people is to love them and the land they cherish. Help them and their leader - the Dalai Lama - to free Tibet!

May Peace be in China - May Peace Be in Tibet - May Peace Prevail On Earth!

   e feliz como não posso descrever!!

 

   tudo graças à oração de ontem, à falha que cometi logo em seguida e me demonstrou que, ao contrário do afirmado, a prática não é diária, mas constante, e ao que li logo que acordei, o capítulo de Dominando a Ira e o Ódio, em Dalai Lama, O Budismo Tibetano.

 

   entretanto, lembrei-me da alegria expressa naquela foto de um grupo de monges budistas, pendurada no placard da União Budista Portuguesa, desde os maiores aos mais tenros - deviam ter não mais de dez anos, e tudo no seu olhar e sorriso transmitia uma felicidade intensa.

 

   ora, será assim tão estranho que, cada vez mais, eu sonhe tornar-me um dia uma monja budista? digam-me, para alguém nascido numa família onde nada de nada é considerado "normal", e criado segundo princípios e valores de ética apaixonadamente rectos (perdoem-me o paradoxo, mas garanto que se adequa)?

 

   imagino-me imersa na felicidade constante da prática do Dharma, da meditação e da oração, trabalhando e sorrindo lado a lado com seres em busca da mesma luz, como feliz me senti ontem no meio de outros budistas em progresso na União Budista...

 

   só o tempo o dirá.

.The View was on when I came home from the gym. Normally, The View tends to be a show in which women discuss sappy, shallow topics. They even said it themselves. The words "new vibrators" were in the sentence. But today, I had to sit down and watch. They were discussing religion. I didn't think they did that. Barbara Walters was explaining the fact that she had a special coming on tonight at 9 in which she interviews all sorts of religious leaders. She even spoke with the Dalai Lama. I'd like to meet the Dalai Lama. He seems like a really great guy. He almost makes me want to be buddhist. Anyway... They showed a clip from an interview with a failed Muslim suicide bomber in an Israeli prison. He was telling Walters that everyone who wasn't a Muslim was going to hell. Walters and the other ladies then moved into a heated discussion that very quickly transformed into an argument. Half of them were saying that it's wrong to say that only your religion is right and that everyone else is going to hell. They thought everyone should practice some tolerance. The one who's recently lost an obscene amount of weight--I have no clue what her name is--began raising her voice to say that it is in no way wrong to say that her religion is the only true religion. She proclaimed that she knows for a fact that Christianity is the true religion (sort of like the brand). I had never seen such an argument take place on television outside of one of those disgusting "I cheated on my boyfriend 25 times" shows. All because of religion. All because people see things differently. Is this why people kill eachother? Is this what people are dying for?

.You know, the funny thing is, many religious leaders don't even accept Revelation as an actual book of the bible. It's the only book that describes hell in any actual detail. Martin Luther didn't accept it. He thought it was bunk. So where does that leave Christians? What is hell, then? True, Jesus talked about hell a little. Not nearly as much as my pastor made it out to be--"More than anything else." What a lark. The truth is, without Revelation there is no fire and brimstone. There aren't a lot of things. It's just the people without God. For without God, what do you have?

.I don't know what I believe in this area anymore. Because of my religious background, I've spent much of my life worried about hell. I don't tell a lot of people that. When I do, the baptists usually spit back, "If you were really a Christian, you wouldn't have to worry about hell." But that's just it. Who's really a Christian? According to the bible, Jesus has to "know" you to let you in. But what is knowing? And what about the people who never hear about Jesus? Do they just go to hell? And don't give me that crap that "everyone gets their chance to hear about the Lord." I'm sorry, but that is bunk. There are people in places we never thought existed. Don't tell me that missionaries have been there. I like to believe that my God is a just and merciful god. There's no fire and brimstone with my God. If you are truly evil, then yeah, you'll suffer. But my God's not going to send an innocent person who simply has never heard of him--or has been told from birth never to listen to Christians--to this dark place known as "hell". So if that's what being a Christian means to you, then I'm sorry. You can count me out.