Gulf War for Oil
Gulf Oil Disaster
If only those responsible and those who support the destruction and crime committed in Iraq were more directly affected.
Category: Resistance
If you live below the “poverty” level you are excused from supporting war tax as well as other ugly practices that any thinking, feeling human wants to avoid and bring to an end.
-Hermit 
http://www.realitysandwich.com/chapter_1_simplicissimus
Has anyone here read or heard about this book? Looks pretty good.
Decentralized networks, smart mobs, collective intelligence, open source software, biopolitics, the emergent social Web and the integration of love percolate the New Edge, yet how do we use all these sexy, geeky, quasi-spiritual concepts to deconstruct the global empire of control and build a movement in response?
Another cluster posting of Lojong “writing prompt” email reminders from http://lojongmindtraining.com/
Always Meditate on Whatever Provokes Resentment
Always meditate on that which is most difficult. If you do not start right away, the moment a difficulty arises, it is very hard to overcome it.
Train Without Bias in All Areas. it is Crucial to do This Pervasively and Wholeheartedly
The practice of lojong includes everyone and everything. It is important to be thorough and impartial in your practice, excluding nothing at all that comes up in your experience.
Keep the Three Inseparable
Your practice of lojong should be wholehearted and complete. In body, speech, and mind, you should be inseparable from lojong.
Pay Heed That the Three Never Wane
The first thing you should not let wane is devotion to your spiritual friend [kalyanamitra]. Your mental attitude of admiration, dedication, and gratefulness toward the spiritual friend should not diminish. The second thing you should not let wane is a delightful attitude toward lojong, or the taming of the mind. Your appreciation for receiving such teachings as lojong or mind training should not diminish. And the third thing you should not let wane is your conduct – the hinayana and Mahayana vows you have taken.
Take on the Three Principal Causes
The first cause is having a good teacher. The second cause is applying your mind and basic demeanor to the dharma. The third cause is having food and housing so that it is possible for you to practice the dharma. You should try to maintain those three situations and take delight that you have such opportunities.
Train in the Three Difficulties
When neurosis arises, you first have to recognize it as neurosis. Then you have to apply a technique or antidote to overcome it. Since neurosis basically comes from selfishness, from placing too much importance on yourself, the antidote is that you have to cut through the ego. Finally, you have to have the determination not to follow the neurosis or continue to be attracted to it. There is a sense of abruptly overcoming neurosis.
Observe These Two, Even at the Risk of Your Life
You should maintain the disciplines you have committed yourself to: in particular, [1] the refuge vow and [2] the Bodhisattva vow. You should maintain the general attitude of being a decent Buddhist and, beyond that, the special discipline of lojong, or mind training.
Whichever of the Two Occurs, Be Patient
Whether a joyful or a painful situation occurs, whatever happens to you, your practice is not swayed by it, but you maintain continual practice and continual patience.
From Training the Mind & Cultivating Loving-Kindness by Chogyam Trungpa , copyright 1993 by Diana Mukpo.
(Official Chogyam Trungpa Website)
Published by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc., Boston.
Todays email reminders from http://lojongmindtraining.com/
Look at your basic mind, just simple awareness which is not divided into sections, the thinking process that exists within you. Just look at that, see that.
The reason our mind is known as UNBORN awareness is that we have no idea of its history. We have no idea where this mind, our crazy mind, began in the beginning. It has no shape, no color, no particular portrait or characteristics. It usually flickers on and off, off and on, all the time. Sometimes it is hibernating, sometimes it is all over the place. Look at your mind. That is a part of ultimate Bodhicitta training or discipline. Our mind fluctuates constantly, back and forth, forth and back. Look at that, just LOOK AT THAT!
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If you look further and further, at your mind’s root, its base, you will find that it has no color and no shape. Your mind is, basically speaking, somewhat blank. There is nothing to it…This blankness is connected to mindfulness. To begin with, you are mindful of some THING; you are mindful of yourself,, you are mindful of your atmosphere, and you are mindful of your breath. But if you look at WHY you are mindful, beyond WHAT you are mindful of, you begin to find that there is no root. Everything begins to dissolve. That is the idea of examining the nature of unborn awareness.
From Training the Mind & Cultivating Loving-Kindness by Chogyam Trungpa , copyright 1993 by Diana Mukpo.
(Official Chogyam Trungpa Website)
Published by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc., Boston.
