Compassion –  Peaceful Practice

There is a lot of talk about compassion where I work as well as in some of the media I consume. Frequently the word compassion is paired with fatigue. Compassion-fatigue is such a hot topic there are departments and groups and initiatives and numerous other groupings with corporate sounding names being formed, set up, and initiated. Speakers are identified, topics are selected, strategies formulated, days designated, colors selected, slogans and code words promulgated, and the…

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Because of You

Often I will hear how someone feels their part in making the world a better place is unimportant or insignificant. Occasionally their discouragement is so great they feel like giving up.  In the passage I quoted today the phrase I encourage us to consider is “we, too, have obtained benefits.” Because the Buddha attained enlightenment we receive benefits. Without enlightenment, we may not have even known there had once been a Siddhartha who lived in…

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Put it on Their Heads &  Tefillah

As I read the Lotus Sutra this morning I turned to this page and the phrase “put it in their head” stood out. The act of putting the Sutra on the head is a practice we copy during our service.  When we say the Verses for Opening the Sutra we lift the Sutra at the point when we say: “When we see, hear, or touch the Sutra…” While we do not actually put it on…

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Know All These Illusions

Today I chose this passage about the Twelve Link Chain of Causation and the reality of the illusion and ignorance which leads to suffering. Here in Charlotte we have witnessed first hand in our community the unrest and suffering caused by devaluing and unfairly treating our neighbors because of a difference in skin color. We have in affect based this injustice on an illusion of difference.  I ask is the value of a diamond any…

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