In less than 1 week, Trump has wasted more than $5 BILLION of your taxpayer dollars on his war of choice on Iran.
That money could have covered the cost of SNAP for more than 2 million Americans for a year.
There's always money for war and never money for human needs.
— The Dhāraṇī Entering into Nonconceptuality (Avikalpapraveśadhāraṇī, trans. 84000)
"[Those]...who are established in the nonconceptual realm see, with their nonconceptual wisdom that is indistinguishable from what is known, that all phenomena are like the expanse of space..., illusions, mirages, dreams, echoes, reflections, the image of the moon in water, and magical creations."
www.archchicago.org/statement/-/...
A real war with real death and real suffering being treated like it’s a video game — it’s sickening. Hundreds of people are dead, mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, including scores of children who made the fatal mistake of going to school that day.
Last year, at least 32 people died in ICE custody — the most in 2 decades. Reports show at least 9 have died already this year. How many more before Republicans act?
Trump & Republicans cut Medicaid & SNAP to give this lawless agency an extra $75 BILLION.
Not one more dime.
Recognize the thought's nature and simply make that the essence of your meditation training. No matter how it is, do not regard the thought as a fault.... Simply suspend it, in a way that is naked and clear, relaxed, spacious and free.
― Dakpo Tashi Namgyal (in Clarifying the Natural State)
Staying with the knowing awareness of the weirdness is a good place to be.
Book cover of Bewusstseinskultur: Towards a culture of consciousness: Spirituality, intellectual honesty, and the planetary crisis—how to protect your self-respect and fail gracefully, by Thomas Metzinger
A lot of what Michael Pollan says echoes an earlier (more philosophical) book by Thomas Metzinger. A "consciousness culture" is one of greater awareness and deliberate attention, encompassing both the personal and transpersonal domains of life (I've not yet read Pollan's book).
"Turn moments of everyday life into a deliberate practice, rather than have it be passive and turn over your mind to TikTok or Meta, just because you don’t know what to do with it."
Being deliberate about what to attend to is a key step to end dis-ease.
www.theguardian.com/wellness/202...
Even the citizens of Norway, the US, or Australia still live in a Goliath*. Indeed, humankind now lives in a single Global Goliath.
— Luke Kemp (in Goliath's Curse)
*Goliath = a form of government characterized by hierarchy, dominance, and (threat of) violence
"Most of us work 9-to-5 in mini-dictatorships (where one individual or a small group can hire, fire, and direct most others), pray in top-down churches, and invest in markets controlled overwhelmingly by big firms."
All our perfection and all our bliss depend on our traversing and transcending all creatureliness, all being and getting into the ground that is groundless.
— Meister Eckhart
Clinging to views can prevent us from arriving at a deeper, more profound understanding of reality. Buddhism urges us to transcend even our own knowledge if we wish to advance on the path of awakening.
— Thích Nhất Hạnh
It's now a worryingly familiar theme that conjoins religious fundamentalists in some evangelical churches with those in Silicon Valley:
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
I happen to eat tahini/sesame paste almost every day (great on bread). I did not connect this to Tilopa before, but now I do!
Or to take a break 😆
Yes, sometimes these words seem to mock more than to guide. Then it's probably best to apply reminder #2.
The six ways of resting:
Do not recall,
Do not think,
Do not anticipate,
Do not meditate,
Do not analyze,
Do rest naturally.
— Tilopa (quoted in *Essentials of Mahamudra*, by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche)
If you want peace and harmony in the world, you must have peace and harmony in your hearts and minds. Such change cannot be imposed; it must come from within.
Running in falling snow is both energizing and relaxing—like a Jacuzzi tub with a million jets.
I just don't want to do this bullshit anymore, and hopefully you don't either.
Political leaders are the result of myriad patterns of thoughts and actions—as long as these thoughts and actions persist, any outgoing leader will be replaced by a similar leader.
“I know that when you take out someone’s leader you don’t solve the problem. You just create a new one.”
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
For whom emptiness is clear, everything becomes clear. For whom emptiness is not clear, nothing becomes clear.
― Nāgārjuna (in Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way, trans. J. Garfield)
— Luke Kemp (in Goliath's Curse)
"'Civilization' is derived from the Latin 'civilitas,' which implies restraint, moderation, and good political conduct. Slavery, patriarchy, sacrificing teenage girls..., punishing slaves with crucifixion..., or dropping atomic bombs... are not what most of us would consider civilized conduct."
Yes.
The unawakened mind tends to make war against the way things are. To follow a path with heart, we must understand the whole process of making war, within ourselves and without, how it begins and how it ends. War’s roots are in ignorance.
— Jack Kornfield
I feel utterly sickened by what this administration is engaged in... today illegally bombing Iran and killing 53 or more girls while violating international law, arresting and then abandoning a rohingya blind man to freeze to death on a dark and freezing
You begin by letting thoughts flow and watching them. The very observation slows down the mind till it stops altogether. Once the mind is quiet, keep it quiet. Don’t get bored with peace, be in it, go deeper into it.
