…a very sad piece of truth, once we know
…are we supposed to do nothing about it?
Category: peace
Lost Horizon is a 1933 novel by English writer James Hilton. It is best remembered as the origin of Shangri-La, a fictional utopian lamasery high in the mountains of Tibet.
Hugh Conway, a veteran member of the British diplomatic service, finds inner peace, love, and a sense of purpose in Shangri-La, whose inhabitants enjoy unheard-of longevity. Among the book’s themes is an allusion to the possibility of another cataclysmic world war brewing. It is said to have been inspired at least in part by accounts of travels in Tibetan borderlands, published in National Geographic by the explorer and botanist Joseph Rock.
The book explicitly notes having made war on the ground man would now fill the skies with death, and all precious things were in danger of being lost, like the lost histories of Rome (“Lost books of Livy”). It was hoped that overlooked by the violent, Shangri-la would preserve them and reveal them later to a receptive world exhausted by war. That was the real purpose of the lamasery; study, inner peace, and long life were a side benefit to living there.
Conway is a veteran of the trench warfare of WWI, with the emotional state frequently cited after that warâa sense of emotional exhaustion or accelerated emotional aging. This harmonizes with the existing residents of the lamasery and he is strongly attracted to life at Shangri-La. (read more) (world peace)
Blessed are the peacemakers;
for they shall be called
the children of God.
Yeshua (Jesus Christ) Matthew 5:9
- Labels: peace
When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade.
Drop the idea that you are Atlas carrying the world on your shoulders. The world would go on even without you. Don’t take yourself so seriously.
Those who are fired with an enthusiastic idea and who allow it to take hold and dominate their thoughts find that new worlds open for them. As long as enthusiasm holds out, so will new opportunities.
It is of practical value to learn to like yourself. Since you must spend so much time with yourself you might as well get some satisfaction out of the relationship.
Joy increases as you give it, and diminishes as you try to keep it for yourself. In giving it, you will accumulate a deposit of joy greater than you ever believed possible.
Believe it is possible to solve your problem. Tremendous things happen to the believer. So believe the answer will come. It will.
Never talk defeat. Use words like hope, belief, faith, victory.
Watch your manner of speech if you wish to develop a peaceful state of mind. Start each day by affirming peaceful, contented and happy attitudes and your days will tend to be pleasant and successful.
The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.
A positive mental attitude is a belief that things are going to turn out well, and that you can overcome any kind of trouble or difficulty.
The tests of life are not meant to break you, but to make you.
Live your life and forget your age.
If there is no fun in it, something is wrong with all you are doing.
Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that.
- Labels: acceptance, peace, perspective, philosophy, sharing
Buddhist Peace Fellowship
Socially engaged Buddhism is a dharma practice that flows from the understanding of the complete yet complicated interdependence of all life. It is the practice of the bodhisattva vow to save all beings. It is to know that the liberation of ourselves and the liberation of others are inseparable. It is to transform ourselves as we transform all our relationships and our larger society. It is work at times from the inside out and at times from the outside in, depending on the needs and conditions. It is is to see the world through the eye of the Dharma and to respond emphatically and actively with compassion.
– Donald Rothberg and Hozan Alan Senauke, Turning Wheel Magazine/Summer-Fall – 2008
Wholehearted Connection
Buddhist Peace Fellowship is a community of primarily dharma practitioners established to support socially engaged efforts of visionaries of compassionate social justice and dharma-based organizations for social change.
Mutual Liberation
Buddhist Peace Fellowship is a leader in socially engaged Buddhism, cultivating peace through sharing with others decades of experience, providing donors who value peacemaking to other organizations, and educating the public with dharma-centered views of social justice. We are here to assist in implementing projects that work toward ending suffering in the world.
A Voice for Change
Buddhist Peace Fellowship makes an effort to speak without anger and opposition for those who have been silenced by war, poverty, environmental disaster, genocide, and youth whose lives have been impacted by violence.
CYMD 2008 was organized by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship of Tampa Bay. Each year we bring together the various traditions of Buddhists from around Tampa Bay to share their insights, teachings, and practices with the general public.
Thich Nhat Hanh: What Is Engaged Buddhism?
see also – whats more: Ram Dass interviews Thicht Nhat Hanh (1995)
One of the best known and most respected Zen masters in the world today, poet, and peace and human rights activist, Thich Nhat Hanh has led an extraordinary life. Born in central Vietnam in 1926 he joined the monkshood at the age of sixteen. The Vietnam War confronted the monasteries with the question of whether to adhere to the contemplative life and remain meditating in the monasteries, or to help the villagers suffering under bombings and other devastation of the war. Nhat Hanh was one of those who chose to do both, helping to found the ‘engaged Buddhism’ movement. His life has since been dedicated to the work of inner transformation for the benefit of individuals and society.
The Zen Peacemakers
A Force for Socially Engaged Buddhism
Inspiring | Teaching | Doing
“When you realize the wholeness and interdependence of life, you have to take care of everyone, and to do that, you have to work with every ingredient of life.”
Zen Master Bernie Glassman, Founder
In 1967, Bernie began his Zen studies with Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi Roshi, Founder of the Zen Center of Los Angeles. He became a Zen teacher–Sensei Glassman–in 1976. In 1980 he founded his own Zen Community of New York in the Bronx, New York. He started the Greyston Bakery, at first staffed by Zen students, as a livelihood for the Community, and then made it a vehicle for social enterprise in Yonkers, 3 miles north (see below). In 1995 Bernie Glassman received inka, or the final seal of approval, from his teacher and became known as Roshi Bernie. During that year and in 1996 he served as Spiritual Head of the White Plum Lineage, comprising hundreds of Zen groups and centers in the US, Latin America and Europe, as well as the first President of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association of America. His Dharma Family includes dharma teachers, zen priests, zen preceptors, zen entrepreneurs, Christian clergy, Rabbis, Sufi Sheiks and multi-faith peacemakers.
The mission of the Zen Peacemakers is to alleviate suffering by:
⢠developing holistic social service projects that help individuals, families
and communities;
⢠promoting and supporting Socially Engaged Buddhism throughout the West; and
⢠inspiring and training a new generation in this way of service as Zen practice.
About Zen Peacemakers blogDiscussions on articles from Bearing Witness, the free monthly online newsletter of Western Socially Engaged Buddhism
Commentary on Socially Engaged Buddhism
Writings of Zen Peacemakers founder Bernie Glassman, including previously unreleased material
Up-to-date news from the Zen Peacemakers Mother House in Montague, MA including:Montague Farm Zen House
Zen House Residence Program
Montague Farm Zendo and Shared Stewardship Circle
First major Symposium for Western Socially Engaged Buddhism
“Advocating Practical Steps Towards a Lasting Peace”
From a series of workshops and a traveling exhibition featuring artwork from school children in Nepal, Poland, Germany, Italy, Costa Rica, the United States, and other countries.
What we must learn is how to deal with that conflict without resorting to violence. At this beginning of the twenty-first century, we are being called upon to face the needs of humanity, in all its tragic urgency. And we must, at the same time, face up to the requirements of the species: this century shall be peaceful or shall not be at all.
â Rodrigo Carazo, President of Costa Rica, 1978-1982
A World Without Armies – Imagine a world without war
“We will bring forth clear and positive messages on demilitarization based on rigorous studies, political experiences, and individual witness and testimony.”
A Letter to Participants of the Global Alliance Conference
August 2009
Dear Colleagues of Peace,Greetings from the U.S. chapter of A World Without Armies! We deeply appreciate your work for peace in the world and peace with the earth. Together with three other organizations, we co-sponsored the First Conference of Women for the Abolition of Armies in Central America by 2020, which was held at the Costa Rican Ministry of Culture and the Universidad de Cooperacion Internacional in San José in 2007. In order to achieve our common goal, our next step is to develop academic studies on the demilitarization potential of every nation. We need to understand the positive elements, challenges, and obstacles for reducing and abolishing military forces in each nation. We need to develop strategies and build concrete processes. It would be effective if people and organizations that are committed to do the work were all connected and collaborating domestically and internationally. We want to see a surge of a movement for demilitarization worldwide.
Your ideas, suggestions, and action reports on demilitarization would be valuable to all those who are concerned. We would like to learn from you, collaborate with you, and share our experience with you. Also, we would like to post some of the communications and photographs from you on our website, www.aworldwithoutarmies.org. Please write to us and we will write to you.
With best wishes,
Kazuaki Tanahashi, Director (see below)
Edie Hartshorne, Co-director
Catherine Margerin, Representative to the Global Alliance Conference
METHODS
⢠We organize and sponsor peace and reconciliation programs around the world.
⢠We fund scholars in political science, peace studies, and related fields who are undertaking research on the demilitarization potential of nations.
⢠We promote Courageous Conversations–friendly and non-polarized discussions that explore the need and steps for creating a world without war.
⢠We host the Costa Rica Initiative–a womenâs initiative for A Central America Without Armies.
Gallery: Imagining Peace: International Children’s Art Project
A series of workshops and a traveling exhibition featuring artwork from school children in Nepal, Poland, Germany, Italy, Costa Rica, the United States, and other countries.
Kazuaki Tanahashi
Kazuaki Tanahashi, Director of A World Without Armies, born and trained in Japan and active in the United States since 1977, has had solo exhibitions of his calligraphic paintings internationally. He has taught East Asian calligraphy at eight international conferences of calligraphy and lettering arts. Also a peace and environmental worker for decades, he is a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science.
- Labels: activism, non-violence, peace
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
I have only love in my heart.
Conflict resolution is a wide range of methods of addressing sources of conflict – whether at the inter-personal level or between states – and of finding means of resolving a given conflict or of continuing it in less destructive forms than, say, armed conflict. Processes of conflict resolution generally include negotiation, mediation, diplomacy and creative peacebuilding. The term “conflict resolution” is sometimes used interchangeably with the terms dispute resolution or alternative dispute resolution. The processes of arbitration, litigation, and formal complaint processes through an ombudsman, are part of dispute resolution, and therefore they are also part of “conflict resolution.” The concept of conflict resolution can also encompass the use of non-violent methods such as civil resistance (also often called nonviolent resistance) by a party to a conflict as a means of pursuing its goals, on the grounds that such means are more likely than armed struggle to lead to effective resolution of the conflict.
Five basic ways of addressing conflict were identified by Thomas and Kilmann in 1976:
Accommodation â surrender one’s own needs and wishes to accommodate the other party.
Avoidance â avoid or postpone conflict by ignoring it, changing the subject, etc. Avoidance can be useful as a temporary measure to buy time or as an expedient means of dealing with very minor, non-recurring conflicts. In more severe cases, conflict avoidance can involve severing a relationship or leaving a group.
Collaboration â work together to find a mutually beneficial solution. While the Thomas-Kilmann grid views collaboration as the only win-win solution to conflict, collaboration can also be time-intensive and inappropriate when there is not enough trust, respect or communication among participants for collaboration to occur.
Compromise â bring the problem into the open and have the third person present. The aim of conflict resolution is to reach agreement and most often this will mean compromise.
Competition â assert one’s viewpoint at the potential expense of another. It can be useful when achieving one’s objectives outweighs one’s concern for the relationship.
The Thomas Kilmann Instrument can be used to assess one’s dominant style for addressing conflict. (read more)
My girls
Any day above ground…
is a good day.
(chinese fortune cookie)
Frida Kahlo de Rivera (July 6, 1907 â July 13, 1954; born Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón) was a Mexican painter, born in Coyoacán, and perhaps best known for her self-portraits.
Kahlo’s life began and ended in Mexico City, in her home known as the Blue House. She gave her birth date as July 7, 1910, but her birth certificate shows July 6, 1907. Kahlo had allegedly wanted the year of her birth to coincide with the year of the beginning of the Mexican revolution so that her life would begin with the birth of modern Mexico. At age 6 years, Frida developed polio, which caused her right leg to appear much thinner than the other. It was to remain that way permanently. Her work has been celebrated in Mexico as emblematic of national and indigenous tradition, and by feminists for its uncompromising depiction of the female experience and form.
Mexican culture and Amerindian cultural tradition are important in her work, which has been sometimes characterized as Naïve art or folk art. Her work has also been described as “surrealist”, and during 1938 one surrealist described Kahlo as a “ribbon around a bomb”.
Kahlo had a marriage with the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera. She suffered lifelong health problems, many of which derived from a traffic accident during her teenage years. These issues are perhaps represented by her works, many of which are self-portraits of one sort or another. Kahlo suggested, “I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.” She also stated, “I was born a bitch. I was born a painter.” (read more)
How will I know…
the truth from the lies?…
you ask yourself…
All I can tell you is…
that rocks are hard…
and water is wet.
Friendship
doubles our joy
and divides our grief
O son of Prithâ.
It does not become you.
Shake off this base faint-heartedness and arise,
O scorcher of enemies!
- Labels: consciousness, enlightenment, faith, love, now, peace
The Art of Peace begins with you. Work on yourself and your appointed task in the Art of Peace. Everyone has a spirit that can be refined, a body that can be trained in some manner, a suitable path to follow. You are here for no other purpose than to realize your inner divinity and manifest your innate enlightenment. Foster peace in your own life and then apply the Art to all that you encounter.
All things, material and spiritual, originate from one source and are related as if they were one family. The past, present, and future are all contained in the life force. The universe emerged and developed from one source, and we evolved through the optimal process of unification and harmonization.
The Art of Peace is medicine for a sick world. There is evil and disorder in the world because people have forgotten that all things emanate from one source. Return to that source and leave behind all self-centered thoughts, petty desires, and anger. Those who are possessed by nothing possess everything. (read more)
Morihei Ueshiba (æ¤è çå¹³, December 14, 1883 â April 26, 1969) was a famous martial artist and founder of the Japanese martial art of aikido. He is often referred to as “the founder” Kaiso (éç¥?) or Å sensei (大å
ç/ç¿å
ç?), “Great Teacher”.
The real birth of Aikido came as the result of three instances of spiritual awakening that Ueshiba experienced. The first happened in 1925, after Ueshiba had defeated a naval officer’s bokken (wooden katana) attacks unarmed and without hurting the officer. Ueshiba then walked to his garden and had a spiritual awakening.
“…I felt the universe suddenly quake, and that a golden spirit sprang up from the ground, veiled my body, and changed my body into a golden one. At the same time my body became light. I was able to understand the whispering of the birds, and was clearly aware of the mind of God, the creator of the universe.
At that moment I was enlightened: the source of budo is God’s love – the spirit of loving protection for all beings… Budo is not the felling of an opponent by force; nor is it a tool to lead the world to destruction with arms. True Budo is to accept the spirit of the universe, keep the peace of the world, correctly produce, protect and cultivate all beings in nature.”
His second experience occurred in 1940 when,
“Around 2am as I was performing misogi, I suddenly forgot all the martial techniques I had ever learned. The techniques of my teachers appeared completely new. Now they were vehicles for the cultivation of life, knowledge, and virtue, not devices to throw people with.”
His third experience was in 1942 during the worst fighting of WWII, Ueshiba had a vision of the “Great Spirit of Peace”.
“The Way of the Warrior has been misunderstood. It is not a means to kill and destroy others. Those who seek to compete and better one another are making a terrible mistake. To smash, injure, or destroy is the worst thing a human being can do. The real Way of a Warrior is to prevent such slaughter – it is the Art of Peace, the power of love.” (read more)
Have you ever wondered…
why there are no more heroes?
It’s because in today’s world…
all men and women are heroes.
Man has killed his brothers…
since the beginning of time…
man profits from war…
man has fished out the oceans…
all the big fish in the oceans are gone…
man ate them…
man is polluting the air…
man is dimming the sun…
man cuts down all the trees…
man poisons his rivers…
man uses the ocean as his toilet…
man shits where he eats…
man sprays poisons on his food…
man lies, cheats and steals…
man rapes, maims and traumatizes…
man is greedy and selfish…
man is weak and flawed and ignorant…
man enslaves himself into economic bondage…
man enriches himself on the backs of others…
man should let the women run the world…
man would benefit from her mother nature…
man is a beast.
One Human Family
“Whether we like it or not, we have all been born on this earth as part of one great human family. Rich or poor, educated or uneducated, belonging to one nation or another, to one religion or another, adhering to this ideology or that, ultimately each of us is just a human being like everyone else: we all desire happiness and do not want suffering. Furthermore, each of us has an equal right to pursue these goals.
Today’s world requires that we accept the oneness of humanity. In the past, isolated communities could afford to think of one another as fundamentally separate and even existed in total isolation. Nowadays, however, events in one part of the world eventually affect the entire planet. Therefore we have to treat each major local problem as a global concern from the moment it begins. We can no longer invoke the national, racial or ideological barriers that separate us without destructive repercussion. In the context of our new interdependence, considering the interests of others is clearly the best form of self-interest.
I view this fact as a source of hope. The necessity for cooperation can only strengthen mankind, because it helps us recognize that the most secure foundation for the new world order is not simply broader political and economic alliances, but rather each individual’s genuine practice of love and compassion. For a better, happier, more stable and civilized future, each of us must develop a sincere, warm-hearted feeling of brother and sisterhood”…Dalai Lama. (read more)
when you enjoy life…
everything is beautiful…
the best…
- Labels: acceptance, peace, perspective, philosophy, sharing