"Police are not my friends" (video)

Wisdom Quarterly interview with "Caroline" (Occupy Cal)


"Police are not my friends."

If police are not your friends, why are you their friend?

"Because I'm a Buddhist, and we don't expect to succeed acting the same way as they do. They drag people to jail by the hair like cavemen. It's sexism. There's racism. It's a police state."

Why are you participating in tomorrow's campus strike and teach out?

"We want student loan gouging to stop, bank greed, police abuse, endless war, fee increases, cut courses... There are so many issues that anyone not participating has to be questioned for apathy or ignorance."

Police drag demonstrators away by the hair
There is a lot of controversy at UC Berkeley after two videos surfaced showing law enforcement officers dragging two "Occupy Cal" demonstrators by their hair. The images triggered outrage among the faculty at Cal. Officers forcefully yanked people from their huddle, eventually forcing them to the ground. At one point in the video, an officer is shown pulling Prof. Celeste Langan by her hair and then arresting her. More

The Buddha on Friendship
Sharon Salzberg (adapted from The Force of Kindness, Sounds True, care2.com)

The Buddha often emphasized the characteristics of a good friend. He spoke about a good friend as one who gives a kind of happiness based on knowing our interconnectedness. Learning to be a good friend to ourselves and being one to others is really the same thing. Here are wise words about friendship from the Buddha as we approach Thanksgiving: He spoke about a good friend, a true friend, as being someone who is a helper, who protects us when we are unprotected, surprised by life in some way. The friend is a refuge when we are afraid. A good friend is constant in our time of happiness and... More

Interfaith Community, which has joined occupations, is being arrested.

• Police to conduct review after "Occupy Cal" arrests
• CHP officer shot near Sac; police execute suspect
• Police (LAPD) shoots man in downtown
• VIDEO: Raided Oakland demonstrators chant
• Occupy Yale, the Ivy League, and New Haven
• Student loans add to angst at Occupy Wall Street
• Brilliant students seek jobs beyond Wall Street

• VIDEO: fully armed SWAT used to evict Occupy Philly
  
• Police investigate officer involved shooting
• Police shoot, kill armed man in Green Bay
• Story, photos: Police shoot, kill man outside tavern‎
• Elkridge man dies after police shoot him 8 times
• Report: Hoboken man almost gets shot over bottle of beer
• Campus police shoot man at Elizabeth City State Univ.
• Police shoot man carrying assault rifle on N.C. campus

VIDEO: Portrait of a protest

• 
  Panorama: 360° view of L.A. City Hall encampment
• 
  Audio slide show: Through the words of an artist
• 
  Audio slide show: Nightfall to daybreak

• SF police shoot, kill man after foot chase
• Police dismantle "Occupy Oakland"
• Cain accuser's lawyer says witness to speak
• Public money expected in 49ers stadium
• AUDIO: Taliban stones, shoots mother/daughter
• OH, AND, BTW: Banks quietly ramping up costs

YYoga Movie (trailer)

(YYogaMovie)

Filmmaker Arthur Klein examines the philosophy and reality of yoga in a compelling documentary. After becoming a devotee of the ancient art in the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks, Klein traveled the world to explore how yoga has affected others. From a charter school in South Central Los Angeles to wrestler Diamond Dallas Page's yoga class for American soldiers in Iraq, Klein reveals how this ancient practice continues to bring harmony to the world.

• YYogaMovie.com
  

Shift Happens, so SHINE! (video)

Seven (Co-Editor, Wisdom Quarterly)
(GR8quotes/Facebook)

The Real Meaning of "Metta"

The exclusively Buddhist language Pali has a word being incorporated into English: Mettā. This term (Sanskrit, maitri) is very much like the English meta.

Although it is usually translated as (altruistic-) love, kindness, loving-kindness, or friendliness, it has more in common with meta, which means "beyond." It is an "active interest in others" that takes us beyond ourselves.

Selfishness, self-interest, and self-absorption are the problem; the sense of love that grows so powerful it becomes compassion is part of the solution along with liberating wisdom.

Metta goes beyond. It transcends. It is universal and eventually boundless. One extends it first to loved ones, respected teachers, one's own tribe or the constellation one navigates. But with the same fervor a mother shows for a beloved child, that same concern extends to everyone without exception -- even the monsters, betrayers, Hitlers, devils, or anyone considered "other."

Of course, there's ONE horrible, almost unforgivable creature who also deserves our loving-kindness. Most find this being so odious that they just cannot bear to forgive it. Compared to this one, Adolf Hitler is easy. But it is necessary to do so. It may even be necessary to forgive this one first:

You can travel the whole universe and yet never find anyone more deserving of your loving-kindness than yourself.

According to Gary Sanders: The founder of Against the Stream, (Dharma Punx author) Noah Levine had so much trouble loving Levine that he set up a picture of himself as a child on an altar. Following Jack Kornfield's advice, he developed loving-kindness towards that child for a year. When we are able to love ourselves, loving everyone else somehow becomes possible. And we can finally go beyond.

Shift happens, like an accident or job loss. But foul shytza becomes fine soil. For it is capable of fertilizing many great things. It is fundamental to our meta-morphosis into loving, empathic beings.

Meta Futures (metaphorics.co.uk)

(GR8quotes/Facebook)

Metta: Universal Loving-Kindness (video)

Notable events in the life of the Buddha; original Pali language "lyrics" below (Atanatiya)

Discourse on Loving-Kindness
Karaniya Metta Sutra, based on Ven. Nanamoli translation
What should be done by one skillful in good
So as to gain the state of peace is this:

Let one be able, upright, and straight,
Easy to speak to, gentle, and not conceited,
Contented too, easily supported,
With few tasks, and living lightly;

One's faculties serene, prudent, and modest,
Unswayed by the affections of supportive families;
And let one never do the slightest thing
That the wise might hold as blameworthy.

(But let one think:) "In safety and in bliss
May creatures all be of a blissful heart.
Whatever breathing beings there may be
No matter whether they are frail or firm,
With none excepted, be they long or big
Or middle-sized, be they short or small
Or thick, as well as those seen or unseen,
Or whether they are dwelling far or near,
Existing or yet seeking to exist,
May creatures all be of a blissful heart.
Let no one work another one's undoing
Or even slight another at all anywhere:
And never let one wish another ill
Through provocation or resentful thought."

Just as a mother might with her life
Protect a son that was her only child,
So let one then for every living thing
Maintain unbounded loving-kindness in being;

Let one with similar love for all the world
Maintain unbounded loving-kindness in being
Above, below, and all round in between,
Untroubled, without enemy or foe.

And while one stands or walks or while one sits
Or while one lies down, free from drowsiness,
Let one resolve upon this mindful awareness:

This is Divine Abiding here and now, they say.
But when one is not a trafficker of views,
Is virtuous, and has perfected seeing,
And purges greed for sensual desires,
One surely comes no more to the womb.
Other translations

The original Pali chant

Karaṇīyamatthakusalena, yanta santaṃ padaṃ abhisamecca;
Sakko ujū ca suhujū [sūjū (sī.)] ca, sūvaco cassa mudu anatimānī.
Santussako ca subharo ca, appakicco ca sallahukavutti;
Santindriyo ca nipako ca, appagabbho kulesvananugiddho.
Na ca khuddamācare kiñci, yena viññū pare upavadeyyuṃ;
Sukhino va khemino hontu, sabbasattā [sabbe sattā (sī. syā.)] bhavantu sukhitattā.
Ye keci pāṇabhūtatthi, tasā vā thāvarā vanavasesā;
Dīghā vā ye va mahantā [mahanta (?)], majjhimā rassakā aṇukathūlā.
Diṭṭhā vā ye va adiṭṭhā [adiṭṭha (?)], ye va [ye ca (sī. syā. kaṃ. pī.)] dūre vasanti avidūre;
Bhūtā va sambhavesī va [bhūtā vā sambhavesī vā (syā. kaṃ. pī. ka.)], sabbasattā bhavantu sukhitattā.
Na paro paraṃ nikubbetha, nātimaññetha katthaci na kañci [naṃ kañci (sī. pī.), naṃ kiñci (syā.), na kiñci (ka.)];
Byārosanā paṭighasaññā, nāññamaññassa dukkhamiccheyya.
Mātā yathā niyaṃ puttamāyusā ekaputtamanurakkhe;
Evampi sabbabhūtesu, mānasaṃ bhāvaye aparimāṇaṃ.
Mettañca sabbalokasmi, mānasaṃ bhāvaye aparimāṇaṃ;
Uddhaṃ adho ca tiriyañca, asambādhaṃ averamasapattaṃ.
Tiṭṭhaṃ caraṃ nisinno va [vā (sī. syā. kaṃ. pī.)], sayāno yāvatāssa vitamiddho [vigatamiddo (bahūsu)];
Etaṃ satiṃ adhiṭṭheyya, brahmametaṃ vihāramidhamāhu.
Diṭṭhiñca anupaggamma, sīlavā dassanena sampanno;
Kāmesu vinaya [vineyya (sī. syā. pī.)] gedhaṃ, na hi jātuggabbhaseyya punaretīti.

Relax: Modern metta meditation (video)

(Everybodythrive) Need a moment to relax and feel self-appreciation? Not sure where to begin?

Let the body go limp, recline, relax. Allow the mind to rest. This simple guided meditation restores and refreshes. Journey deep into and beyond the senses as Karlee Fain, a professional wellness instructor, guides us through the many layers of people we know. Just like ourselves, there are countless people doing good things around the world. Experience this ancient form of Buddhist metta meditation adapted for modern lifestyles. This is one of eight segments on the "Yoga for Every Body" DVD led by Fain. Learn why she is successful in her yoga practice and how everyone can enjoy these benefits. Hint: it's not about the poses and postures.

• everybodythrive.com