How We Represent Ourselves to Others

These beautiful necklaces were made from prayer beads. The focal point on one, the endless knot, represents the endless cycle of life while the lotus, on the other, represents the flowering of enlightenment. Tassels found on most Buddhist prayer beads are reminders of constant change within what appears to be changeless, the illusion of separateness, and the undivided unity of the eternal or divine.

What we choose to wear is an expression of our beliefs about who we are. It conveys a message to people around us. Sometimes it is very straight forward for example a T-Shirt slogan.  I saw a T-shirt the other day on a woman that read, "I'm a Bitch!"  Wow!  That was some message.  Something I see often in my neighborhood are the pants below the underwear.  I keep thinking that it is a fad that will pass away but the fad has lasted for at least a decade now.  The message... available for sex?

Our daily practice should not harm others and cultivate wholesomeness in ourselves.  In Buddhism, this practice extends to the most mundane exercises in our lives including how we dress and how we represent ourselves to others.  These ideas should motivate every thought and every action.

Peace!

Jogini a Symbol of Feminine Power

Jogini are the sacred feminine force made incarnate.

In Hindu and Tibetan Tantric mythology Jogini represent the triumph of the feminine over demons or over the heart and the mind.  Part of this concept is to have mastery over ones sexual desires and not to be an undisciplined emotional and hedonistic disaster.  Respect for the feminine spiritual teacher is a necessary part of every beings path to spiritual enlightenment.  Sadly, in modern times the term 'Jogini,' has become synonymous with young girls being forced into prostitution in India.  Sexual slavery is the antithesis of feminine power and of the enlightened mind.  I believe that as women become more respected and empowered, our global community will begin to heal and become more balanced.  When Buddhists pray for the enlightenment of all sentient beings, this development of moral reasoning is really what they are praying about.  As we become more aware, we naturally act on that awareness and create a better world for all of us to live in.

Long may the Jogini dance on the head of her demon foe!

Have we ruined our world?

Manufactured Landscapes by Edward Burtynsky
I wanted to add this you tube link to a river in Kathmandu.

This morning my 10 year old accused me and the last few generations before me of ruining our world.

"Have we?" I asked.

"Mom, you and your generation and the generations before you are responsible for all of the garbage and global warming... "  He had more to say, but this was the essence.

What have we done?

I asked him to look around him and said, "If I have contributed to the decay of the world then so have you. Look around you.  Everything that you have is made by machines with plastic parts and consumes fossil fuels."  We went hunting around our home for an object completely untouched by modern technology.  I found pottery made by my friend, but the wheel it was turned on was electric and the clay arrived boxed in plastic.  There are few places in the world where everything is entirely industry free.  Perhaps somewhere in the Amazon or high in the mountains of Nepal.  Even though the jewelry we buy is entirely hand built, torches are used to solder the pieces together.

He is right, we are no longer able to live in this modern world without touching objects made by machines and it is ruining the air we breath and the environment that we live in.

Please rent Manufactured Landscapes on Netflix, photo above, It is an astounding film!  It shows the monumental physical damage we have done to our landscape.

Right now in Nepal, Global Warming is causing the glaciers to recede leaving longer dry seasons.  A friend in Nepal just wrote me that they have had no rain for 3 months.  People will die of starvation this year because their crops will not have enough water.  How unfair that people who have barely had access to modern technology will suffer so much for the excesses of the rest of us.

We can not turn back the clock but we can make an effort to change our future.  Technology may have gotten us into this mess, but I think that responsible technology is also our only way out.  Reduce, reuse, recycle, buy natural handmade products, and advocate for the development of clean energy alternatives.  It's not easy in our modern society and it will take a daily commitment make a change.