Sky Dancer
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- Jan 21, 2009
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- #41
This thread seems more aimed at patronizing both Sky Dancer and Godspeak in disguise as wanting to "help" them. I thought this was quite obvious, but nobody has mentioned it so far.
But I might as well ask this... Sky Dancer, isn't forgiveness a form of acceptance? I believe I've seen Buddhists teach about forgiveness all the time. Not to mention the Dhammapada says something about it somewhere.
Hi-
Forgiveness is not a word in Tibetan. I study Tibetan Buddhism. Forgiveness is a christian concept, and you're right, whatever pure motivation emily may have to be 'helpful', her advice is unsolicited and patronizing.
Rather than 'forgiveness', I see the process of moving from a hurt place to a whole one, to be a matter of deep acceptance, that the unwanted hurtful experience happened, and it had an impact on one's very being.
That's completely different from being 'forgiving' which implies a judgment of 'wrongness'. There is a big difference between acknowledging a hurt, and accepting that it happened and bestowing 'forgiveness' on someone.
In my own case, what I work with all the time, is the hurt I feel over the loss of my father who really suffered because he was never accepted for being gay. I get upset with Christians like Scott Lively, who is on a world mission to make gay people miserable and who bragged that he had 'set off a nuclear bomb on homosexuals', by stirring things up in Uganda. The RCC and my family, was rejecting of my father, leaving him no spiritual resources, which contributed to his death. To honor my father, I come on too strong about gay civil rights and how Christians interfere in them. My bad.
Buddhists like Tara Brach, who wrote Radical Acceptance, and who work with people who are trauma survivors have the whole thing down in my opinion.
Of course, no one here is interested in moving into uncharted, non-christian territories with spirituality.
This is one reason, I'm quitting these boards. The other is I just spent a week in retreat asking the question, what activities are life giving and which ones are not.
Posting arguments to Christians about religious politics is not a life giving activity. No one is interested in my Buddhist ramblings here, it's not the place for me.
I hope this makes some of you happy to see the back of my head.
sky
Wherever you go, whatever you do, don't loose your voice or ever think it's bad to bring up injustice - especially in an open forum.
Thank you Avg Joe.
I've just spent the last week at a training retreat. People are encouraging me to write. Clearly, I've been in the wrong place posting here.
Speaking truth to power is a Buddhist practice and so is social activism for human rights. I'm thinking of the Tibetans who are imprisoned for practicing Buddhism in the region of China formerly the country of Tibet.
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