Consider giving.

2020 has been a challenging year for all of us. This holiday season I hope you consider giving to charities as one of the gifts you share. It doesn't need to be much, but every gift matters and opens doors of possibility and hope for others. Here are a few of the charities worth considering:

Feeding America

With the pervasive presence of COVID-19, many families are facing difficulty putting food on the table. There are numerous organizations that have met this challenge, and Feeding America is one of the highest rated and most efficient programs working to connect people with the food they need. You can also enter your zip code to determine local food banks if you want to focus on your community (Food Lifeline for Seattle). Every $1 donation provides ten meals to families in need. 

GiveDirectly

GiveDirectly gives cash to people in need, no strings attached. Studies have shown this to be the most effective way to help the poor and make an impact in their lives. They currently have campaigns in America and Africa to help those in need. Your dollar goes a long way to helping families in Africa, and we also have a pressing need to support those in our own communities across America. 

buildOn

buildOn empowers the youth to serve our country and the world in order to break the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations. They are a highly rated charity with various programs to help both in America and abroad. A $66 donation supports the education for three children in developing countries.

Charity:water

Charity:water funds clean water projects in developing countries, providing access to clean and safe drinking water. It's easy to overlook to impact clean water makes to our life until we don't have it. Millions of people around the world struggle to procure clean water every day, time that could be used for work or education. 100% of every donation goes to fund clean water projects.

Equal Justice Initiative

The EJI works to end mass incarceration, seeking racial justice and public education to protect basic human rights. EJI has a perfect score of 100 on Charity Navigator, meaning every dollar you donate has maximal impact. 

84,000

84,000 translates all of the Buddha's words into modern language, providing free and open access to all via its online reading room. $250 supports the translation of one page of the Buddha's teachings. Give a little, and then spend some time enjoying their reading room knowing that you are helping to make it happen. 

Buddhist Digital Resource Center

TBRC is dedicating to seeking out, preserving and sharing Buddhist texts through technology. For over twenty years they have been seeking out the hardcopies of texts and then scanning them into a digital format. I have been using their online library for over ten years to translate various texts, all of which are made freely available to translators and academic institutions. Projects like 84,000 and other Buddhist publications rely heavily on their work. 

There are a hundreds of other important charities to support. GiveWell provides a list of charities that make the most impact per dollar. Charity Navigator is a useful resource for evaluating charities and assessing the impact that they provide. 

Money is not the only gift you can share this holiday season. Our communities are in desperate need of kindness, patience, and giving each other a break. A smile goes a long way, but in a world where we often cannot see others smile, looking someone in the eye and being present for them can be a gift we can all aspire to share. 

Answering the call.

There is something inside of each of us that is calling for us to be more deeply present in the world, to participate and contribute to the world in some way. Answering that call opens the doorway to the path.

When we feel called to step beyond our narrow conception of self and our abilities, we usually experience vulnerability, hesitation and fear. We feel called to step out into the open, but when the time comes to do so we hold back, we wait, we turn back.

That is why we need a practice, a teacher and mentor, a supportive community. We need stories and examples of those who have traveled this path. We need support and feedback and guidance from those who are currently traveling.

On this journey, we often feel alone and isolated. But there are those who walk with us, among us. There are those waiting for us just ahead and around the corner.

By showing up and listening to our own calling, we show up for others and continue to inspire them in their own path. Answering the call fulfills our own aims and brings about the aims of others.

You don't need to perform well to be loved.

You don't need to be the best at what you do.
You don't need to be the smartest, or have the best questions or most insightful answers.
You don't need to be a generous donor or diligently contribute in meaningful ways.
You don't need to show progress. You don't need to prove your worth or your value.

Come as you are.

In circles where you are doing the deep work of waking yourself up, of wrestling with your inner demons and trying to free yourself from the prison of your own confused perceptions and emotional trauma, you don't need to perform well to be loved.

We accept you as you are. And we are going to support you in your practice until you can figure out how to do that as well.

Nourish and support.

In June 2008, my soon to be wife and I were meditating at Boudhanath early one morning.

It was a beautiful morning.  Sunny, clear skies.  A gentle breeze blowing the prayer flags that were strung up to the peak of the stupa.  There was the steady sound of women doing their daily prostrations.  The familiar chanting of OM MANI PADME HUNG resonated throughout the square.  Incense floated on the breeze.   

It was 6am and the stupa was alive. 

As we were meditating, two elderly Tibetan women came up to us and offered us some unleavened bread and a spoonful of stewed potatoes, all the while reciting their mani mantras. 

It didn't matter if we could have paid something.
It didn't matter if we didn't need the food.
It didn't matter if we weren't even hungry.
It didn't matter what our status, our situation, who we were or if we were doing it right.

They simply offered sustenance to those committed to practice. 

What would our communities look like if we were committed to supporting and nourishing those committed to practice?

What if we dropped all the expectation, all the judgement, all concern for reward, recognition or repayment? 

There is seldom anything as impactful as a genuine human interaction. 

The goal.

The goal of life is to be happy. 

What is difficult is making choices that support happiness.

It is hard to act on circumstances that are conducive to happiness.

It is challenging to deal with our thoughts and emotions in a way that leads to happiness.

It is really rare to surround yourself with people that promote your happiness.

It is even more rare to come across teachers who teach you methods that produce happiness.

So much of what we do for the sake of happiness leads us down the rabbit hole of suffering and dissatisfaction. 

The goal of life is to be happy, but the purpose of life is to act on the causes of happiness. 

Support.

What supports your practice?

Your teacher.  Teachings to contemplate.  Your daily activities.  The community around you.

What challenges your practice?

Your teacher.  Teachings to contemplate.  Your daily activities.  The community around you. 

What's missing?

Following in their footsteps.

In the beginning, we give our teacher our attention and interest
by listening, contemplating and deepening our understanding.

In the middle, out of respect and devotion we offer them our support-
investing our time and energy because of the impact their teachings have had on us.

In the end, it is our responsibility to preserve and share the teachings,
so we choose to embody the teachings, to become their working basis.
That is the way of commitment and generosity, the way in which we follow their example.
This is the greatest offering we can make to our teachers. 

Containing violence.

Every action takes place in a supporting environment.

Let's take a look at that support.  It depends on the place, the people present, the contributing factors and conditions.  Nothing is isolated.

So are we containers for violence?

Terrible things happen every day, things that are not our fault and things that we didn't do.  They are happening and we are not involved and not responsible, so we are innocent.  But are we innocent?  Are our hands clean?  Or is our innocence a contributing factor?  By doing nothing, are we acting as a container for which this aggression gets perpetuated?

The individual and the collective.  Not as separate as they seem.

#DoNoHarm

Sangha.

དགེ་འདུན་
Tibetan: Gedun
English: Sangha or community

The Tibetan dge means virtue, good, wholesome, merit.
'dun means aspiration, longing, intention.

The Sangha is a community that aspires to virtue.  The sangha is a community of men and women that purposefully connect out of a shared interest in supporting each other's practice.  They connect out of support, not power.  Connect with respect, not control.  Connect with kindness, not deceit.

The Sangha supports the transmission of teachings and keeps the practice lineage alive.  It is a culture of learning and teaching.  It brings together a range of experience and insight, fosters examination and critical thinking, opens perspectives and eliminates bias.  The Sangha gives you feedback exactly when you need it.

The Sangha is a culture of compassion and and kindness.  They show us what to care about.  They show us what is possible, even when it doesn't seem to be.  They show us what people like us do. 

Part of our family.

There are those who care and those who don't.

Don't worry about those who don't care, treat them with respect and kindness and let them go there way.  Respect your own time and energy.

Those who care are like your own family.  They show up, do the work.  They push through resistance because what other choice do we have?  Pour your energy and time into strengthening the network, on impacting their lives and offering your support.  Benefit others, contribute value and the whole community benefits.  

We all want to be part of a family that cares, that takes a chance on being generous and kind.  Such a family experiences true wealth, or ratna, and they are crazy enough to want to share it with others.   

Thank you, dear reader.

It can be a strange experience to share your thoughts and feelings across the blogosphere.  The connections you make, the conversations you have, the hearts touched and the faces you never see.  It can be both entirely personal and yet entirely connected at the same time.  It is hard to put into words the impact that others make in your life, usually the only thing that gives due justice is thank you.  The Tibetan for thank you is thujeche, which literally means great compassion or kindness.  Here is to celebrating your kindness and your support.  Thank you.

I sit, stand and walk,
catching fleeting reminders
of where we have been
and where we want to go.
Moments of clarity and insight,
of fear and anger and exaltation, 
strewn across a lifetime of moments,
captured in bottles left to drift at sea.

May you stumble upon what you need,
a worn wood inscription,
a chance encounter,
a guidepost on your journey,
a cairn on a forgotten path,
a note in a book you've always had.

Wherever you are,
this battle is not your own.
Those paths you walk,
those lonely and precarious paths,
you are not alone. 
We are out there,
we are all over,
and we walk with you. 

Readily available.

So often we have big plans. 

In order to make an impact and matter we seek out large scale projects and initiatives.  We need non-profits and funding and community outreach and social platforms for that change to grow. 

What if we simply planned on being more available?

What if our project was to be available when others needed a hand,
if they needed advice,
or a shoulder to lean on.

What if you were always ready, always available when others needed you?  What if everyone shared this same willingness and preparedness?

What would suffering, problems, mental illness and inequality look like if we lived in a community of openness and acceptance?

You might be the one we are looking for.  

What do teachers teach?

Does a good teacher teach you the method, the skills?
Is it all about the information? 
Once you have gathered all the knowledge and can do the practice by rote, are you learned?

The best teachers teach you the path, the journey.  They push you to your limits and then give you the resources and support needed to figure out how to break through them.  They inspire you to look deeper.

They encourage the evidence based doubt of the scientist and the reason based doubt of the debater.  They understand the value of a good question and teach you to be brave enough to ask it.

The truly great ones teach you how to carry the ball yourself.  They show you how to bring your practice and knowledge into a new environment and still be able to connect the dots.  They teach you how to stand up, shoulder the weight, and to do it with patience, kindness and generosity.

You should read Stop Stealing Dreams by Seth Godin, it redefines what school is for and lays out a new approach to teaching and learning.