Here's comedian Louis C.K. with an unexpected Thanksgiving message:
I'm off to Los Angeles on Tuesday for 10 days to visit my parents for Thanksgiving and an early Christmas. It's been 18 years since I've last spent Thanksgiving Day with them, which makes it more than half my life! And although it's taken so many years to finally be together, I'm grateful that my travels won't take nearly as long as I sit in a "chair in the sky" and "fly through the air, incredibly, like a bird" from New York to Los Angeles in 5 hours flat!
May this video remind us all to break free from fixed mind and not lose sight of the extraordinary miracles that unfold all around us, all the time!
Here's a powerfully moving trailer of a documentary called The Dhamma Brothers I found at Senshins Lotus this morning. This makes me so grateful to rejoin my dharma friends in the blogo-inter-sangha!
Synopsis:
"An overcrowded maximum-security prison, the end of the line in Alabama's prison system, is dramatically changed by the influence of an ancient meditation program. Behind high security towers and a double row of barbed wire and electrical fence dwells a host of convicts who may never again know life in the outside world. But for some of these men, a spark is ignited when it becomes the first maximum-security prison in North America to hold an extended Vipassana retreat, an emotionally and physically demanding program of silent meditation lasting ten days.
The Dhamma Brothers tells a dramatic tale of human potential and transformation as it closely follows and documents the stories of the prison inmates at Donaldson Correctional Facility as they enter into this arduous and intensive program. This film has the power to dismantle stereotypes about men behind prison bars. In the words of Sister Helen Prejean (Dead Man Walking), "It gives you hope for the human race."
What's deeply touching, in addition to these men's immense suffering
as prisoners, is their open-hearted bravery in the midst of the deep
south's heavily Christian climate, where to tread on something as
"heretical" as Buddhism—especially in a maximum security prison—can
cost them their lives.
"It's a very regimented day. Stricter than your normal prison
schedule," says the meditation instructor. But they somehow they stuck
it through despite their suspicions, fears and doubts, ultimately
emerging to discover that Buddha-nature has always been present: within them, within the prison walls, and in a part of the the world where the Buddha Himself has never been welcomed.
Released in 2008, this documentary is based on the book, Letters from the Dhamma Brothers: Meditation Behind Bars, a collection of letters and interviews from inmates who participated in the meditation retreat. The film was self-produced by the book's author, Jenny Phillips, a cultural anthropologist, writer and psychotherapist who has dedicated much of her career working with male prisoners, teaching them emotional literacy and vipassana meditation. "Her work has helped inmates—many serving multiple life sentences—transform their lives, face their pasts and become more peaceful, purposeful people." (Quote from Oprah's Soul Series site).
Visit the The Dhamma Brothers for more info, or to purchase the DVD and/or the book. There's also a link to listen to/watch Jenny Phillips's interview on Oprah's Soul Series, but you can go directly to the webcast here. Also, be sure to check out the related videos at the bottom of the screen above, especially the movie discussion.
First and foremost: Greetings! Sorry for the long break at not2wo. Lots of things came up and the blogging had to slide over!
But I feel that the time has come: to re-enter the dharma blog-o-stream, as well as to support the Time for Climate Justice campaign.
Now personally, I'm pretty perplexed about the song choice (Midnight Oil ... huh?) and the video in general. But who cares about the song or the art direction when it's about us and our planet! So if you haven't already, please consider being a Climate Ally for Mother Earth and for all our kind mother-sentient beings on it!
From the website:
The clock is ticking. In December of this year, the United Nations will meet to decide on the replacement of the Kyoto protocol, a defining agreement that will determine the future of our planet in the face of the climate crisis. People around the world are dying today as a result of climate change and without our collective action, this will continue. We have a collective opportunity to stop the clock. Become a Climate Ally, by recording and uploading yourself saying 'tck'. This will register you as someone who wants to see climate justice delivered. Our aim is to create the biggest online petition ever, that will be targeted at the world leaders attending the Copenhagen talks, demanding that they make fair and robust decisions that deliver a just climate deal. Every way you engage registers you as an ally, so get everyone you know involved, pass the message on to your friends and family to do the same. ... Together we can deliver justice. Tck tck tck. It's time for climate justice.
