O-mama - Opinionated Moms

This lifetime will never come again; it is precious and irreplaceable. To live without regret, we must have a concrete purpose, continually setting goals and challenges for ourselves. And we need to keep moving toward those specific targets steadily and tenaciously, one step at a time. - Daisaku Ikeda

INCREDIBLE YOUTH CULTURE PEACE FESTIVAL, JULY 1OTH. Don't miss it. It will be the most fantastic peace festival of the century. Please invite or take all youth to this event. SGI, Buddhist peace organization is holding this wonderful event full of music, dance and song in celebration of youth and their inheritance of the future of our country and world. On the west coast, it will be in Long Beach, http://www.westrockstheera.org/Home.html. Register online. In the Central Area, in Chicago, http://rocktheera.sgicentral.org/. On the East Coast, in Philidelphia, JULY 25TH, http://www.sgi-ny.org/rock-the-era/.

When we plant the seed of happiness that is faith and carefully tend its growth, it will produce fruit without fail. We have to bear in mind, however, that we cannot plant a seed today and expect it to bear fruit tomorrow. That's not reasonable and Buddhism is reason. If we persevere, bearing in mind the principle of "faith equals daily life" in accord with reason, then our prayers will definitely be answered.

"Sometimes we see our children doing things that we know will cause them to suffer in the future, but when we try to them, they won't listen. All we can do is to stimulate the seeds of Right View in them, and then later, in a difficult moment, they may benefit from our guidance. We cannot explain an orange to someone who has never tasted one. No matter how well we desribe it, we cannot give someone else a direct experience. He has to taste it for himself." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, from his book, "The Heart of the Buddha's Teacching"

One of the most profound lessons I learned from labor and childbirth was the truth of "The Wisdom of No Escape." American Buddhist nun Pema Chodron wrote this book, and the concept was what got me through it. The pain of labor made me feel like I was standing in front of a giant wave or a train bearing down on me. Chodron helped me stop trying to run, to escape it, to accept it and allow its power to control me (well, at least my uterus!). And that lesson stays with me today-- when my 3 year old is having a hard time and can't stop crying about her pants or whatnot, I tell myself that there is no escape. This is all there is. And then somehow I can just be present, listen to her, comfort her, and just be there. And usually the tantrum's over in 5 minutes. (Long five minutes! But a good meditative practice.) I also think about all the other mamas going through the exact same thing at the exact same time with their little ones, and it makes me feel better, connected to them all.

"There are two primary tasks facing religious practitioners who are concerned for world peace. Frist, we must promote better interfaith understanding so as to create a workable degree of unity among all religions. This may be achieved in part by respecting each other's beliefs and by emphasizing our common concern for human well-being. Second, we ... See Moremust bring about a viable consenses on basic spiritual values that touch every human heart and enhance genreal human happiness. This means we must emphasize the common denominator of all world religions - humanitarian ideals. These two steps will enable us to act both individually and together to create the necessary spiritual conditions for world peace. ~ We must set an example by our own practice, for we cannot hope to convince others of the value of religion by mere words. We must live up to the same high standards of integrity and sacrifice that we ask of others. The ultimate purpose of all religions is to serve and benefit humanity. This is why it is so important that religion always be used to effect the happiness and peace of all beings and not merely to convert others." ~ Dalai Lama

Please remember that patience is in and of itself a great challenge and that it often holds the key to breaking through a seeming impasse. – Daisaku Ikeda

Check out all the news from this weekend!

@momof2: We have to continuously try to engage in dialogue. Walk in the footsteps of those before us, Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi, King. If we don't start the journey, we will never reach our destination.

Smarty...i wish we were all Buddhists! I agree totally, but how to protect ourselves from those who are miles, eons, away from being even remotely enlightened? That is the question. There is so much fear of the different...and I don't just mean in our own country, even though we are such a young society...if even OLD societies in Asia and the Middle East still operate under castes and fear of education, progress, even enlightenment and equality...how can we hope to talk with them of world peace? We can try to speak to eachother of such concepts, but our terms and language and notions are not even in the same ballpark, so to speak. So how do we evolve, together, and keep ourselves and our children safe at the same time?

@ocmama: Thanks. I really think that until we as the collective human race can realize we all share the same inner life force, we will never be able to co-exist in peace. It is imperative that we recognize our similarities and work together for world peace.

@SmartyPants: wow. that was deep and I think really gets to the heart of our fears...interesting

Others are only mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another unless it reflects something you love or hate in yourself.