and Infidel of every denomination Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography 1821Works 1:71 The bill for establishing religious freedom, the principles of which had, to a certain degree, been enacted before, I had drawn in all the latitude of reason and right. It still met with opposition; but, with some mutilations in the preamble, it was finally passed; and a singular proposition proved that its protection of opinion was meant to be universal. Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a [...]

PRAJÑATARA: BODHIDHARMA’S MASTER by Rev. Koten Benson Lewis BrightHeart Headrick January 11, 2016  When Rev. Jiyu-Kennet was in Japan, Koho Zenji told her that there were women masters in our direct ancestral line and she gave me the task of trying to find them. The following is the result, thanks in large part to monks of the Korean Zen tradition, as well as laypeople from the Indian state of Kerala who have handed down and treasured the memory [...]

being black: Zen... excerpt ~Rev angel Kyoto williams, sensei Lewis BrightHeart Headrick December 25, 2016  Koshin & Kyoto BEINGS ARE NUMBERLESS, I MAKE A PROMISE TO SAVE THEM. There are a lot of people and animals and insects living on this big floating ball together. We may think of the planet as fixed in size, but we know that everything is relative. Even if the planet is not shrinking, the fact that there are more and [...]

It was about this time I conceiv'd the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. I wish'd to live without committing any fault at any time; I would conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might lead me into. As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other. But I soon found I had undertaken [...]

Dear Rick, Introducing the title song, at :35  she says, "running our amygdala when our hair is on fire" this is from our old friends, https://www.garrett-martin.com/ She reads the end of Lincoln's 1st inaugural address, from which comes the title of their new album, and quote at end of today's Just One Thing "Know You're a Good Person." Yours Truly, <3'- BrightHeart p.s. They're both humble and self-effacing but I get to brag on them.  Awards: Both Jan and JD have been winners at [...]

Lynda Bidlake: I started doing therapy dog work in 2000, in the schools of the Thompson district (and also in nursing homes).  In 2003 my dog Ollie and I were certified as a team through Human-Animal Bond in Colorado (HABIC), a program started by Dr. Ben Granger, Director of the Social Work Department at CSU, and his wife Georgia.  In addition to training, certification and support, the HABIC program provided insurance for our dog-human teams while we were [...]

This morning readings: The Sufi Master Pir Vilayat Khan teaches us:  ~Overcome any bitterness that may have come because you were not up to the magnitude of the pain entrusted to you. Jack Kornfield follows with:  Like the mother of the world who carries the pain of the world in her heart, you are sharing in a certain measure of that cosmic pain, and are called upon to meet it in joy instead of self-pity When I first heard [...]

When I was riding on the bus on Monday, out past the jail/work release center, a young man Adam* was babbling on about homelessness and unfairness of the criminal justice system. My first response to him was that the mental health option that this culture used was jail or prison. After a bit I interjected into his ramblings that Fairness, Justice and Equality were all mental constructs, or in Buddhist lingo “objects of mind.” Bob, another rider at [...]

Public Works Administration 2525 West 1st Street Loveland, CO 80537 8 May 2020 There are many kinds of kindness and generosity in the world, and an unreasonable amount of rudeness in people and situations. I write you as a citizen of this town, because I have encountered what I consider as inappropriate behavior on the part of the staff at the recycling center. When I went there last week I had truck load of post winter cleanup in [...]

originally published in The Mindfulness Bell #56 Winter/Spring 2011   Mindfulness in Marriage By Lynda Bidlake and Lewis BrightHeart Headrick I join my husband for a late lunch in a local restaurant. The waitress comes back again and again to refill our water glasses, even though we’ve only sipped. At our booth by the window, we are softly reading to each other. Transparently, the waitress is straining to see what title engrosses us. I recognize that hunger. Once [...]