Phuntso Dorjee

Exactly. You don’t need a weathervane to know which way the wind blows.

Your speech in Bakersfield today was magnificent as always, and the rally was indeed an opportunity to build connections between individuals and between groups! As you said today, building community is essential. Thank you for bringing the message!

And even then, some will not turn on him. Just yesterday, the (Republican) director of a local food pantry at which I volunteer announced that cuts to FEMA and USDA could shut the place down. She blamed President Biden.

I wish our governor (of California) was fighting alongside you. Unfortunately, he’s decided to cozy up with Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon instead.

Excellent point! I’m in a Rapid Response Network. Here’s a list of hotlines in California:

Trump administration deports hundreds of migrants even as judge orders that removals be stopped The Trump administration has transferred hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador even as a federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations under an 18th century wartime declaration ta...

Trump has openly defied yesterday’s court order:

apnews.com/article/trum...

I voted for him 5 times in the past — but never again. Newsom has turned quisling.

“Lindsey, my boy. You were expecting some old white dude with a long beard? Think again…”

Happy Valentine’s Day to you and Terri!

“The cosmos is neither one nor many. When you touch one, you touch many, and when you touch many, you touch one. Look more deeply, and you will see yourself as multitudes, penetrating everywhere, interbeing with everyone and everything.”

Thich Nhat Hanh, “The Avatamsaka Realm”

Granted, the food is still moving through the same channels we’d all like to boycott. But you’re not handing them money, you’re helping the community, and you’re keeping it out of landfills. Seems like a good compromise to me.

Also, as states have passed “food recovery” and “fresh rescue” laws (which are really good things), the food now goes to local pantries: also a very good thing.

And therein lies my suggestion: many local pantries gladly offer to share what they get from food recovery with the volunteers.

I did a similar kind of thing in the 70s, packing up culls from a local train depot on the Central Coast. Technically, I guess it’s called “gleaning.”

In more recent decades, cities have passed ordinances against “scavenging” and “dumpster diving,” but there may be areas where it’s still legal.

Just for clarity, none of this involved stealing. The stores had already discarded the food, and Snyder had the support of the security guards on the docks; they actually helped him.

Let’s keep stirring, but not let the onions decide our fate.

“To those who say, ‘Drill, baby, drill’ — I say, ‘Breathe, baby, breathe!’”

Christine Figueres, Costa Rican Diplomat, February 2, 2025.

“Human happiness and human satisfaction must
ultimately come from within oneself. It is wrong to expect some final satisfaction to come from money or from a computer.”

Dalai Lama Daily Wisdom, February 2.

#DalaiLama

Sadly, it appears that tabla master Ustad Zakir Hussain has passed. Conflicting reports had been issued throughout the day. His mastery of classical Indian music and collaboration with contemporary musicians in the West have shaped modern music for the past half century.

www.npr.org/2024/12/15/n...

Happy and Healing Medicine Buddha Full Moon!

“Just as the crescent moon grows night by night,
Those who abide on the Bodhisattva grounds
Increase in stages of wisdom and compassion.
And just as the waxing moon becomes the full,
The Dharmakaya is fully manifest in each.”

Nāgārjuna

“If you plant the seed of applied science and technology, it proceeds to grow, and it grows according to the laws of its own being. And the laws of its being are not necessarily the same as the laws of our being.”

Aldous Huxley, BBC Interview, c. 1962

Thank you! It is an honor to meet you. You have given us a wonderful son, who is an example of love and courage for us all. 🙏🙏🙏

“What I consider most important is not just giving Dharma teachings, but to live a human life with dignity, with honesty, having a warm heart.”

His Holiness XIV Dalai Lama, Dharamsala India, December 6, 2024.

Photo via OHHDL, December 6, 2024
#DalaiLama