Today Payton played a talk by Gil Fronsdal entitled “Response to Election” which focused largely on the role of mindful practice in times of great fear and anger. Gil spoke on the importance of love during these times. He listed what he called the four kinds of love emphasized in Buddhist teachings (which are in fact the Brahma-viharas ): loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity.
The group discussion then centered around how we must remaing aware of all the events going on around us, no matter how small, in the wake of the Election results, and take action to keep our deepest values alive even when there may be risk to ourselves. That action, however, should be rooted in kindness rather than fear.
Gil’s talk is available here: http://www.audiodharma.org/talks/audio_player/7270.html
Another talk he gave just after the election is available here, in which Gil describes the image of a lighthouse to light the way while remaining stable even in great storms: http://www.audiodharma.org/talks/audio_player/7252.html
Burlington Buddhist Sangha 