Advanced Ideas - NewBuddhist

Five Positive Precepts.

Citta — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:37:14 -0400

The Sutrayana view is to see certain behaviours as representing a barrier to seeing things as they are.
The Dzogchen view is that things are always just as they are..
So one version of the precepts ( which in many Dzogchen schools do not feature at all ) recognised by some Dzogchenpas goes like this;

To avoid killing the awareness of the sparkling radiance of Rigpa which shines through all things.
To avoid stealing opportunities for awakening.
To remain in the embrace of the khandro or pawo. ( analogous to the anima/animus of Jungian therapy..)
To avoid expressing the lie of duality.
To refrain from the intoxication of duality.

Just puttin' it out there.

It is enough to ask about the matter; bow and withdraw

zenff — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:03:49 -0400

My notes on the second case no longer fitted on one sheet of paper. That’s not good.
Has anyone ever tried to solve a koan with his teacher by bringing some sheets of paper and start reading them out loud?
One time while waiting for such a personal encounter with the teacher I saw him walk out of the dokusan room in the middle of a long story from one of his students. He came back with a chair.

So I’ll try to be brief.

The second case of the blue Cliff Record starts with a reference to the famous opening lines of the Xinxin Ming.

“The Ultimate Path is without difficulty;
Just avoid picking and choosing.
Just don’t love or hate,
And you’ll be lucid and clear.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinxin_Ming

Master Chao Chou teases his students with the contradiction in these lines and one student teases him back. It ends with the Master dismissing the class.

What is there to tease? What is the contradiction?
In short; Sengcan in his text says something like “don’t be dualistic about things”. The problem is that when we agree we can say; okay I will not be dualistic instead I will be lucid and clear.
But to reject dualistic thinking ìs a dualistic way of thinking.
How do we solve that problem?
Chao Chou said: “It is enough to ask about the matter; bow and withdraw.”

That’s not a dodgy way out. He’s a Master.
He sees and he acts. No sheet of paper between that.

Beware of the Maya of Teachers and Teachings

searching_samsara — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:28:09 -0400

Don't confuse the messenger with the message

The highest spiritual and the mundane are equal
Paradox

All spiritual and all mundane are without any
seperate, independant, individual self-nature

Spiritual and mundane are not independent,nor
do they exist outside of language

Enlightenment and delusion are non existent
Awakening and ignorance are delusive fantasies

Words and actions have nothing to do with the truth
Emotions, feelings, expressing, experiences and
behaviour has nothing to do with the Absolute

Going beyond the truth
Going prior to the truth and the truth
have nothing to do with the truth

Non-duality, witnessing and awareness temporary
seductive nested states which deny their inevitable "mortality"

Zen and Buddhism and dharma are formless and without chracteristics
They are based on words and are temporary
Why bother trying to understand or know them
or behave as if they are with a self-existing nature?

Their reality is an illusion

The Path is the obstacle

Even precious gold dust, if it gets in your eye causes blindness

Don't confuse the messenger with the message

Empty, without holiness

zenff — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 14:24:01 -0400

I want to write down some personal notes on koans.
This is my first shot at the first case of the Blue Cliff Record. It feels like kicking in an open door. This isn’t a difficult case is it?
I chose “advanced ideas” because koans are weird and frustrating.

“Empty, without holiness.”

In the first case of The Blue Cliff Record, Emperor Wu asks Bodhidharma: “What is the highest meaning of the holy truths?”
Bodhidharma says: “Empty, without holiness.”

In the commentary it is explained that the question was not as weird as it sounds. In fact it referred to a specific and abstruse point of Buddhist philosophy that the Emperor had discussed before with various Buddhist scholars. Basically it is about the identity of relative and absolute.
So maybe he was testing Bodhidharma; or maybe he wanted to show that he knew a thing or two about Buddhism; or he wanted to have another profound intellectual discussion on the subject. We don’t know that.
We just know that in the story Bodhidharma didn’t go along with it. He bluntly pointed out that this sophisticated idea is empty and that there’s nothing holy in it.

His remark is like a bomb blowing up the mental construction that underlies the question. It’s not an attempt to put the final card on the roof of the house of cards; it is intended to make the house of cards collapse. As such it can be applied in different situations. What about this magnificent new piece of music? Empty, without magnificence. What about this huge trauma in my life? Empty, without a trace.
Empty, without joy. Empty, without importance. Empty, without good or bad. Empty, without whatever anyone was putting in there. Empty, without marks.

In his encounter with Emperor Wu, Bodhidharma does that same thing a couple of times. The Emperor asks about the merit of his many efforts to promote the Dharma. Bodhidharma says “There is no merit.” Here too he knocks down the house of cards.
“Who is facing me?” Answer “I don’t know.” Bodhidharma knocks down the mental construction (in this case the mental construction of identifications) that underlies the question.
The emperor is puzzled and asks another teacher about the meaning of this encounter with Bodhidharma. That shows he didn’t see what Bodhidharma was doing and so probably he didn’t see the mental fabrications in his own mind either.

There’s a lesson in this Koan. When we (the Emperor) meet the Truth (Bodhidharma) our mental fabrications don’t get crowned; they get knocked over. That’s all there is to it. Bodhidharma doesn’t return; his work is finished. He isn’t coming back; neither for reconstructing the delusional notions he destroyed nor for laying the foundations for new ones.

Insight on body feeling

Jeffrey — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 20:40:03 -0400

Most of my thinking is sort in day dreams and I don't worry too much about it.
I once had anxiety and I learned to let go of the thoughts and just feel my body. But I wonder if I need the thoughts in order to have insight and expose and conquer wrong view. Between my meds and the feelings in my body I have quite a thorny bramble of craving towards feeling relief.

So the question is if we let go of anxious thoughts are they in the subconscious causing havoc? Do I need to question my body and ask what the problem is? I used to think that just going back to the breath. I am doubting that now. After all part of study is contemplating along with hearing and meditation.

questions regarding mind

misecmisc1 — Fri, 17 May 2013 07:03:02 -0400

hi all,

while browsing through internet, came across this web-page : http://buddha-inside.blogspot.in/2009/05/self-liberation-through-seeing-with.html

on reading it, i saw the lines:
Everything that appears is but a manifestation of mind.
Even though the entire external inanimate universe appears to you, it is but a manifestation of mind.
Even though all of the sentient beings of the six realms appear to you they are but a manifestation of mind.

it seems to me that everything is manifestation of mind because it is the mind which experiences everything. but then the question arises - what is mind? does mind exist or does not exist? my thinking says: if mind did not exist, then thoughts could not arise, but since thoughts arise in mind, so mind exist. but mind also cannot exist independently. so mind neither exists, nor does not exist. :eek2:

Is mind empty?
my understanding: Emptiness as i understand is empty of inherent existence, that is empty of essence. So if mind was having essence, then it can exist independently - but mind depends on body - so mind is empty of inherent existence.

please share your thoughts about above questions about mind. is my above thinking and above understanding correct? if not correct, then please correct it.

on reading the above link, it seemed to me that it is same as zen method of meditation of just sitting. So does the above link has same or different method of meditation from zen? please suggest. thanks in advance.

Can Science and Spirituality be friends?

DaftChris — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 10:38:20 -0400

This was originally a blog post of mine that I thought could start a good dialogue here.

Short answer? Yes.

Long-ish answer?

I view science and spirituality as being halves of one collective brain. Spirituality and/or religion as being “right brained”; that being more belief-based, heavy on symbolism and highly subjective. Whilst science is “left-brained”; using logic, calculations and being overall more analytical. If one is too left-brained, they can become cold and detached. If one is too right-brained, they can become too aloof and not based in reality. The same can be said about science and religion/spirituality.

Religion has changed drastically over time. The rabbinical Judaism of today is no where similar to the temple Judaism of the time of Christ. Buddhism had evolved from what a humanistic philosophy taught about the state of life to many denominations having large pantheons of spirits and demi-gods. Nothing ever remains stagnent. Religion and spirituality will change over the course of time to adapt to the changing world.

Science is not exempt from this either. Despite what many people would say (how religion and science are not compatible because religion adapts to science and not vice versa) science also will change over time. The science of today is very different from the science of not even 200 years ago. Within time, it is almost certain that the science of the future will be different from the science of now.

Both change over time and both are not mutually exclusive. To think that one has all the answers and trumps the other has been puzzling to me. To go back to the brain analogy, both sides of the brain are ideally needed to function. Both science and spirituality, to me anyway, are needed for people to have the answers to the questions that plague the human existence. Why are we here? Where are we from? Where are we going? Spirituality also need not be something supernatural. The vastness of the universe; the orderliness of physics; the beauty of nature. There are quite spiritual at their core and are every bit as fulfilling as God, rites, ritual and prayer.

Science and spirituality are not enemies. They only appear to be, because their proponents claim superiority over the other. Within time, perhaps people will understand that and things will start to make more sense.

What do you think?

There is no now for you

searching_samsara — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 17:48:23 -0400

The non-existent abstracted mind is very tricky

It makes the past seem like the present,
and the future seem like now.

As there is no now, you have already missed it.
There is no such thing as now.

"There is no now for you"

Without a you
There is no illusionary state of now
Only "That" which isn't

You cannot grasp or experience it

Once realised the apparatus breaks

"There is no now for you"

Without Manifestation

searching_samsara — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 19:19:56 -0400

Not Knowing":the ultimate deconstruction
The Ultimate description of "That"

Everything manifesting as That is a mistaken idea

Without manifestation

Buddha The Diamond Sutra: "We refer to it as a world, but there is no world."

There is no such thing as a manifestation
cuts through and destroys the manifestation
concept and all that goes with it

Don't be drawn in

Otherwise "you" will believe in the attachment
concept and be seductively deluded into all that
that state brings

Beware of believing or believing in believing

Because believing has nothing to do with anything

Beware especially of what makes sense

The Seven Factors of Awakening

sova — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 18:57:00 -0400

or The Seven Factors of Enlightenment
or The Seven Super Radical Things a Mind Inclined to Liberation Cultivates
or Be a Reality Conqueror with 7 wonderful and joyful ingredients

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/piyadassi/wheel001.html

The document linked-to above is so well-formated and well-elaborated that I simply had to share it.

Buddhism is open to all beings, all people, no matter their creed, race, gender, identity, status, and for this I am very grateful. Sometimes I forget this and think I am so lucky to have stumbled onto Buddhism, time to make it Mine! But this is wrongful thinking. We should think to assimilate our learning and our practice into our everyday life. This way we can truly reap the fruits of superknowledge and understanding, by not only witnessing the mind transform [dualism tho], but also by becoming the very transformation, generosity, omniscience, and the very nature of being an awesome person.

The term bojjhanga is composed of bodhi + anga. Bodh denotes enlightenment — to be exact, insight concerned with the realization of the four Noble Truths, namely: the Noble Truth of suffering; the Noble Truth of the origin of suffering; the Noble Truth of the cessation of suffering and the Noble Truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering. Anga means factors or limbs. Bodhi + anga (bojjhanga), therefore, means the factors of enlightenment, or the factors for insight, wisdom.

"Bojjhanga! Bojjhanga! Is the saying, Lord. Pray, Lord, how far is this name applicable?" queried a monk of the Buddha. "Bodhaya samvattantiti kho bhikkhu tasma bojjhanga ti vuccanti" — "They conduce to enlightenment, monk, that is why they are so called," was the succinct reply of the Master.[1]

Further says the Buddha, "Just as, monks, in a peaked house all rafters whatsoever go together to the peak, slope to the peak, join in the peak, and of them all the peak is reckoned chief: even so, monks, the monk who cultivates and makes much of the seven factors of wisdom, slopes to Nibbana, inclines to Nibbana, tends to Nibbana."[2]

The seven factors are:

Mindfulness (sati)
Keen investigation of the dhamma (dhammavicaya)[3]
Energy (viriya)
Rapture or happiness (piti)
Calm (passaddhi)
Concentration (samadhi)
Equanimity (upekkha)
One of the discourses on the Bojjhangas may be mentioned here. It begins:

Please excuse my admiration of conventional marks and squiggles, I only mean to say I love you. =)

Objectivism & Buddhism

wicked_good_kamma — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 10:08:11 -0400

I recently had an interesting but I suspect fallacious discussion with my girlfriends uncle where he was trying to reconcile zen buddhism and objectivism. I told him I was into Buddhist philosophy and his first words were "ahh a nihilist" and I kind of assumed he was one of those people with "much dust in their eyes" so I politely carried on the conversation, alluding to corrections in his theory when I could without offending him. Anyways what do you guys think?

What does perfect mean? Is a Buddha perfect?

Jeffrey — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 17:28:27 -0400

I suppose that the Buddha was perfect enough to give teachings, so yeah, I'd have to say that in the context of the needs of beings he *was* perfect. But then what is perfect. I think there are many angles. My dad always says "perfection is for the gods" :)

But then for normal people we strive to come as close to perfect as we are able. Excellence. Or some of us just do just enough and are very efficient. Ram Dass says that you should give just the right amount of presence, not too much and not too little.

How do I see that feeling is not the self

Jeffrey — Thu, 30 May 2013 17:56:58 -0400

I very strongly in my life want to feel good. I am on drugs that make me low energy and feel less alive and certainly uncomfortable. In my awareness I am always thinking of how I can get a good feeling or lamenting because I don't feel well.

@karmablues said something in another thread:

From the Khandha Samyutta No. 117:

A well-taught noble disciple... does not consider feeling as the self nor the self as the owner of the feeling, nor feeling as included within the self, nor the self as included within the feeling.

Of such a well-taught noble disciple it can be said that he is unfettered by the bondage of feeling, unfettered by bondage inner or outer. He has seen the coast, he has seen the Other Shore, and he is fully freed from suffering — this I say.

How should I practice so as to change my mind? I don't understand how someone can be dispassioned from feeling because when you feel bad you can't think of anything but of how you are hurting and wanting a way out.

Confusion.

Citta — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 05:01:20 -0400

' When we see that our confusion and aggression are aspects of our mind that can help us, then we can begin to work with them.
Our mind is a good mind, it is the same mind which carries us to Enlightenment. The Dzogchen path is about seeing all this as arising from great naturalness..great tranquility ".
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche.

I know that just leaving quotes to ponder is not always appreciated... So part of my take here is that our tendency is to struggle against those aspects of ourselves which differ from our projected image..but that this actually reinforces those tendencies.
When we see those aspects of ourselves we should not simply give them reign, but neither should we battle them. We should use them as a reminder to relax into our natural state..breath into them and relax.

Sutra Club: The Mahanama Sutta. Establishing meditation in pleasant, skillful states of mind

fivebells — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 16:38:30 -0400

Sutra Club this time is on the Mahanama Sutta. It describes ways to establish extremely pleasant, stable states of mind as a tool for awakening.

This sutta ostensibly contains advice the Buddha gave to the householder Mahanama about appropriate states of mind for Mahanama to fashion as he goes about his life:

For those of us living by means of various dwelling places [for the mind], by means of which dwelling place should we live?"

However, it is worth noting that the name "Mahanama" could be interpreted as "Great Mind." "Maha" means great, and "Nama" could be the "nama" of nama-rupa, I.e., mind-body, a component of dependent origination. As Thanissaro outlines in Wings to Awakening, the factors of Nama are attention, intention, perception and feeling. Each of the mind states the Buddha endorses to Mahanama shape these four factors in skillful ways.

Though this is a sutta from the Pali canon, the last of the mindstates the Buddha recommends is strongly reminiscent of Tibetan deity visualizations:

"Furthermore, you should recollect the devas: 'There are the Devas of the Four Great Kings, the Devas of the Thirty-three, the Devas of the Hours, the Contented Devas, the devas who delight in creation, the devas who have power over the creations of others, the devas of Brahma's retinue, the devas beyond them. Whatever conviction they were endowed with that — when falling away from this life — they re-arose there, the same sort of conviction is present in me as well. Whatever virtue they were endowed with that — when falling away from this life — they re-arose there, the same sort of virtue is present in me as well. Whatever learning they were endowed with that — when falling away from this life — they re-arose there, the same sort of learning is present in me as well. Whatever generosity they were endowed with that — when falling away from this life — they re-arose there, the same sort of generosity is present in me as well. Whatever discernment they were endowed with that — when falling away from this life — they re-arose there, the same sort of discernment is present in me as well.' At any time when a disciple of the noble ones is recollecting the conviction, virtue, learning, generosity, and discernment found both in himself and the devas, his mind is not overcome with passion, not overcome with aversion, not overcome with delusion. His mind heads straight, based on the [qualities of the] devas. And when the mind is headed straight, the disciple of the noble ones gains a sense of the goal, gains a sense of the Dhamma, gains joy connected with the Dhamma. In one who is joyful, rapture arises. In one who is rapturous, the body grows calm. One whose body is calmed experiences ease. In one at ease, the mind becomes concentrated.

One of the benefits of seeing dependent origination in action is developing the understanding that all states of mind are fabricated by a similar process, and that one can take a conscious and skillful role in deciding upon these fabrications in any life circumstances. Thanissaro outlined how this looks in a recent talk, Working with Fabrication.

The Buddha recommends to Mahanama that he cultivate these states of mind "...while you are walking, while you are standing, while you are sitting, while you are lying down, while you are busy at work, while you are resting in your home crowded with children." What would your life look like if you went through it cultivating such states of mind yourself?

Lastly, Mahanama asks the Buddha about this in the context of the many monks making robes in preparation for him to set out wandering. Since the Buddha replies Mahanama with descriptions of shelter for the mind, do you think his robes may also represent some kind of mental preparation?

Do you find this pessimistic?

footiam — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 02:39:39 -0500

SN 1.3
PTS: S i 2
CDB i 90
Upaneyya.m Sutta: Doomed
translated from the Pali by
Maurice O'Connell Walshe
© 2007–2012
The Pali title of this sutta is based on the PTS (Feer) edition.

Thus have I heard. At one time the Blessed One was staying near Saavatthii, at Jeta Grove, in Anaathapi.n.dika's park. Now a certain deva,[1] as the night was passing away, lighting up the whole Jeta Grove with his effulgent beauty, approached the Blessed One and, having approached, stood on one side.

Standing thus on one side, the deva spoke this verse before the Blessed One:
Life but leads to doom. Our time is short. From Decay there's naught can keep us safe. Contemplating thus the fear of death, Let's make merit that will bring us bliss.

[The Blessed One replied:]
Life but leads to doom. Our time is short. From Decay there's naught can keep us safe. Contemplating thus this fear of death, Scorn such worldly bait, seek final peace.[2]

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn01/sn01.003.wlsh.html

Your thoughts

Theswingisyellow — Thu, 30 May 2013 21:31:11 -0400

Any new or old ideas, concepts, constructs, or beliefs that one holds one should challenge them and hold them to deep scrutiny. I have been doing this specifically with ideas I hold as cornerstones to my practice, not-self and impermanence. Specifically impermanence. From whose perspective does everything change? From a self perspective everything appears linear and from that a point appears to change. Without that self perspective what can be said to "change?" From a whole or a perspective of totality it's simply existence, one that I am intertwined with. The flag is not moving, the wind is not moving, even the mind is not moving.
All the best,
Todd

The Great Refusal And The Spiritual Supermarket.

Citta — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 10:40:18 -0400

We live in an age where we are bombarded by apparent choice. A bewildering array of goods and services on all sides.
And this extends to what we might call the spiritual path too.
Trungpa Rinpoche first described the phenomenon he called 'spiritual materialism' ..the misappropriation of the means to see the illusory nature of separate existence , so that these means serve instead to reinforce the self sense.
We think that by turning away from a blind need to possess stuff that we are on the way to reality...but the fact is it is easy to substitute malas and trinkets, and yet another book or website about yet another teacher or method for the car or the latest Ipad.
But they are equally likely to result in confusion and the need to satisfy yet another artificially created need.
Marcuse talked of the Great Refusal. The need to refuse to become enslaved to commodities and to a culture that defines itself by aquisition.
Trungpa extended this to the tendency to use the means of liberation to become the aquisition of yet more Buddhist Scouting Badges.
The inability to get down and do the work..to grow bored and yet keep on. To run instead willynilly after various groups and different teachers.
To mix metaphors..to sow a crop and constantly dig it up when it is just beginning to grow.
Perhaps we need a Buddhist version of the Great Refusal.
To find instead a good-enough teacher and/or a good enough method and stick to it through thick and thin, and for a long time.

Ultimate Goal?

federica — Thu, 30 May 2013 20:30:30 -0400

This discussion was created from comments split from: What is the ultimate goal?.

A 4-year-old thread.

Please, people... anything over 6 months is old-hat - start a new thread, okay??

The self and thoughts

betaboy — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:02:31 -0400

Usually during meditation, meditators complain about the monkey mind, that random thoughts come and go, and it is very hard to concentrate. This is a legit. complaint, but the real culprit is the self. That's what I have understood in my meditations. Without the sense of self or "I", these random thoughts or feelings/sensations won't bother us all that much.

This is probably why the buddha spoke of the no-self doctrine (there may be a metaphysical truth behind it but it is likewise a practical guide). This is also why J Krishnamurti encouraged his followers to observe the self rather than control thoughts.

For those interested in Dzogchen.

Citta — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 05:57:20 -0500

I think reading about Dharma is a mixed blessing at best...it is easy to end up in a confused tangle of other peoples ideas..
However I also know that reading can lead to seeking out living breathing people with beating hearts to learn from.

So in that spirit, and in response to several queries about Dzogchen I would like to recommend
" The Roaring Silence " by Ngakpa Chogyam and Khandro Dechen.
It provides an introduction to some very subtle ideas, that is immediately accessible.
Many of the publications that deal with the subject assume a good deal of prior knowledge and vocabulary...
The Roaring Silence is pragmatic without being condescending.

Buddhism and Morality

person — Sat, 25 May 2013 16:30:52 -0400

Came across this article and I liked the way it breaks down the Buddhist view of moral relativism vs absolute morality.

http://buddhism.about.com/od/basicbuddhistteachings/a/morality1.htm

...However, the Precepts are not commandments, but principles, and it is up to us to determine how to apply these principles to our lives...

...There are no moral absolutes in Buddhism and it is recognized that ethical decision-making involves a complex nexus of causes and conditions. 'Buddhism' encompasses a wide spectrum of beliefs and practices, and the canonical scriptures leave room for a range of interpretations. All of these are grounded in a theory of intentionality, and individuals are encouraged to analyze issues carefully for themselves. ... When making moral choices, individuals are advised to examine their motivation--whether aversion, attachment, ignorance, wisdom, or compassion--and to weigh the consequences of their actions in light of the Buddha's teachings....

"Once for all, then, a short precept is given you: Love, and do what you will: whether you hold your peace, through love hold your peace; whether you cry out, through love cry out; whether you correct, through love correct; whether you spare, through love do you spare: let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good."
~ St. Augustine

Basically Buddhism says learn to be kind and wise in yourself and your actions will automatically be moral. What's more using this approach you can be adaptive to specific situations instead of trying to fit a prescribed rule into life.

Sutra Club: Buddha Ordains a SERIAL KILLER! Killer Gets Enlightened After Getting STONED!

fivebells — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:59:00 -0400

Hi, everyone. This week's sutta is about the serial killer Angulimala. The Buddha basically walks up to him and converts him to Buddhist practice on the spot. Later, Angulimala is stoned by the associates of some of his victims but he survives, and the Buddha's instructions to him regarding this incident lead to his enlightenment.

This has been one of my favorite sutras for over a decade, and I have seen some pitfalls in discussing it. It contains some claims of magic and it suggests a way of relating to adversity which starkly threatens our very survival. These aspects of it tend to trigger emotional reactions and derail the conversation from the really important issue the sutta raises, which is how to skillfully relate to our own past personal wrongdoings and how to skillfully relate to others' transgressions against us. Therefore, there are some questions I would like to avoid in this discussion: Let's not talk about whether Buddha's magical capacity to prevent Angulimala's attacks played a role in his decision to approach him. If you want to talk about that, talk instead about Angulimala's decision to seek alms among people with every reason to want to torture him to death in cold blood, because it's much closer to the decisions we mortals are forced to make. And let's not talk about whether they were right or wrong to want to seek vengeance against him. If you want to talk about that, instead talk about the skillful way to behave in a world where those against whom you've transgressed will in turn seek vengeance against you.

I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return.

Lastly, this story about a modern-day (early 90s) robbery in India is reminiscent of Angulimala:

The monk and his lay companion

pali - explanation

upekka — Tue, 28 May 2013 18:30:33 -0400

can any one explain, in simple english, the following pali terms?

Boganca
Bavanca
vokarang

thanks in advance

Benefits of optimism

betaboy — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:13:07 -0400

Science confirms what many spiritual people have been saying:

http://www.yalemedicalgroup.org/stw/Page.asp?PageID=STW037186

How does the lack of free will tie in with the law of kamma?

jll — Fri, 17 May 2013 02:03:42 -0400

if we had no free will, what about our karma?

Jesus was a Buddhist Monk BBC Documentary

LeonBasin — Sun, 19 May 2013 16:33:57 -0400

Thoughts? I have no clue. But interesting?

Nagarjuna

rivercane — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:57:24 -0400

Has anyone read Nagarjuna? I noticed that his Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way is available for a good price for the Kindle edition from Amazon.com

A dharma teacher that I like will often quote from this text and it always sounds very deep; very profound. Is the writing technical or fairly easy to follow?

I've ordered books from Amazon before because the teacher was supposed to be very good and the writing profound but have been disappointed in the past. I'm sorry to say that I had this experience with the work of Longchenpa, who has such respect and good reputation. It just didn't do anything for me but I'm more than ready to admit that it could have just been me.

I guess what I'm looking for is something that could be truly life-changing and I know that's a tall order but I have read dharma books in the past that I feel have transformed by perception of reality and changed my life, although there have only been a few. I think Nagarjuna would appeal to me. I enjoy philosophical works that deal with the very nature of reality.

I also saw that Nagarjuna's Seventy Stanzas: A Buddhist Psychology Of Emptinesswas available for Kindle. Please share any experiences you have had with Nagarjuna's work. Thanks!

Buddhism And Science

kashi — Sun, 12 May 2013 21:43:38 -0400

Its always amazed me how The Buddha actually discovered a lot of things 2000 plus years before modern science. Theres a lot more videos out there and tons of books on the subject but heres something for those who are interested.

part 2

part 3

Forgiveness is not an option

music — Sun, 12 May 2013 11:56:17 -0400

The Buddha was very clear about this. So was Christ. He commanded his disciples to forgive - it was no request.

There could be a hundred reasons why we cannot forgive someone, and there may not even be one reason as to why we should. Even so, we must forgive. It is good for us, and the person who is forgiven may also change as a result.

But forgiveness is not magic - it does not change black into white, wrong into right. If someone is bullying you now, you can - and you must - defend yourself. With violence, if necessary. This has no bearing on your ability to forgive since the two are not connected in any way - self-defense is a practical action taken to protect the flesh, whereas forgiveness is the medicine for our souls.

So keep forgiving, regardless of how your body may react to circumstances.

The Purpose of Iconoclasm?

Nevermind — Tue, 07 May 2013 11:15:52 -0400

Iconoclasm is the deliberate destruction within a culture of the culture's own religious icons and other symbols or monuments.

People who engage in or support iconoclasm are called "iconoclasts", a term that has come to be applied figuratively to any individual who challenges established dogma or conventions. Conversely, people who revere or venerate religious images are (by iconoclasts) called "iconolaters".

What is the purpose of iconoclasm?

Sevenfold Reasoning

Nek777 — Sun, 12 May 2013 13:34:38 -0400

Hi All,

I have been going through Chandrakirti's syllogism - I can follow along fairly well enough, except for the 6th statement - "X" is not merely a collection of its parts. If I were to substitute "self" in for "X", OK - I think I can understand that, in developing the cognition of inherent existence, when someone is asked "What are you?" They give various labels, e.g., job, parent, student, athlete, etc ... Obviously, none of these seem to come from or are the collection of the parts of mind/body.

However, when something else is substituted for "X" I get a bit confused - Why is it that a cup is not the mere collection of its parts?

In some of the commentaries I have read, they were saying that there is a redundancy here - I understand them to mean, that if we have some valid cognition of the inherently existing cup then it does not make sense to say "cup" as separate from the parts. To me this seems somewhat circular. If someone asks "What is a cup?" we could say that it is some vessel for holding liquids to drink or something along those lines ... so, I am having a bit of difficulty with what the (6) part, any help?

Mahaparinirvana Sutra

Wisdom23 — Wed, 08 May 2013 18:23:53 -0400

To be honest i am a huge scheptic at times but the teachings in this sutra seem reasonable. I mean finding your buddha nature ( bigging up your good qualities and diminishing the bad) seems a good goal to aim for, right?

I would just like to ask what other peoples opinion of this is and how they have gone about finding the buddha nature.

All the best Buddhist homies.

Indifference is the right way

music — Fri, 10 May 2013 23:52:10 -0400

Hate is one extreme; love is another.

There are many, many things to hate about ourselves and the world. But hate is unpleasant and won't solve anything. Love is a silly sentiment - honestly, there is nothing to love in this world of brutality and greed. Even otherwise, love is such a foolish idea - love what, exactly? the trees, the clouds? Children can do that. It won't lead to liberation.

Indifference is the middle path, the path of the Buddha, the way of liberation. Even if one sees a starving child or a cancer patient (or read about untold destruction due to tsunami or some such tragedy), one should maintain a stern indifference and NOT be overwhelmed by love, grief, etc. That will only keep us attached to this world.

Perfect detachment is enlightenment.

Kill the Buddha

kashi — Thu, 09 May 2013 01:30:55 -0400

http://www.ordinarymind.com/html/kill_the_buddha.html when I first came to zen this idea was too perplexing. When I came to theravada this idea seemed blasphemy. ..now that im open minded to both types of practice it makes sense.

Ten Spiritual Realms

Wisdom23 — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:04:07 -0400

Which sects of Buddhism adopt the 10 spiritual realms idea? I have recently been studying all sorts of Ontology and been been left thinking WAH ? Returning to ye old good Buddhism i returned to the six spiritual realms. This concept taken with a pinch of salt seems a nice way to live ones life, So for furthur reading i would like to know the sect/sects it appears in. Peace out people, all the best.

Ion makes the world go round

buddhitakso — Thu, 02 May 2013 04:52:09 -0400

What is an ion? An ion is a charged atom or molecule. It is charged due to the imbalance number of electrons and the number of protons in the atom or molecule. An atom can become a positive charge or a negative charge depending on whether the number of electrons in an atom is greater or lesser than the number of protons in the atom. Ion concentrations can vary over short distances i.e. one may find that one end of a room has an excess of positive ions and the other end, negative. In nature, ions are formed in a variety of ways - about half are created by radioactive gases and the other half are produced from radioactive substances in the soil, cosmic rays, ultraviolet rays, air flow friction, falling water and plants.

Basically, positive ions have a negative effect on humans and animals. Some of the side effects caused by high positive ion counts are violent behaviour, road rage, depression, dizziness, chills, tremors, sleeplessness, fatigue, irritability, nausea, lethargy, respiratory symptoms, headaches, migraines, increase in heart attacks, high blood pressure, increase in optical disturbances, anxiety, body aches/pains, etc. Today, the modern homes and offices seal out negative ions. Computer terminals, fluorescent lighting, forced air ventilation systems, and modern building materials generate an over abundance of positive ions. Electrical gadgets such as microwave oven, laptop, desktop computer, television, mobile phone or the alarm clock could be to blame for the lacking of negative ions in the atmosphere. Other positive ionisation could derive from car exhausts, factory fumes, tire dust, cigarette smoke, cooking and heating fumes, dust, etc.

On the other hand, negative ions are beneficial to humans and animals. It has been proven scientifically that a high count of negative ions will decrease fatigue, reduce migraines/headaches, strengthen the function of autonomic nerves, strengthen the body immune system, improves metabolism, improves asthma and other respiratory conditions, lowers blood pressures, etc. Refreshing places, usually located in the mountains and near waterfalls and seashores have high negative ion concentrations. In humans, most researchers think that negative ions act on the capacity to absorb and utilise oxygen, accelerating the blood’s delivery of oxygen to the cells and tissues. Generally, negative ions have much higher rates of mobility as compared with the positive ions due to increase in the number of electrons that are constantly vibrating in standing waves on the surface of the ions.

Once again, the charged molecules or ions play a vital role in the physical and the spiritual development of humans. Our frame of mind and body conditions depend on the composition of the air that we breathe. Air is electrically charged, which means it contains in definite proportions, positively charged molecules (positive ions) and negatively charged molecules (negative ions). There is a need for their balance to conjure up favourable vibes for one’s mental and physical progression. In fact, the yin-yang concept is mostly based upon the orientation of positive ions and negative ions in the surroundings. When there is a balance in the definite proportion of ions, whereby the number of positive ions (yin) is almost equal to the number of negative ions (yang), there will be a harmonious ‘chi’ or energy in the surroundings and vice versa.

On another front, the definite proportion of ions in the atmosphere has an intimate relevance to the arising of spirit or ghost energies in the human realms. Ordinary spirits or ghosts that are abided with ignorance would be drawn to the cluster of positive ions. This is because positive ions are correlated with the energies of dukkha i.e. ignorance would give rise to unfavourable thoughts, ill-wills, angers, un-satisfactoriness, attachments, restlessness, jealousy, pessimism, etc. Common areas such as windowless and closed rooms, abandoned houses, hospitals, factories, old buildings – in derelict and overgrown states, would usually sustain a higher concentration of positive ions in the surroundings – an ideal passageway for the manifestation of wandering ghosts or spirits in the human realms. And from direct experience, a ghost or a spirit arising in close proximity could evoke with severe headaches, nausea and lethargy on our physical body unexpectedly – an apparent sign of soaring density of positive ions in the surrounding area. In other words, a human who is afflicted with a mental or a physical illness would tend to attract or magnetise with the spirits or the ghosts more often than the healthy ones due to higher presence of positive ions in the body and the surroundings.

As a conclusion, ions are necessary pre-requisites for becoming process to exist; without it, the becoming process would be impossible in the dependent nature. For humans, the presence of high negative ions would bring scores of advantages to the spiritual and the physical development. In fact, the surroundings with high negative ion concentrations would attract or magnetise with favourable energies from devas, angels and other deities that could help individuals in many ways along the path to spiritual liberation. Therefore, it is crucial for one to find balance with the ion concentrations at all times because ions are ‘kingmakers’ in the mental and the physical health condition of individuals.

Pro-creation (Sexual) Process in Samsāra

buddhitakso — Thu, 02 May 2013 04:49:15 -0400

A sperm and an egg would contain with subtle mind consciousness respectively. A sexual pro-creation process would begin with the aggregation of sperm and egg under a balance phenomenon. During the integration process, some new information would be produced and it would evolve into knowledge. Consecutively, the gained knowledge would induce a sense of representation that would then give rise to a memory aggregate. The memory aggregate would stimulate a compulsion process and this would lead to a broadcasting of karmic imprints in its own vibrational frequency that in turn electro-magnetically attract with similar karmic imprints unearthed from the influx of subtle mind consciousness elsewhere in the dependent nature (as per the Law of Vibration and the Law of Attraction).

Scientifically, a sperm is an electrically neutral structure with the equal amount of positive and negative charges. An egg is also an electrically neutral structure with the equal amount of positive and negative charges. During the fertilisation period, the sperms are guided by temperature when travelling through most of the fallopian tube and navigate by tuning in to the egg’s chemical call when they get close to the fertilisation site. When a sperm conflates with an egg to form a zygote, it would give rise to energy absorption inside the egg structure. The electron bonded to an atom of the egg absorbs the proper amount of energy deriving from the potential (stored) energy of the sperm. The energy absorbed would then exceed the electric potential barrier that originally confined it, thus breaking the bond and freeing it to move. The electron is then emitted as a free electron from the zygote structure and the amount of energy required is called the ionisation energy.

According to the cycle of Dependent Origination, an imbalance phenomenon would lead to an adjustment process. The adjustment process would then lead to an alignment process and the alignment process would subsequently lead to a new balance phenomenon. When an atom loses an electron, an imbalance phenomenon occurs. The atom then becomes a charged particle called an ion. These imbalanced ion particles are responsible for the electron flow (energy flow in the form of electricity). Ions will take or release an electron to become balanced again. Therefore, the zygote, an electro-magnetic being with positively charged ions, would be balanced with the ‘jump’ of an electron from an atom elsewhere. In other words, a positively charged ion would electro-magnetically attract to a negatively charged ion elsewhere and this condition is crucial for the development of zygote into embryo.

For general understanding, a zygote would develop into an embryo only with the presence of negative ions, positive ions and the compatible ‘free-flow’ subtle mind consciousness as a boost factor. In the absence of any or all of these mentioned elements, the advance development of zygote would be impeded. The ‘free-flow’ subtle mind consciousness under an imbalance phenomenon would go through the adjustment process and subsequently the alignment process. During the alignment process, the ‘free-flow’ subtle mind consciousness would attract and ally with the new body that contains all necessary equal and opposite elements (both in qualitative and quantitative aspects). In other words, this integration process would arise in the right place at the right time under a perfectly conducive environment. Thus a new being is formed under a new balance phenomenon.

As mentioned earlier, a zygote is a newly formed being with positively charged ions. A positively charged ion would naturally attract a negatively charged ion. The negative ions encircling the zygote would permeate into the surface of it, enhancing metabolism of the cell membranes, accelerating the mitosis process and the delivery of oxygen to inner cells and tissues. Last of all, the compatible ‘free-flow’ subtle mind consciousness would be absorbed into the zygote to initiate a sparkle process. The sparkle process is made possible only with the absorption of sufficient like energies elsewhere into the zygote. The electron bonded to an atom of the zygote absorbs the proper amount of energy deriving from the potential (stored) energy of the compatible ‘free-flow’ subtle mind consciousness. The energy absorbed would then exceed the electric potential barrier that originally confined it, thus breaking the bond and freeing it to move. The electron is then emitted as a free electron and it upsets the electrical charge equilibrium of the embryo. Thus an embryo is a newly formed being with positively charged ions and it continues to attract negative ions from the surroundings to enhance metabolism of the cell membranes, accelerating the mitosis process and the delivery of oxygen to inner cells and tissues.

In addition, during the sparkle process, prevailing mind consciousness and sense consciousness would be newly formed, simultaneously. Sparkle process would lead to fusion and consolidation processes. This would mean no chance for any subsequent compatible ‘free-flow’ subtle mind consciousness to be absorbed into the embryo after the sparkle process – just like the scenario of the first sperm enters the egg during the fertilisation process. The embryo would continue to develop into a fetus and it is a stage of the early development of the nervous system in the new body. The nervous system is an electrical impulses dependent system – this means in the absence of imbalanced ion particles, the nervous system in the new body would be stalled indefinitely. The nervous system includes both the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. The central nervous system is made up of the brain and the spinal cord and the peripheral nervous system is made up of the somatic and the autonomic nervous systems. The nervous system allows the sentient beings to quickly detect, communicate and co-ordinate information on the external and the internal environment via efficient appropriate responses for survival and/or reproduction.

For general understanding, consciousness is synergy. Synergy is generally defined as the interaction of elements that when combined produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of the individual elements, contributions, etc. In other words, synergy is energy that expands through cooperation and it is a key to the geometric expansion of consciousness. When the nervous system in the new body is formed, sense consciousness would arise simultaneously. Sense consciousness is a subtle synergy resulted from the interaction of the subtle mind consciousness in the new body i.e. the electrochemical transmission along the neurons throughout the nervous system. And this synergy arising is in accordance with the yin-yang principle that states: ‘Yin creates Yang and Yang activates Yin’. Synonymously, subtle mind consciousness is Yin and sense consciousness is Yang - just as a state of total Yin is reached, Yang begins to grow. Yin contains seed of Yang and vice versa.

Moreover, the central nervous system especially the brain would comprise with the highest density of neurons in the entire nervous system of the new body and this circumstance would give rise to another type of synergy identified as prevailing mind consciousness – a prevalent synergy. Both prevailing and subtle mind consciousnesses are also known as consciousness of individuality. Therefore, the origin of individuality is the same as the origin of the mind. In addition, mind consciousness (prevailing and subtle) and brain are symbiotic, one never exists without the other. The brain is actually a coagulated form of the conflated prevailing and subtle conscious mind itself - just as water looks like ice, the mind looks like the brain, and the body. With high density of neurons, the brain could perform a variety of complex functions beside transmitting signals and sending messages to each other parts of the body. Among the complex functions are controlling, regulating, analysing, organising, wishing, interpreting, memorising, etc. – for these complex functions are basically, the roles of prevailing and subtle mind consciousnesses.

New Creation (Multiplicity) Process in Samsāra

buddhitakso — Thu, 02 May 2013 04:44:24 -0400

According to the Chinese philosophy, everything has both Yin and Yang aspects. Yin and Yang are actually complementary but opposing forces interacting to form a whole greater than either separate part; thus bringing forth a dynamic system existing in harmony. The visual representation of this concept is well depicted in the Taijitu symbol or the loosely referred to as yin-yang symbol. Literally, Tai-ji means supreme ultimate – that represents an insightful reality of the dependent nature i.e. highlighting the many natural dualities such as female and male, dark and light, low and high, cold and hot, water and fire, life and death, etc.

Whenever one quality reaches its peak, it will naturally begin to transform into the opposite quality. The communion of the two gives birth to things. Yin and Yang transform each other – just like an undertow in the ocean, every advance is complemented by a retreat, and every rise transforms into a fall. Generally, Yin is associated with water, earth, moon, femininity, night time, etc. and is characterised as slow, soft, yielding, diffuse, cold, wet, and passive. Whereas, by contrast, Yang is associated with fire, sky, the sun, masculinity, day time, etc. and is characterised as fast, hard, solid, focused, hot, dry, and aggressive. The classic principle in effect: ‘Yin creates Yang and Yang activates Yin’.

If one refers to the cycle of Dependent Origination, manas that unfolds against a backdrop of consciousness (preliminary) is an architect or a designer that activates mind and body creations. Mind and body are simply two aspects of the same thing. Manas would vibrate in a certain unique frequency – a wave of collated high and low vibrations. This blueprint of vibrations would subsequently bring forth the conflation of mind and body. The principle in effect: the lower the frequency, the slower the vibration; the higher the frequency, the faster the vibration. Slower vibration would lead to the body and the sense bases formation and faster vibration would lead to the mind formation. Collectively, it brings about a new life existence with a unique individuality that would not allow the disruption by any kind of external interference; thus it maintains a self-identity. In other words, mind and body are present in every created thing as one integrated whole. Even an atom has a kind of mind that is unique or individualised. The nucleus of the atom, around which electrons vibrate in standing waves, constitutes the atom’s individuality. As a result, one atom distinguishes from another atom – just as one person is different from another person or as one thing is different from another thing.

Nevertheless, the mind is comprised with two terms i.e. prevailing conscious and subtle conscious. Both prevailing and subtle mind consciousnesses would arise in the sentient beings but for other things, merely subtle mind consciousness would arise. In addition, it is the mind, the consciousness of individuality, which holds together the atoms and molecules as one integrated body in a life time. Scientifically, the atoms are held together by covalent chemical bonds but the synergies of it would give rise to the mind, the consciousness of individuality. For general understanding, subtle mind consciousness does not consume as much energy as prevailing mind consciousness. Subtle conscious mind can process and store information without a lot of work or intervention of prevailing conscious mind. In other words, subtle mind consciousness could operate in the absence of prevailing mind consciousness with the least of energy consumption on 24 hours/day and 365 days/year - this would mean a plenty of energy reserves for prolonging the lifespan of a body in a life time.

In fact, for over 90% of the time in a lifespan, the body is administered by subtle mind consciousness and it simply operates like a radar detector – sensing all spectrums of vibrational frequencies from the surroundings and across the time stream (past, present and future). As such, one would notice that an enlightened subtle mind consciousness would operate like a long range radar detector which is highly luminous and vigilant to any development of circumstances and surpassing time.

When one has reached the maturity of a lifespan, mind and body would go through a dying process, inevitably. And the first type of consciousness to depart the body would be prevailing mind consciousness. In the sentient beings, the prevailing mind consciousness that bonds strongly the atoms and the molecules together would die out and evolve into other energies concurrently. This incidence would lead to an impulse occurrence with a demonstration of a final burst of energy nearing the death moments. Subsequently, the segregation process would conquest with most of the subtle mind consciousness departing the death body.

For an ignorant being, during a disintegration process, the prevailing conscious aggregate or so-called the ‘chain of conscious’ aggregate would die out and the force of Ignorance (an outward tendency force) would overcome the force of Awakening (an inward tendency force). The subtle conscious aggregate would then liberate into fragments. The amount of liberated fragments is very much dependent on the level of Ignorance or Awakening within the being. And for an ignorant being, the level of Ignorance would surpass the level of Awakening and this would mean the intensity of Ignorance is higher than the intensity of Awakening. A higher intensity of Ignorance would mean a higher intensity of becoming. A higher intensity of becoming would mean a higher amount of liberated fragments. On the other hand, for an awakened being, the amount of liberated fragments is much lesser than an ignorant being because there is lower intensity of Ignorance as compared with the intensity of Awakening. Also, the dispersion of liberated fragments is more confined and restricted to much fewer new individuals.

Last of all, during segregation process, sense consciousness and the lingering subtle mind consciousness would evolve into other energies concurrently with the body decomposing process. At the end of the day, the fragmented subtle mind consciousness with some retained sub-information within the sub-memory aggregates would sustain freedom of sorts and waiting for the next alignment process and the new balance phenomena to arise, thus depicting the continuous flow or repeating cycle of birth, life, death and re-birth - known as Samsāra.

the Zen of Nihilism

Wisdom23 — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 07:48:58 -0400

I would like your thoughts on this please. I have never been grand at explaining myself so i hope i get my msg across.

After so much study and meditation i came to a feeling of emptyness or sunyata. A description of Nihilism fit what i was feeling bang on. Furthur thought lead me to think if there is no inherent purpose, meaning or morality no one can be right or wrong in the way of conceptual truths. I then thought that we all live under a veil of subjectivity. This seems to be leading towards non-duality.

I would like to know if anyone has experienced anything similar and how they went from here.

renunciation 2013

federica — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 10:47:02 -0400

This discussion was created from comments split from: Intention of Renunciation.

Character vs Personality

person — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 20:07:08 -0400

In this TED talk Susan Cain mentions that self help books from 150 years ago were about character and how to be a person of integrity. After industrialization and a move to large cities away from small communities where everyone knew each other the books began extolling the virtues of personality, personal magnetism, charm, etc. because it was important to be able to set oneself apart and be noticed among a throng of anonymity.

I'd never heard of this and it made sense to me. It also got me thinking about the difference between character and personality especially in regards to Buddhism.

The Buddhist path, or any spirituality really, works to change ones character and doesn't seem to be concerned about personality. Chogyam Trungpa seems to have noticed this and wrote his book Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism in an effort to address it.

What's the difference between character and personality to you?

Sutra Club: Tittha Sutta

zombiegirl — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 17:39:27 -0400

Broken into four short parts:

Tittha Sutta: Sectarians

Tittha Sutta: Sectarians (1)
(The well known allegory of the blind men and the elephant. Comparison between the lore in Buddhist, Jain, Hindu, and Sufi lore. Other commentary.)

Tittha Sutta: Sectarians (2)

Tittha Sutta: Sectarians (3)
(The well known allegory of the arrow.)

Buddhism and Gardening

Kelsang_Tsering — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:35:14 -0400

As a keen armature gardener, I was wondering if anyone has any advice on how to get rid of pests on plants, such as Green/Black fly and Vine Weevils and there larvae without harming or killing them.

I have been told there is a chemical that will destroy the Vine Weevils larvae before the develop in to full Vine Weevils and eat and destroy the plants and the same for the Green/Black Fly.

But a Buddhist practiser I have taken a vow of no killing and I garden organically to help the balance of the environment, so using chemicals to eradicate the Vine Weevils, Green/Black Fly is unacceptable.

So if anyone has got any advice that would or could help me garden ethically and without having to use chemicals which would cause harm or even kill any insects or pests would be really appreciated.

The myth of Hinayana. Kare A. Lie.

hermitwin — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 08:43:07 -0400

I read it recently and found it very interesting.
Any comments?

http://wisdomquarterly.blogspot.com/2008/08/myth-of-hinayana.html

Where is your compassion?

music — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 02:33:02 -0400

Spiritual people, not just Buddhists, often talk about compassion and how important it is to cultivate the spirit of forgiveness, empathy. But most of the time their compassion is misdirected. Let me give an example: Boston bombing. It is easy to sympathize with the victims - of course they deserve sympathy - but how many people can sympathize with the perpetrator? Isn't that the real test?

You show compassion toward the victims because you feel close to them, or because they're part of your 'team' (in terms of nationality, race, whatever), or for whatever reason. Point is, this so-called compassion is simply identification of the ego with something larger - patriotism, mostly, but it could be anything. That's not important. What's important is that it is easy to be compassionate in such cases - no effort is necessary. In fact, Christ said something to that effect: it is easy to love those who love you. Even sinners/tax collectors do that, but it is more important to forgive those who hate you, persecute you.

So the real question is: are we ready to love and forgive the most evil, the most wicked ( and not merely 'send' metta to victims, which is a ridiculously easy thing to do)? Else, our spirituality is bogus.

Altruism, selfishness and purity

person — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:29:57 -0400

A couple of weeks ago, there was an article in the New Scientist that touched on the topic of altruism. In the article it was suggested that there is a correlation between levels of altruism and the presence of a particular variant of one particular gene (see here) which gives a nice hormonal buzz when its bearer performs some altruistic act.

Now, all of that may be so, but what I wondered about was the throwaway line at the end of the article, where the author Kate Douglas suggested that “some might argue that if random acts of kindness give us a mental buzz, then this is not pure altruism after all.”

This, it seems, is a common claim. We are, alas, terribly suspicious when it comes to acts of apparent altruism – not just suspicious of each other, but also suspicious of ourselves. “Was that a good act?” we find ourselves asking. “Really? But I’m feeling better now I have done it. So perhaps I’m just self-interested after all…” This kind of suspicion can run rampant, so that we can come to the conclusion that there really is nothing in altruism at all, that all is self-interest. And if this is the case, why bother going through the pantomime of altruism at all? Why no go all-out for self-interest?

It seems to me, however, that such a conclusion is not warranted. It is born out of the idea that, for altruism to mean anything, it must be somehow “pure”, that there must be one single motive, and no others. Not only that, but the view is often that there must only be benefit to the object of our altruistic attentions, and any benefit that we thereby accrue somehow diminishes the act (a kind of crude “if it don’t hurt, it ain’t moral” view). But the idea that altruism – or any other virtue – must be pure to be counted a virtue at all is something of a non-starter if we are interested in thinking about how we act in the world. If we reverse the picture, this becomes more apparent. Imagine that I am the recipient of an altruistic act. I fall off my bike, and a stranger stops and helps me back to my feet. From my point of view, this seems very like an act of altruism, and it hardly matters that – for example – they are pleased to stop so that they can be late for that boring meeting to which that they were hurrying. Although they may have accrued a little benefit in terms of shaving five minutes off the dreaded meeting, this does not, as the recipient of the kind act, diminish the act for me. Not only this, but I would really much rather that the person helping me actually derived some residual benefit by helping me. At the very least, I would rather that, in our brief encounter, we exchanged a few friendly words and they went away with a smile on their face, feeling a bit better about life, than I would that they helped me out of grim duty and gained not a single drop of pleasure or of any other benefit from so doing. The kinds of altruism worth having, in other words, are not the kinds that are ‘pure’ according to these exacting standards by virtue of which only one party benefits; and if we look for pure altruism, then we end up failing to see any altruism at all. This does us a disservice. The world that we inhabit is not a world of pure abstractions, but is irredeemably mixed, and any account of ethics worth its salt needs to start from this point, rather than from the position of some abstract idea of purity.

But here’s another thought. If all of the above is true, and if there is no such thing as a purely altruistic act, then it may be that there is no such thing as a purely selfish act, because this idea of pure selfishness makes as little sense – and is based upon the same premises – as the idea of pure altruism. This, however, may be rather harder to swallow. Nevertheless, if we do give up on the idea of pure altruism, and if we also give up the idea of pure selfishness, then perhaps we might be able to see things in a rather more subtle fashion, to see the virtues and the vices not as absolutes that stand outside the ebb and flow of our lives, but as tendencies and currents with this ebb and flow. And with this subtlety may come a rather more generous attitude by virtue of which we might be able to appreciate what altruism there is in the world, and thereby give this goodness a little more space to breathe and flourish.

http://www.thinkbuddha.org/article/427/altruism-selfishness-and-purity

Feeling compassion and love for others and selflessly giving of yourself to others makes oneself feel good. Not simply in the manner of making you feel like a good, moral person but more a feeling of warmth and connection in your heart and being. This is the way serving our interconnection with others has an immediate benefit for us. For myself I don't think that disqualifies an act as selfless largely because the internal feeling of such an act isn't a calculated effort to get some benefit for oneself but it is born out of a genuine concern for the well being of another.

We are all interconnected in this world from our social to our economic and just our basic survival interactions. What benefits ourselves raises the well being of the world and what benefits another also raises the well being of the world. So we aren't all just isolated individuals scrambling around trying to get whatever limited scraps of well being we can for ourselves. Well being isn't a limited resource it is an expanding balloon that grows for us when it grows for others.

I don't think there really is such a thing as an act that benefits or harms another without also benefiting or harming myself.

You and the world

music — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 02:07:31 -0400

Wanting to reform the world without discovering one's true self is like trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes.

Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen, try as you may. Whatever is destined to happen will happen, do what you may to prevent it. This is certain. The best course, therefore, is to remain silent.
- Ramana Maharshi

This basically sums up the Buddha's view as well - to maintain a holy indifference with respect to the world.

Animals over human beings/ vice versa

Rabmudtz — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:56:06 -0400

I've been having a think over how people with pets value them very highly (naturally) and many would save their dog/ cat/ etc. over another person. I really appreciate animals and understand how people love their pets, how all living beings are the same, the usual big family of living beings and so on. However, seeing as a human is a "more advanced" being in the reincarnation cycle, would it be "wrong" to save a dog instead of a human in a hypothetical scenario where only one can be saved? What are your thoughts on this?

Theravada Mahayana

shanyin — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 01:19:54 -0400

Does Mahayana hold that Theravada has one or more wrong view? If so, what is it?
And visa versa.

This question may seem cold. I have utmost respect for both traditions and its adherants.

Let me give you some background about me. Where I live in Ontario, we are about an eight hour drive from any Sangha. Wikipedia says there are about 7 Buddhists in our 70 000 population, lol. When I started meditating because of coming across a Buddhist teacher on the internet, I started learning from him about the eightfold path. He was a Theravadin Buddhist. So it seems easy to drift to Theravadin category because it seems easier to focus on the foundation teachings like the eightfold path. When I think of Mahayana I think of that they are exclusively focused being Bodhisattvas.

I admit, my intellect might not understand some of what people say. Taiyaki has commented on things like the nature of nirvana and I think he is very smart, so I'm interested to see if he has anything he can say. But honestly it was over my head. I guess also what I'm asking is, would one school hold that picking one over the other is problematic?