Best Of
Re: Buddhist response to the climate crisis
@Kotishka said:
Thank you Bunks. This will come quite handy!I had a small chat regarding this with a friend, who openly seemed to be in favour of drastic measures, and even "armed preparation" against fascism.
He seemed to view the Buddhist as passive, as it does not support the "right measures" to deal with the crisis. I wonder what Ajahn Sujato would reply to this.
I sometimes feel that equanimity (Upekkha) can be mistakenly seen as "well, whatever happens, happens", though he did not take into account the rest of the eight fold path and 10 paramis, as well as the 4NT.
Equanimity does not stand on its own, high on the sky, as if it were a monk or scholar at the top of an ivory tower... it is built upon calming down, doing good and, sometimes, acknowledging what goes beyond anyone's control. This allows, sometimes, to avoid hurrying into poor decisions that end up causing even more suffering.
Where I live, the situation with rubbish has worsened. More tourists = more rubbish. Plus the locals have not changed their habits that much, meaning the piles are growing more than what I can clean. One of my neighbours openly deposits her rubbish by our street and the police said "they can't do anything about it".
In this case, I was thinking, is it against "equanimity" to start documenting this to let know the new mayor to please take this situation a bit more seriously than what her party has done in the last 14 years....
Hmmhm.... why this urge to change things? I guess for the well-being of all..
Maybe true equanimity would be to do a live zazen surrounded by heaps of rubbish?
Like in that song: "Though my mind is at peace, the world is out of the order."
PD: I just noticed the title is "Let Not The World Burn". Clearly not a very passive stance! Good!
Funnily enough I was just going to post something about “righteousness” in NB.
It’s a difficult balance. When to speak up vs when to stay silent.
I had a neighbour who left an abandoned car out front of his house for a couple of years. By law in my city this is not allowed. It was an inconvenience as through traffic would often need to stop to allow car’s coming the other way through.
After about a year of mulling it over I finally wrote to the council and, sure enough, a couple of weeks later the car was gone.
I still feel a little bit of guilt but I think it was for the greater good.
Perhaps you can look at it in a similar way?
Bunks
Re: Knowledge of the absolute
@Jeroen said:
I was following a discussion on another forum, where various knowledgeable Buddhists were talking about the claim by Advaita Vedanta teachers that we humans are in fact consciousness which is eternal and causes the whole of existence to spring into being.
There is an interesting link here with the ‘observer effect’ in quantum mechanics, that when things are observed they behave differently.
My own experience is that everything passes, nothing that can be experienced lasts. So even to know that something is eternal seems difficult. Yet some of the things that Sri Ramana Maharshi says seem to be true on close examination.
Consciousness as a mirror of ‘what is’ seems to be a different quality than all the rest of the phenomenal world. It doesn’t strike me as impossible that it could be eternal.
Jeroen
Re: Vertical vs Horizontal Transcendence
@person said:
It doesn't have to be so separated, your practice can be motivated by wanting to be of greater benefit. Like learning to be a doctor or something, to be of spiritual service its important to be coming from a place of peace, love and wisdom.
Yes, that is possible. To be motivated to pass on one’s peace, love and wisdom, which were developed through spiritual practice. But that still requires picking up skills like oratory.
Here in the Netherlands there is a University course for being a spiritual counsellor, which you can take in a variety of flavours, including Buddhist. I have wondered about how useful it is. Of course Christians have had theological colleges for a very long time.
Jeroen
Re: Buddhist response to the climate crisis
Thank you Bunks. This will come quite handy!
I had a small chat regarding this with a friend, who openly seemed to be in favour of drastic measures, and even "armed preparation" against fascism.
He seemed to view the Buddhist as passive, as it does not support the "right measures" to deal with the crisis. I wonder what Ajahn Sujato would reply to this.
I sometimes feel that equanimity (Upekkha) can be mistakenly seen as "well, whatever happens, happens", though he did not take into account the rest of the eight fold path and 10 paramis, as well as the 4NT.
Equanimity does not stand on its own, high on the sky, as if it were a monk or scholar at the top of an ivory tower... it is built upon calming down, doing good and, sometimes, acknowledging what goes beyond anyone's control. This allows, sometimes, to avoid hurrying into poor decisions that end up causing even more suffering.
Where I live, the situation with rubbish has worsened. More tourists = more rubbish. Plus the locals have not changed their habits that much, meaning the piles are growing more than what I can clean. One of my neighbours openly deposits her rubbish by our street and the police said "they can't do anything about it".
In this case, I was thinking, is it against "equanimity" to start documenting this to let know the new mayor to please take this situation a bit more seriously than what her party has done in the last 14 years....
Hmmhm.... why this urge to change things? I guess for the well-being of all..
Maybe true equanimity would be to do a live zazen surrounded by heaps of rubbish?
Like in that song: "Though my mind is at peace, the world is out of the order."
PD: I just noticed the title is "Let Not The World Burn". Clearly not a very passive stance! Good! 
Kotishka
Re: Getting better "blog"
At 68 my success at sustaining a gym regimen (somewhere between tedium and injury) only arrived when I started going frequently but for a short duration. I'm in and out within 30 min. Motivating oneself to do this is relatively easy with such a short time commitment, and I no longer injure myself in the process. A fast walk or biking to the gym and back also offers me a preparatory warming up and cooling down for the weight training.
how
Re: Vertical vs Horizontal Transcendence
@Jeroen said:
I think what I wanted to say was that by placing a strong aspirational ideal of service like the Bodhisattva in your practice, you shift the focus away from working on yourself to working in the world.
It doesn't have to be so separated, your practice can be motivated by wanting to be of greater benefit. Like learning to be a doctor or something, to be of spiritual service its important to be coming from a place of peace, love and wisdom.
person
Re: Vertical vs Horizontal Transcendence
Vertical vs Horizontal Transcendence
These are only guard rails to keep pilgrims returning to the center of a winding spiritual road towards suffering's cessation.
It appears that staying somewhere between those two guard rails actually offers more of a direct route towards suffering's cessation than results through mere clinging to one or other of those rails.
Do not put yourself too close or far away from either.
how
Re: Getting better "blog"
The London trip was a great success in all aspects and I am happy that I went. I was on good terms with my mother and had a good mix of activities with her and alone. I also had a good mix of touristy stuff and things like lectures (LSE), theatre, roaming around with no specific plan, meetings with my mother's friends, and Buddhist stuff.
As for Buddhism, I visited the British Museum and the first three halls I stumbled upon were Southeast Asia, Korea, and Japan. Felt that was quite serendipitous. I also participated in an excellent Tibetan Meditation at the London Buddhist Society.
The only complaint I have is that London is VERY big and there was so much walking that I was often very tired. I'm not 18 any more 
(37 now) and have too much weight. As you all already know, I have been working on my physical health and stamina, but need to continue and work on it more. There is no reason that I cannot be in excellent shape even at 37.
Today I have a long list of post-travel chores to do and will report tomorrow on how it went.
Tomorrow I want to try a new work + sports regime by going to the library and working for five hours and then going to the gym which is close by. I work from home and this change of scenery might be very good for focus. The library has an excellent working space with computers and not many people there.
marcitko
