Best Of
Re: The Other Elephant In The Room
The US and the UK decided to launch airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen...Hmmm on the day when Israel is being charged with crimes of Genocide at the ICJ in the Hague...
Just coincidental ? Or an headline grabber, to draw the public's attention away from what's going on in the Hague?
Shoshin1
BUILDING the FUTURE BUDDHA: The Zen of AI, Genes, Saving the World, and Travel to the Stars
Hi All,
Thank you for keeping this place going. I hope that it is okay as I won't be making any profit from it (all goes to Buddhist and other charitable causes.) Just released for the New Year, my new book of hope for the future ...
Learning from Teachings of 50, 500 or 2500 years ago, alive here in this timeless present, let us begin to envision Buddhism, Zen and our world 50, 500, 2500 and more years from now ...
BUILDING the FUTURE BUDDHA:
The Zen of AI, Genes, Saving the World, and Travel to the Stars
NOW AVAILABLE ...
https://futurebuddhabook.com/
~~~
Zen and Buddhist insights, timeless wisdom gathered over centuries, can help guide us in our lives today and in the prudent use of new technologies, nurturing a calm and serene world, prosperous yet existing in harmony with nature, a healthy, contented and good society for the centuries to come.
Let Zen inspire us to sometimes step back from our machines and digital devices, returning to the simple and old-fashioned ways, the slow ways, because they are beautiful ways. In the rush for improvement, let us learn to sit still sometimes and rest from our goals, drop the quest for constant upgrades and efficiency, restrain the endless hunger for progress, and turn off the flashing lights and ceaseless noise.
At the same time, if employed well, technology and medicine can help us bring true peace, an end to most wars and violence committed in anger, cures for diseases, ecological balance, greater love and empathy among people and for all beings, increased charity, remedies for poverty and homelessness, and the attainment of other goals for good in the world as long dreamed of by Buddhists and caring people of many religions and philosophies.
Tomorrow’s technologies will change Buddhism too. AI and robotics, bio-engineering and physical enhancements, genetics and nano-implants, virtual reality and new media, medical miracles and manufacturing marvels, extended lifespans and expanded minds will make many of Buddhism’s most fabulous ideals realizable. Zen will be practiced, programmed, bred and wired in; enlightenment will move as chemistry and light across neural fibers and optical fibers.
~~~
OTHER REVIEWS:
“A fascinating vision of timeless traditions, changing times and coming technology.” Saverio Pascazio, Professor of Theoretical Physics, The University of Bari
“A zen book unlike any other, one that offers an original and inspiring perspective on the destiny of our species … living in harmony with ourselves, and with the planet.” Daniel Forster, Biologist, Specialist in Greenhouse Gas Cycles and Sustainability
~~~
Jundo
Re: Grrr
@person said:
The thought does arise though, isn't this sort of the purpose of mindfulness? To allow us to remain calm and be less reactive in difficult circumstances?
I think in the best-case scenario, that would be the natural progression.
But in the initial spark, for me, the energy is at least somewhat vengeful. That's where the dichotomy arises. Because of the adrenaline or whatever hormone it might be, there is that little rush that a person could mistake for feeling "good" and then erroneously equate that to being skillful.
Re: Grrr
I think I hear you saying you're pushing back against or highlighting a sort of weaponized or aggressive attitude involving mindfulness. That in some sense you're not actually being mindful. I think I'm largely in agreement with this.
The thought does arise though, isn't this sort of the purpose of mindfulness? To allow us to remain calm and be less reactive in difficult circumstances?
person
Re: Days of decompression
@Buddha-Dude said:
The more i read the more convinced i have become that our Quantum Signature is what is reborn into a suitable host.
I think it is difficult to associate modern knowledge with ancient Buddhist views on reincarnation. It calls to my mind the thicket of views…
“Vaccha, the position that 'the cosmos is eternal' is a thicket of views, a wilderness of views, a contortion of views, a writhing of views, a fetter of views. It is accompanied by suffering, distress, despair, & fever, and it does not lead to disenchantment, dispassion, cessation; to calm, direct knowledge, full Awakening, Unbinding.”
The Buddha to Vaccha the wanderer.
To make these kinds of equivalences will cause more questions to arise. The mind will go chasing after each consequence, yet more will arise and you will never be done answering questions. Hence the ‘fetter of views’. It is better to let the mind rest and avoid such.
Ultimately what matters is the mind’s drive for knowing ‘more’. It can never be satisfied. It is also not beneficial, leading to dark corners of human knowledge like the functioning of biological or nuclear weapons. When you come to abandon this search for ‘more’ you will have found a key to just Being.
I came across a story…
When Lin Chi was asked, ”What has happened to you? People say that you have become enlightened,” he shrugged his shoulders and said, ”Happened? Nothing. I cut wood in the forest, and carry water to the ashram – carry water from the well, cut wood because the winter is approaching.” He shrugged his shoulders – a very meaningful gesture.
He is saying, ”Nothing has happened. What nonsense you are asking! It is natural: carrying water from the well, cutting wood in the forest. Life is absolutely natural.” Says Lin Chi, ”When I feel sleepy, I go to sleep; and when I feel hungry, I eat. Life has become absolutely natural.”
Jeroen
Re: Grrr
Not a bad time to consider why the 8FP didn't say to develop concentration, it says to develop "right" or "appropriate" concentration.
how
Re: Days of decompression
I have found that in my studies of the stars and universe, that physics (something The Buddha knew a fair amount about) is somehow to me beginning to pinpoint something that makes sense. Quantum Entangle and Quantum Signatures. Both related and could answer that long begging question of what gets reincarnated.
The more i read the more convinced i have become that our Quantum Signature is what is reborn into a suitable host. If you are a stream winner then clearly your Quantum signature is more complex yet simplified due to the attachments you've let go of. So in a comical sense a squirrel who has learned NOT to cross the street when the car is coming, probably has written into it's Q.S. that which it's learned. That increases it's "volume" or complexity of the Q.S.! So it can't really return as a squirrel but perhaps and cat, dog or whatever.
Buddha challenged us to find the soul. We won't find it because quantum is at a level that we can't quite detect YET. Does this makes sense to anyone?
Re: Losing or Lost Hope can be Freedom
I have not read through this whole discussion but based on the topic title am reminded:
- a realized teacher once said that he came to the realization one day that "life will not turn out". In the sense, his hopes and dreams will not materialize. He found that curiously freeing. He said that going forward this really put him in the present moment and eradicated most of his thinking about the past and future.
marcitko
Re: Days of decompression
@Buddha-Dude said:
I have found that in my studies of the stars and universe, that physics (something The Buddha knew a fair amount about) is somehow to me beginning to pinpoint something that makes sense. Quantum Entangle and Quantum Signatures. Both related and could answer that long begging question of what gets reincarnated.The more i read the more convinced i have become that our Quantum Signature is what is reborn into a suitable host. If you are a stream winner then clearly your Quantum signature is more complex yet simplified due to the attachments you've let go of. So in a comical sense a squirrel who has learned NOT to cross the street when the car is coming, probably has written into it's Q.S. that which it's learned. That increases it's "volume" or complexity of the Q.S.! So it can't really return as a squirrel but perhaps and cat, dog or whatever.
Buddha challenged us to find the soul. We won't find it because quantum is at a level that we can't quite detect YET. Does this makes sense to anyone?
Yes, what you wrote make sense, but is it accurate?
The Buddha didn't teach that there was a soul to find, and teachings on the emptiness of phenomena, and the mechanics of rebirth would wait till the Mahayana.
AS far as the Buddha and physics are concerned, who actually knew anything about what we call physics in 500bce? The Buddha set out to find the cause of birth, old age, sickness and death. This led him to the truth of suffering, it's cause, it's cessation and the path of cessation.
Rebirth is a function of karma and very subtle level of consciousness that acts as a karmic storehouse. It's all in the Mahayana. This level of consciousness could be the same thing as these quantum signatures you describe, but are they? I don't think it matters, because knowing it, won't hasten enlightenment.
Physics and Buddhism teach different things. Similarities are coincidental.
Re: Ploggers of the world...unite!
@marcitko said:
I've been toying with the idea that companies should be responsible for the packaging waste they produce. I don't know how that would work in practice. It would be impossible to require them to gather back all of the waste. So, would one possible solution be for them to have to pay a fee based on the packaging they are using? This would a) motivate them to use less harmful packaging and less packaging and b) make products with more harmful packaging and more packaging more expensive so consumers would buy less of them. I don't know, just noodling.
In economics this is known as a negative externality. Basically its when a company or individual can gain the profits of its work, product, etc. while putting some of its costs onto others. Its a major point of failure in a market system that relies on price mechanisms.
person