Ambhoja...... water born ... seeking light

falling behind

2007-03-14T18:09:00.002-04:00

Attempts to finish posts for 2006 fell apart at the end of the year as the computer I worked on out of town crashed. Since that time, I have been working on another project, a website, and assisting someone in yet another project. In that time I forgot to update this blog and mention that it would be a little time until new posts would appear. I hope to return here soon and begin posting again.

falling behind

2007-03-14T18:09:00.001-04:00

Glass Hands

2006-11-29T21:16:00.000-05:00

Illustration: Trigger Point Therapy Workbook

"Mind pervades all", said the Buddha. Our tiny little microverse is a mystery. From where does the defilement and illusion spring forth that captivates us and causes us so much misery? Was there ever a time in history when man could see with the eyes of an ultimate reality? Eons and Eons, kalpas and kalpas of remember and forget and we are left with a path of difficulty, beset with trials and dangers in which every success gains two more twice strong illusions. The veil is thick.
How much influence do we have in this universe, into nature, and on our own bodies? A lifetime of migraines and little help from the medical community has led me to turn my attention inward as much as outward, to use my love of the patterns of behavior and nature I observed as a child and apply this to an attention to patterns and cycles within my own body. I learned to listen to the ailments of others and to observe the discrepancy between spoken ailment and acted pain. As my migraine headaches worsened I began to see cycles within my own body and patterns to my headaches. Ruling out as many factors as possible, I attempted to ascertain which foods, behaviors, positions, hours of the day, etc led to such a dramatic increase in my migraine condition. Many early causes were laughable for some physicians. Many years later what had been humorous were accepted migraine triggers.
Being sensitive to my inner patterns, I could see the breakdown of the balance of my body when I began to take prescription medications for migraines. My headaches were far too severe not to take them, but I could feel something inside my body that was wrong. A cascade of problems followed that I could contribute to the medications, whether the medical community did or not.
My position at that time had typing as a main focus and I noticed that soon my hands began to ache. It wasn't just my hands. As my intake of medications for migraines increased, I could feel other joints ache and become tight, but it was in the hands that I could feel first the sharp pain in what felt like muscle or tendon, and then later in the joints themselves. It wasn't long before a few of my finger joints were swollen and typing became a painful experience. In my early twenties, just months into this job, I found myself with unexplainable joint pain and damage. The typing had triggered the damage, yes, but someone so young, and otherwise healthy should not have such fast damage to the fingers. Everyday the condition grew worse. At the point where I knew that I could not go on and that I was damaging my joints beyond repair, I called a stop to the problem and went to see a doctor. An independent physician x-rayed my fingers and determined that I had arthritis in my finger joints. The typing had only aggravated this crippling disease. This would explain how the damage could occur so quickly in someone so young. My company, in an attempt to escape any liability, sent me to a second physician who worked with them frequently on worker's compensation cases. This physician also concluded that I had arthritis, but as to swollen joints, she was not convinced. Any laymen could see the large swollen joints and compare them from one hand to the other. To make a scientific evaluation, she wrapped a tape measure around the less swollen left hand's knuckle loosely, barely touching the skin, then wrote down the measurement. When she wrapped the tape around the right knuckle, she pulled very tight, squeezing against the joint, causing the skin below to turn white. The numbers turned out the same. It was hardly scientific. It was hardly fair. I could see the motive behind her methods and moved on with the fact that I had been diagnosed with a crippling disease.
I have seen severe arthritis destroy the hands, feet, and entire bodies of people unfortunate to suffer the burden. As a musician, I had been waiting months to play music again, with no chance, given the amount of time spent typing at work and the pain it was causing. I knew that music had not led to my demise for I had never been one to play hours on end or spend too much time in practice. On the other hand, to imagine a life in which I would never again be able to play the piano, or the guitar, or type a story or play sports was terrifying.
One last physician x-rayed my hand and confirmed the conclusion. Arthritis. Get ready for a new life. Glass hands.
Stepping from the hands a moment, in my internal investigations, I could see that at times the pain in my head did not seen to have an origin in my head. It was as if the pain originated in the back or the neck. I could also see that there were times that a migraine was caused by muscular tension, while at other times, the migraine itself brought on muscular tension. I wanted to find out what would happen if I could take this muscular tension out of the equation. How much of these horrible migraines are in the head and how much is in the muscle? My quest led me to little bumps on the trapezius, the neck, the jaw and various other places that I soon found out were known as trigger points. A trigger point is basically a knot in the muscle fibers that cannot be treated with traditional massage, medication, meditation, or other common therapies. The fascinating thing about trigger points is that they rarely give off pain at the sight of the problem itself. For example, trigger points on the sternocleidomastoid, (the muscle on the front on the neck) refer pain not on the neck itself, but above the eyes and in front and in back of the ears. The a trigger point of the trapezius (the muscle from the neck the shoulder) can refer pain on the side of the head behind the eye, on the side of the neck and the lower jaw. The list goes on and on. In The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook, author Clair Davies explains that he treated trigger points in the forearms in people complaining of so-called Carpal Tunnel Syndrome so often who gained complete recovery that he wondered if Carpal Tunnel Syndrome even existed.
Reality is a construct of our minds but as we can see, the nervous system plays funny little tricks. We do not even know the source of pain in our own bodies. The doctor looks for the source of the problem near where we point, but the source is far away. The source is tiny little trigger points. Alas, the doctor knows little of this. This doctor might "find" something wrong with the patient and surgery might be the only answer. This "find" will only make the patient worse, for the trigger point was never treated. Later, when the trigger point is treated by the few who know something of it, the patient must deal with the emotional scars of an ill-equipped doctor and the physical scars of wrongful surgery. Was it all just a matter of trigger points for me? No, no, no. The point is that we cannot trust the mind, nor can we trust what we are told about our own bodies. We can construct our own reality for we have constructed the old one.
I sat at home, with swollen, painful, glass hands, wondering what I could do. I was careful with my hands. I tried not to stress them. I tried not to type too often at home. I tried to keep my hands loose. I could feel other parts of my body weakening. I felt like it was time to wait for time to take me. Migraines and arthritis would bring further troubles to my body. It was at this time I thought of an ancient practice performed in the Shaolin temple known as Iron fist or Iron palm training. Monks would punch hard objects to gradually build up the muscle, tendon, and bone in their hands, using herbs to protect them from injury. At the time I imagined myself during this training and found it amusing to think of my fragile hands breaking into one thousand pieces on the first day. Then I thought of what the Buddha said about the mind and reality. The initial stages of the decline of my hands had taken place on their own, but at one point, my own mind began to believe in the fragility. I decided that my mind was too well disciplined to allow this too happened. (In actuality , the discipline came later) I began to see my hands as iron, not glass. I would stretch my fingers out each day, but not treat them delicately. I would pull them like each was a hard piece are solid iron. In the gym, I began an exercise in which I would support my forearm, place a weight in my hand, and roll the weight out slowly onto my fingertips. I started out with a very light weight, but within a year I could support a weight on my fingertips that bodybuilders and powerlifters could not, for they had not done this sort of training and found it very difficult to handle that a smaller person could train with such heavy weight. I trained numerous exercises to gain grip strength, turning weakness to strength. When it was all over, doctor after doctor exclaimed that I did not, and did not ever have arthritis. They cannot explain the still swollen knuckle which is my reminder of the past. Each doctor can only explain that the three previous doctors must have made a mistake. The x-ray must have been misread or have been switched. Another possibility is that, just as in the days when physicians used leaches to cure disease, the doctor has yet to understand the mind and the strong impact it has on the world and the body. While science hardly deals with this issue, it is paramount to the path of Buddhism. They are free to believe what they will. For me, I am comfortable with the time I turned silk into iron.

Davies, Clair Trigger Point Therapy Workbook Oakland: New Harbinger Publications. 2001

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The Tomb

2006-11-08T16:23:00.000-05:00

The Master Tombbuilder surveyed the land in front on him. To the east the holy mountains sheltered the coming tomb from winds and evil spirits. To the west, the vast dessert promised security from foreign lands. The sun watched high overhead, approving of the days work of marking off corners and rooms. The first inner wall was to be built.
Breaking with tradition and to save time and money, the Master Tombbuilder decided to use a local sacred softstone for the inner wall to improve the beauty and sanctity of the site. The first few layers of stone had been set without event. The Master set down his crossed leveling device onto the stone and watched the pendulum to ensure that the wall was indeed level. All was going as planned. He handed the leveling device to his apprentice.
When the wall reached shoulder height, a horrible rumble was heard, dust came forth from the lowest level, and within seconds, the stone cracked and began to fall. Men on wooden stools were hit by falling stone and mortar. Dozens of bricks of softstone hit the floor, cracked and broken. The men were panicked.
After cleaning up the destruction the Master Tombbuilder called the Head Priest from the Temple. Clearly the wall had failed because they had not sought the approval from the gods. To the man they went to one knee, one knuckle to the floor, and said their oaths to the gods. The Head Priest blessed the site and the men with his holy stick and returned to the temple.
The wall was built up again, but when the height reached that of the shoulder, the rumbling was heard, the cracked began to form, and the wall fell. Men were again injured and began to panic. The Master Tombbuilder sent the apprentice to fetch the Head Priest.
"Master, is it possible..."
"Silence! Fetch the Head Priest, boy," ordered the Master Tombbuilder.

The Head Priest returned. This time he blessed the site, the men, the Master Tombbuilder, his tools, and the stone. With that, he returned to the temple. Yet when the wall again reached the height of a man's shoulder, it fell.
The Master Tombbuilder sent the apprentice to fetch the Head Priest.
"Master, is it possible..."
"Do as you are told, boy. Get the Head Priest quickly or the gods shall take you," barked the Master Tombbuilder.

The Head Priest returned. This time he blessed the site, the men, the Master Tombbuilder, his tools, and the stone. He reasoned that the wall had fallen because the gods needed the priest to stay there. The priest stayed and the wall fell again.
The apprentice picked up a broken piece of softstone and looked up from the floor at the two powerful men.
"Master and Priest, I think the fault is in the stone itself, not in our affinity with the gods."
The two men began to laugh as they looked to each other.
"Children."

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Visions of Enlightenment

2006-10-27T21:43:00.000-04:00

With online exhibits on The Buddha, Buddhist Places, Compassionate Beings, and Signs, Symbols and Ritual Objects, the Pacific Asian Museum presents Visions of Enlightenment: Understanding the Art of Enlightenment.

Each exhibit includes a fact? or fiction? quiz with an art reward.

Visit Visions of Enlightment

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Greed

2006-10-18T23:15:00.000-04:00

For those who haven't used the service, Technorati allows users to search news and blog feeds using keywords, tags, or in the directory. With each post, this blog notifies Technorati that a new post is available, which then appears under recent posts on the website. While doing a search for 'Buddhism' at Technorati, I found that frequently a recurring entry has appeared.
Drug companies are now using key words such as Buddhism to get drugs such as Celebrex in front of the eyes of surfers.
On entry read:

Celebrex
Celebrex · 2 hours ago
It begg'st the Celebrex of a board-quarter-boats'-watch of faith, and in this spice-tree it accustomed probably of somedeal moat-stench than the emperess of Buddhism. Thou Celebrex an object of adoration with even him who burlesques overemphasized Kashiwabara

Every few pages one will find another drug such as Viagra and Ultram. We can't dare ask that religion be spared from the marketing ploys of the mega-corporations for we find horrid manipulation and greed within and without any and every religion on the planet. This is not the fault of religion, but the weakness of wrong view.

Here in Miami, every weekend in the burning sun, people become human billboards, holding up large signs, announcing the new high rises to be built along Biscayne Boulevard. Those holding the signs will never afford such a place.

Every morning, on busy 4 lane intersections, vendors sell the local Miami Herald on the median, two feet perched on a small bed of concrete, as hurried motorists worry more about getting anywhere than the life that stands between them. Some vendors have been struck down. Another takes his place the following day. The paper must be sold.

Man is our enemy. We need what he has. He has our job. He has our car. He has what we need. It is all a matter of survival.

What good is the blossoming flower or the sound of the wind through the leaves on our ears?
This will not bring wealth, prosperity, pay a mortgage, secure a girlfriend, make others appreciate us, or bring security. All that matters is what we have.

In Zen Training, Katsuki Sekida so clearly states, "the necessity of living makes consciousness look on things in the world as being in the nature of equipment."

Everything that we value we see as equipment. Anything else we ignore or destroy.

We look at the world and see each object, each person, and find what value and service it has for us.

How can I use this?
How can it serve me?

Those that bring a utility of amusement, or gossip, that service our need to distract from stress and loneliness, we call a friend. If they fail to serve that utility, we cut off the relationship.

Family, friends, the blender, our car, a pet, each of these is a piece of equipment to our mind which serves a utility function to the ego.

We ask, "how can the world be in such turmoil?"

We see that when the mass of humanity fundamentally views objects and people as simply equipment to service the craving of the ego mind, as the fire of the ego begins to burn, all things are possible.

If we open the curtain and expose this ugly ego, we will see this view of the world and we might like to close the curtain again and pretend that all is well. It is far harder to face this hidden warrior with no shape that gives rise to suffering. As children we did not have such a narrow, conceptual view of the world. We could watch the bird fly and gasp at the colors. We could look in wonder at the rainbow. When the adult sees these things he passes them by for they serve no function, but to the child, they are an endless source of wonder.

While leaving the checkout counter of the bookstore I made my way to the door and saw many sour faces. It seems that while I was shopping it had started raining very hard and many of the shoppers were not happy about it. As I walked outside, many people stood together, with brows down, words of complaint spilling forth, waiting for the rain to stop. Why didn't the world just always work the way that they wanted it to?

A young couple had attempted to make the dash from their car to the bookstore but after water puddles and heavy rain, halfway to the door they were both thoroughly soaked. She began to get a little angry, then her anger faded, she turned to the young man, stopped, and kicked water on him. He was shocked at first, and frustrated, then his frustration faded, and his joined in the water battle. Within seconds, while the majority of the customers stewed in their own self-made misery over drops of water, these two people were laughing and playing like children, lost in time. As I walked to my car in the rain I watched these two people enjoying the moment. Both had wanted to shop. Clearly that moment had passed. Rain had come and with the rain they danced and played with an audience of fools lost in their own craving and greed, lost in their own need for utility. They couldn't find the joy in the rain. Open the curtain.

1.Katsuki Sekida Zen Training: Methods and Philosophy Tokyo: John Weatherhill, Inc. 1975

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Film: The Giant Buddhas

2006-10-11T14:04:00.000-04:00

On October 24th, the film 'The Giant Buddhas' will be released. Here is a synopsis of the film.

Christian Frei's documentary traces the tragic tale of the giant Buddhas of Afghanistan's Bamiyan Valley, which stood as monumental landmarks for 1,500 years until 2001, when the Taliban declared that all non-Islamic statues in the country be destroyed. Despite international protest, the statues were blown up. Through interwoven narratives from past and present, Frei's film sheds light on the disturbing consequences of religious fanaticism.

Trailer

The Giant Buddhas Film Site

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Thought Moments

2006-09-29T22:51:00.000-04:00

I ran into this Youtube project which is similiar to a project I am working on for Bodhiwater.com.

Here is the summary of the video:
"In Buddhism, the mental states experienced after a physical or mental object enters the mind are called THOUGHT MOMENTS. During interviews with people on the city streets, the micro-expressions of the interviewees are slowed down and eye direction is tracked, highlighting the responses to ten simple questions."

These thought moments are broken down into 6 categories and the director has decided that each eye movement aiming in a particular direction can be categorized under that field. It sounds very foolish until about minute 5:00 when one begins to see time after time the process repeat. Though not scientific, it is interesting.

Bodhiwater.com is far from completed and will remain a dusty little calling card page until the actual website is fully completed and all projects are ready. If my poor computer skills can grasp Macromedia Flash and my paper ideas become a reality, look for multimedia presentations on ideas too complex to present in text form.

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Milarepa Film Update

2006-09-26T17:30:00.000-04:00

Original Post: Milarepa

Checking back at the milarepamovie.com site reveals that the film is now available on DVD.

The Dvd is available in two editions:

A Special Edition DVD-
"This includes the full feature length widescreen version of the film.

Special Features:
Who is Milarepa?
A documentary exploring the historical Milarepa. With Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, Pema Chodron, and others..
- Interview with the Director
- 5.1 surround sound
- Optional English Subtitles
- Theatrical Trailer"
quote from milarepamovie.com

A Special Dharma Edition DVD-
"A boxed 3 DVD Set containing the Milarepa film as well as an exclusive 4-hour teaching by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The teaching provides a rare and concise introduction to the Dzogchen path,as well as His Holiness' own rendering of the life story of Milarepa." quote from milarepamovie.com

Milarepamovie.com

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Iron Wrapped In Silk

2006-09-23T16:58:00.000-04:00

PART II of THE MASTER

Recently I was speaking with someone about the dual nature of the cat's paw while my nearly year old kitten Jubei-kun sat in front of me. I explained first that in gong fu the practitioner learns that blocking the punching fist is unskillful, for the fist moves very fast. If the practitioner makes a block at the very slow moving elbow, the block is much easier. With the cat, the claw is very sharp and can easily cut through human skin. The reflexes of the cat are even sharper and combine with the paw to form a viscious weapon. I stuck out my hand and pulled it back quickly, playing a game of reflexes with Jubei-kun. After a few tries, the young feline succeeded in catching my hand with a claw and quickly attached the claws from the other front paw. At that point he pulled both front paws inward, bit playfully, and then attacked with the rear claws to finish off my hand. If my hand had been prey, my hand would have been finished.
There is another side to the cat's paw. As we began the reflex game again, I flipped my hand over Jubei-kun's paw, to the top side. Here there is no danger. The cat claw is designed to move forward and grab, but can do little about an object directly behind it. This is where my intended lesson surprised even me. Just seconds before Jubei-kun had been playing roughly, attacking like a true predator. As I flipped my hand over his paw and began to stroke the soft fur on the other side, in an instant, his eyes closed, his muscles relaxed, and he began to purr.
To experiment, I again touched the claw side and the war began again. Just as quickly I touched the soft side and again, Jubei-kun was relaxed and purring.
Not every example I give goes so well, it not only worked for the situation, but gave me further insight into what I was attempting to explain.
Though we don't have claws, we humans also have this dual nature. When someone touches our claws, we attack. When someone touches our soft side, we tend to reply gently, though not usually to the extreme of my kitten. When two individuals, or two groups, or two countries, face off over time, heated exchanges may occur to a point in which both sides are convinced that each action, retaliation, or comment is a response to an action from the other. This will be the response from both sides.
How often do speak to others with words that may contain only gentle meaning, but clearly go to the cat's claw? When we get an excited response, we can reply that our comments were not harmful. We can look deeply and find the true intent. Many times, suffering incurred at work or in another environment is displaced on our friend or spouse. We carry our suffering like two buckets of waters on a bamboo pole until we can find someone else to dump it on. Not to feel like those who made us suffer, we play mind games and tricks, giving kind words with a hidden poison. When we reach the point where both sides feel that each action is a response to the other's attack, the situation is truly dire.
Mindfulness is the most powerful solution. When we approach others attempted to reach the other side of the paw, we will often reach a side of them we have not seen. Of course, some will not show this side, but that is not our concern. We do not want to live our lives biting our own tail, eating away until we get too far along. We can end this cycle of foolishness with mindful living. Retaliation is not our business. We live our lives on the soft side of the cat's paw.

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The Master

2006-09-16T18:57:00.000-04:00

If we imagine that we are the champion in the ring, on the pitch, or on the field, we cannot say that we are the master. Age is our master. We are on top, but only for a time. Someone faster, more skilled, more gifted, with a new set of ideas with come to replace us and we will be left with only memories and trophies.

If we say that we are the most beautiful, age will show that it is the master again. If we are the most intelligent in our firm or company, another will soon come and that status will change. If we feel that we have power, when we look upwards, we find those above us. Those at the top find that they still answer to the many below in some way or another. The master has many other masters, or he holds the crown for only a short time.

In this short precious life we cannot hold on to anything. We cannot guarantee anything. We cannot be certain of a breathe, of continual sight or other senses, or that we will share in the joys of our past. We cannot be certain of a continued love or friendship. Some will attempt to hold on to these things with every ounce of effort and energy. They devote their lives to holding on to wealth, status, love, and any other possession. They have attained a high standard: the Master of Fools.

We can all be one master and one master only. We are born with a mind but at birth it is taken from us. We lose control of it. When others taunt us or say things to our displeasure, we yell back or we cry. They have decided our reaction. We are the puppet. Things will dangle in front of our senses and we will react, and the strings of our puppet mind will move. We have little control. Most of us will play this dance for the audience of other puppets for an entire life or many, with no hope of escape. We are different.

When we heard the words, "Now this, monks, is the Noble Truth of suffering....." we found in our hands a tiny pair of scissors and we cut our first string, yet the puppet still dances to and fro. We have one chance to be a master, a master of our mind, which plays us for a fool. We cut strings until we learn to see beyond string and no-string. Then we no longer need tools. We are different. We have heard the words. We have taken the steps. We have to keep taking them. Buddhism is a daily practice in unthinking, not a religion of practices, sayings, and sutras. If we find ourselves before a Buddha made of wood or stone, or a Buddha bound in print, and we seek out this Buddha, then we later have one more string to cut. Where is the Buddha in our mind? If we kneel to the Buddha, we create the Buddha, and the puppet dance begins again. Let us not be the Master of Fools.

Happy cutting.

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Araka

2006-09-09T22:25:00.000-04:00

In the Anguttara Nikaya, Buddha Gotama tells us of the story of Araka.

"Long ago, O monks, there lived a religious teacher named Araka, who was free of sensual lust. He had many hundreds of disciples, and this was the doctrine he taught to them:

"Short is the life of human beings, O brahmins, limited and brief; it is full of suffering, full of tribulation. This one should wisely understand. One should do good and live a pure life; for none who is born can escape death.

Araka then gives many examples to his disciples to give them a sense of this short life.

"Just as a line drawn on water will quickly vanish and will not last long; even so, brahmins, is human life like a line drawn on water. It is short, limited, and brief; it is full of suffering, full of tribulation. This one should wisely understand. One should do good and live a pure life; for none who is born can escape death.

"Just as a mountain stream, coming from afar, swiftly flowing, carrying away much flotsam, will not stand for a moment, an instant, a second, but will rush on, swirl and flow forward; even so, brahmins, is human life like a mountain stream. It is short.... for none who is born can escape death.

"Just as, when a cow is to be slaughtered is led to the shambles, whenever she lifts a leg she will be closer to slaughter, closer to death; even so, brahmins, is human life like cattle doomed to slaughter. It is short.... for none who is born can escape death.

It was after this lesson that Buddha Gotama revealed the most interesting secret of Araka and his group.

"But at that time, O monks, the human lifespan was 60,000 years, and at 500 years girls were ready for marriage. In those days people had but six afflictions: cold, heat, hunger, thirst, excrement, and urine. Though people lived so long and had so few afflictions, that teacher Araka gave to his disciples such a teaching: 'Short is the life of human beings....'

Then Buddha Gotama calculated the number of summers and winters, and the number of meals that a centenarian could expect. How short is just 100 years compared to that of 60, 000. It is clear that in our time we have more afflictions and less time. We are fortunate to live in an age where the words have not been forgotten and we can still free ourselves from this suffering. To do this, we must not always put off our practice and mindfulness until tomorrow, for even in the time of Araka, the time was too short.

"Whatever should be done by a compassionate teacher who, out of compassion, seeks the welfare of his disciples, that I have done for you. These are the roots of the tree, O monks, these are the empty huts. Meditate, monks, do not be negligent, or else you will regret it later. This is our instruction to you."

(Anguttara Nikaya 7:70; IV 136-39)

Sutra from:
Bodhi, Bhikkhu In The Buddha's Words Somerville: Wisdom Publications, 2005

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Sip and Gulp

2006-08-28T20:00:00.000-04:00

A popular fast-food restaurant has a drinking cup that reads:

SIP THIS DRINK.
GULP DOWN LIFE.

At first we might think this is very good advice. But is it?
Sure, it is nice to take the time to enjoy the drink, but if we jump back into the caffeine fueled fray of the modern world, we have only a memory. If we think of life as a meal, then gulping it down would be similiar to chewing only once or twice and then stuffing more food into our mouths. We would go from main course to side dish, one after the other, tasting very little, getting in as much food in as little time as possible as our goal.
Isn't there a motto about getting as much done as possible before we die? Cramming it all in.
We don't taste anything. We don't know what we are eating. We didn't chew and therefore we gain less nutrition. We maintain our pattern of excitability. Our meal will mean little more to us than a breathe. Those precious moments of experience are spent scattered.
Those noble one's, live now, not then. They seek never the future nor the past. The perfect moment is always ripening. Only those that listen can see.

So perhaps the cup should read as follows:

SIP THINK DRINK.
SIP DOWN LIFE.

or simply,

SIP.

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Asoka

2006-08-27T00:32:00.000-04:00

"In the history of the world there have been thousands of kings and emperors who called themselves 'their highnesses,' 'their majesties,' and 'their exalted majesties' and so on. They shone for a brief moment, and as quickly disappeared. But Ashoka shines and shines brightly like a bright star, even unto this day." -H.G. Wells

I can't draw the line exactly where my knowledge of Asoka is based in history and where it is based in myth. Here is my history/mythology:
Asoka was a Prince and general in the Mauriyan army who rose to power until he was sent into exile in nearby Kalinga through the influence of his eldest brother, Susima, who feared his power. Later, when a revolt broke out in the country, he was called back. A number of bloody events occured that led to his enthronement. Asoka then set off to broaden his domain. At its greatest, his empire stretched through all of what is now India, to Iran and Afghanistan. It was when he turned again to Kalinga that his life changed. After he conquered the country and united his empire, Asoka realized the brutality of his life and that he had won nothing. He saw that there were no true prizes for an emperor. He had seen another side of life through his Buddhist wife and time in a Buddhist monastery, which manifested at this pivotal time. Asoka began building stupas all over India, and set out in search of the historical locations of Buddha's life. In Sarnath he built the Dhamekh stupa, marking the spot where the Buddha gave his first sermon.
According to legend, near the end of his life, Asoka gave up his kindgom, adopted the alms bowl and ochre robes, and retired into the forest, leaving behind a great legacy for the world.

The Film- 'Asoka-only the dead have seen the end of war'
The film Ashoka begins by stating that liberties have been taken and that the film is not meant to be historically accurate. One would guess that the many times that Ashoka and friends begin dancing and singing along with half of the town might be this stated liberty. While the film is entertaining and does show a transformation, I would not recommend it or my historical/mythological biography above as a definitive source of Asoka. The purpose in this post is simply this: If you would like to watch Ashoka to learn about the historical Asoka, better to save your money.

Asoka Sources
Wikipedia:Asoka
The Palm Leaf: Type 'Asoka' in Search Box
The Edicts of King Ashoka

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Empty-Handed I Go

2006-05-18T19:27:00.000-04:00

Empty-handed I go, and behold the spade is in my hands; I walk on foot, and yet on the back of an ox I am riding; When I pass over a bridge, Lo, the water floweth not, but the bridge doth flow.

It just isn't safe to go anywhere or do anything without an umbrella of insurance for protection these days. If we want to set out on the dangerous roadways, we must make sure that we have automobile insurance, first to ensure that we can protect ourselves and afford to repair any damages caused by other drivers, second, to compensate others for damages we have caused, and third, to protect us from those who do not have insurance. We must also have insurance to pay for our expensive medications treating serious conditions with few alternative treatments, and the majority of medications which mask problems that can be treated without medication, but require discipline, which is what is truly lacking in the patient. There is insurance for the home, for the teeth, and for our pets. We live in constant fear that everything will be taken from us and so we try to ensure that we are protected. The walls we build are never high enough.
In the spiritual world, we see many who grasp hold of Buddhism for whatever reason, but leave a small portion of their old ways and beliefs behind, like a bit of insurance, just in case it turns out that things turns out badly. It seems that we want a little bit of spiritual insurance so that if the Buddha can't magically solve all of our problems, we can go back to our old religion and cash in our insurance, proving that we never left in the first place. If we imagine two Olympic sprinters tied together at the ankle by an eight foot rope, one sets of to the north and the other to the south, and soon, they will turn in a circle or pull against each other. We cannot set off into the open ocean without form when our ship is still heavily tied to the shore. Until we are brave enough to live without that bit of insurance, we will not know the fruits of the path. As Eiji Yoshikawa says in the final sentence of Musashi, "The little fishes, abandoning themselves to the waves, dance and sing and play, but who knows the heart of the sea, a hundred feet down? Who knows its depth?"

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The Bricklayer

2006-05-10T18:03:00.000-04:00

When I first began to write music, the lyrics would find me at odd times of the night and would not allow me to sleep until they were put to paper. The music would enter my head but the drive to have it put down was not the same. I was still young, and very undisciplined, and my mind found far to many distractions. At first I planned to put my songs to music but lacked to time and would do it later. When I had the time, I realized I lacked the proper instruments. Later I was able to buy a few different instruments. Then I realized that I lacked the proper recording equipment. No matter how far I progressed, I always lacked a cable, a machine, a device, or some technique.
For years these barriers followed me and no matter how hard I pursued music, new walls seemed to be built in front of me. How is it that one man can have so many obstacles for so small a thing, I wondered?
And then one night the power went out in the apartment and none of the devices, machines, or fancy equipment worked. There were no lights to read by or any other form of entertainment. I reached for my acoustic guitar. Now this acoustic guitar was not an expensive model with grand tone, made from exotic wood from an exotic location. It was a budget guitar. I grabbed my guitar in the dark and thought of all the walls in front of me. It was then I could see the concrete on my own hands. I had built those walls. I feared the progress. Somewhere inside I feared going outside of the known. I had learned the comfortable music. The music in my head was not comfortable. It did not conform to theory and scales that I had studied. And so I vowed to never study the music theory that I had worked so hard to learn for years. I would not live in the "box". The music in my head did not live there and that was why I could not find it. I had been laying bricks in confusion, creating my own suffering rather than taking the harder road.
That night I started with the lowest string and I began all over again. No more complex jazz chords and theory. I wanted to find the tones in my head. I wanted to find the tones that lie in the strings, in the guitar, and in my skin. With trial and error, month after month, starting with a night in darkness, I learned how to sing my own tune.
We watch others lay the bricks in front of them and then ask why they don't make progress. We know the reason. When we focus on our own lives, we fail to have this insight and become the bricklayer. We find the pleasure and then build the wall and find the pain, only to tear it down and find the pleasure again. This distraction keeps us busy until the gray hairs set it and Father Time calls for us to merge with the soil. Perhaps we should all choose to stop this profession. There is no future in it.

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Koan

2006-05-03T18:18:00.000-04:00

As a child, I came in contact with the strange sayings and actions of Zen teachers indirectly through the reading of Asian literature. I was drawn to their odd quotations, but had little idea to their true meaning. At this time in my life, a mere child, I did not study Buddhism directly and I did not even know how to meditate in the traditional manner. Being very introspective and curious about my world and mind, about words, concepts, and the origin of everything, I would often use any available time to think over these things.
Like many children, one of my chores was to mow the lawn. At that time I felt that my family had picked the home with the largest backyard possible, with the steepest hill, to ensure to largest possible area for me to mow. While mowing the grass, the back and forth motion, cutting across the lawn, and the repetition of the small motor would gradually draw my mind inwards, deeper and deeper, soon separating thought and word, mind and concept. Mind would function in streams of thought outwards of the normal medium devoid of subject and object, only to pop back in for a moment, then back out. It seemed as if it were a hybrid stream of thought, rotating between the two.
It was during one of these streams of thought that a quote from Teh-shan (780-865) entered my mind. Teh-shan would enter the hall with a big stick. "If you utter a word I will give you thirty blows; if you utter not a word, just the same, thirty blows on your head." While reading this it had seemed little exotic Asian wisdom, not to be understood in the West. While cutting the grass on a hot summer day, halfway between words and non-duality, I found something else. The mowing stopped. I stopped moving. I felt like I stopped breathing and that everything in the world stopped moving. In my own little form of meditation, I had a taste of something I had no name for. When I was later told not to name it, I needed little explanation.
Just yesterday, while driving on the Interstate, a driver turned on his left turn signal from the far left lane. I though to myself, you can't turn left from the far left lane on the Interstate. A similar reaction followed. Just as words are not to be embraced, we also cannot think that the only meditation is the form on a pillow with legs crossed, or that the only koan are in the form of words. Sometimes they take the form of turn signals at 65 mph.

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Sunshine State/Buddha State

2006-04-29T14:27:00.000-04:00

Stuck. I left Chicago to go to college and ended up in a city I didn't like and was stuck there without the financial resources to leave. Many days I would think about what it would be like to be in Miami, with clear skies and sandy beaches, with so much to do, instead of being where I was. My State was miserable, but Florida sounded great. I thought about how little there was to do and how great things would be elsewhere. The source of my unhappiness seemed to be where I lived. Though I wasn't able to move to Miami I was able to eventually leave that place and try another city. It was nice for awhile, but then those same thoughts came back. I had also always wanted to live in Tokyo. Some Sunday nights I would think about what I could be doing there on the other side of the world instead of absolutely nothing in a town where everything closed at 5:00 in the afternoon.
I had done some moving but no matter where I went, the sorrow followed. No State seemed to have the answer. I started to wonder if Florida even stood a chance for me. With every move, I tried to throw away old things and start new, but it was too easy to bring the old things along. When I finally thought I might have the chance to move to Florida, I started going through papers, old writings, stories, junk upon junk and throwing away mountains of things I didn't need to carry. Even throwing all of this away, would it really change anything? Casting off old memories is really just a symbolic gesture. Then it hit me. What is the one piece of junk that I have carried with me in every town, in every city, in every bit of sorrow? ME!
Sidetracking a bit, a friend in Florida explained to me that in Mandarin Chinese, English words are written with Chinese characters with a similar sound. In the case of Florida, the sound "Flor" does not exist in Chinese. The character that was decided to represent this sound was 'Fo', the same character for the Buddha. As he explained to me, the entire word is not usually sounded out, but instead would be written out something like, "State of Fo."
Back to me, I realized that the perfect State is not a member of the Union, not Florida, but a state of calm abiding, of discerning wisdom and penetrating insight, unattached from the fetters of greed, ignorance, and hatred. My sorrow came from these roots, not my location. My mind carried these seeds and I watered them daily! So in the end the Sunshine State did shine a little light on me, the peace surrounds me, and perhaps, the Chinese got the name right after all.

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How Fast/Slow is Your Brain?

2006-04-22T14:26:00.000-04:00

When the gates to your mind (eyes, ears, nose, mouth, skin, etc.) receive a signal, the cognizing brain acts a filter, processing that signal, telling the Agent how to act/feel/respond to the signal. Research in Cognitive Science shows that there is a significant delay between the event itself and the arrival into the brain of the Agent. What this means is that we are always a step behind the events of this world. Research into the minds of Zen meditators and Himalayan yogis, however, show that this delay decreases with experience and profiency in meditation. That is getting a little ahead of ourselves, however.
For now, why not test your Auditory Brain speed? Though I cannot attest to the Scientific validity of the test, if one were only now to begin meditation, the test could be used as a bar to measure progress, though progress is the last thing one should worry about in meditation.
Make sure to compare your score to those of your age group at the end of the test.

Check Your Brain Speed

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Self and Other Networks

2006-04-15T10:42:00.000-04:00

"Phantom illusions, empty flowers-
why trouble yourself trying to grasp them?
Gain, loss, right, wrong-
throw them away at once!"
-Third Patriarch Seng-ts'an from Hsin-Hsin ming

I was never any good at remembering the name of a road, for no one could convince me that the road held any such qualities worth remembering in the form of a name. Here it is. Yes, assigning names to things, giving names to concepts, makes conversation easier. In fact, naming symbols is language. We speak of something, but do not bring it about. We do not invoke the actual presence of the Genghis Khan when we use his name, which is only a reference, a marker to an event in history, the life a person. A name is nothing.
These names are all the more confusing when they interplay with the Self/Other mechanism in our mind. At birth, we begin to reach out our tiny little hands to touch things. If what we touch we also feel at the other end, then we know this to be 'self.' If we can pick it up we put it in our mouth. If it is our toe, we will also feel it, not only directly with the mouth, but indirectly with the toe. This is also 'self.' Then we pick up a block or some other toy left for us and we put this in our mouth. This has a feeling in our mouth directly, but we do not feel within it. This we come to know as 'other.'
'Other' gradually becomes the most complex relationship of our life. Within our primitive mammalian brain is a mechanism of protection of anything too foreign, too 'other'. Baby chics raised with the shadow of the same species of birth mother overhead with come to fear their natural predator and feel comfortable around their own species. Baby chics raised with a shadow of their natural predator will fear the shadow of their own mother.
As we age, our 'Other' network expands. It starts with life. This is 'Other' that lives and this is 'Other' that is just a toy. Then there is the immediate family: mother, father, and siblings. This 'other' network has a defined relationship to 'self', as defined by society. Society expects 'self' to forgive the family 'other' more than those outside of this network. The bonds are to be much stronger in this network.
Before too long, we are in the cosmic soup of words and concepts. We live in a world of 'self' and 'other' and 'other' has gone mad. Outside of the usual Mothers and Fathers, Brothers and Sisters, there are Aunts and Uncles, Cousins, Grandparents, friends, coworkers, neighbors, teammates, and on and on. Just think about a birthday. The 'self' must calculate the relative importance to 'self' each birthday would hold for each birthday down that long list in the 'other' network. 'Self' might be very happy for Mother on her birthday and buy her an expensive present, but on 'coworker' birthday, have no true interest, and only invest $1 on a cake. We negotiate our lives within this self/other realm, creating the karmic consciousness, stirring the cosmic soup, forming the letters of the meaningless alphabet, as we sketch out our misreality, investing in unhappiness, forecasting sorrow, and walking the boundaries of our karmic existence.

"Fellow believers, don't get so taken up with the robe! The robe can't move of itself- the person is the one who can put on the robe.  There is a clean pure robe, there is a no-birth robe, a bodhi robe, a patriarch robe, a Buddha robe.  Fellow believers, these sounds, names, words, phrases are all nothing but changes of robe.  The sea of breath in the region below the navel stirs itself into motion, the teeth batter and mold it, and it comes out as a statement of an idea.  So we know for certain that these are mere phantoms."
Linji
from the Linji Lu

-------------------
quotes from:
Watson, Burton Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Chi New York: Columbia University Press 1993

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Voice of Tibet

2006-04-08T13:13:00.000-04:00

'Voice of Tibet'- Radio in Exile-is an outlet of expression for the Tibetan people within Tibet. Voices of Tibet broadcasts Tibetan news as well as talks from the Dalai Lama daily in Tibetan and Mandarin on shortwave radio. Below is a short documentary about 'Voice of Tibet' accessed from the link below or at WWW.VOT.ORG.

Documentary

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Middle Road of Biscayne Blvd

2006-04-06T15:50:00.000-04:00

"Students don't have enough faith in themselves, and so they rush around looking for something outside themselves. But even if they get something, all it will be is words and phrases, pretty appearances. They'll never get at the living thought of the patriarchs!
Make no mistake, you followers of Ch'an. If you don't find it in this life, then for a thousand lifetimes and ten thousand kalpas you'll be reborn again and again in the threefold world, you'll be lured by what you think are favorable environments and be born in the belly of a donkey or a cow!"
Linji
from the Linji lu

The power steering had gone completely out in my truck and so on Monday I ventured out onto the wild streets of Miami, into the fray of swirling cars and mad drivers, with a vehicle that took corners like an old tank, to find a mechanic. I had to stop off at an office, in a tiny little parking lot, and as I forced, pulled, and yanked at the wheel to get the truck to make a tight turn, the spectators at the nearby restaurant seemed to enjoy the show. After that stop I forced the truck back onto Biscayne Blvd, home to year-round construction and ever present lane changes. Once I was moving, turning the wheel wasn't so bad.
As I drove down Biscyane Blvd I looked at the shops and department stores, restaurants and car lots, all with something to take the mind off of the here and now, off of the car troubles, lack of air conditioning in Miami weather, bills, woes of life, and all the rest that comes bundled with existence. Of course, this way of thinking, distracting the mind away from mindfulness of the present situation, addressing our condition of suffering, comes with a substantial amount of interest, so to speak. The more we buy, the more we cry. The woes pile up. We need bigger distractions. We need them to last longer. We need them to be shinier and be visible to more people. The suffering of existence lies in these parking lots off of the main road.
In my truck, unable to make the tight turns necessary to navigate the majority of the parking lots, unwilling to go through the motions to navigate the others, I had only one option: to take the middle road and drive onward to my goal. It was hot, yes, but there was a sense of peace as I drove with singular purpose, without swerving through traffic to get a better position, attempting to find shortcuts, or driving at the closest possible proximity the bumper ahead of my own. I drove not for the destination but for each breath and moment of life, appreciating the quiet time to calmly reflect and release. My only bit of remorse was-If only I could get the power steering to go out in my head.
---------
Quote from:
Watson, Burton Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Chi New York: Columbia University Press 1993

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Buddha Rising

2006-04-02T01:24:00.000-05:00

In Buddha Rising, Photographer Steve McCurray shows images of Western Buddhism in four short segments in this National Geographic production.

In Footsteps of Buddha, author Peter Garfinkel speaks in three short segments about his experiences with Buddhism.

Buddha Rising has a series of nice images worth viewing. The Peter Garfinkel segment is not as interesting.

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The Other Shore... Leave your Boat at The Water

2006-03-29T18:51:00.000-05:00

“As a Buddhist, how do you feel about……” someone began to ask me, thinking that being Buddhist, every opinion and idea of my worldview would conform to one Buddhist ideal, and thus the one could represent the many. Not only are there many philosophies and viewpoints within Buddhism itself, each individual only has a certain awareness of these philosophies that expand over time as awareness grows and wisdom is gained.

Accepting a viewpoint only because it is the viewpoint of our school of Buddhism or religion is untenable. Collecting beliefs based on tradition will leave one with a junk shop of empty meaning. If we do not understand the significance of the teaching, and if we cannot defend it to ourselves or others, then we should set it to the side. The Buddha himself warned against this practice, speaking of a line of blind men, each with an arm on the man in front, believing based on tradition that the man in front of him knew where he was going. Do not be blinded by faith and tradition.

Empiricism is at the heart of the Buddhist path. This examination is not done for us, but is done at the individual level. In other words, we cannot sit next to our teacher and gain insight. We must seek, and this seeking can take time. While examining one aspect of Buddhist thought, I found it to be against the grain with the remainder of the teachings. Perhaps this was just inexperience, or lack of insight, but this idea did not seem to coalesce with the basic philosophy. In time I learned that this aspect was a cultural one, a part of that people long before the introduction of Buddhism, now dispensed as a part of Buddhist teachings/religion, now not recognized as a part of culture. We must be careful not to adopt these cultural adaptations. They are all the more dangerous when they take the form of religious practices.

Outside of Buddhism, another example I could offer is the Judeo-Christian idea of Heaven. In my personal understanding, Heaven cannot exist along side of Hell for a being with a store of merit of compassion and loving-kindness. Such a being, fulfilling all necessary actions to reach heaven, will be there for eternity. This being has, over one lifetime or many, dedicated practice towards the alleviation of suffering of other beings, and it stands to reason that this being will have a strong motivation to help those who will suffer for an eternity in hell. A lifetime of peace is little good to a being dedicated to the welfare of others. For this bodhisattva, heaven would become hell, trapped for eternity without means to help those who suffer in hell, tortured every day of their existence. I, for one, would much rather give my up my chance in heaven and spend an eternity in hell, teachings others how to be mindful of pain and learn to alleviate the suffering of even that existence. In other words, for Heaven to be a place devoid of suffering, it would need to be a place full of self-oriented individuals. Satan or Yama, they are not exempt. [This all excludes the fact that other realms are beyond the understanding of man, but given that Heaven is written in worldly terms, I give myself permission to speak so here.]

Humanity has always fallen victim to certain predispositions, and no matter what efforts any religion or philosophy makes to circumvent these, they appear nonetheless. Buddha, like so many other leaders of his time, was very clear when he asked that none of the sangha make images of him, and so the sangha made images of his feet or of lotuses instead. It wasn’t long, however, before temples has full-fledged Buddha statues. Priests and monks will claim that Buddhists do not worship the Buddha, but one must take into consideration that in large populations, many will fall victim to the same predispositions of humanity, no matter the religion. It wasn’t long before laymen all over Asia were kneeling in front of Buddha asking for divine intervention, which remains in practice to this day. While deity worship is easy to notice, we must also be careful not to fall victim to the traps of multiple layers of conceptual thinking. It is easy, when delving into the midst of emptiness and impermanence, to become attached to a false sense of emptiness, into a world of illusion that we build up that is just as false as the conventional reality that we thought we had destroyed. We can become attached to our success and sense of achievement on the path.

For beginners, it is common to see their boats heavily fettered to the dock, attached by preconceived ideas of Buddhism, religious practices, teachings, methods, mantras, initiations, postures, etc. The words expounded by the Buddha would float lightly of the seas, but the religions of today, weighed down with identity, would quickly sink. The beginner who can stay away from this baggage will hold strong wind on their sail.

Those who have crossed the shore have not left the boat at the other side as the Buddha warned, but carry it over their heads like a beacon, bumping into each other in the forest.

“Look out! Student of This! Rinpoche coming through.”

“I studied This! Zen at This! Temple so you should move.”

“I have had initiations from many famous masters, so I should have the right of way.”

‘Here are my beliefs,' they all cry, boats overhead.

With the name they also carry the ideas, methods, religious practices, and sometimes even mannerisms of their particular boat.

The forest has more boats than the water. We fall back into religious practice, seeking the form and method, like the baby looking for the womb. We do not continue to hold up our realities to question, but instead form other conventional realities that look less like what we left, and more like what we think a Buddhist world should look like. We become happy in our bubble for a time.

The world we have constructed is not emptiness but a shadow concealing ego, as religion takes form and root once again. We cannot believe that our path is the same path demarcated as 1000 others. What has ever worked this way? Can we truly believe that the highest levels of liberation will reveal themselves in this way, like a paved highway that we will all follow together? When Maitripa passed, Atisha mourned the loss, realizing that no other teacher in India truly understood the doctrine of Buddhist thought, around 1000 years ago. What would Atisha say today?

Do we change Buddhism? Of course not. We cannot. To change this course one would need to change humanity as a whole. Those that seek a path without distinction, without barriers, without form, without degree, will cast a light in the forest and those not blinded by their own beacon of tradition and faith will nod, gather a few words of advice, pass on a few, and be on their way. But do not pass on darkness, only light.

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Milarepa

2006-03-23T18:35:00.000-05:00

It is not often that you find a film director who is also the head of a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in India. To have Neten Choklin Rinpoche be the director for the film about the life of Milarepa is a wonderful choice. This film, Milarepa:Revenge, has just finished screening at the Bangkok International Film Festival and may have other screening before finding itself onto video. I will leave an update at that time. I think it is safe to say the life of Milarepa will not be coming to a theatre near you... at least not in America.

Here is the synopsis:: Milarepa, Tibet's greatest meditation master, lived as a yogi at the end of the eleventh century. Born into affluence, Milarepa watched as their estate was stolen by an ambitious uncle. To avenge this injustice, Milarepa mastered the arts of black magic and assassinated his uncle's family and friends. Almost immediately Milarepa felt great remorse for his brutality and set out to undo his bad karma. Guided by a spiritual teacher named Marpa, Milarepa endured many physical hardships and mental challenges designed to purify his negative actions. Ultimately, after a series of strict cave retreats, Milarepa attained spiritual enlightenment. Soon after, disciples flocked to him requesting his teachings. Milarepa became a great teacher, a master at sharing his wisdom and insights, renowned for his unusual methods and ascetic lifestyle. One day Milarepa's closest disciple, Rechungpa, requested, “Milarepa, for the benefit of myself and all of your students and for those people fortunate enough to hear about you in the future, please tell us the story of your life.” And so the story begins...

MOVIE TRAILER

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Greatest Gift

2006-03-20T01:20:00.000-05:00

"O monks, if people knew, as I know, the result of giving and sharing, they would not eat without having given, nor would they allow the stain of [stinginess] to obsess them and take root in their minds. Even if it were their last morsel, their last mouthful, they would not eat without having shared it, if there were someone to share it with. But, monks, as people, do not know, as I know, the result of giving and sharing, they eat without having given, and the stain of [stinginess] obsesses them and takes root in their minds."
(Itivuttaka 26;18-19)

We give a dollar here and a few coins there or perhaps we send out a check once a month, but we are so unwilling to give our time and attention or dedicate too much of ourselves to the spirit of giving. Money? This can be a welcome gift under the proper circumstances, but this gift will not remove the burden of suffering from others. To feed a family for one night is charity, but we must ask if we are part of a greater system which perpetuates the suffering of that same family.

We, followers of the Dharma, members of the Mahasangha, all under the light of Buddha Gautama, have a gift to share that carries with it no price tag, no religious obligations for the receiver, no expectation of return, but only movement of a wheel of evolution towards the alleviation of suffering. What is this gift?

When the Buddha expounded the eight streams of merit, he began with the familiar Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. What followed were five precepts, vows to be followed by all Buddhists, as gifts to all beings, to free them from fear, lighten their burden, and lessen their shadow.

"There are further, monks, these five gifts- pristine, of long standing, traditional, ancient, unadulterated and never before adulterated...."

"Here, monks, a noble disciple gives up the destruction of life and abstains from it. By abstaining from the destruction of life, the noble disciple gives to immeasurable beings freedom from fear, hostility, and oppression."
(Anguttara Nikaya 8:39;IV245-47)

This is a very large gift to beings everywhere. How few find the strength to do so. Too many find excuses to withhold this gift. In the Buddha's time, the monks lived on the alms collected door to door, from the charity of householders. They did not choose their meal. Surviving on only alms, it is true that they would have eaten meat. It is also true that in most parts of the world, even today, meat is a luxury eaten rarely and it is doubtful that it was handed out to monks regularly. The monks would have survived primarily on rice and grains from the kitchens of the householders. Many use the example of the alms of the Buddha's time as an excuse to eat meat. There is a fundamental difference in alms and choosing our food at the grocery store.
"But I didn't kill it!" we say. Oversimplifyng the laws of supply and demand and the inventory systems of major grocery store chains, imagine that there are 20 slots for steak on the shelf. If we purchase 1 steak, that steak will be replaced with a new steak. If we did not bring about the destruction of life of the cow of our steak, we have sealed the fate for the cow of the next steak down the line. This is so for each piece of meat we purchase. Demand will be met at the grocery store. We didn't kill the cow but we bring about the destruction of life nonetheless.
How can we claim to give when we take, and how can we find any peace in meditation knowing that any number of beings live in fear based on our appetites? Did the Buddha mean cows, chickens, ants, and cockroaches when he said immeasurable beings? Of course. Though not about the above topic, we see the Buddha define what a "being" is:

"To whatever extent there are beings, whether footless or with two feet, four feet, or many feet, whether having form or formless, whether percipient or nonpercipient, the Tathagata, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One is declared best among them."
(Anguttara Nikaya 4:34;II 34-35)

Sadly, many people will go to great lengths to build complex labyrinths of false logic to justify violating moral codes that they themselves stand for. I sat down for dinner in a restaurant with a woman from Peta (though she may not represent the organization as a whole) who spoke at length about the cruelty and insanity of hunting elephants and other majestic animals. She went from one animal to another, explaining how each suffered at the hands of man. A small voice of question started to whisper in the back of my mind. Every animal that she mentioned was cute and cuddly. Not once did she mention saving an animal that was no so majestic, like a cow, chicken, or pig. (Nor would it be logical to only save animals that are near extinction, for there are millions and millions and millions of humans, and we seem to value them to some degree)

And then our meals arrived. On her plate was the once majestic chest muscle of a chicken, seasoned and fried. I could only close my eyes. Removed from the scene of destruction of life, unattached from the original form, she could take the life of one and attempt to teach others not to take the life of another. One cannot teach from the grand podium of a hypocrite. "All creatures that are cute and cuddly should be protected and anything with feathers is for dinner!" is not going to inspire many people.

We all know the other four gifts:
2. Abstaining from taking what is not given
3. Abstaining from sexual misconduct
4. Abstaining from False Speech
5. Abstaining from intoxicants

When we uphold our five precepts, without a labyrinth of false logic, holding true to their meaning, we give the immeasurable beings freedom from fear. There is no greater gift we can give to the world. We are only 6% of the population (adherents.com) but we can affect change. The West is only now becoming comfortable with the Buddhist ideas of peace, and we must share with them, through action, our idea of freedom from fear, hostility, and oppression. Peaceful minds will make peaceful communities, which make peaceful countries, which make peaceful worlds. As the sangha grows, the wheel thus turns again and the Pure Land comes into view. We all have the map...
--------------
Sutras from:
Bodhi, Bhikkhu In The Buddha's Words Somerville: Wisdom Publications, 2005

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Philosophy,Religion,Buddhism,Mind,Consciousness,Weblog,Blog

Flower and Weed Consciousness

2006-03-15T20:27:00.000-05:00

In Touching Peace: Practicing the Art of Mindful Living, Thich Nhat Hanh speaks of the two forms of consciousness in Buddhist psychology. Given that this concept will play a large part in many future posts, it should be touched on briefly. In the Buddhist system, the consciousness is divided into "mind consciousness" and "store consciousness." While one may fall into the habit of viewing the division from the Conscious/Subconscious perspective, it is important to realize that the two differ[future post].
Each memory, experience, perception, view, etc. is stored in the store consciousness in the form of a "mind seed" or "seed." These seeds manifest in the mind consciousness either as joy, happiness, and peace or anger, sorrow, and fear, depending on the quality of seed that we collect on the way.
For example, if our good friend is promoted to a new position and we harbor ill feelings of jealousy and we hold this feeling inside and begin to hate, this will form a strong seed that will one day manifest into the mind consciousness again as anger. The greatest danger is that, as Thich Nhat Hanh explains, "any seed that manifests in our mind consciousness always returns to our store consciousness stronger." We sow the seeds for future suffering. A seed of joy becomes a flower and a seed of anger becomes a weed .

this diagragm illustrates why I took up music and not art.

We begin life with a relatively empty field. By the time we have gained control over our consciousness and have become aware of the patterning of all things and the fact that within pleasure seems to hide a bit of pain, we have already sown many seeds that have manifested as weeds, over and over.....and over. Of course, we have had our share of flowers, but as in the unkept garden, the weeds have dominion. It seems a little unfair that our first steps in the spiritual life are about 10,000 steps behind, but each of the steps is a teacher. Each weed that you pull will teach you not to plant another weed seed. Each flower will guide you to plant another flower seed. When we mindfully live in joy, happiness, and peace, we gather our flower seeds and grow strong roots. When we mindfully navigate difficult experiences we prevent the weed from being planted. When we mindfully intercept these seeds as they manifest into the mind consciousness, we design our garden.
And so we sit in meditation and we strengthen our power to concentrate so that we may strengthen our power to mindfully navigate our field of consciousness and bring forth the threefold flower garden.

Cited:
Nhat Hanh, Thich Touching Peace: Berkeley:Paralax Press 1992

Philosophy,Religion,Buddhism,Mind,Consciousness,,Weblog,Blog
Philosophy,Religion,Buddhism,Mind,Consciousness,Weblog,Blog

Try... Try.. Again

2006-03-07T23:02:00.000-05:00

Most are familiar with the story of Nan-yueh's mirror, in which Master Nan-yueh observed that Ma-tsu was meditating diligently towards enlightenment and the Master then began to grind a stone. Ma-tsu became annoyed and asked why his master was doing this. The master replied, "I am polishing the stone to make a mirror out of it."
We can see that no matter the diligence, skill, and no matter how fine the cloth he uses to polish the stone, that surface can never reflect an image, just as meditation alone will not bring about enlightenment. Buddhism contains powerful techniques to unlock and discard the conventional construction of reality that we have built around our sense of self, but the application of these techniques must at all times be used with discerning wisdom.
The pain medication Tylenol cannot cure infection no matter the dosage, and might actually bring harm to the body instead. The most powerful drug is useless when used for the wrong ailment. Diligence misapplied is useless.
One fine example of this occurred during the holidays a few years back when I went to visit my mother. We went to a bulk grocer, which was the size of a warehouse, with a very large parking lot. After buying our food and waiting in the long holiday line we went to my mother's car and she used her remote control to attempt to open the trunk of her car to load the groceries. The trunk didn't open. Due to severe arthritis her hands are very fragile and I was asked to try. No change. She explained that the battery in the remote was weak and possibly needed changing. Fumbling through her purse she found the replacement battery. With shaking hands from the cold winter wind, I used a coin from my pocket, twisting and turning against the plastic, but could not get the case to open. Too many failed attempts in the past had worn away the edges of the groove making it very hard to open the battery cover. Using a slightly larger coin, with shaking hands and clattering teeth, I managed to open the cover, replace the battery, and close it once again... loosely. No change. It was shortly thereafter that a trunk was noticed, about three rows down, on a car of the same make and model. The trunk was wide open and had been for some time. Three people had been standing at the wrong car for twenty minutes, approaching one problem after another with diligence that bore the fruit of foolishness and laughter. A quick look inside of that car would demonstrate why the remote had failed to work. We jumped right to the problem itself without looking for the root cause. If we had succeeded in opening the trunk of the wrong car, matters would have been far worse.
Life will give us daily problems. The spiritual path will disguise our problems in many different packages, forms and feelings. We cannot blindly apply the techniques we learn as a generic cure-all, but must use discerning wisdom and be on guard for tricks of the mind. Like water, the mind wants to seek the path of least resistance. This path seems to lead to one of two extremes, in an exaggerated sense of self or in the nihilist path. We must tread the Madhyamaka, the middle way, the waist-high water, and keep our eyes on the sun. These two extremes and one thousand other poisons will descend on us quietly, through back doors or through whispers in ours ears. Like the mind that lingers off during meditation, we gently gain control and bring it back.
Diligence, patience, and hard work are pillars of spiritual practice but must be applied correctly or will be like Nan-yueh's mirror; all grind and no shine. The water is worth treading.

"Then the image of great Shakyamuni
just dawning in mind, heals me well,
as moon-rays heal the pain of fever.

Though that good system is thus marvelous,
Inexpert persons get totally confused
In every respect, as if they were
Tangled up in jungle grasses.

Having understood this problem,
I schooled myself in writings of skilled sages,
Studying with manifold exertions,
Seeking Your intent again and again.

And I studied numerous treatises
Of the Buddhist and the non-Buddhist schools,
Yet unremittingly my intellect
Was still tormented in the trap of doubt.

So I went to the night-lily garden of Nagarjuna's works,
Prophesied to elucidate correctly
The art of Your final Vehicle,
Free of the extremes of being and nothing.

There I saw, by the kindness of the Mentor,
All illuminated by garlands of white light
The true eloquence of the glorious Chandra moon,
Whose expanding orb of taintless wisdom
Courses freely in the sky of Scripture,
Dispels the darkness of extreme hearts,
Eclipses constellations of false truths;
And then my mind at last obtained relief!"
-Praise of Buddha Shakyamuni for His Teaching of Relativity: The Short Essence of Eloquence
Lama Tsong Khapa

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One Finger From the Fishbowl

2006-03-01T23:57:00.000-05:00

How strange that many people spend an entire lifetime contemplating which t.v. actor is dating which movie star and which phone has Bluetooth (whatever that is), or which pair of jeans make them look fat, but spend not a second on questions such as, "What happens between material cause and material effect" or "Where is my mind?" I asked a bilingual co-worker, half-joking, if she sneezed in Spanish or English. Realizing that a thing as simple as a sneeze lies outside of the Subject-Object mind of language, it can actually be the first taste of what lies beyond the curtains we have put over our true minds, a taste of the ineffable. From where do thoughts arise? An easy way to see how the mind fools us is with the movement of the finger. We all know that the impulse to move the finger comes from the mind.
Being that simple, use your mind to bend your finger.... Sounds simple enough. I don't ask you to simply bend your finger. That impulse appears to occur within the finger itself. I ask you to use a thought and make your finger move. It is, after all, YOUR finger. When you are thinking words and thoughts to yourself, you will find that the thinking seems to come from the inside the skull, and that is where the thought to move the finger should originate. It is your mind, and noone else's. If you can't control your finger, what can you control?
There is a very good reason why the thought to move the finger does not originate with a conscious thought such as "Hey, finger... get moving!" Imagine that we rest our hand on a red-hot stovetop burner. If the hand must wait for the conscious thought- "This burner is quite hot. I must remove my hand now," -to move, we would all walk around with toasted hands. Nature has decided that it is best for us not to control everything consciously, but let some things run from the more primitive, mammalian, instinctive brain- a brain that might just save your life with quick instinct and reaction.
The problem is that this "routing" that takes place for the finger and that simplifies things is that it also has a large effect on our cognitive mind, therefore on how we see the world and frame our reality. [I hope to gradually introduce more cognitive science as a way to understand the difficulties of the spiritual path from the Western perspective]
We all have formed a very silly view of the world, with a "reality" far from anything close to true logic. We always run the chance that the cognitive brain will "misfire" when we trust in it. Logic can be seen as the fish in the fishbowl, declaring that the earth is round and only holds about 2 gallons of water. When the mind is defiled, any sight or sound, cognized thought or theory, will also be defiled. Our skull is a fishbowl.
The method of cognition is what we must restructure to break this fishbowl, one neural network at a time. Do not be concerned with the mechanism or processes too greatly for this only serves to further bind the mind to the illusions of form, feeling, and mental volitions that have been secured. The path out of this maze was found long ago.
What is truly amazing is that the ascetics of many of the world's traditions understood the illusory nature of conventional reality and found a way to awaken the mind to the ultimate nature without understanding the quantum world or neuroscience. Even today, where science remains in the field of the observer, the ascetic stands alone. As an observer, duality is always present and theory can never unify with being. The scientist himself can be the great new discovery as man learns how to explore newfound knowledge within the power of the mind. While I enjoy reading papers by Einstein, Schrodinger, and Heisenberg, there was another man who spoke of the relativity of time that I prefer to spend more time with, who can not only speak of theory, but help to "crack the bowl." His name: Nagarjuna (no Nobel Prize)

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Vicissitudes of Life

2006-02-25T15:19:00.000-05:00

When the uninstructed worldling comes upon gain, he does not take the time to think, to analyze past experience and those of others, and comprehend that the gain is impermanent, that it is bound up in suffering, and that it is subject to change, like all things.

The mind of the uninstructed worldling dances to the to-and-fro, give-and-take of this cyclic existence, trapped in the tapping of the vicissitudes of life.

The mind of the uninstructed worlding is transfixed to the world of change like a child with a new toy. The change keeps the dance alive.

'With Gain, He is Elated.

With Loss, He is Dejected.

--------------------------

With Fame, He is Elated.

With Disrepute, He is Dejected.

With Praise, He is Elated.

With Blame, He is Dejected.

With Please, He is Elated.

With Pain, He is Dejected.'

(Anguttara Nikaya 8:6;IV 157-59)

-----------------------------

All the while, the uninstructed worldling never stops the dance. When he slows, his mind slows. When slow, he may discern. When discerning, he will gain insight. With insight, freedom can be gained. The Eight Wordly Conditions are not permanent. Samatha, or calm abiding, is where we take our first steps to freedom.

----------------------------------------------

works cited:
Work in quotes adapted from the Anguttara Nikaya as translated in:
1. Bodhi, Bhikkhu In The Buddha's Words Somerville: Wisdom Publications, 2005
Buddhism

Miraculous Powers

2006-02-19T14:41:00.000-05:00

In training the body and mind together with the guidance of those far along the path, witnessing and experiencing so-called superhuman powers becomes commonplace. Contrary to our experience of reality, but perfectly aligned with the principles of physics below the atomic level, many aspects of our world unfold in strange ways for those who seek the path. It is sad that people seek out the flashy, Hollywood-like powers and miss powers so far beyond normal understanding which lie right in front of them. Though the show is minimal, how great is the master who feels no anger, greed, or hatred. How great is the master that does not allow desire and craving to ooze into his mind and cloud his decisions. How great is the master who allows not a single thought to manifest as he sits in deep meditation. These are the true superhuman powers, far beyond the reach of ordinary man and not to be duplicated by science or laboratories. If one stops looking for the fireworks, the miracles can be close at hand.

Buddhism Inc. (BUDD) 0.11 (0.27%)

2006-02-10T22:50:00.000-05:00

(Zen and the Art of Commercialism)

If there is an audience for it in America, it will follow with marketing. Once someone has made good money at it, 1000 people will follow suit with similiar ideas, rushed through for the sake of money. That is the essence of the land of opportunity; of snake oil and cure-alls.

Many say that Buddhism has completed its introduction to the West and will now move on to the next phase. But for every qualified teacher who has lived a life of contemplation and compassion in a monastery, passing knowledge down the tree of wisdom, there are hundreds who, for want of money, fame or illusory spiritual servitude release what has become "American Buddhism" onto the New York Times BestSeller List. These books could easily fall under "New Age-Referencing Buddhist Ideas-Self Help-It Is Ok To Love Yourself-You can be happy... if you keep buying my books-."

The best source of Buddhist works could be guessed by a child. Buddha Shakyamuni sat under the Bodhi tree and Buddha Shakyamuni awakened and gained the Paramitas. Shocked was I to meet Buddhist after Buddhist in America who wore the mala, had the bumper sticker, but had never read even a single sutra by the Buddha himself. Almost every Buddhist knows of the Four Noble Truths but I could find few American-born Buddhist who had read the sutra that contains them. (Though one finds this problem in the Buddhist lands themselves) Many of these sutras can be read in less than 5 minutes!
Buddhism is not a judgmental practice, one will not be condemned for not knowing the words of a sutra, but it is not an easy path. Many turn to Buddhism with the mistaken belief that "things will be easier" when in fact, "things might be harder."

Too often we place our trust in those who are marketing tools in and of themselves. We see their faces on the book sleeves and even if we don't know who they are, we get the sense that the author is important. Opening the book, we find out that the author is a professor of Buddhism at Such-and-such University, which is wonderful, but means very little. Buddha Gautama is very clear in the Anguttara Nikaya that the path to Nirvana lies not in the life of the worldling (householder) but only with those that leave the household, give up all possessions, give up all time, wear the oche robes, and with modesty, carry the alms bowl. A family man, Byagghapajja, meets the Buddha and asks him how to find happiness in this life. Normally, the Buddha mentions faith, moral discipline, generosity, and wisdom, but what of the worldling?

"There are, Byagghapajja, four things that lead to the welfare and happiness of the family man in this very life. What four? The accomplishment of persistent effort, the accomplishment of protection, good friendship, and balanced living."

The Buddha goes on to explain each of these four in detail and ends by coming full circle:

"Four other things lead a family man's welfare and happiness in the future life. What four? Accomplishment in faith, moral discipline, generosity, and wisdom."
Anguttara Nikaya 8:54; IV 281-85

You can see that, though he shows a path for the worldling, the clear path is for the ascetic. And so any views that we read from the Professor will be defiled views, no matter how many times over a University may give him the degree. A University is not a monastery and spiritual trascendence, insight, and wisdom do not awaken during doctoral papers. (Though there are University professors who are former monastics, or the rare exception like D.T. Suzuki)

Of course, as a member of the sangha, the professor, the Pop-Buddhist Self-Help Buddhist author, or other laymen author can offer us support and show us that others are experiencing the same problems or aiming for the same goals. They can be a peer. It is important to remember when reading that we examine the source. Remember that even Buddha Shakyamuni himself asks us not to accept something only because he had said it to be so, but to examine it for ourselves. We must sort our teachings into two piles, those of the Sangha (books from our peers) and those of the Dharma itself, along with the teachers who had been taught in lineage to pass along that teaching to you.

A serious problem of humanity in all religions, traditions, ideals, and systems is that lines becomed blurred and crossed and old ways return. In India, Brahmanistic ways were always resurfacing in Buddhism up until the Mongol invasions. Nagarjuna (c. 150-250 CE) founded the Madhyamaka (Middle Way) school, which forged through the extremes of the other schools, illuminating the true wisdom of the Buddha. The works of Nagarjuna and his predecessors, such as Chadrakirti, help us to discern for ourselves what it true wisdom, and what is only "Buddhist Self-Help" material. Be warned: If you have treaded in the muddy swamp, the clear light of Nagarjuna might be very painful.

Remember, though the lamp shines just the same, if covered by a box, we cannot see the light. Make sure to see clearly through to the wisdom of the Buddha with as little in between you and him as possible. Do not be caught up in the appealing packaging of the box for it hides the light of the lamp.

That fire of illumination is not so great in the defiled mind. Thus spoke the Buddha:
"Suppose there were a wet sappy piece of wood lying in water, and a man came with an upper fire-stick, thinking: 'I shall light a fire, I shall produce heat.' What do you think, Aggivessana? Could the man light a fire and produce heat by taking the upper fire-stick and rubbing it against the wet sappy piece of wood lying in the water?"

"No, Master Gotama. [Buddha] Why not? Because it is a wet sappy piece of wood, and it is lying in water. Eventually the man would reap only weariness and disappointment."

"So, too, Aggivessanna, as to those ascetics and brahmins who still do not live bodily withdrawn from sensual pleasures, and whose sensual desire, affection, infatuation, thirst, and fever for sensual pleasures has not been fully abandoned and suppressed internally, even if those good ascetics and brahmins feel painful racking, piercing feelings due to exertion, they are incapable of knowledge and vision and supreme enlightenment."
Mahasaccaka Sutta; I 240-49

We must also remember that one may leave the "water" or worldling life or become a monk but the desire realm may yet stir within the mind. Even our teachers, those on "dry land", must be examined for the wisdom of the teachings. Buddha continues:
"Suppose there were a wet sappy piece of wood lying on dry land far from water, and a man came with an upper fire-stick, thinking: 'I shall light a fire, I shall produce heat.' What do you think, Aggivessana? Could the man light a fire and produce heat by taking the upper fire-stick and rubbing it against the wet sappy piece of wood lying on dry land far from water?"

"No, Master Gotama. [Buddha] Why not? Because it is a wet sappy piece of wood, even though it is lying on dry land far from water. Eventually the man would reap only weariness and disappoinment."

"So too, Aggivessana, as to those ascetics and brahmins who live bodily withdrawn from sensual desires, but whose sensual desire, affection, infatuation, thirst, and fever for sensual pleasures has not been fully abandoned and suppressed internally, even if those good ascetics and brahmins feel painful, racking, piercing feelings due to exertion, they are incapable of knowledge and vision and supreme enlightenment."
Mahasaccaka Sutta; I 240-49

Is there any dry wood on dry land?

"Suppose there is a dry sapless piece of wood lying on dry land far from water, and a man came with an upper fire-stick, thinking: 'I shall light a fire, I shall produce heat.' What do you think, Aggivessana? Could the man light a fire and produce heat by rubbing it against the dry sapless piece of wood lying on dry land far from water?"

"Yes, Master Gotama. [Buddha] Why so? Because it is a dry sapless piece of wood, and it is lying on dry land far from water."

"So too, Aggivessana, as to those ascetics and brahmins who live bodily withdrawn from sensual pleasures, and whose sensual desires, affection, infatuation, thirst, and fever for sensual pleasures has been fully abandoned and suppressed internally, even if those good ascetics and brahmins feel painful, racking, piercing feelings due to exertion, they are capable of knowledge and vision and supreme enlightenment."
Mahasaccaka Sutta; I 240-49

All paths lead to ochre robes.

Buddhanet.net has a large collection of sutras and other Buddhist writings available at no charge.
Here are a few examples: (pdf)
The Dhammapada
Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta
The Diamond Sutra

And for a list of quality Buddhist books, look at the For the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition Bookstore for an example.

1. Bodhi, Bhikkhu In The Buddha's Words Somerville: Wisdom Publications, 2005

Book Review: Pioneer in Tibet

2006-02-05T20:44:00.000-05:00

Pioneer In Tibet
The Life and Perils of Dr Albert Shelton
By Douglas Wissing

During the time of the XIVth Dalai Lama (preceding the precent one), Dr Albert Shelton set out from America to the borderlands of Kham hoping to reach Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. His dream was to preach Christianity to the masses there, being a sort of missionary pioneer to "the last stranglehold of Satan." Typical of missionaries at the beginning of the last century, he used medicine to reach the locals, operating and preaching at the same time. During the initial stages of the book, one can see the superiority and ethnocentric view of the Christianian-American as he sets out to "fix" the ingnorant Tibetan. A humorous part mentions Dr Shelton's wife, a prairie wife, who learns Tibetan, and decides to uses the typical missionary tactic of learning the local religious texts and then refuting their authenticity. Anyone who has ever read a text of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition will have to chuckle at that thought. Needless to say, there is no mention of her ever attempting to do so.
Another sad issues is when the missionaries adopt a Tibetan child in an attempt to win over their first convert, but when war breaks out, they run for America, and leave the adopted child behind.
Towards the end of their nearly twenty-year stay they had converted less than 5 (if I remember correctly) Tibetans, though they did convert more half-Tibetan and Chinese. Another missionary tactic was to use a sort of trick empirical reasoning which some peoples might fall far, but given that Buddhism is rooted in empirical reasoning one can see why so few would convert.
At the end of his life, Dr Albert Shelton warms up to the Tibetan people and he to them (and the reader as well). Gone are the mentions of Satanic rituals and Satanic lands. He speaks of the people with respect and admiration and describes Tibet as a sort of home.
Sadly, with his strong presence gone from the mission, rumors and fighting began and a missionary was found to have had "improper relations" with a local girl.
Overall the book is full of adventure on the borderlands between Tiber and China. If you want to see the dreamy land of Tibet painted in books of the modern era, this would not be the book to read. This takes place in a land of brigands, where war was an everyday occurence and brigands roam the hills to this very day.

Mandala Of Compassion

2006-01-31T20:15:00.000-05:00

The mandala is a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional reality, the ultimate form being the fortress of the inner cosmos. This fortress exists within our minds, and is a fortress we must one day tear down.

The mandala is designed with a complicated series of designs and symbols, each with its own distinct meaning and history. Many mandala are based on the sacred geometry of the Buddha's form in the position of enlightenment. The sand mandala is made with sand, with is added in a small stream to form the individual symbols and designs. Typically, four monks will work at once on the sand mandala, one on each point of the four directions. A special tool is used to sift the sand and make the mandala. As the design takes shape, we begin to see the mandala in our minds. At the completion it is hard to believe it was ever sand. Looking at all the intricate designs, one might think it was a painting or print that would last forever. But it doesn't. We don't want them to destroy it. Afterall, it took them three days or more to make it. This is essence of wrong view.

With one stroke of the dorje, the mandala is scarred, and with it, the image in ours minds. You see, the sand is sand, was sand, and will be sand. The red sand was red sand, is red sand, and will be red sand. The blues, yellows, oranges, and all other colors of sands will remain as they are. The mandala is a formation of our mind, just as the only destruction that takes place is in our minds as well.

Nothing has changed!

Observe a mandala and find one piece of sand that no longer exists after the mandala has been "destroyed." We know this will not occur. The destruction of the mandala is similiar to the story of the monks viewing the waving flag. One monk says that the flag is moving. The other monk says that the wind is moving. Hui neng, the 6th Patriarch of Chan Buddhism, approaches them and says, "No, mind is moving."

We are all like the mandala. This body is something we have put together in our minds. Time is the same. Trees, wealth, status, language, furniture, science, art, highways; these are nothing but bits of sand that will one day be swept into the sea, just as the sand of the mandala was poured into the sea to the sounds of the Tibetan horn and chant. Better to listen to the sound and say goodbye.

The Divine Messengers

2006-01-29T01:29:00.000-05:00

In the Anguttara Nikaya, Buddha tells of the three Divine Messengers. A person of bad conduct in body, speech, and mind, when leaving the world, is reborn in a plane of misery, and appears before Lord Yama, the Lord of Death. Lord Yama asks the man if he saw the three divine messengers and the man says that he did not.
He asks, "Didn't You ever see a woman or a man, eighty, ninety, or a hundred, years old, frail, bent like a roof bracket, crooked, leaning on a stick?"
The man says, "Yes, Lord, I have seen this."
"Then King Yama says to Him: 'But, my good man, didn't it ever occur to you, an intelligent and mature person, "I too am subject to old age and cannot escape it. Let me now do noble deeds by body, speech, and mind"?'
"No, Lord, I could not do it. I was negligent.'
"Through negligence, my good man, you have failed to do noble deeds by body, speech, and mind. Well, you will be treated as befits your negligence... You alone have done that evil deed, and you will have to experience the fruit.'
Lord Yama continues with the other two divine messengers, sickness and death.
(Anguttattara Nikaya 3:35; I 138-40)1

As a child, I looked at my life and realized that I lacked the discipline needed to make a great change in my life, whether physical, mental, or spiritual. I read stories of great warriors and their sensei, who honed their skills through brutal training or the wise monk who endured hours and hours of chores, sometimes in extreme heat, sometimes in extreme cold, waiting for the chance to learn the Dharma. I wondered when I would get my chance to have a teacher who would get my life in order and make me into what I wanted to be.
I was always getting upset. I upset way too easily. It has been so long now I can hardly remember, but only feel the shame in the way I acted.
When I didn't have to go to school, I could go on marathon runs of sleep. This usually followed the longest possible marathon of late night fun, or reading, or exploits within my imagination until 6 in the morning.
I read the works of many disciplines but lacked structure, organization, and order.
I wanted to train my body knowing that the sharp mind rests firmly on the solid frame, but there was always something to do.
School subjects were just easy enough that I could get by without studying.
I ate what I wanted, when I wanted.
I loved to drink soft drinks and they just didn't seem to make a cup big enough to satisfy my thirst.
And then my lifelong battle with migraines went from an annoyance to a full-time job. I began waking up every day with a migraine and by the time it went away, it was time for bed. When I woke up, the migraine was back. My health fell rapidly.
For a period of about 5-6 months I couldn't work at all, and could barely leave the house. I never really rid myself of a migraine at that point. The only variance was the degree of the pain and the amount of hope. Things had to change.
My first big change was to get my sleep pattern in order, which made me feel a little better.
The second, and a hard change, was to stop eating red meat. This brought about a surprising result. For my entire life, I had woken up each morning with a swollen face, hot, and with the start of a migraine. For the first time, the swelling and heat was gone! The migraine wasn't.
My sporadic studies and practice of Eastern healing like Qi gong and Taijiqong got a boost when I realized that I felt better. Yoga came into my life after it helped as well.
The initial change in migraine condition started when a dentist dislocated my jaw while trying to remove a wisdom tooth. At that point, another condition, TMJ and bruxism (or nighttime grinding of the teeth) became much worse. None of these changes, including 100 others that space doesn't allow, rid me of the migraines or the tension in my jaw. The only temporary relief came from meditation. It is sad that motivation of a spiritual nature was not enough in the beginning, but in a way, the migraine made it hard to do anything. In the end, they forced me to do the things I had always wanted to. Now I cannot live without yoga, Qigong, meditation, and the study of the Dharma, which alleviates my mind of worry.
While speaking with Westerners trying to grasp the concept of Buddhist suffering, I see that people tend to understand the concept, but don't seem to integrate it into their lives. Their own individual problems they see as independent, temporary, and short-term. Something will be along shortly to rid them of all of this and all will be better. When I suffered from one long migraine for 6 months, I had no such illusions. Suffering was present in my mind at every moment while I was awake and asleep. This, for me, was a gateway to understanding more hidden forms of suffering based on wrong views and actions.
From where I stand now, ankle deep in the water, I look out at the vast ocean and know that I have far to go. That journey is not so hard to bare any longer. That teacher that I wished for has always been with me in a form I didn't realize. The divine messengers in our lives take many forms. Some may be physical gurus in ochre robes, but others may be the trials and tribulations of life, such as migraines or things far greater than my problem, such as cancer. What is clear is that these are divine messengers and that the lessons are there for the taking. The vast ocean is there waiting for us to cleanse ourselves of our confused existence and rediscover the ocean of wisdom that is the root of our being.
Blessed be the divine messengers in our lives

1. Bodhi, Bhikkhu In The Buddha's Words Somerville: Wisdom Publications, 2005

La Vie de Bouddha

2006-01-22T20:10:00.000-05:00

The primary source of information for this film seems to come from village stories and myths. Some elements that the village men tell in the film do not directly comply with that of the Sutras or traditional belief. The Western scholar in the film draws strange conclusions that make one ponder his intention for the documentary.
While standing on the edge of Vulture Peak, he points out that a full assembly of monks could not have sat there, given the small area of the peak. Contrary to his discovery, the sutras mention the Buddha and his assembly near Vulture Peak, but never does it state that the monks walked out onto the rock formation and listened. My guess would be that the scholar read a summary of a sutra, not a direct translation, and then formulated this idea from that watered-down source. Another moment occurs when Gotama is a boy and his parents attend the harvesting festival, which the scholar tells us depicts Gotama's family working in the fields, as they did every day, forgetting the most significant fact- they were attending a festival. He says that contrary to our current belief, the King of the Sakya people spent his days in the fields. Moments like this are throughout the film.
I would not recommend this film as an educational source, but it does have entertainment value. It can be warming to see the myths of Buddhism told from a people that have spun these tales for 2000 + years.
Overall, however, I was disappointed.

jñana-marga

2006-01-14T18:20:00.000-05:00

I thought I would begin with my own initial experiences of "religion" and insight. I don't feel that I, growing up in the West, have ever adopted an "Eastern" viewpoint. There is a beauty to Eastern culture, running quite contrary to Western culture, that can grip someone who has lost faith in the materialist, reason-based, Western ideals. This sort of effect does not typically occur as a child but in adulthood.

SOCIALIZATION

The "Western" viewpoint takes root in childhood, as each child is taught a way to conceptualize their everyday experiences. Each individual child takes in an experience and compares it to their developing worldview. As far back as I can remember, I found that these two ideas rarely agreed. My individual experience of events did not agree with the socialization ideology of my region. There seemed to be another side of all things which no child or adult around me could see, almost like seeing an apparition that was invisible to all others.
I can remember as I progressed through early schooling, year to another, the children around me adopted new views, mannerism, thoughts, habits, and ideas. While there were small differences, the general structure of these changes was apparent. The gradual absorption of these habits, rituals, and mannerism did not seem to "download" and "start running" in me so well. Something within me seemed to be broken.
Facial expressions, hand gestures, ways of walking and talking, sounds, words, vocabulary... they all failed to work so well with me. It was as if my "Operating System" did not recognize these strange programs. I spent a great portion of my childhood trying to figure out what was broken and learn how to fix it as quickly as possible. I wanted to adapt to this environment and adapt these mannerism and learn how to coincide with those around me. Instead, the human experience, at all times, felt almost false.
I made attempts to understand this problem and I asked those around me if they had similar experiences or observations. I can still remember from very early childhood a particular girl's response to my inquiry:
"What the hell is wrong with you?"

DONKEY AND THE CARROT

At around this same time I began to notice that things that others derived a sense of pleasure from did not bring about that same effect in me, or at least on the same apparent scale. I also began to feel like life was some little trick, like a donkey following a carrot held out in front of him with a stick... a carrot he will never reach, but keeps walking nonetheless. When someone in class would offer me a piece of candy, I would eat it, and leave the experience worse off. At that moment, the candy had brought about a craving for candy which could not be satisfied by one piece. The horror of it all was that when I would attempt to satisfy this craving by purchasing a treasure room full of candy and walking down the candy-buffet, I also found myself worse off. I would eat too much candy and feel sick, tired, and get a headache. Was there no solution? Was there no middle ground?
I also had the same observance with sleep. I either had way too much, or more often, very little. I was later diagnosed with a sleep cycle disorder, a disorder in which my brain is constantly on, and when I reach deep stages of sleep, my mind is ripped from it with thought, and therefore true rest is unattainable. I was told that 8 hours of sleep for me was equivalent to only about 4 or 5 for someone else. Basically I lack restful sleep and so I never find that perfect balance and attain a "perfect night of sleep" where I awake refreshed.
I began to feel that there was a hidden taint to all things pleasurable and that happiness was an impossibility.

FORM

Another event which sticks out in my mind was when a person from another country looked at a river and called it a stream. I corrected them and told them it was a river, but then wondered how I knew so. I begin to try to find the point where a river ends. At what size, depth, width, or rate of flow does a stream end and a river begin? Can there be such a place? There was no actual point of change so how could I know one from the other?
This moment shook me and everything in the world lost much of it's form. Did anything exist? I couldn't even prove to myself that a river existed!
I found some relief when I looked at my own body. There I found a shell, in the form of skin and it was easy to say what was my body and what was someone else's body. But I made the mistake of listening during biology class. I found out that cells constantly die and new cells are formed. The food we eat becomes muscle, sinew, bone, hair, and perhaps even fuels an individual thought. I am food, I realized... but I am also not food. I was something else. Where was I? I started to feel like the river.
What connected the me of now with the me of then? If every cell in the human body has been replaced within 7 years, what part of me is me? My thoughts? Even those change!
Another vivid memory is looking in the mirror as a child and feeling no connection to the face. The sight perception has not thought of, "I am looking at myself." It was a face but I had the experience as if I was looking at a picture of someone else's face. It didn't belong. I also had a similar experience with my name. I had a daydream in which I was outside of the vessel in which my name held firm and had no grasp of how it had been assigned to me, what it was, and where it was. It was as if the concept of NAME short-circuited.
Things really became confusing when a new experience began. I was in the middle of speaking with someone when I lost the anchor with myself and began to drift from that state of mind. For a moment, I could sense and feel the micro-calculations that went into every word and within every sentence, and how each word was meant not only to express an idea, but to establish a concept of ME within that person's mind, but in the manner that I wanted it to be so. I could see that all human conversation, in my mind, had a hidden agenda. But with that sub-process stopped, there was no source of words and the conversation stopped in mid-sentence. From there I went out of normal experience and began to lose the concept of subject and object, of the normal flow of time, and there was a silence in my mind that was, for the first time, deafening. The hundreds of tiny thoughts were gone. Everything that IS, was not IS anymore. I had a sense that I needed to pull out further. Now I would define it as if I were still in a defiled state and had to unattach further. With that came a sense of longing for the sensual, defiled, unhappy world. The world made no sense, people made no sense, but that was where I wanted to be, and I wanted to experience that world with the tiny sufferings of each moment. The experience faded.
Those moments were to occur and still do occur, but each time that hold I have on pulling myself back gets weaker. The desire to return to "this" is less.
With not one soul around me to speak of these things, I began to look to mentors or guides within religion. I found no answer. Those held in regard within the church that I was brought to by my parents seemed as lost as I was. The worst thought was that I felt that they didn't sense this other shore and had no desire to get there. They seemed attached to their words in the way that I was, in establishing myself within someone else, and dispensing my own agenda.

THE EAST

Asian Philosophy and Asian viewpoints had always made more sense. There was not the same sense of "foreign" in their worldview/experience as there was where I lived. Yet even this worldview failed to address many experiences that I felt ran contrary to the way it was stated that "things were."
In college I began to be fascinated by Buddhism. It was interesting that in all my childhood reading of Asian culture, philosophy, and art that I had never had the thought to read a book specifically on an Asian religion. Much of it had to do with a belief planted in my mind that other religions were impure and that it was a sin to embrace them. Though I doubted that this was correct, it somehow diverted my attention.
After reading the words of the Buddha and learning of Buddhist philosophy, I begin to finally feel that I had mentors in this world. Here is someone who had been through similar experiences and doubted the validity of the current worldview of reality. I had the same experience with Daoism and later Hinduism. After some time I began to read Buddhist works more and more. I did not define myself as Buddhist, but said that "we appear to be walking the same path."
Much of this, I think, was driven by ego. The revelations that Buddha made to many people, that shocked people, and woke them from their waking dream, was nothing new to me. The satisfaction I had was in the way the Buddha and others could express this experience, far beyond any way that I had attempted. One thing had to be clear to myself and to others: I had discovered these things for myself.

THE TWISTING PATH

It is hard to predict where a path will lead. This ignorance and holding to ego held me into Buddhism long enough to learn deeper aspects of this reality and to further my experience. Instead of feeling like the sun within this galaxy, large and grand, I began to feel like one grain of sand on the River Ganges. I was humbled by thoughts and experience far beyond anything I had ever experienced and realized that "I am nothing special."
Since that time, many beliefs have had an effect on me and brought about change, but Buddhism has been the deepest river for me. I stopped trying to prove myself and prove to people that I wasn't some "Westerner turned yogi." I just wanted to learn and progress. It was no longer an insult to ego to call myself a Buddhist.

INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE

Lately, I haven't been so attached to these names and labels. Enlightened experience is individual. Since childhood I have felt that people should take individual responsibility for their education, both spiritual and material. Those that have come before and have awakened did so in a state outside of the convenient sections of the bookstore or with any silly names. Each individual constructed their worldview through individual experience and therefore the means to transcend ignorance will be individual and unique. The one true source for one might not be so for another. Others may need no religion at all. (a topic in the works for a future posting)
My bookshelf holds more books on Buddhism, mainly Tibetan and Chan, but it also holds works of many faiths and religions. That is the easiest way to describe my path, my jñana-marga.
I once finished yoga and began to meditate. A thought entered my mind, "Am I practicing Hindu meditation or Buddhist meditation. The ignorance of this concept, of the name defining the method, opened me up even further to this idea of individual experience. As the Buddha said, "Be lamps unto yourself."

Circle Opens

2006-01-06T23:46:00.000-05:00

In the Heart Sutra (Skrt: Prajñāpāramitā Hridaya Sūtra) , Avalokiteshvara tells us that Form is Emptiness and Emptiness is Form. We know that Buddhanature (Skrt: Buddha-dhatu) is not Buddhanature, but only a word, a way to point to something outside the continuum of conceptual thought. The Buddha did not find Buddhanature nor did he create Buddhism. This state is not a monopoly of the Buddhist follower, keeping itself at arms distance until one takes a set of vows. If this nature is within anyone, it is possible that any tradition could tap this source.
I have witnessed amusing faces of shock when others discover that I, a Buddhist, study works such as the Bhagavad Gita. Aren't these two religions against each other; one believing in atman, the other in anatman? It must be remembered that Siddhartha studied the Vedic traditions in the beginning of his journey to enlightenment. These traditions provided mental concentration and inner wisdom which enabled him to reach the awareness of anatman, which the Vedic tradition, in his view, had no grasp of. That is where the two religions branch greatly. Until we reach this final stage, the debate over atman or anatman is of little consequence. We all pull our heavy carts, bearing heavy loads in our daily lives as we seek to uncover our inner nature.
At one time I worked with a man who had at one time, been a heavy drug user. In his mind, the Lord (Yahweh, GOD) provided the strength to rescue him from his addiction and put him on a straight path.
The sad element of this story is that he did not cure himself of addiction, but instead substituted one for another. Faith and religious practice became his new addiction. Religion requires us to trascend this base, fundamental, and crude way of thinking and go further inward. Every step of the path is beset with tricks and dead ends. Attachment to spiritual traditions is one of these. "I am a Chan Buddhist so I don't understand these Tibetan guys," I once heard. This idea of difference, of greater or lesser, brings us in the wrong direction and bears the wrong fruit within our minds. The major difference of our traditions are superficial in the early, mundane stages. As I said before, the major differences only occur at a point very far ahead, when we will have already trascended this unskillful idea of labeling our path.
For convienience I call this a "Buddhist blog" to identify the major path that I take. However, I will always turn a warm ear to the words of a noble son or daughter of any faith or religion. In the final stages of our journey, there are no Buddhists, Hindus, or Christians.
I will see you somewhere on the mountain.