tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78032610875747450732024-03-13T13:11:40.881-04:00Emergent DharmaYoung Buddhist Blograymoejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08623361339819280537noreply@blogger.comBlogger122125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-34793472434344472442012-06-19T01:52:00.002-04:002012-06-19T11:19:45.850-04:00every situationIn <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Confession-Buddhist-Atheist-Stephen-Batchelor/dp/0385527063" target="_blank">"Confession of a Buddhist Atheist"</a> ex-monk Stephen Batchelor explains that in his view being a modern non-denominational Buddhist involves collecting some favorite Buddhist quotes and pushing off in your raft into the river of life. <br />
<br />
I have my own collection of Buddhist quotes. There are thirteen, and the first quote is possibly all I need. To me, it's pretty much Buddhism in one sentence:<br />
<br />
<i>"I vow to accept every situation as it arises."</i><br />
<br />
Unfortunately, I don't even remember exactly where I got this quote from. I think of it many times per day. When I start getting wrapped up in thoughts about something, what something means, what other people think about it, what will happen, etc, etc... I remember this quote. I think to myself, "Oh, right... ok, first... just accept it."<br />
<br />
That doesn't mean the "it" I'm trying to accept is ok, or good, or even that I will not try to change it. But it means that I try to stop the struggle in my heart against the reality of the thing. And since this is Buddhism we're talking about, this can get all "meta-" very fast... as in I try to accept not only the thing, but I also accept my feelings <i>about </i>the thing.<br />
<br />
I find this very helpful.<br />
<br />
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<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-10286432306509966902011-12-08T15:12:00.002-05:002011-12-08T15:15:19.806-05:00<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KnnklDHxfuo/TuEacV279sI/AAAAAAAAAQk/XQSC9idruZc/s1600/mouth.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5683853278924502722" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 375px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KnnklDHxfuo/TuEacV279sI/AAAAAAAAAQk/XQSC9idruZc/s400/mouth.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><strong><span style="color:#ff9900;">The evil mouth of men/women, breaks the rod of iron ( Gossip will kill the best reputation ) ...</span></strong><strong><span style="color:#ffff00;">Tibetan Proverb</span></strong></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-33599926697760656342011-11-13T17:52:00.000-05:002011-11-13T17:53:17.779-05:00<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lIcEvqHrxlk/TsBKQVfWXPI/AAAAAAAAAQA/hfQ9VklovOw/s1600/Buddha+and+Christ.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5674617174993820914" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 291px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lIcEvqHrxlk/TsBKQVfWXPI/AAAAAAAAAQA/hfQ9VklovOw/s400/Buddha%2Band%2BChrist.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><strong><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">" When you are a truly happy Christian, you are also a Buddhist and vice versa "</span></strong></div><br /><div><br /><strong><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">----- Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh frm the book - Living Buddha,Living Christ -----</span></strong></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-25565305863972594502011-03-09T19:15:00.003-05:002011-03-09T19:24:19.869-05:00Buddhist PsychologyHi. I'm new on this blog. I practice in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh and live in Oakland, CA where I work as a <a href="http://www.phonecounseling.net">counselor</a> (mostly over the phone) and direct a mental health program for kids. I have been studying the Bhikkhu Bodhi's book about the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1928706029/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=9552401038&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1MVB40AF14VV83576A6Q">Abhidhamma</a> and thinking about the way it seems to describe the mind as being made up of countless streams of consciousness (cittas) that are all relatively autonomous. Each citta has its own intention, which means every random thought or feeling is part of a citta that has an intention. In my meditations lately I've been listening to all of the different cittas and trying to see their different intentions. Its been cool.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-38275822342824144472011-01-12T08:19:00.004-05:002011-01-12T08:28:37.058-05:00How much aware are you?I calculate that I stay aware, in the best of days, a 5% of my waking time.<br />Most of it while I walk the dogs, or while I wait for something. The rest of the time I have seconds, or even fractions of seconds of awareness in which I'm conscious of what's happening, amidst a continuous state of just experiencing life the normal way.<br />I wonder how are things for you folks, how much aware are you on average. Let's throw in some figures, shall we?Clementehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16097800354412219780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-70873668587723652912010-12-23T17:47:00.003-05:002011-02-28T13:11:46.977-05:00Merry Christmas! Jesus is here!<div style="margin: 0px;">"Wait...what?!?"</div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin: 0px;">"I thought we were talking about Zen! Keep your JudeoChristian monotheism out of my Korean-filtered introspective Dharmic practice!"</div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin: 0px;">In the Mirror of Seon, the Great Master of the Western Mountain, Seosan, expounds on the words of the sutras translated by Kumarajiva, which says,</div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><blockquote><div style="margin: 0px;"><i>The Buddha did not appear in this world to save sentient beings. Rather, the Buddha appeared in order to liberate this world from the mistaken view that there is life and death, or Nirvana and salvation.</i></div></blockquote><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin: 0px;">Seosan states that we exist in stillness, abiding in nothingness, neither coming nor going, neither being born nor dying. Yet we, in our minds, decide that there is birth and death, that we suffer, and so we decide that we need to be freed from our suffering.</div><div style="margin: 0px;"><a name='more'></a><br />
</div><div style="margin: 0px;">The Apostle John says in his Gospel,</div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><blockquote><div style="margin: 0px;">The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him.</div></blockquote><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin: 0px;">In John's theology, Christ is the agent of creation. He is the Word of God, spoken from the dawn of time. He is in us, around us, from the beginning until now. Yet we decided to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil, and we continue to, everyday, in every decision we make, in our acceptance of what we believe to be reality. We create our Original Sin, and ignore that we are originally a part of Jesus Christ, as John says,</div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><blockquote><div style="margin: 0px;">In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.</div></blockquote><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin: 0px;">We live in the world Christ creates, but we refuse to recognize it.</div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin: 0px;">Thankfully, we do not have to keep eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.</div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><blockquote><div style="margin: 0px;"><i>To all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God - children not born of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.</i></div></blockquote><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin: 0px;">Later in John's Gospel, Jesus says,</div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><blockquote><div style="margin: 0px;"><i>I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.</i></div></blockquote><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin: 0px;">This Christmas, let us ask ourselves, "Why did Jesus say that?"</div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin: 0px;">Just a gongan, not a sermon...</div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin: 0px;">Merry Christmas from Emergent Dharma.</div>MuSsang Jaegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356724452147508699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-19769724375071835372010-10-12T11:01:00.001-04:002010-10-22T15:18:07.639-04:00Buddhists are Brave, the Brave are Buddhists<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_x14CyhGW1hU/TLR3kDAlb5I/AAAAAAAAAKE/MKPTLXP1X6k/s1600/banksy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_x14CyhGW1hU/TLR3kDAlb5I/AAAAAAAAAKE/MKPTLXP1X6k/s320/banksy.jpg" width="260" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">banksy</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><blockquote><em><span style="font-size: large;">Don't be angry because the world is unkind;</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-size: large;">Have compassion</span></em></blockquote>raymoejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08623361339819280537noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-75294882767801655482010-10-09T00:38:00.004-04:002010-10-22T15:27:54.275-04:00oh darnI was in my class called Death, Dying and Bereavement. A nurse from the local hospital was talking to us about all sorts of topics and asked the class, "what is suffering?" totally absorbed in the activity at hand, I didn't bother to think of the Buddha's definition of attachment and craving. I totally missed my chance to be the uber buddhist.The Redundicanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05462367024741948291noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-90551716155826614082010-09-09T03:16:00.005-04:002010-10-22T15:20:54.981-04:00a little video researchI've been thinking about the jukai ceremony lately, the formal ceremony where a person accepts Buddhist precepts and takes vows. I've been wondering if I want to do it myself or not, and where my practice should go in general. I found a video of an American jukai ceremony online, and watched <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-929341771136145134#">all 45 minutes of it</a>.<br />
<br />
Here is another one of many interesting videos I ran across, this one just happens to be very short. Never been a smoker myself, but I like the part where the monks light up.<br />
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<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/m6phWF9cwAQ?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/m6phWF9cwAQ?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="480"></embed></object>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-47176955288773738802010-07-25T02:30:00.001-04:002010-10-22T15:21:31.178-04:00meditation, the anti-ADD<span style="font-style: italic;">July 15, 2010 -- People who learn how to meditate using Buddhist techniques not only may find a bit of peace in life, but also can improve their attention and focus a new study shows.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.webmd.com/balance/news/20100715/buddhist-meditation-boosts-concentration-skills">Buddhist Meditation Boosts Concentration Skills</a> (WebMD.com)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-9963845775682528292010-07-20T01:33:00.004-04:002010-10-22T15:22:47.460-04:00where? here. i mean there.<span style="font-style: italic;">"If enlightenment is not where you are standing, where will you look?"</span><br />
<br />
~ Zen saying<br />
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<a href="http://centralillinoisinsects.org/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dragonfly.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://centralillinoisinsects.org/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dragonfly.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 224px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 337px;" /></a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-21222518318748846132010-07-10T20:46:00.011-04:002010-10-22T15:23:49.474-04:00cryonics and buddhismA <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/magazine/11cryonics-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss">recent New York Times article</a> discussed marital problems caused by (mostly) men who plan to be frozen after death in the hopes of being revived in the future, and the women who see this at best as creepy and at worst as a betrayal.<br />
<br />
It made me recall the time several years ago when I mentioned to my wife that I would have myself frozen after death if I had the money, and I remember being amusingly perplexed by her dislike of this idea. She may have even said, joking or seriously, that I wanted to have another life with another woman.<br />
<br />
Besides such marital discord, the issue of cryonics brings up other questions, many of them Buddhism-related. Is accepting death "giving up"? Should we seek to greatly extend life? Should we seek to preserve memories (the "data" in our brains)?<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
I have to admit that I've had a Buddhist philosophy-inspired change of heart. I'm ok with dying now. I'm ok with a finite life. I'm ok with being a temporary being that will cease to exist, and I see cryonics as a form of probably unhealthy grasping. I'm dedicated to living in the present, whatever happens here and now.<br />
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What do you think? Feel free to disagree and comment, I'm no expert on Buddhism, cryonics, and definitely not marriage.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-52194329849128812152010-07-10T12:26:00.002-04:002010-10-22T15:24:56.897-04:00postHow many outlets are in the room you are in currently? Just checking.The Redundicanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05462367024741948291noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-73742445244595706732010-07-03T00:29:00.004-04:002010-10-22T15:26:32.054-04:00the helping pathA few weeks ago our Zen priest made the point that the Buddhist path is a "helping path." It's all about helping others, he said.<br />
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It's so easy to maintain an inward looking, self-focused practice: <span style="font-style: italic;">my</span> daily meditation, <span style="font-style: italic;">my</span> mental suffering, <span style="font-style: italic;">my</span> challenges... etc. So I'm trying to work on this more broad aspect of the Buddhist path.<br />
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This is an older clip from the Internets, but it's one I really like. Often the knowledge that someone else cares is an even bigger gift than the immediate aid.<br />
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<object height="374" width="448"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/e/16711680/wshh436FbtNn8S56AF42"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="quality" value="high"><embed src="http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/e/16711680/wshh436FbtNn8S56AF42" quality="high" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="374" width="448"></embed> </object>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-16783845947800295102010-06-15T15:30:00.003-04:002010-10-22T15:29:35.701-04:00Allow Myself to Introduce MyselfI friggin hate introductions. I either come off like an arrogant d-nozzle or undercut whatever it was I was trying to say. Seriously, you should read my old profile of OKCupid. Or don't. My lady probably would appreciate it if I deleted it. Hmmmm...wonder if anyone's looked at it lately...<br />
<br />
Anyway, Bruce Lee was once asked "Are you really that good?"<br />
<br />
He shrugged and responded, "If I tell you I'm that good, you'll think I'm arrogant. If I say I'm not...well, you'll know I'm lying!"<br />
<br />
My name is MuSsang, or at least my Dharma name is. It means the Unequaled. I think my teacher had a sense of humor when he named me that. Scratch that, I know he has a sense of humor.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
When I took Precepts, I did it in front of a whole crowd, from sanghas up and down the East coast. My family and friends were gathered. Pohwa-seunim, my teacher, rattled off the list of precepts. Then he gets to "To purify the spirit, do you vow not to engage in sexual misconduct?"<br />
<br />
"Yes, I do," I said.<br />
<br />
Pohwa-seunim, in full-on Seon Buddhist regalia, in the middle of the temple, in front of EVERYONE, leans over and says, "I'm sorry, what was that? I couldn't hear you."<br />
<br />
I look at him and repeat, "Yes, I vow not to engage in sexual misconduct."<br />
<br />
Seunim paused for a moment, looks at me again and asks, "Are you sure?"<br />
<br />
Love that guy. Saved my life.<br />
<br />
Time goes by and I'm now a lay Dharma teacher of the Blue Mountain Order, under Pohwa-seunim. Which I guess brings me here to the Young Buddhist Blog. I think I qualify. I'm young. I'm Buddhist. With the exception guys like Noah Levine and Ethan Nictern, most of the other Dharma teachers I know are pushing 50 and beyond. Especially in the Zen world.<br />
<br />
Anyway, that's my introduction.MuSsang Jaegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356724452147508699noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-4469633844718427052010-05-22T16:10:00.010-04:002010-10-22T15:31:32.901-04:00i think i get itIn <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Motorcycle-Maintenance-Inquiry/dp/0553277472">"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"</a> <writer>author Robert Pirsig says that the way you live is important, because <span style="font-style: italic;">"the real motorcycle you're working on is yourself."</span><br />
<br />
Ok, that sounds cool and New Age.... but what exactly does it mean? How am I like a motorcycle, and how the heck would I </writer><writer>"work on" myself like a motorcycle?<br />
<br />
I found an answer by going back to the book that first introduced me to Buddhist meditation several years ago. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-Yoga-Seekers-Extraordinary-Living/dp/0553380540/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274559157&sr=1-1">"The Wisdom of Yoga"</a> is a kind of intellectual bridge between yogic (Hindu) philosophy and Buddhism. It explains the relationship and shared heritage of the two systems. </writer><writer><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
One aspect that I loved about "The Wisdom of Yoga" was how the writer explained the Yogic/Buddhist view of our "personalities", and how they are conglomerations of behavior patterns we have collected throughout our lives. Some of these patterns (called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sa%E1%B9%85kh%C4%81ra">samskaras</a>) are good, some are not so good, and they get stronger with use. Normally we don't think about these patterns, we just do them. However, through meditation we can become better observers of ourselves </writer><writer>and these patterns: <span style="font-style: italic;">"Oh, when I'm in situation A... I do action B... and I'm doing it again."</span> If you are diligent in your practice, you get to a point where you can recognize when a pattern is arising, and <span style="font-weight: bold;">decide</span> if that is what you really want to do, instead of simply doing it out of habit. This is "freedom" -- no longer being bound by the chains of your patterns.<br />
<br />
So this brings us back to working on motorcycles. To be a good mechanic one must be a good observer, and use logic. A good mechanic must listen for sounds, look for clues, and use deductive reasoning... <span style="font-style: italic;">"When A happens... B also </span></writer><writer><span style="font-style: italic;">happens..."</span>. This is what I have to do with myself, with my own patterns and behaviors. Furthermore, sitting practice is where I learn to do this.<br />
<br />
Observing ourselves and these patterns is hard, and is really just the beginning of even harder work. Another line I like from "The Wisdom of Yoga" talks about how knowing that you're drunk doesn't suddenly make you sober. But this is the path, and this, I believe, explains how <span style="font-style: italic;">"the real motorcyle you are working on is yourself."</span><br />
</writer><br />
<writer>Peace out peeps.<br />
<br />
</writer><a href="http://petrolscooter.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/motorcycle-engine-maintenance.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://petrolscooter.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/motorcycle-engine-maintenance.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 147px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 222px;" /></a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-43559082605575213512010-05-08T21:31:00.007-04:002010-07-17T15:33:07.046-04:00headlightsI stared down at the engine of my car. I <i>did not</i> plan to spend my whole Saturday morning replacing the stupid headlight bulbs. Why would they make the bulb covers so hard to come off? Who has hands small enough to wedge them into that tiny space?? I already spent more money than I expected, and now it was taking way more time. <i>And</i> my oil-stained, skinned knuckles hurt.<br />
<br />
That's how it went for almost an hour. I got one lightbulb cover off, but the other wasn't budging. I wondered how much a repair shop would charge me to do this stupid little job.<br />
<br />
But after a while I thought about the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Motorcycle-Maintenance-Inquiry/dp/0553277472">"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"</a>. I remembered the author talking about how the Buddha can be found inside a motorcycle engine just as surely as in a lotus flower. I started breathing again. I slowly wiped the oil off my hands with an old t-shirt.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
"Motorcycle Maintenance" was a funny book for me because for the first three quarters of it I was convinced that the title's use of the word "Zen" was just a gimmick. The author talked a lot about <i>European</i> philosophy, and his relationship with his son... but I saw very little Zen Buddhism in it.<br />
<br />
But somewhere in the last third the book got real Zen, real fast. And not only that, but I realized that he was actually talking about Zen the whole time.<br />
<br />
So I stared down at the engine. This is Zen too, I thought. It doesn't get any more zen than this. <i>Why</i> am I so mad at the car? Life doesn't go the way we think it should. <i>That</i> is the suffering the Buddha talked about.<br />
<br />
I cleaned myself up and put my tools away, closing the hood of my car. I would take a little time and come back to this problem. I'll figure it out. Patience and determination, just like in sitting practice.<br />
<br />
The next day I came back. At first, I had no luck. Then I had the sudden idea to use a flat-head screwdriver and hammer on the cover, like a chisel, to carefully knock it loose.<br />
<br />
It worked perfectly, and within minutes I had two working headlights.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.beyond.ca/i/night-driving.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.beyond.ca/i/night-driving.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 213px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 369px;" /></a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-78856912070534702562010-05-02T11:41:00.007-04:002010-10-22T15:33:59.065-04:00Mustang: The Reclusive Paradise<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5hV_KNX-KJs/S92dun2FDyI/AAAAAAAAAHI/i2sw6jcjO54/s1600/c.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466698946993000226" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5hV_KNX-KJs/S92dun2FDyI/AAAAAAAAAHI/i2sw6jcjO54/s400/c.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 225px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a> <br />
<span style="color: #ff9900;">Caves of Mustang</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5hV_KNX-KJs/S92dt_oekXI/AAAAAAAAAHA/Cj0-mbUP6Bo/s1600/b.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466698936198533490" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5hV_KNX-KJs/S92dt_oekXI/AAAAAAAAAHA/Cj0-mbUP6Bo/s400/b.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 267px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a> <br />
<span style="color: #ff9900;">Raja Jigme Palbar Bista</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5hV_KNX-KJs/S92dtWhIX8I/AAAAAAAAAG4/Qo_hs2xlNU4/s1600/a.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466698925161865154" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5hV_KNX-KJs/S92dtWhIX8I/AAAAAAAAAG4/Qo_hs2xlNU4/s400/a.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 249px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
<span style="color: #ff9900;">Flag of the Kingdom of Mustang</span><br />
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Mustang (from Tibetan Mun Tan (Wylie smon-thang) which means fertile plain) is the former Kingdom of Lo and now part of Nepal, in the north-east of that country, bordering Tibet on the Central Asian plateau between the Nepalese provinces of Dolpo and Manang.<br />
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Mustang is also known as a "Tibet outside the Tibetan Border" for it survived the Chinese invasion of 1951 and hence it fosters the original Tibetan culture, although it is now politically part of Nepal. Life in Mustang revolves around animal husbandry and trade.<br />
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The region is the easiest corridor through the Himalayas linking the Tibetan Plateau and Central Asia with the tropical Indian plains, and it enjoyed a trans-Himalayan trade.<br />
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Mustang was once an independent kingdom, although closely tied by language and culture to Tibet. From the 15th century to the 17th century, its strategic location granted Mustang control over the trade between the Himalayas and India. At the end of the 18th century the kingdom was annexed by Nepal.<br />
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However, the monarchy ceased to exist as the Kingdom of Lo in Upper (northern) Mustang, with its capital at Lo Manthang on October 7, 2008, by order of the Government of Nepal.<br />
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The last king (raja or gyelpo) was Jigme Palbar Bista (b. 1930), who traces his lineage back to Ame Pal, the warrior who is said to have founded the Buddhist kingdom in 1350.<br />
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Recently Mustang is witnessing lot of archeological & exploration activity, In an attempt to unravel a mystery, a team of internationally renowned climbers and explorers join forces with archaeologists, anthropologists and art historians to climb into unexplored cave complexes that humans had not entered for hundreds if not thousands of years.<br />
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What they find inside will rock the Himalayan world and re-write the history of this remote and mystical region. The story takes place in the legendary Kingdom of Mustang, a hidden corner of the Himalayas previously off-limits to outsiders.<br />
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Hundreds of caves punctuate the sacred landscape and little is known about why they were carved out, how they have been used, and what lies inside the mysterious caves.<br />
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Just a year earlier, during their scout, the team discovered a rare library of ancient Tibetan texts, thousands of hand-inked folios in dust-laden piles inside the caves. Their aim now is to return to the caves and rescue the texts from the crumbling landscape and retrieve them before looters get to them.<br />
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The texts are adorned with beautiful "illuminations," small paintings worth tens of thousands of dollars on the international art market. As they prepare to climb up into the caves, a group of youth from a nearby village try to stop them. What ensues is an intriguing set of events that involve the King of Mustang, the highest lama of the land, and indeed the divinities that reside in the nearby cliffs.<br />
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The texts are from the pre-Buddhist religion known as Bon. This little-understood faith is the indigenous faith of Tibet, upon which Tibetan Buddhist culture is founded. Yet the religion has suffered persecution over the years and has been nearly wiped out.<br />
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To find an ancient treasure-trove of both Buddhist and Bon texts, some completely unknown, is of high value to the remaining Bon practitioners and anthropologists like Charles Ramble from Oxford University's Oriental Institute: "These caves are probably the most reliable indicator of the continuous history of this area because they've always been used.<br />
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The kinds of things we find in there, from the archaeological record, to perhaps the richest literary repository we've found means that these really are the places on which we need to focus if we want to establish as full as possible a picture of the history and culture of the Himalaya."<br />
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<a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=97537&id=723416433">Photo Album: Mustang: The Reclusive Paradise</a><br />
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Ps: Its almost been a year that I have been contributing to the Emergent Dharma Blog and honestly its been a pleasure and a learning experience contributing to the BLOG and at the same time also reading what all the other writers have been posting....<br />
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Regards<br />
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<a href="http://www.facebook.com/people/Kameng-Dorjee/723416433"><span class="uC" id=":hl">History®</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=97537&id=723416433" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-82354909335187935632010-05-01T01:10:00.006-04:002010-10-22T15:35:56.052-04:00teachers everywhereEveryone and everything in my life is a teacher.<br />
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People I don't like teach me how to deal compassionately with people I don't like. People I *do* like with habits I don't like teach me to deal compassionately with behaviors that I don't like. My constant struggle to maintain my daily sitting practice teaches me the value of my practice. Everything has a price. The aggressive pit bull that I had to deal with for several days recently reminded me that sometimes compassion requires firm and patient toughness*, not "being nice."<br />
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I hope you guys and gals have equally effective teachers, and have a great weekend too!<br />
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(*Don't worry, no animals were harmed in the making of this blog post. By the end it was wagging tails and doggie treats for everyone.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-87785151517801086092010-04-29T11:11:00.013-04:002010-10-22T15:38:06.489-04:00Buddhist Science Fiction: Brook Ziporyn's The Masochistic Playpen<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Mtf58Kr7h4E/S9nsPHr-bNI/AAAAAAAAAF4/DuEh2nipbfY/s1600/lovehate.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465659367296494802" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Mtf58Kr7h4E/S9nsPHr-bNI/AAAAAAAAAF4/DuEh2nipbfY/s400/lovehate.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 377px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 284px;" /></a><br />
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Everything is other to itself. When you examine any experience, any person or object, including oneself--if you focus on it intensely and question it relentlessly--it proves to be ungraspable, unlocatable. This moment is immediately present, yet impossible. It can only appear as something else, some otherness: its parts, its past, its excluded possibilities. Every self must have an other, a necessary outside which simultaneously defines and threatens it. And this line between the outside and the inside, the world and the self, is also impossible. Under close scrutiny, the borders between things slip through our fingers, revealing the openness and ambiguity of what seemed so solid, so sure.<br />
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In a sense, selfhood is an act of aggression. We create our identities by consuming others, by digesting our experience and incorporating it into ourselves. But, like any contrast, the split between self and world is reversible--it can be read both ways, from either side. To see is to be seen. Our prey is also our predator. The world lurks in the shadows of our uncertainty, licking its lips in anticipation. But self and world, inside and outside, are ultimately indistinguishable. Me-ness is always already otherness, and vice versa. So the mutual violence at the heart of existence is nothing but self-violence. We are our own trauma. This self-contrast, this impossibility of being ourselves, is our true identity. It is our beauty, and our tragedy.<br />
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Brook Ziporyn's<span style="font-style: italic;"> The Masochistic Playpen</span> is a mind-blowing exploration of metaphysical self-violence, a masterwork of darkly comedic science fiction that bravely blurs the line between pleasure and pain, compassion and contempt. While Ziporyn's <span style="font-style: italic;">Omnipotence For The Millions</span> is earthbound, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Masochistic Playpen</span> is a free-wheeling romp through endless worlds and identities. Humans have yet to discover other intelligent life, and have successfully colonized just about every planet in the galaxy, even the ridiculously uninhabitable ones. A handful of huge, invisible corporate conglomerates own and control everything, and everything is information. Television isn't just a time-killer--it is life itself. And human cloning is outlawed, but everyone does it. The protagonist, Chet Everett (if that's his real name!), is a freelance assassin hired by a surly, alcoholic mega-corporate executive for an obscure and extremely dangerous long-term assignment. Everett must go undercover, teleporting from planet to planet and terminating a long list of radical, trouble-making clones. He is lazy but gifted, a natural. He found his ideal occupation as an adolescent--his first victim was his mother. And after thirty years in deep, cryogenic sleep (a desperate attempt to escape arrest and execution), he continues his dirty work as a paid killer and trained disintegration traveler, "with some knowledge of multiple world information etiquette and paradox technology."<br />
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Everett knows his ultimate goal: to infiltrate the heavenly resort-colony of Pleasure Land and put an end to one Doctor Foostavius, a legendary guru and TV talk show host, and an infamous clone-maker of epic proportions. But, unfortunately for him, Everett must bounce to many more planets and kill an indefinite series of other clones (or "duplicated individuals," to be PC) before reaching this final gig. Each new world is a shock to the system for our assassin. He must constantly acclimate to strange environments, uncertain identities, local cultures and customs that range from idiotic to absurd: Parenthesia, Baswik, Tumblov, Remoose... a colorful procession of worlds and perspectives. One of my favorites is Chelican, home to monks that preach an inverted mysticism, a cult of the ego that encourages everyone to be as self-centered as possible. But Everett is kept in the dark concerning his employer's plans and motives, and Pleasure Land never seems to get any closer. He becomes frustrated and suspicious--even his boss might be a clone.<br />
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As the title would suggest, self-conflict is everywhere in this novel. Everett is aware of a spectator in the back of his skull, someone amused by his painful dilemmas. Source individuals despise and dehumanize their clones. Everett himself must betray and murder his lovers and colleagues. Even the elementary particles hate themselves--disgust is a fundamental force of the universe. And this self-violence is mutual violence, as embodied by the galactic obsession with television. Everything is being recorded, everything is being watched: to see is to be seen. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Masochistic Playpen</span> is unparalleled in capturing the voyeurism and paranoia of the information age. But the crucial Buddhist point here is that this violence reflects our deep interconnection and interdependence. In a profound way, this necessary, intimate violence reflects our solidarity. It is even possible to describe it as compassion itself, for this inescapable intersubjectivity is both our suffering and our liberation. The Buddha himself is the Other, the omniscient spectator that knows us from the inside-out.<br />
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</div>Mu-Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07541388122893801784noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-70820715454331279802010-04-22T10:51:00.001-04:002010-07-17T15:42:58.015-04:00Hi, my name is...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_QJyXQGNRZE8/S88aE6ide6I/AAAAAAAAAEA/QeQDk0KS3dQ/s1600/23814_846121428870_15900269_46393330_3757468_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_QJyXQGNRZE8/S88aE6ide6I/AAAAAAAAAEA/QeQDk0KS3dQ/s320/23814_846121428870_15900269_46393330_3757468_n.jpg" width="320" wt="true" /></a></div><br />
In an attempt to fulfill my lifelong plot of taking over the entire universe one blog at a time, I have successfuly convinced Raymo to allow me to contribute to this here blog about teeny-bopper Buddhists. My plans are working out perfectly. Cue evil laugh...<br />
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No, really, thanks for having me. My name is Kourtney Mitchell and I'm just your average 23-year-old black kid sifting through this swampland of samsara trying to find my way out. So far, not so good.<br />
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I grew up in Illinois (Chicago and Springfield), went to school and worked in Missouri for six years (haven't yet graduated, unfortunately) and now I'm chilling with my family in Georgia.<br />
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I've been practicing Buddhism for a bit over two years now. I started with Theravada and gained interest in Zen, and I've been back and forth between the two. Right now I'm planning on settling on the Elder Path, but knowing my unbelievably fickle mind, it'll be changed before too long.<br />
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I come from a Christian family and grew up in church. Although Buddhism is my chosen path, I have an interest in interfaith study and try to learn as much as I can about other practices. I've explored Sikhism (even practiced for a while, turban and all), New Age, Mystical Christianity, Kabbalah, Gnosticism, Hinduism, Islam...pretty much everything. I find religion and spirituality to be infinitely fascinating.<br />
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Politically, I consider myself radical, though recent bad decisions of mine have caused me to take a step back and assess my attachment to self-views and labels. I would like to see a world that is anarchist/social libertarian, but I'll settle for peace and happiness in whatever form it takes.<br />
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I love Buddhism. I find it to be the most relevant and accessible path for myself. And I'm also not afraid to say that it's for everyone. Others might disagree, but I don't think Buddhism leaves anyone out the way other faiths do. I would encourage Buddhist practice for anyone without exception.<br />
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Most of my posts will deal with politics, social activism, daily practice, insights from scripture study, and the like. I will also try to deal with issues of diversity and racism within the American Buddhist scene.<br />
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I don't claim to be right or knowledgeable about anything I discuss, but I will try to be as honest and open as possible. I greatly encourage criticism and dialogue, and please correct any mistakes I make.<br />
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Thanks. The universe will be mine in no time!<br />
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Anjali,<br />
Kourtney aka DharmakidUnknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-55644251398750133922010-04-19T19:29:00.004-04:002010-10-26T14:18:56.100-04:00susan piverThere is a Buddhist saying I love that goes, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear."<br />
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Late last night I was driving and scanning the radio for something to listen to. I landed on an interview with Susan Piver, the author of the new book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1416593152/?tag=gredi-20">"The Wisdom of a Broken Heart"</a>. It was great stuff, and I found myself seriously considering pulling over to the side of the freeway and digging out a pen and paper so I could take notes.<br />
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I managed to make it to my destination, here are a few tips I jotted down:<br />
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~ When dealing with difficult emotions, feel the pain, but let go of the story.<br />
~ In long-term relationships we try to cast others in our own mental movie of how things "should be". Instead, try experiencing your partner directly (as they are) and "turn off the projector".<br />
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~ All relationships will end in heartbreak (relationships end, no one lives forever). Already knowing the end, you can relax and enjoy your time with them.<br />
~ Try an exercise called "flashing" your practice. At any time during the day you can stop and think about what it feels like when you're doing your meditation practice. This recreates the sensations of calmness and awareness from your practice, and it drives home why practice is called "practice".<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CldOLn-AVKE">Here</a> is a short youtube video of Piver (2 minutes).<br />
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You can find the full radio interview I listened to <a href="http://www.newdimensions.org/flagship/3341/susan-piver-the-spiritual-power-of-heartbreak/">here</a> (1 hour).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-4793908217683297912010-04-12T12:45:00.021-04:002010-10-22T15:46:37.605-04:00The Rise of The Buddhist Novel: Brook Ziporyn's Omnipotence For The Millions<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Mtf58Kr7h4E/S8NO6FFPt4I/AAAAAAAAAFg/cbExFJv7tL8/s1600/6535_149818159744_728314744_3178004_271436_n.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459293933006731138" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Mtf58Kr7h4E/S8NO6FFPt4I/AAAAAAAAAFg/cbExFJv7tL8/s400/6535_149818159744_728314744_3178004_271436_n.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 300px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 400px;" /></a>My previous post, "Contemplation of The Deluded Mind," was a brief sketch of the background and basis for the meditation techniques of Tiantai Buddhism. The gist is that for anything at all to exist, there must be contrast. Each contrast creates a field of relations between particular objects. One half of this contrast must be the overarching term which embraces and unifies the entire field of differences. At the practical level, Tiantai deploys the primary contrast of mind/matter (which proves to be equivalent to the splits between self/nonself, unity/multiplicity, and compassion/delusion). The practitioner is encouraged to contemplate <span style="font-style: italic;">this</span> "moment of creation by mind," to isolate and intensify <span style="font-style: italic;">this </span>experience as an instance of mind. <span style="font-style: italic;">This</span> moment is a synthesis of diverse mental and physical objects, made possible by the workings of mind, of the "I" which excludes others. The student is instructed to search for mind or "me-ness" in every aspect of an experience, even and especially in its contrast to matter or "nonme." Once mind is seen to permeate all aspects of<span style="font-style: italic;"> this</span> moment, it negates itself: "one nature is no nature." Mind reveals itself to be and to have always been matter, and vice versa. The two opposites become reversible, capable of appearing <span style="font-style: italic;">as</span> each other. Each moment can be described as neither mind nor matter, as both mind and matter, as entirely mind, or as entirely matter. The dualism is eliminated yet maintained--in fact, the contrast is heightened.<br />
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Brook Ziporyn is perhaps the first author to consciously apply the Tiantai maxim of "the more one dwells in it, the more one is liberated from it" <br />
<a name='more'></a>to an art form which is not native to Buddhist culture and practice: the novel. <span style="font-style: italic;">Omnipotence For The Millions</span> is a ballsy narrative which sees the biased, alienated mind in everything, which attempts to explode the "I" (the illusory center of the universe) by fully realizing it. He manifests and isolates our collective delusion within his characters, allowing it to undermine itself. And he has created some of the laziest, some of the most selfish, duplicitous, and misanthropic characters ever placed on the page!<br />
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The story spins around the ever-changing fortunes of Mr. Smith and Mr. Smithers. Smith and Smithers are co-workers and rivals, drinking buddies who secretly despise and yet cannot escape each other. Despite his best efforts, Smither's fate becomes more and more entangled with that of Bill Smith. The two take turns playing the roles of boss and subordinate, supporting and sabotaging each other's careers in hilarious and ironic ways. And their backstabbing friendship spills over into their romantics lives. Smith hates his wife and is constantly cheating on her. Smithers is fucking Smith's wife. Smithers is also fucking Suzanne Goodfellow, Mrs. Smith's archrival. There's a lot of adulterous fucking in this book.<br />
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Much of <span style="font-style: italic;">Omnipotence</span>'s philosophical subtext is provided by the company which employs Smith and Smithers, Play To Win!, which writes and produces latenight infomercials to dupe the ignorant into buying its line of bullshit, subliminal self-improvement tapes ("Discover Your Inner Deserter," "Winning Through Intimidation," "How to How Look Good and Feel Great and Vice Versa With Apple Cider Vinegar"). Much to Smithers' chagrin, Smith bursts onto the scene as a natural self-help scam artist, masterminding a series of sold-out successes. Smithers vents his jealousy by inserting unflattering caricatures of Smith within his own infomercials. Later, Smith and Smithers encounter a crackpot named Charlie Goodfellow and begin to steal his ideas. Goodfellow is obsessed with his ever-expanding brainchild, a telephone service ("Only $4.99 a minute") which provides desperate seekers with a different worldview every time they call: "Everybody Secretly Loves Me," "Everybody Secretly Hates You," "Enjoy Quiet Time at Home," "Take Lots of Drugs," "Everything Is Worthless," "Pray to Everything," "Semen Is The Essence of The Eternal Life Force So Save It Up"--Goodfellow descends into madness elaborating his endless list of worldviews. And this dial-a-worldview scheme is a biting self-parody of Tiantai Buddhism's own omnicentric worldview.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">The comedic pair of Smith and Smithers allows Ziporyn to explore the two-edged sword of intersubjectivity from the inside-out: To what extent is one's rival actually oneself? To what extent do we truly need our fellow man? These are crucial questions for any Buddhist, particularly those of the Tiantai persuasion, who view inescapable intersubjectivity as both suffering and as liberation. This is a must-read for anyone seeking the emergent edge of the New Buddhism.</div><br />
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</div>Mu-Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07541388122893801784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-14178346744055281082010-04-08T14:46:00.011-04:002010-07-17T15:28:24.717-04:00Contemplation of The Deluded Mind: A Brief Introduction to Tiantai Meditation<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Mtf58Kr7h4E/S74zACpmAnI/AAAAAAAAAFY/EVQYrv600vI/s1600/SK_triangle.gif" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457855874223964786" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Mtf58Kr7h4E/S74zACpmAnI/AAAAAAAAAFY/EVQYrv600vI/s400/SK_triangle.gif" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 246px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 280px;" /></a><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">Everyone, Buddhist and non-Buddhist alike, knows impermanence. It is universal and directly perceivable. Whatever appears will vanish, whatever is present will someday be absent. Even the universe itself is fleeting; it will succumb to entropy and end in either cold stillness or the inverted bang of the Big Crunch. And for this reason, the recognition of impermanence was both the point of departure for Shakyamuni Buddha's own journey of spiritual discovery and the gateway into his teachings. It is the first of his three "marks" or characteristics of existence, and leads directly to the other two: suffering and nonself. In fact, the three marks are mutually reducible to each other--three different ways of indicating the same thing. To be impermanent is to suffer, to experience decay, death, and loss. To suffer is to be unfree, to be conditional, which is what "nonself" means in this sense. To be a self is to be autonomous and unconditional, to be the sole cause of one's identity and actions. But we are not our own causes; our existence arises from and is sustained by an indefinite list of overlapping conditions. These conditions, too, are impermanent. When they vanish, so will we.<br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">From the Abhidharma to the Mahayana, subsequent Buddhist traditions have explored and elaborated upon the notion of impermanence in diverse and often head-spinning ways. One of the most unique takes on transience is that of Tiantai Buddhism, an early Chinese school which is still practiced today as its Japanese offspring, Tendai Buddhism. Like the Buddha's marks of existence, Tiantai truth is also threefold: form, emptiness, and <span style="font-style: italic;">zhong</span> (the "Mean"). The Mean is a common and important term in the history of Chinese thought, used by Confucians, Taoists, and Buddhists alike. In this case it means that form and emptiness are identical, a Mahayana concept made familiar by such texts as the Heart Sutra, and taken to necessary extremes by the Tiantai school. Like impermanence, suffering, and nonself, these Three Truths are mutually reducible, findable in each other--to name one is to indicate all three. Perhaps the best preliminary way to visualize the Threefold Truth is the classic Gestalt model of perception, of the relationship between figure and ground, or focus and field. Every perception has a focus (form), and every focus is carved out from an open-ended periphery or contextual background (emptiness), and these two aspects are not only simultaneous, but identical in their contrast (the Mean). Tiantai takes this meta-level framework of the Three Truths and applies it to each and every conceivable contrast. When applied to classical Buddhist impermanence, a startling and apparently nonsensical conclusion is reached: To appear is to vanish. To vanish is to appear. The more present something is, the more it is absent, and vice versa.<br />
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Let me explain. Any act of interpretation requires a contrast, and a contrast is a relation between at least two terms within a field or context, with one term acting as the focus or center which unifies and gives meaning to the rest of field. This is a necessary structure of experience. All other terms within this field of differences are defined by their relationship to this central term, as either a component, a cause, or an excluded opposite. At the same time, this center or focus receives its content and meaning from all of the other terms which it unifies. In everyday experience, this center is whatever object or entity is of interest at any given moment--say, a dark chocolate truffle. This truffle both describes and is described by all of the non-truffle things which compose it, cause it, or are excluded from it.<br />
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In a sense, everything we perceive is an expansive identity looking for confirmation "outside" of itself, in relationships of sameness, similiarity, or difference to other identities. The more we get to know someone or something--the more familiar or "present" they become--the more we compare and contrast them to other entities, and our ability to do so becomes more nuanced. Sooner or later, most identities seem to hit a wall in this self-confirmation process, a limit to the other identities which they can include in their own. But what happens when a given center is completely successful in this endeavor, when it manages to re-define the entire field in its own image? It vanishes. More precisely, it empties itself of all meaning, revealing itself to be each and every non-central term in the field. Consider, for example, the way that big picture terms like "life" or "reality" or "existence" are used in conversation. "That's life!" What's life? My job? My society? The laws of physics? Love? Heartbreak? That cat? That apple? A galaxy? A grain of sand? Birth? Death? Yes, all of that. Life is everything and therefore nothing. Once a defining center fully succeeds, and swallows up that last, opposing otherness, then the bottom falls out and it vanishes, appearing instead as everything else.<br />
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So there you go. To appear is to vanish. The more present something becomes, the more that a particular focus comes to dominate the field of perception, the more it negates itself. This discovery is the basis of Tiantai's unique form of meditation, and shapes its attitude toward the common Buddhist goal of liberation from suffering. To be free from something, one must "fully realize it." Instead of contemplating the "pure" or enlightened mind, Tiantai contemplates the deluded mind. Instead of attempting to break free from delusion, to leap out all at once, Tiantai dwells in it, and sees it everywhere. The deluded mind is the discriminating mind, the mind which categorizes and makes distinctions, the mind of tastes and preferences. Mind is an active process of creation: the "carving" of objects of desire and aversion out of an ambiguous and infinite background (the real meaning of Buddhist emptiness is that <span style="font-style: italic;">all</span> contexts are relevant), the arbitrary narrowing of horizons which we call the self. Therefore, the focus of Tiantai meditation is, well, the act of focusing itself--each "moment of mind," <span style="font-style: italic;">this</span> moment of mind. <span style="font-style: italic;">This</span> moment of delusion, of selfhood, is the arbitrary starting point, the object of contemplation. <span style="font-style: italic;">This</span> moment of selfhood is the center which unifies a diverse field of distinctions, and when it is pushed to the limit and made absolute--universalized to include the entire field of nonself components, causes, and oppositions--it collapses. And this collapse does not leave in its wake some transcendental, unconditional state of blank purity. It leaves behind only the countless nonself forms in which it was expressed, perfectly preserved just as they are and yet made absolute themselves. For when this or any other universal crashes, it empties itself into its expressions, and the terms becomes reversible, interchangeable. Self and nonself are revealed to be distinct yet nondual, capable of appearing in and as each other. There is neither self nor nonself, there is both self and nonself, there is only self, there is only nonself.<br />
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The above conclusions lead Tiantai to a position on self-knowledge which is radically different from other Buddhist schools. The self is not impossible and unknowable ("an eye that cannot see itself"), elusive and unfindable in the concrete objects of experience. On the contrary: everything you encounter is your essence, your own secret identity.<br />
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</div></div>Mu-Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07541388122893801784noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803261087574745073.post-92145644692344486992010-04-08T11:30:00.003-04:002010-10-26T14:24:32.282-04:00Lisa Simpson, Freakin' Buddhist<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/YnZ8fCA_hOM&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/YnZ8fCA_hOM&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>raymoejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08623361339819280537noreply@blogger.com0