Buddhist meditation

Buddhist meditation aims at cleansing the mind of impurities and disturbances, such as desires, hatred, anger, laziness, worries, restlessness, and doubts, and at cultivating such qualities as tranquility, awareness, confidence, energy, empathy/love and wisdom, leading finally to the attainment of enlightenment, which is seeing all things, and ourselves, as they truly are (impermanent and without substance).

Buddhist meditation is not primarily about reducing stress, nor is it about “blissing out” or having visions or out-of-body experiences, although these can be side-effects.

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Relax in a safe, quiet place. Be as comfortable as possible.

Try to clear your mind. Try to think of nothing. There is nothing. You are nowhere. Your mind is completely blank and at peace. You are floating, bodiless, in empty space. Enjoy this state of peaceful nothingness.

Think about the preciousness of life. You are lucky to be alive, lucky to be a human being, lucky to have intelligence, and lucky to have time to think. Despite all of your problems, think about how lucky you are. You could have been born an animal, only concerned with eating, drinking and having sex. You have been blessed with a wonderful mind. By controlling and focusing your own mind, you can have tremendous power.

Understand how we influence our own reality. Our past thoughts, words and actions have led to our present reality. Our current thoughts, words and actions are sowing the seeds of our future. We have the power to change the future.

Recognize the impermanence of all things. Everything comes and goes. Nothing lasts. Nothing stays the same. All things, good and bad, come and go. Look back at your own life and see how this is so. Watch people, events, and things come and go, come and go, come and go.

Recognize that wisdom, peace and enlightenment are priceless gifts we give ourselves, and that we cannot truly benefit others until we can see clearly and are at peace ourselves.

Recognize that there is a Buddha within all of us, a wise, peaceful, enlightened being which lives to benefit others. Imagine yourself doing kind, noble, heroic things for others. You are forgiving those who have wronged you. You are  helping those in pain. You are making peace. Allow this Buddha become stronger and let go of your own desires and preferences. Let go of your fear. You are without substance, impermanent, an illusion. You are also eternal, endless and perfect. Your essence is without substance, so it can’t be destroyed.

Recognize that you are not separate from the world and others, that this separation is an illusion. There is no self. There is no other. The pain of others is your pain. And your pain is painful for others. If you ease someone’s pain, you are easing your own pain. If you strike someone, you are inflicting pain on yourself.

Repeat several times, aloud or in your mind:

May all beings be free from hardship. May I help free them from hardship.

May all beings be at peace. May I help them be at peace.

May all beings achieve enlightenment. May I help them achieve enlightenment.

Sorry state of human rights in the United States

Marcia Powell, an inmate serving a 27 month sentence for a non-violent crime in Arizona, died in 2009 after being left in an unshaded cage for almost four hours. According to an autopsy, her body had first and second degree burns. The weather that day topped 107 degrees F (41 C) and according to witnesses her requests for water were repeatedly denied. No criminal charges were filed against the prison officials or guards responsible.

sources:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gsV8vjqxQYd1axkrcnJIPHOyKSFAD9HVELQO0

and

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2010/09/marcia_powells_death_unavenged.php

Intentional communities and mandatory donations

I’ve been doing a little research into intentional communities. The East Wind Community near Tecumseh, Missouri sounded interesting, but they have a policy about loaning your assets to the community for the first year, and then donating them after that. The Yamagishi communities in Japan have a similar requirement that members donate their assets to the community. I think it’s a great thing when people make voluntary donations for the good of their community, but it seems like human society is probably not highly evolved enough yet that we can trust our communities to always make the right decisions and to treat all members fairly. Giving up your financial resources really does put you in a position of dependence on the community, because leaving would be difficult if you become unhappy with the community at some point. With a very small community, I think you could just ask people to chip in on important projects. I think an ownership model that involves individual ownership of land and buildings is a lot safer, because you can always sell your property to a new member if you decide to leave. If you’re interested in co-housing, each unit could be individually owned like in a condominium. People who don’t have the capital to purchase a unit could be allowed to stay in units that are owned by the community, which are built with voluntary donations made by other community members, or they could “rent to own” the extra units with no down payment. With larger communities, I think a credit union might be the answer. The community could take out loans from the members via a credit union, but the loans would be given at the risk of the credit union, and not taken from the members’ accounts, which would be guaranteed.

Of course, if someone wants to make a generous donation to the community, especially when they die, that would be just grand, but it shouldn’t be a requirement of membership, in my opinion. Requiring members to donate their assets to the community opens the door to questionable financial dealings and power plays by the community, I’m afraid, since human beings are human beings.

A cooperative (socialist) community

I have a vision. Let’s say a group of moderate, reasonable, and perhaps even spiritually enlightened socialists went to a less developed country and bought some land near a community that is economically disadvantaged. We’d build or buy some kind of cooperative housing. We wouldn’t have to be rich to do this, as we would in a developed country, but we could even rent at first, just to be safe. Then we’d do some market research, set up some cooperative workshops and start producing goods. We wouldn’t use the “s” word, we’d just say we’re setting up a cooperative. Once we find markets for our products, we recruit local people to join the cooperative. We can also earn the good will of the neighboring community by doing community service projects, like tutoring students, providing clean water, providing rides into the nearest large town, donating land for a park, sponsoring doctor visit days, etc. Potential problems: the language barrier, we may step on the toes of local politicians and power brokers, cultural differences, low prices for our products which means low wages (unless we export products to developed countries or provide services to foreign tourists), homesickness for those who haven’t lived abroad, and possible high airfare expenses if the location is far from home. I’m living in Asia now, but the obvious location for this would seem to be Mexico or somewhere in Latin America if most of the participants are North Americans. And, ok, my daughter is going to school in Texas.

We would pay everyone, including ourselves, the same hourly wage for their work, and then divide the profits as a dividend per hour worked. We’d have to set some of the profit aside for projected future expenses of course.

Once that gets off the ground, we can start adding more cooperative programs to meet the members needs.

Whadda ya think?

Many paths, same mountain

I was recently struck by the amazingly similar beliefs that are shared by Buddhists and some Christians sects. “Early Friends (Quakers) did not believe in reliance upon the practice of outward rites and sacraments, believing that holiness can exist in all the activities of one’s life.” [How very zen.] “Friends gather together in “expectant waiting” for divine leadings. Sometimes a meeting is entirely silent, sometimes quite a few people speak.” [Sounds like group meditation, but with personal commentary.]

“According to some Cathars, the purpose of man’s life on Earth was to transcend matter, perpetually renouncing anything connected with the principle of power and thereby attained union with the principle of love. According to others, man’s purpose was to reclaim or redeem matter, spiritualizing and transforming it.” “The Cathars believed there existed within mankind a spark of divine light. This light, or spirit, had fallen into captivity within a realm of corruption identified with the physical body and world.” [We are all potential Buddhas - there is a Buddha in all of us.] Cathar holy men and women “surrendered (their) worldly goods to the community, vested (themselves) in a simple black or blue robe with cord belt, and sought to undertake a life dedicated to following the example of Christ and his Apostles — an often wandering life devoted to purity, prayer, preaching and charitable work. Above all, (they) were dedicated to enabling others to find the road that led from the dark land ruled by the dark lord, to the realm of light which they believed to be humankind’s first source and ultimate end.” “Once cognizant of the grim existential reality of human existence (the “prison” of matter), the path to spiritual liberation became obvious: matter’s enslaving bonds must be broken. This was a step-by-step process, accomplished in different measures by each individual.” [They sought to understand and go beyond the material world, and sought to attain enlightenment, achieved through the self-destruction of their egos, and then assisted others to achieve their own enlightenment.] “The Cathars accepted the idea of reincarnation. Those who were unable to achieve liberation during their current mortal journey would return another time to continue the struggle for perfection. Thus, it should be understood that being reincarnated was neither inevitable nor desirable, and that it occurred because not all humans could break the enthralling chains of matter within a single lifetime.” [Same!]

Differences: “Quaker mysticism is primarily group-oriented rather than focused on the individual.”  “Quaker mysticism as it has been expressed after the late 19th century includes a strong emphasis on its outwardly-directed witness. Rather than seeking withdrawal from the world, the Quaker mystic translates his or her mysticism into (social) action.” [Buddhists tend to focus on individual enlightenment, however, the Buddhist bodhisattva's role is to stay behind and enlighten others rather than "going beyond" and leaving the world behind.]

The Buddhists and Cathars seem to hold “life denying” beliefs, where the world is either evil or an illusion, and family life, and a personal life in general, is to be avoided. The Quakers don’t seem to have this attitude. Buddhists see the main pitfalls as attachment and the ego, rather than sin (in Buddhism sin comes from egoism), and don’t have an explicit belief in a God, but do believe in doing good and avoiding doing evil.

I’m sure many other faiths share these ideas. Another interesting parallel – the Cathars were slaughtered by the Pope’s Crusaders and here in Japan, the Ikko-Ikki Buddhist monks, who practiced a sort of “liberation theology”, were slaughtered by the samurai.

Socialism and anarchism as spirituality and religion

Many people think of socialism and anarchism as being opposed to spirituality and religion. But if you look carefully, you can see that they are just other forms of spirituality and religion. The ideals of the French Revolution, “Liberty, Equality, Cooperation”, are a holy mantra. They are utopian in the sense that they strive to create heaven on earth. They are powerful ideas, but they can be used to mobilize people for good or evil, just like other religions.

Socialists may believe in science, dialecticts, economics, the working class, the inevitability of socialism as part of their faith. They have hymns, like “The International”. They have saints, like Marx, Engels, Kroptokin, and so on. They have scriptures that explain the beliefs of their religion. Some sects fight holy wars against their opponents. There are frequent splits and accusations of heresy. And, in general, they are sincerely inspired by a spiritual calling to ease the suffering of others, by their compassion for their fellow humans. And, ironically, just like religions, some of them end up killing and torturing people, and justify it as necessary to defend the faith and to establish God’s kingdom on earth. I’m going to name names here, and call them “Leninists”. These are the Crusaders, the Jesuits, the Inquisitors of the socialist movement, whose Machiavellianism and fanaticism have given socialism a bad name. The blood of millions is on their hands, some of it direct and intentional, some of it the result of their bungled attempts at micro-managing society.

Why does this always happen? My theory is that God or some force of goodness inspires people to do good, and they proceed with good intentions, but the forces of evil subvert these good intentions with fanaticism, which turns them into something horrible and evil. Or else it’s because mentally unbalanced people are attracted to these ideas for the wrong reasons (a thirst for power, a desire to play God, delusions of grandeur, egomania) and their maniacal zeal earns them positions of leadership.

But in general, socialism and anarchism are motivated by the same desire to do good and save humanity from suffering that religions are based on.

The mysticism of love

I’ve been writing about things that I feel are profound. One of the things that has moved me is love, and this is one of the best love songs ever written. The lyrics are by Jane Siberry, but k.d. lang sings it as it was meant to be sung:

“Love is Everything”

Maybe it was to learn how to love.
Maybe it was to learn how to leave.
Or maybe it was for the games that we played.
Maybe it was to learn how to lose.
Maybe it was to learn how to choose.
Or maybe it was for love that we made.

Love was everything they said it would be.
Love made sweet and sad the same.
But love forgot to make me too blind to see.
You’re chickening out aren’t you?
You’re bangin’ on the beach like an old tin drum.
I can’t wait for you to make the whole kingdom come,
so I’m leaving…..

Maybe it was to learn how to fight.
Maybe it was to lessen our pride.
Or maybe it’s just nature’s way.
Maybe it was to learn how to lie.
Maybe it was to learn to cry.
Or maybe it was for the love that we made.

But love was everything they said it would be.
Love made sweet and sad the same.
But love forgot to make me too blind to see.
You’re chickening out aren’t you?
You’re bangin’ on the beach like an old tin drum.
I can’t wait for you to make the whole kingdom come,
so I’m leaving…..

First I turn to you.
Then I turn away.
So you try to hurt me back,
Oh but it breaks your body down.
So you try to love bigger, better still.
But it’s, it’s too late….

So take a lesson from this strangeness you feel,
and know you’ll never be the same.
And find it in your heart to kneel down and say,
“I gave my love, didn’t I?
And I gave it big sometimes.
And I gave it in my own sweet time,
I’m just leaving…..”

Now, here is a quote from Martin Buber:

“When two people relate to each other authentically and humanely, God is the electricity that surges between them.“

Please remember that love is often disguised narcissism (self love). People are sometimes in love with their own fantasy of love, not with a real person. And some people are not actually in love with a person, but in love with the the flattery of being loved by someone. And some people are just in love with the feeling of being in love. And some people are just game players who are after sex, status or money. And sometimes it’s just biology. But, if you are lucky, sometimes someone loves you just because they are full of love and you were lucky enough to get some of it. Be gentle when leaving and be gracious about letting go. As the wise ones say, “Nothing lasts forever. Everything comes and goes. Attachment brings sorrow.”

The Tao of Kung Fu

Taoism is about doing things by not doing things. It teaches that we should act in harmony with nature. It teaches that the world and society are self-correcting. It teaches that water, which is soft, cuts through rock, which is hard. If you ask a Taoist, “Should we fight the evildoers?” they would probably say, “Don’t worry, they will all die eventually.” Do you have that kind of superhuman patience? These are some quotes from the popular TV series “Kung Fu”:

Do not meet a wave head on; avoid it.

You do not have to stop force; it is easier to redirect it.

Preserve rather than destroy.

Avoid rather than check.

Check rather than hurt.

Hurt rather than maim.

Maim rather than kill.

For all life is precious and cannot be replaced.

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Grasshopper: Master, do we seek victory in battle?

Master Kan: Seek rather to avoid battle.

Grasshopper: Shall we not then be defeated?

Master Kan: Where there is no battle, there is neither defeat nor victory.

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GH: I have been in the marketplace. The men there argue and fight. There is no peace.

Master Po: Why does that trouble you, when your home is here?

GH: I want all men to know peace.

Master Po: It is written in the “Tao Te Ching”:

“We can only see beauty as beauty because there is ugliness.

We know good as good because there is evil.

Therefore everything exists because of its opposite.

Difficult and easy. High and low. First and last.”

GH: But Master, do we not want all men to know our peace?

Master Po: Would you make the whole world a temple? Be like the sun, and what is within you will warm the earth.

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GH: Master, how can I walk a peaceful path, when the world is seldom peaceful?

MP: Peace lies not in the world, Grasshopper, but in the man who walks the path.

GH: But in my path may be men not filled with peace.

MP: Then seek a different path.

GH: And if at each turn appear those who would be violent and who do not love peace?

MP: To reach perfection, a man must develop equally wisdom and compassion.

GH: But Master, how do I not contend with a man who would contend with me?

MP: In a heart that is one with nature, although the body contends, there is no violence. And in the heart that is not one with nature, though the body be at rest, there is always violence. Therefore, be like the prow of a boat; it cleaves the water, but leaves in its wake water unbroken.

Buddhism

“Cease to do evil, learn to do good, and purify your mind. Hurt none by word or deed. Be moderate in satisfying your needs. Live in inner solitude and seek the deepest consciousness.” Siddattha Gotama Buddha

Buddhism is very interesting, because it teaches you to be at peace. Instead of a world where good battles evil, there is a world of illusion that we seek to detach ourselves from. Because when you fight, it’s difficult to know if you are doing good or evil. Maybe it’s better not to fight at all, and then maybe the fighting will stop? Or else evil will win….. But maybe Buddha is not saying that the world is an illusion, but that our thoughts about it and perceptions of it create an illusory world that obscures reality. Instead of seeing reality, we create a reality in our minds based on our prejudices and beliefs.

Anyway, the key point is that you need to let go of your ego, your self, you. No ego, no pain. No ego, no using or abusing others. No ego, no fear. And then you can do the right thing.

The Essence of Wisdom Teaching [a.k.a. The Heart of Wisdom Sutra]

The Buddha, thinking deeply, saw the emptiness of all things, and thus freed himself from all suffering.

He said to his friend, Sariputra:

“Existence and non-existence are the same; not two things, but the same thing.”

“Feeling and the absence of feeling, thought and absence of thought, awareness and absence of awareness, desire and the absence of desire are likewise not opposites, but the same thing.”

“All of these things are empty and without substance. Nothing is created or destroyed. Nothing is pure or impure. Nothing increases or decreases. Where there is emptiness, there is no perception or thought. All of the senses and the mind are gone. Ignorance is gone too, and illness, and death.”

“There is no craving, no extinction, no path, no wisdom, and no attainment, for there is nothing to be attained.”

“Those who understand this have no fear. All attachment and illusion are overcome, and one reaches enlightenment.”

“The truth-seekers of the past, present, and future all live this deepest wisdom and therefore reach the most supreme enlightenment. This wisdom beyond wisdom is the greatest teaching, the brightest teaching, the highest teaching, the peerless teaching. It completely ends all suffering. Know this as truth and do not doubt. Spread this profound wisdom.”

“Gone, gone, gone beyond, all the way to the other shore. Hello awakened mind.”

Now here is an excerpt from the Diamond Sutra:

4. Unattached practice of charity

“Furthermore Subhūti, when saints practice charity, they should not be conscious of practicing charity. This is what is called ‘practicing charity without form,’ and ‘practicing charity while not abiding in sound, odor, taste, touch, or conceptions.’ Why? If saints practice charity while not consciously practicing charity, their merit will be incalculable. Subhūti, what do you think? The space in the easterly direction is incalculable, is it not?”

“You are right, World Honored One, it is not calculable.”

“Subhūti, is all of the space in the four cardinal directions, the four intermediate directions, the zenith, and the nadir calculable?”

“It is incalculable, World Honored One.”

“Subhūti, the merits attained by saints who practice charity without practicing charity are also incalculable like this. Subhūti, the saints need only focus themselves on this teaching.”

9. The four lesser vehicle realizations

“Subhūti, what do you think? Does a practitioner who has attained the first stage of enlightenment think: ‘I have attained the first stage of enlightenment?’ “

Subhūti said, “No, World Honored One. And why not? Because a person who achieves the first stage of enlightenment is called a ‘stream-enterer,’ and there is in fact no stream to be entered. One does not enter form, sound, odor, taste, touch, or concepts. Therefore one is called a stream-enterer.”

“Subhūti, what do you think? Does a person who has achieve the second level of enlightenment think, ‘I have attained the second level of enlightenment?’ “

Subhūti said: “No, World Honored One. And why not? Although a person who achieves the second level of enlightenment will go and come only one more time, there is, in reality, no going or coming. Therefore he is called ‘one who will go and come only one more time.”

“Subhūti, what do you think? Does the adept who has attained the third level of enlightenment say, ‘I have achieved the third level of enlightenment?’ “

Subhūti said, “No, World Honored One. And why not? A person who achieves the third level of enlightenment will not return again to this world, but there is, in fact, no such thing as returning. Therefore this person is called ‘one who will not return to this world’.”

“Subhūti, what do you think? Does the person who reaches personal enlightenment think, ‘I have attained personal enlightenment?’ “

“No, World Honored One. And why not? There is, in reality, no such a thing as personal enlightenment, World Honored One. If someone who achieved personal enlightenment should give rise to the thought, ‘I have attained personal enlightenment,’ this would mean that he is attached to the notions of self, person, sentient being, and life span.’ “

“World Honored One, you have said that I am the most proficient in terms of the attainment of the meditative absorption of non-contention, and that I am the personally enlightened one most free from desire. But I do not give rise to the thought that I am someone who is personally enlightened and who is free from desire. World Honored One, if I were to give rise to the thought that I have attained the level of personal enlightenment, then you would not have said of me that I enjoy the practice of forest-dwelling, since there is in actuality nothing for me to practice. Therefore I am called ‘Subhūti, the one who enjoys the practice of forest-dwelling.’ “
Got it?

My goal

I’m not really a Yoda, just a Yoda wannabe. The reason I’m starting a blog is to share some of the enlightening thoughts I’ve stumbled across in my never-ending quest to be a better person. I don’t think anyone or any religion or any belief system has THE truth, but lots of folks are on the right track. Until they make that inevitable wrong turn.

It’s late, so I’ll just kick this off with some quotes from the “real” Yoda:

A Jedi’s strength flows from the force. But beware of the dark side – anger, fear, aggression. The dark side of the force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan’s apprentice.“

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Luke: “Is the dark side stronger?”

Yoda: “No, no, no. Quicker, easier, more seductive.”

Luke: “But how am I to know the good side from the bad?”

Yoda: “You will know… when you are calm, at peace, passive. A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack.”

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Luke: “I’m looking for a great warrior.”

Yoda: “Wars not make one great.”

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“Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size do you?“

———————

“Honor life by living, padawan. Killing honors only death, only the dark side.“