First ever International Meditation Day

December 21, tomorrow, Saturday, is the first International Meditation Day.

Read the UN Declaration.

This generation delights in attachment

“This Dhamma that I have attained is deep, hard to see, hard to realize, peaceful, refined, beyond the scope of conjecture, subtle, to-be-experienced by the wise. But this generation delights in attachment, is excited by attachment, enjoys attachment. For a generation delighting in attachment, excited by attachment, enjoying attachment, this/that conditionality and dependent co-arising are hard to see. This state, too, is hard to see: the pacification of all fabrications, the relinquishment of all acquisitions, the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; unbinding. And if I were to teach the Dhamma and if others would not understand me, that would be tiresome for me, troublesome for me.”

SN 6:1

Justified murder?

 

Luigi Mangione murdered a health insurance executive Brian Thompson. The bullet casings said "deny", "defend" and "depose" on them, the tactic health insurance companies use to build their profits off denying coverage to humans who use health insurance for health care, to extend their lives and the quality of their lives. 

There does have to be a limit, and enforcing the financial limits is going to bring profit to insurance companies, which is separate from limits. I feel that certain kind of places shouldn't be for profit, like schools, health insurance, prisons, and other things. 

Thatcher led the movement of privativing things in England, and to some extent there were things the government was doing that they don't need to do, but privatizing actually makes government money go less further with the capitalists skimming money off the top. I think it's good not to have capitalists skimming money off the top of some things like schools, health insurance and prisons.

For me what this cartoon points out that both murders are wrong. Is killing a murderer OK in Buddhism? No, but there's no metaphysical punishment, only natural consequences, and perhaps a wrecked meditation practice. I couldn't murder someone because I'd be afraid to be caught, the impact on my mental state wouldn't be worth it. 

I'm embarrassed to have feelings about the comeuppance. Is this the start of change or are they just going to take the photos of insurance company executives off the website, and go into hiding? Gated communities. I can feel positive feelings about people who are negatively cast, the health care executive is more than just a leader in the harm for profit community. Playing by society's seeming rules can be confusing when something bad happens.

The incoming president isn't afraid of using violence to get what he wants, the leadership of allowing violence for his purposes is a sloppy technique, it's not just going to happen for the causes he endorses. Last time he was president the harassment of vulnerable communities went up, most people see that as an undesirable consequence, but alas America was paying too much for eggs with inflation, so the story goes.

So much of what sitting in meditation is about is feeling all the weird and awkward feelings. Integration has limits. When I cranked up my meditation practice, I began to remember all the awkward anxiety dreams I get. Actually feeling the feelings, the more awkward emotions, is integrating.

It's not clear a lack of denial isn't masochistic, but it does feel stronger to be able to tolerate the headwinds of uncomfortable feelings. and see more of reality. It's not clear to me following politics and current events makes me more connected to the world, or if it's helpful to the spiritual life. 

I would rather have a more sane world, with more clear lines of kindness, but here we are. 

If I really wanted to challenge myself I could get one of those Trump as Buddha statues and shudder every day, with my feelings of cringe, fear and loathing. I'm not there yet. I feel proud that I'm challenging myself to grow, and I know it's a balance between self acceptance and compassion, and challenging myself.

A smart, well educated person who seems to have everything going for him choosing to murder someone, to have followed his own reason to conclude that murdering a healthcare executive was a righteous action, must make some worry, and some people will feel positive feelings about the action. Can you murder someone who was killing people, by denying coverage for profits, with their leadership? 

For me harming others is the red line. I have harmed others in my life, not murder, but with my messy romantic life. I honestly think about it every day and vow to try and avoid that going forward in the future. The level of harm is different but the idea that you can't ignore other's hurt is a slippery slope, I don't want to cross. I think you must always take others impact into account of your actions, even if you see a different line of action that will help others more by doing a little harm. It's not quite easy to avoid harm in the world, living a life. 

Even a vegan kills insects by not eating animals and their products. The point in Buddhism is that you're not trying to harm anyone, you can see harms. The way our society is, insecticides and transport vehicles will kill insects with our produce. You can't get past that. You can try by being local and growing your own produce. You can accidentally squish a bug, or kill an insect inside your home. I think even if you still do kill insects, the worry about that is good spiritual progress, even if you end up concluding you can try to rid you house of pests. You can see the othering even there.

I read an intense half glee, half wise knowing that the current tide of events will also shift and not solve everything, in an article by someone about what is going on in the middle east. Perhaps I'm idealistic and not realistic enough. I'd rather err on that side, against harming others, than the other side, where you're against having empathy, you have many systems that close off empathy towards oppressed people. 

Amy Coney Barrett on the supreme court doesn't want to understand the harm systems do to people of transgender experience. She said, “One question I have is, at least as far as I can think of, we don’t have a history—that I know of—we don’t have a history of de jure discrimination against transgender people,” Coney Barrett said during oral arguments on Wednesday morning. “You point out in your brief that in the last three years there might have been these laws, but before that we might have had private societal discrimination.… Is there a history that I don’t know about where we have de jure discrimination?”

Is it really impossible to understand the persecution of transgender people? Do you really not see it? I've seen it, but then again I worked with the transgender population as a social worker and had to confront the brutal history and persecution. Maybe she doesn't have that knowledge, of course it's certainly OK to be unaware of it, perhaps she was asking to be educated. I read the question as a denial of that history, though. The limits of her ignorance is stated as a fact. 

There is a kind of collective momentum in health insurance in the USA, in the USA foreign policy, in my own personal justification of killing flies inside my house. Just because there is a history doesn't mean we can't move more towards reducing harm, thinking about others. Increased empathy is the human evolution I'm looking for in myself and I hope we see in larger systems. 

There are people on the Buddhists subreddit who argue you don't need to form the perfect opinion right away about this situation. There's a kind of compassion fatigue expressed. We can't be aware of everything, sometimes things don't affect us, maybe our opinion isn't even useful, nobody is asking us. I think developing one's political feelings and understanding what is going on in the world is an important part of humanity. Some people are very busy with other struggles, and decline the invitation. There's enough in front of them, there's no need to develop opinions about the middle east, or transgender. There's lots of not quite the way I would do it spread out all over the world, I can barely control myself. I need to guard the gates of my sense. I understand people not wanting to clutter their minds with details that are beyond their control. 

Anyway, health care is screwed up in America, and socialized medicine would really cut out waste, and save a lot of money, and would be really good for business. It's a real no brainer, but American capitalists like holding the workers feet to the fire. Revolution is coming. 

Links:

The manifesto of Luigi. (Newsweek also) (Another)

Luigi's review of Industrial Society and Its Future. 

UnitedHeath vows to keep itself "sustainable."

Muqi

Muqi is a 13th century Chinese monk who was also an artist. Pronounced /moo CHI/ by Professor James Cahill. Also spelled Muxi.

I thought of 6 Persimmons, when my cousin was feeding one to his son. (Tricycle on Archive). Here's a lecture by Professor James Cahill on YouTube.

I like this one:

Piti

There's a plastic tarp caught in a tree. Some painters were loading up their truck and it flew away and they were not able to retrieve it. It's kind of ugly, and I like watch what my mind does when I see it past my Manjushri statue, that is also imperfect because it was blown down and broke.

I think about impermanence in the 13th stage of anapanasati, and I saw today that the tarp broke, it's now in 3 sections, more likely to fall off the tree. The leaves have fallen off in winter time in North America. I miss the green leaves, but the colorful goodbye was spectacular. Days are shorter, it gets dark early. 

I was listening for rapture, makes me slightly manic, hypomanic, and I saw the broken tarp and I laughed and cried. Things are a little intense before they consolidate into happiness, or sukha. It's that vital transition that makes up Buddhism, makes it different than a Dionysian cult. Cult can have a positive connotation where it whips up devotion and energy for the spiritual practice. The joy of a goal, my children hugging me, sex, drugs and rock and roll. The poets might see it as drunk on spiritual rapture. 

Impermanence might be obvious, but I contemplate it, and I've worked on calming the selfing done in the skandhas, the 5 heaps in stage 8, and I contemplate what happiness really is in stage 10, but I look at how I'm still subtly clinging to samsara too, in stage 13. I imagine I would feel better if that tarp wasn't in the tree. 

There's a guy who used to have a long grabby things in Brooklyn for taking the plastic bags that get caught in the trees, he just fixes the reality instead of coping with the mental situation, and that's a valid approach. They made bags need to be bought in grocery stores, so now there are fewer bags flying around in New York City, but I still get the bags for takeout, and use them for small garbage cans.

I've started a blog about my personal experiences in a dharma friendship, this blog was more objective experience and reports of culture. I feel like this blog may have run its course, we'll see what I do with it.

Emaciated Buddha from the National Museum of Fine Art in Hanoi, Vietnam

Bhilkkhu Bodhi In The Lion’s Roar

"I here find myself compelled to dissent from a typical response I often encounter among Western Buddhists. This is the response which says that, in any conflictual situation, we must adopt a stance of detached neutrality, that we shouldn’t take sides but should try to see the good and bad hidden in both sides. That’s a style of Buddhist rhetoric I don’t want to accept. I also don’t want to accept the familiar line, “Everything is impermanent, so don’t worry.” It’s true that everything is impermanent, but by the time this regime ends, millions of lives may be lost and damaged and the entire ecosystem of the earth disrupted beyond repair."

From "It's No Time To Be Neutral" 11/8/24

Holidays

Yesterday was Dia de los Muertos is a remembrance of ancestors, a holiday from our Mexican brothers and sisters.

Yesterday was Halloween is a day when you can dress up in an alternate persona, or hero, and beg for candy. I never really got into it, though of course I did it as a kid for the candy haul. I went around with my daughter who was dressed up like a bat. She says next year she wants to dress like a witch with her mother. I sometimes think about getting a Cat in the Hat hat. Lots of amazing costumes on social media, some people are the opposite of me, and make it really happen. 

Someone’s haul

Today is Diwali is the triumph of light over darkness. My friend voted yesterday to get that out of the way, hopefully light triumphs over darkness politically. I've been reading about Zoroastrianism, because I'm studying Iran, and they have a specific take in the fight of light over dark. Jainism and Hinduism also celebrate Diwali. My Buddhist friend is part of a leading team for a Diwali retreat. 

My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. A feast and a positive attitude.