Monday, March 29, 2021

The Great Failure


I've been looking for a book that discusses these issues since the breaking in 1997 of Sangharakshita's misconduct, for which he has expressed regret. But to what we can little find on the internet, it seems to have been scrubbed for a lot of the information. I hope it's OK to discuss the impact on my life. Yesh. That is probably why it's so hard to get a book like Goldberg's.

Reading Goldberg’s haiku book I got interested in this book, The Great Failure. Almost 100 pages in she learns her married Zen teacher Katiguri had been sleeping around with the female students. Goldberg spent the previous 100 writing about her relationship with her father. She is smart, she asks what projections she's putting onto Katiguri, who died in 1990. Goldberg's father made her uncomfortable, showing off her armpit hair, bursting into the bathroom when she was in puberty. Making her feel unsafe, I realized, wasn't so much better than touching her. So when 6 years after her death, 3 former students report an affair, and she remember his own beer swilling completing of her beauty. She fended off Kitiguri the way she fended off her father. So what projections can she take back after this revelation? This is the kind of contemplation of a teacher's imperfections I can get behind, beyond the black and white dismiss qualms or cancel binary our times seem to be embracing. What do you do when you see the clay feet of someone you project transcendence upon?

I read Dasho Port's book on Katiguri when it came out in 2008, and didn't really have a context to put it in, so I just added it to the current questions I was asking. 


With the great free offering on the internet, with the faustian bargain of listening to commercials, I can have almost perfect instant gratification. Used to be so hard to get everything, now it's easy, seemily. Goldberg mentions a Paul Simon album that is supposedly evocative of New Mexico. I think she means Hearts and Bones which came out in 1983. The title song has the lyrics, "In the Sangre de Christo/The Blood of Christ Mountains/Of New Mexico". I didn't know that Carrie Fisher had a relationship with Paul Simon, I missed that whole thing, but I read a bit of her side in her manic memoir. I'm still confused if I've got the right album or not, but I listened to some Paul Simon I've never listened to. I read an article about the album. I sort of like these cultural meanderings. There are not that many songs that mention New Mexico.

Anyway, I'm in favor of open information about Katiguri. All I can find is "Today, one could reasonably assert that of the 30 or 40 important Zen centers in the country, at least 10 have employed head teachers who have been accused of groping, propositioning, seducing, or otherwise exploiting students." (New Republic). Things are becoming pretty intense in the #metoo era, what is coming out, and what is being covered up. Perhaps a more healing approach than crushing people would help.

The hope is women are learning to speak up quicker, though I hope even more that men would get clear consent, and not transgress the teacher/student rules that are cropping up to address possible exploitation. The looseness of the 60's has passed.


Links:

Dainin Katagiri (Wikipedia)


Sunday, March 28, 2021

Full moon head shave


Shaving the head is a superficial act, and selfies are egotistical, but I noticed since I hit a certain age, I stopped posting pictures of myself, just posting others. And even if it's a placebo to shave my head, I'll take the placebo effect. 

Thinking about believing, like seeing the Bodhisattvas as deities instead of archetypal personifications of enlightenment, you can feel the deep meaningful versus not knowing and the tension and anxiety that engenders. Comfort versus adventure, the classic non-choice. Psychology versus metaphysics another non-choice. Monastic v lay?




I was at an AA meeting and I realized if you really believe in Christianity, boy that would be a great thing to just turn it all over to god. I could use more other power, stronger devotion. Fire and brimstone! I long for that kind of devotion in the higher power of my choosing--the dharma, the sangha and the buddha. They say substance abuse is a spiritual crisis, nihilism has won. It doesn't matter what you do. 

My conclusion on going to the dark side, was that what you does matter, for you and everyone, since we're all interconnected. Just be nice. And when you can't be nice, be very careful. Trungpa may have thought he was just doing wild Dharma, but an 8 year old kid does coke at his party as a result of his actions. Unseen consequences, unexpected consequences. 

I come back to something I was exploring in 2007, in Bodhipaksa's essay on confrontation or comfort?

Saturday, March 27, 2021

Don't be political as a Buddhist?

I've become radicalized by the past few years in the USA. The following is a check to expressing my opinion as a Buddhist. I respect Ratnaguna's 2 books on reflection and Pure Land Buddhism, so I must consider what he says even if it feels retrograde to my current feelings.


Message from Ratnaguna of the TBO:

"I have noticed that in the last few years political ideologies have found their way into our sangha. I think for the most part those who are doing this are not aware that they are doing so. That is, I think they assume that their political ideologies are in accordance with Dharma, inherently ethical and actually an expression of the dharma.

Political ideologies are systems of thought. As systems, they are different from the Dharma. They might seem consistent with the Dharma in one person’s sincere judgement, but not in another’s. As private citizens, we are free to vote, campaign, etc. for various political parties or causes. But as a sangha – when, for example, we make use of Triratna institutions – we are united on the basis of the Buddha and the Dharma. The importation of political ideology into what we say and do as a sangha is a threat to that unity.

I am in touch with a few people in our movement who are very unhappy that political ideologies are being expressed in their local Centres as if they were Dharma, and some of them feel quite alone, in that their political opinions differ from what the most vocal people - some of them Order members - are expressing.

So my reason for making this announcement is to encourage anyone who is not happy about this development to contact me. I would like to get an idea of how prevalent it is, to offer support to anyone who feels alone in their dislike of political ideology in the sangha, and perhaps to discuss what we can do to combat it."


One person online wrote, "...will his effort itself be politicised? E.g if you want the movement to be less 'left wing', perhaps you'll see this as an opportunity to, actually, raise the flag for your own views and claim others are too often heard."


Vishvapani has a video entitled "Bringing The Dharma to Politics and Society" (40 minutes)

Vishvapani's father was a refuge from Nazi Germany. His father wanted to act on what he'd learned about the world, he wanted to create a better society.

He talks about the current Covid pandemic, the issues of the environment, and he talks about the crisis in the USA.

He says getting involved in fixing society is a distraction. We're never going to fix society. Then he says, "that's one point of view." That can point to seclusion and point people to their own self development. The Bodhisattva idea expresses an alternative. There's questions of what ways you interpret the Bodhisattva Ideal. A compassionate response to suffering. The world isn't irrelevant to our life, we use it to develop ourselves, and enact our growth. We turn from selfishness towards compassion.

We can't really turn to the texts because it was such a different world that the Buddha lived in. 

He admits that the creation of a new society Sangharakshita suggests, alongside society, hasn't really come about. It is a way of addressing the problems, but there are limitations. He thinks the example of having non-materialist values has had an effect on society. We can't fundamentally change mainstream culture. It lacks the vertical dimension, there is no higher evolution.

Vishvapani says a lot of things, including that someone in the government that is conservative is a mitra in the TBC.

We think as Buddhist our views are therefore the Buddhist view, and yet, there are other Buddhist who come to a different conclusion.

"Most Buddhists are left leaning." But a mitra is a conservative minister, and Sangharakshita voted for Thatcher. 

Can we really say you shouldn't be a conservative or a Republican Buddhist? The Buddha warned about being drawn into a thicket of views where the debates are endless, and it's difficult to create an objective truth.

Rather than giving up on a Dharmic view about society, Vishvapani has continued to think along these lines. He does "thought of the day" on BBC radio. Can you say anything that is valuable that isn't just a platitude? There are all kinds of rules about what he can say. Also the mindfulness world has attracted political attention.

Some ideas in Buddhism: "Pasture" in Buddhism implies mind your own business. Not making claims beyond what you know is important. Knowing about your mind helps you to see that what is going on out there, in your description is often what is about going on in your mind. 

He talks about how the mindfulness movement is widely present in various levels in his society (Wales). He talks about the mindfulness movement has be denuded from much of the Buddhism that is valuable. The schools have a idea of fostering emotional wellbeing, and that leads to mindfulness.

He talks about Karuna and Metta, and asks where does it become real?

Does being a Buddhist in a helping profession help? 

What about nationalism? He has friends who are into Scottish nationalism. He distinguishes between a nationalism that includes and frees people, versus one that is restrictive and negative.

The Well Being of Future Generations Act: They are trying to force government to think about the impact on future generations.

The modern discourse has to be evidence based, and not slavishly to scientific evidence, but also avoiding some quacky ideas, like conspiracies that are out there. He feels tracing causes in conditions in a way that you can demonstrate will helps us avoid this.

Non Instrumentality argument: Are we instruments of oppression? Do we help people unknowingly.

He talks a lot about the vertical dimension, valuing people who are further on the path and we admire, that is harder to measure. 

Skillful communication is very important. Vishvapani is often surprised by his political expressions, and he feels our society is in danger through polarization. I've been really struggling with this idea. (See below).

"Nobody cares my views about Brexit." He doesn't feel he has any special expertise. How we communicate about our vision and how we want to 

Vishvapani sometimes goes in a direction I sometimes go, which is to leave a lot of open questions.


My thoughts: The above views contradict engaged Buddhism? 

My question is: How is it not compassion for all beings to preserve the earth for future generations instead of trashing it? How is it not compassionate to try to curb the 35 children each year sacrificed to patchwork of lax gun restrictions in the USA. How is it not compassionate to hold people accountable to the laws of the land?

Does the fact that my politics is partially connected to my history and psychology--is that necessarily a bad thing? I mean can you say anything? 

Have I been drawn out of Buddhism, by being polarized in the current political climate? 

Is my response reactive? Can't we use our emointion? Of course we do, but not reactively, we need to be mindful, rooted in conditionality and the mind.

How we communicate is something that really hit me. I can get passionate and rude. Of course I think it's rude to sacrifice 35 children every year for the love of guns, so I'm conflicted.

Being drawn into a thicket of speculative views also hit me.

It is true that I have argued more passionately in an intractable argument when I've been more upset about my life, and therefore engaged because my mind seemed to need that.


I had this wrenching self examination and then I came across this:

Parami talks about a compassionate revolution in India by Ambedkar. He utilized the 4 noble truths to help analyse the caste system and other social ills. She says the Bodhisattva Ideal is a primary drive to her attraction and interest in Buddhism.

Sangharakshita talks about prejudice based on the color of one's skin and working to help children to grow up healthy. This spurred Parami.

Ambedkar says "educate, agitate, organize." "Or "educate, agitate, liberate." ? She references David Loy. She talks about how delusion operates in mass media, and quotes Chomsky. "the media is to inculcate people into society." She talks about the "antics of the mainstream media". She watches a presentation and then looks at the distortions in the media. Parami admits she's an "old commie. I do believe the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." She talks about understanding our influence. Even if you don't have money, which bank you choose might influence things. She hopes we've learned to simplify during the pandemic. 


Someone told me you could find an order member for and against any issue in the TBO. In the end you have to make up your own mind. Live the questions, I guess.


Avoid delusions:


Almost irrelevant, I had enough of cool aid drinking apologists for murder cult, and unfriended 5 people from high school. I have been unfriended by at least one childhood friend for my evidence based utilitarian politics, son of a Cuban immigrant who still drives on public roads, gets his trash taken away and all the other commie perks in the USA.

Links:

Reddit post suggesting monks should not support the military in Myanmar.

Friday, March 26, 2021

Questions

"I would love to know what you personally believe and how you practice your belief? For instance, how do you personally practice the Eightfold Path? I would also love to know how you chose to practice Buddhism or if you grew up in a Buddhist home?"

I believe in the teachings of the Buddha, in so far as they are good suggestions by someone who have gone far into Enlightenment, which is a higher evolution, and the community that supports those journeys. 

What I do is commune with others, fellowship, read, meditate, chant, and try to bring mindfulness and kindness to everything I do. It's like they say in AA, we're not perfect, but we're trying to improve.

Eightfold Path

1. Right View: Now it takes a while to hone the view, the goal that provides me with a direction. But basically I wish to be more creative, less reactive through mindfulness and kindness. The teachings are vast and glorious, but it takes time to assimilate them all and develop a vision. So even though this in #1, it is also something that I never stop adjusting.

2. Right Intention: I'm such a bundle of conflicting urges. Through meditation, the integration helps me to clarify my intention. I wish to move towards enlightenment effectively, through regular steps as much as possible.

3. Speech: What we say and don't say has a big impact. We can develop our communication by various techniques. One that I studied, which I absolutely loved was Non-violent Communication developed by Marshall Rosenberg. You observe an objective reality. There are no vegetables at home. Feeling: That makes me feel anxious that our daughter won't get enough healthy food. Need: I need to feel secure that you are committed to feeding our daughter, since your role is to buy the groceries. Request: Will you please monistor the fridge to make sure that are vegetables so that we can feed our daughter healthy food.

Saying peaceful, loving, harmonious, supportive things is the goal. Being truthful is the goal. Not harsh painful speech, but not avoiding the truth and speaking deep truths, avoiding superficial speech, though chit chat has a function of preparing to get to deeper speech, and isn't to be avoided. You shouldn't just blab your deepest truths to strangers, you have to warm up to it.

4. Right Action: I follow the 10 precepts to the best of my ability. I use confession to try and think about what I can improve on, and how I have fallen off my ideals. It's a constant struggle to be aware of myself and my impact on others to basically not harm others, trying to put good energy into the world.

5. Right Livelihood: For your own good, that means you don't sell or develop weapons, not a butcher, not a drug dealer or bartender, or liquor store worker or owner, don't work in the porn industry. These things lead you away from the path.

6. Right Effort: There is a kind of snowball effect, so right effort is about starting out in a good way to improve things, not get depressed and negative. The satta bojjhaṅgās are often referred to here, a list of seven I wont' go into. I try to guard the gates of my sense, not see thinks that encourage negative mental states, push myself to do the most wholesome things.

7. Right Mindfulness: You can be mindful about anything, we have a culture with many options for obsession. The traditional 4 are the body, feelings, mind (and not acting out of green, anger and hatred towards others) and the Dharma. You follow the wise ones who have gone before about what to focus on.

8. Right Samadhi is about cultivating positive mental states, the 4 dhyanas. First you get access concentration to enter the dhyanas. The first dhyana is about integration, the traditional metaphor is the soap ball. Soap can come in a powder, and if there's not dry soap and there's not too much water, it's perfectly integrated between soap and water. It's a bit like having a tidy mind, not too many obvious contradictions, you shadow is acknowledged and under control. In the second dhyana there is an upwelling of energy, piti, that is released by this integration, the harnessing of your energy in a coherent direction. No more fighting yourself, self sabotage, just positive movement forward to the good. In the third dhyana there is a calming that the energy of the 2nd dhyana further consolidates. In the 4th dhyana it's like you just got out of the shower and you put on a fresh bath robe. One time I did that literally, and I was like, "I'm in the 4th dhyana!" I felt clean, contented, warm, like nothing could stop me.

Unright mindfulness would be the Sith path from Star Wars. The magic and mindfulness does not have ethics, and thus is just about power grabs, no ideology, no concern for others. There is no higher vision in the Sith path. Profit for profit sake. The horrible things like polluting the environment for a fast buck. Thinking profit only comes through stepping on others. There can be no gladdening. The gladdening happens when you realize you've led a life that isn't hurting others. You don't feel distracted by ethical qualms, you lead a simple pure life that doesn't hurt others.  

Thursday, March 25, 2021

Metta Sutta

I don't want to go into the details, and I'm probably going about it all wrong. I was reading the metta sutta today. I'm striving to be "Contented and easily satisfied" as it says in one translation of the Metta Sutta. I made a meal the other day which I called starvation carrots. That was being dramatic, it was actually good.

"Whatever living beings there may be; Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none" That to me means you should be vegan. Take special care of young and old. Whether you know them or not. "omitting none" means you can't justify anything beyond kindness. Not because they're Muslim. Not because their ideologies lead to killing many others. Not because they hurt me. I don't have to be a doormat that a person scrapes their feet on. But I don't have to transform into revenge justice man.

"Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down" It's not just in meditation. 

"One should sustain this recollection." The mindfulness of the Dharma, one of the 4 mindfulnesses. Also body, feelings, and others.

"By not holding to fixed views" You're not going to quibble, you won't get tangled in a dispute.

"Being freed from all sense desires, Is not born again into this world." I personally don't dismiss reincarnation but with exhaustive exploration, I'm not feeling it. I could be wrong and there is no tradition that doesn't include it. To me it's more about losing the desire to live forever, to have a undying soul. As humans we have a survival instinct, we want to live. You have to be really depressed to kill yourself. It's not easy to override it for most people. Instincts are hard, the desire for sex is another. 

 



Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Will try reading

There is a good review of the book on Buddhist Fiction Blog

This book came out in 2008. Originally published in French. This novelization is of the great purge in Mongolia in 1937-9. Estimates differ, but anywhere between 20,000 and 35,000 "enemies of the revolution" were executed, a figure representing three to five percent of Mongolia's total population at the time. Stalin saw Buddhism as a contradiction to Marxism, and he destroyed as much as he could in Mongolia. 

The author, in her researches, found out that 6 people of her family were killed.

Oyungerel Tsedevdamba is a policy advisor for the Mongolian government and was Stanford's first Mongolian student, enrolling in 2003 at age 36 in the master’s program in international policy studies. Her interest in dinosaurs began in 2006 with a visit to the American Museum of Natural History, which displayed Mongolian dinosaur fossils the guide said would be returned to Mongolia if the country had a museum to display them.


Links:


Book has a website and a glossary.

Sunday, March 21, 2021

A theme song for the 6 element practice

 Harry Belafonte has a song called Turn the World Around:

We come from the fire

Livin' in the fire

Go back to the fire

Turn The World Around

We come from the water

Livin' in the water

Go back to the water

Turn The World Around

We come from the mountain

Livin' on the mountain

Go back to the mountain

Turn The World Around

Oh, oh so is life

Oh, oh so is life

Oh, oh so is life

Oh, oh so is life

Do you know who I am

Do I know who you are

See we one another clearly

Do we know who we are

Oh, oh so is life

A ba tee wah ha so is life

Oh, oh so is life

A ba tee wah ha so is life

Water make the river

River wash the mountain

Fire make the sunlight

Turn The World Around

Heart is of the river

Body is the mountain

Spirit is the sunlight

Turn The World Around

We are of the spirit

Truly of the spirit

Only can the spirit

Turn The World Around

We are of the spirit

Truly of the spirit

Only can the spirit

Turn The World Around

Do you know who I am

Do I know who you are

See we one another clearly

Do we know who we are

Oh, oh so is life

A ba tee wah ha so is life

Oh, oh so is life

A ba tee wah ha so is life


In the 6 element practice, we see the elements go into us, come out of us, "they are not me, they are not mine." The above lyrics seem like a perfect expression of that.

Saturday, March 20, 2021

NKT

 I just read the Tricycle article "The One Pure Dharma: The New Kadampa Tradition is controversial—and growing. Why?" which came out in 2018.

The complaints that people in the NKT had pressure put on them to do X, Y or Z--look we're grownups and if someone puts pressure on you--you still decide what you do. It's OK to leave an organization because they pressured you into doing things you later regret. You can't unsell your house and donate all the money to NKT. That's a big choice, not to be entered into lightly. 

One person putting pressure on you doesn't damn a sect of Buddhism. If someone tells you to sell your house and give the money to your sect, and you do it--well, you've made a choice and must own it. Can you regret it? Sure, of course. Maybe you feel exploited afterwards. A bunch of people who have felt exploited can be--that is a warning sign. But what if the idea that that woman selling a house is now robbed of her devotion by someone observing it from the outside? 

"the British Buddhist scholar Gary Beesley was forced to withdraw a book about the NKT just before its publication date." 

So the story is that the libel laws of Britain forced a book not to be published--doesn't that mean that there was libel in the book? I don't know the details of the case, but couldn't he just rewrite whatever was seen as libelous? Or was the book based on some premise that could not be removed, and was proven to be false. That controversy seems to be more about libel in Britain. Is there a whiff of censorship? I don't know. Not being able to publish something that is libelous isn't censorship. 

(Neither is the family that owns the copyright to Dr. Seuss deciding to not sell 6 minor books that had racist images, and were not making money anyway--that is not cancel culture or censorship. Americans can get awfully tetchy about imagined freedoms being impinged, but need more reading comprehension.)

It does show NKT to vigorously to advocate for their interests. That seems appropriate for this day and age. How did they know this book would be libelous?

Protesting a Dalai Lama visit in the USA seems more dodgy. Like nobody but the NKT cares of they feel slighted by the Dalai Lama. Striking back by protests--feel sectarian. 

Quotes by people who say Trijang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso would not approve of what Kelsang Gyatso has done--that's speculative and would be hard to prove or disprove. But still a gut feeling of someone who knew the previous teacher is not to be ignored either.

Could there be some jealousy at the popularity among westerners by this new tradition? Could the danger of Dorje Shugden be that the Dalai Lama feels slighted? That's more speculation, and the speculation can go the other way too, if you have reasons to believe that way. Did the NKT push to be seen as unique and sell their brand of Buddhism as the one true pure way? That's not really a traditional move in Buddhism when you think about transcendence. The transcendence of branding? So that whole thing is a wash, and perhaps it's best to stay out of that controversy. It could also be a kind of confidence. 

But would you not recommend the NKT to a friend because there is controversy in the past with the Gelugpa tradition? Could you be a part of the NKT and just not participate in the pep rallies and still respect and honor the tradition? I bet you could. What if you like the NKT because they had child care for their Sunday services? What if everyone was nice to you and you feel like you learned a lot? I'm not sure what to recommend, I'm just curious to what happens to that kind of devotion. 

Is it possible that NKT disempowering the Dalai Lama with this controversy help out China? Perhaps an unwanted consequence of defending your sect.

The idea that the spiritual life will be pure and unburdened with controversy has been disproven. Would I recommend a new person to go into that sect? I would say based on what we know, watch out for getting really into it, selling your house, and then perhaps regretting it. There are people who feel stung, gave too much time or money and then felt regret. Does that prove it's a bad organization? Something to consider.

The teachings are supposed to memorize, and be very faithful to the teachings of the teacher, not to individualize or make it their own. 

Sangharakshita went the other way on that. He said don't even try to copy me, be yourself. He allowed for his teachings to be not perfectly transmitted because he just knew it would happen anyway. Was that a right decision? I like it, but it leads to a sect in Triratna that is perpetually asking itself what it's essential teachings are. If you believe in one Dharma that's OK, because you don't have to protect a sect. And there are plenty of people who protect the sect anyway, because that just feels right to them.

A strength his that the books and program are presented well. I've read one book by Kelsang Gyatso, and it was clear and deep. He's a good translator of the Dharma to the west. Does his ego get involved, and the protection prove he wasn't enlightened after all? I'm not sure, it's possible to be enlightened and involved with controversy. Does he feel like he's been wounded in striking out on his own, and he reacted protectively? Does the heat of controversy prove there is something going on that is worth protecting?

So many questions, which I find fascinating. What is the conflict in a harmonizing and transcendental movement? When should people defend a sect and how? When established schools resent new schools? Could there be a dynamic movement that doesn't step on some toes? I've heard the warning and I think people should look into them if they're going into the NKT. I'd say look into any movement you get involved in.

And here I am, never went to a meeting at NKT, only read one book by their guru, and don't have the foggiest as to whether the deity practice is dangerous or not. But I learned a lot about NKT and if I went to them, I would appreciate their strong teaching program, but resist pressure to give them my wallet. In my case, nobody can squeeze money that I don't have. (Another plus of being poor.)

I look at their retreat center upstate NY, and I think it looks too nice. I get a little queasy when Buddhist temples and retreat centers look too nice. Here again, I can second guess myself. Perhaps they're perhaps overly materialistic in the beginning to lay a foundation for others to come.


Links

New Kadampa (Wikipedia) founded in 1991.

Kelsang Gyatso (Wikipedia) founder of NKT.

Struggling With Difficult Issues: Blog that looks at the issues.

Dorje Shugden controversy (Wikipedia)


Update 2022: I've been reading posts by the New Kadampa Tradition Survivors, and you can read them too.

Thursday, March 18, 2021

Emily Dickinson mentions enlightenment

CXI

 A DOOR just opened on a street—

  I, lost, was passing by—

An instant’s width of warmth disclosed,

  And wealth, and company.

The door as sudden shut, and I,

  I, lost, was passing by,—

Lost doubly, but by contrast most,

  Enlightening misery 

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Gospel is amazing

I know I'm no theist Christian, but I do like some Gospel Music.

Balm of Galead: Frederick Douglass heard this one in the woods when everyone went to the master's house to pick up the supplies for the week. 

Softly and Tenderly: In the movie Junebug, a gallery of outsider art curator goes down south to try to acquire some art, and her husband happens to be from there, and weird family situations ensue. 

Amazing Grace like you've never heard it.

The problem of evil




My first semester introduction to philosophy was basically a whole year on the idea of free will. 

The concept was used as an ad hoc solution to the problem of evil. If God is omniscient and all good, how do you explain the presence of evil. Well, people have free will. 

I think psychologically I need free will, just to keep equanimity, but philosophically I don't believe in it.

Here is some evil God permitted:

How do you tidy up the evil below?

Unrelated, I just learned: One of the experiments the japanese did during ww2 at unit 731 was cutting off limbs of living, waking people without anesthesia and sowing those limbs onto other prisoners.

They also infected male prisoners with various infectious diseases then forced them at gunpoint to rape pregnant prisoners to see if the disease would transmit to the baby.

Researchers from unit 731 were given immunity by the US in exchange for knowledge gained from their experiments. The Soviets tried 12 for war crimes. The accounts of victims from the trial and elsewhere were labeled as communist propaganda.

Unit 731 facilities are operated as a tourist destination in Harbin, China. The same city that annually gets pics to the front page for it's internationally famous Snow and Ice Festival.

Then there's the German version of that called Operation Paperclip.

Russia had Laboratory No. 12.

World War Two is a pretty good counter example to all knowing, all good God.

In the late 60's in South Carolina, when my mother was in college, people would run out screaming from her philosophy classes that pointed out the problem of evil.

KonMari question

I'm just starting the KonMari book. I love books, walls of books, books like tumbleweed. But each individual book, I like the idea and potential, but say Jai Bhim!, the execution wasn't so great. First off it was written by a British fellow and everyone knows you're going to have to have an American trumpet the Dalit Buddhist movement in India. I know the author and like him, even though we've drifted away. Does the book really give me joy? It suggests another book to me, and that gives me joy. The actual book, not so much. I guess you can see I'm fighting getting rid of each book because there is a story behind it, and it's quasi-rare, there are not a lot of books about the Dalit Buddhist movement in India. But does that give me joy? The fight for justice does give me joy. These are a lot of ideas that won't be gone if the book is gone.

The responses point out that the joy comes from reading, not so much from the objects, and there's no storage for the idea of the Dalit Buddhist movement in India and social justice.

I also realized I have a memoir of a Dalit woman. I couldn't get through the book, but I love the idea.

Friday, March 12, 2021

American Sutra by Duncan Ryuken Williams

The opening poem to the book American Sutra


Nyogen Senzaki was a Rinzai Zen monk who was one of the 20th century's leading proponents of Zen Buddhism in the United States. William thinks a monk discovered his body along a snowy stream, but Wikipedia cites two things and says it was a fisherman. Perhaps a monk fisherman. He was adopted into a temple family, and became ordained. When he came to the USA he read Emerson and William James.

Senzaki is eventually sent to Wyoming during WW2 when people of Japanese heritage were moved to camps after Pearl Harbor. American Sutra begins telling this story.

I'm coming to see America as the place where people overcome racial prejudice. I'm reading a biography of Frederick Douglass and I'm struck by how inspiring these stories are, and how gutting they are. I suppose I'm drawn to stories of triumph over adversity, like most people.

Duncan Ryuken Williams is a scholar, writer, and Soto Zen Buddhist priest who is currently professor of religion and East Asian languages and cultures at the University of Southern California (Wikipedia). His website (the first link) says his father was British and his mother was Japanese. He was born in Tokyo. He grew up in Japan and England and went to college in the USA (Reed and Harvard for his Ph.D. His social history of Soto Zen will set you back $30. I've wanted to read American Sutra, and I think I'm the first one to read it from my library and that they just bought it.

William got interested in Senzaki through looking through the notes of his deceased advisor at Harvard, Masatoshi Nagatomi, who's father was also in the camps in Manzanar. Nagatomi was in Japan when Pearl Harbor happened, and could not get back to the USA. Nagatomi's wife also had a story. In an effort to appear more American her father burned all her Japanese artifacts, no matter how dear she held them.

Half this book is footnotes! P. 263-371 is more like a third, less like a quarter. This is the kind of book that I have two bookmarks, one for where I'm reading and one for where the footnotes for where I'm reading are.

And the above is all in the prologue. Read the book.

Here's an article about why Dr. Seuss got away with anti-Asian stereotypes.

Shadow

 


3 Lakshana Reddit

Slowly slowly I'm figuring out social media. I like Reddit because you can write your opinion and if it's not useful, nobody upvotes it and it sinks to the bottom. You can see a million beautiful photographs. But everything I do has a tinge of impermanence, non-self and unsatisfactoriness.

Lost Architecture: Old photos of building that no longer exist.

Relationships change, are unsatisfactory, and are confounded by self view.

Over 40

F*** I'm Old


Buddhism: You can learn a lot about the culture of Buddhism in the various sects.

You can learn about engaged buddhism, and all the various sects.

You can practice your compliments at Toast Me, reward people for reaching out, practice right speech and positivity.

If you're seeking another route to access Recovery Dharma from substance abuse, you want to avoid the Christianity presumption that leaks out of AA meetings, not just saying, "higher power". 

To be sure you could create a really distracting feed, it's taken me time to weed out the negativity and unproductive. Go meditate instead. And "karma whoring" was tempting and perhaps subtly tempting still to me. 

Festival Days



Copy and pasting info from Aryaloka out of laziness:

"Parinirvana commemorates the death of the Buddha Shakyamuni and provides an opportunity to consider death in our own lives, held on the full moon of February.

Buddha Day celebrates the Buddha’s Enlightenment and is held on the full moon of May/June

Dharma Day celebrates the Buddha’s teachings and is held on the full moon of July.

Padmasambhava Day celebrates the life and teaching of Padmasambhava , an Indian teacher who established Buddhism in Tibet in the 8th century CE. It is held on the full moon of September.

Sangha Day celebrates the spiritual community of Buddhist teachers, past and present, and is held on the full moon of November."

Here's my post from 2020

Quotes from Boundless Hears by Christine Feldman

 


P 136, "A world of distress is born of the ongoing argument we have with the unarguable."

I looked back at my blog in 2017, when this book came out and I didn't give any book of the year. So I'm awarding Boundless Heart the best book of 2017 award!

more to to come

Thursday, March 11, 2021

The retreat that changed me forever

 


"Equanimity gives selflessness to metta; gives patience, courage and fearlessness to compassion; guards joy from sentimentality; and brings all the ennobling qualities of the heart together in liberation."

Christina Feldman in Boundless Heart, give me the book of the Brahma Viharas I've always wanted. My first long retreat was on the Brahma Viharas and it blew my mind, changed the course of my life, enriched me immeasurably. I'm still living off those riches. I am so grateful I found myself to that retreat. 

Manapa led it. There were other order members and indeed Shrijnana led the shrine angels who created amazing shrines. There was a blind order member with the cutest dog. I remember hearing a really loud yawn in the shrine room, opening my eyes and realizing it was the dog, not a human.

At the end of 2002, the beginning of 2003 we meditated all 4 brahma viharas, and mindfulness of breathing and did pujas. It was at beautiful Aryaloka in Newmarket New Hampshire. Snow was all around. The two geodesic domes, on contained the kitchen, living room and library, with dorm rooms below. The other was dorms, another social room, and the shrine room above. I went on a zillion retreats after that one, and had more amazing experiences, but that first long retreat...

I sometimes feel stupid when I have insights that help me. In a way I think everyone's psychic ecology is different. We have different genetic inheritance, personality, childhoods and circumstances. There was one place I was hiding craving that was so sneaky to me, that I didn't even notice. To be a better self. Of course we need this urge to improve, but we can hold it the right way. 

Gratitude is revolutionary. Yes, you can write a gratitude journal every day and get psychic rewards. But real gratitude is rooted in not craving, you have to somehow get past the raging fires of desire, and stand with stillness and contentment where you are. It's all connected in Indra's net. And you can't just switch off craving--there needs to be mindfulness and a system of ethics, and a community (sangha) to support it.



Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Alexander Pope poem

Ode on Solitude by Alexander Pope


Happy the man, whose wish and care

A few paternal acres bound,

Content to breathe his native air,

In his own ground.

Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,

Whose flocks supply him with attire,

Whose trees in summer yield him shade,

In winter fire.

Blest, who can unconcernedly find

Hours, days, and years slide soft away,

In health of body, peace of mind,

Quiet by day,

Sound sleep by night; study and ease,

Together mixed; sweet recreation;

And innocence, which most does please,

With meditation.

Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;

Thus unlamented let me die;

Steal from the world, and not a stone

Tell where I lie.

Tuesday, March 09, 2021

Photo essay



 Took 2k years to get to the USA through early Chinese immigrants, hardly been in N. America for 500 years.



















I love that poem about friendship and learning about other people. I watched Dickinson recently, all 20 episodes of this new show, and really enjoyed it. I'm also reading her poems. It's quite a good book to take to the park because often her poems aren't this long. I need to mind my daughter at the park and a short poem is perfect for such activity. It's also a good going to the bathroom book. I used to read Shakespeare's sonnets in the bathroom, but more and more I'm taking my Emily Dickinson. 





Love the alms round bowl. Not sure how many statues I've seen of a Buddhist with a bowl. I'm not sure who this is supposed to represent.






















He didn't have to teach, but he chose to. Just a regular bloke teaching to whoever would listen.





























This last one can be quite offensive, because he represents lack of integrity, truthfulness, meanness and the opposite of kindness. The media speculates that he's responsible for 40% of the deaths due to Covid, then that's over 200K dead.

But as a thought experiment, he's got a kind of momentum, but do you think he could turn it to enlightenment? Sure, why not. Could he spend his remaining years using that wisdom to be a force of good? I think he could. While people have grooves, and personalities, and karmic momentum, they could also see the light, come to Buddha, have a spiritual awakening, work towards a kind of secular redemption. It's never too late.

How likely is it? Hard to say.

I bet my cousin he dies without going to prison, and my cousin bet he goes to prison before he dies. The court of law is one place he can't lie, and that's why so many of his electoral lawsuits were thrown out of court. He's not going to fare well in court, but I don't think he looks healthy and I think he's going to die soon. Can you imagine him with a walker, trying to look pathetic like Weinstein did when he was going to court?

Here is the article about the rupa. $150 for a small, $610 for a large. Here is another rupa for sale, that is similar but different.

Sunday, March 07, 2021

Positive poem & wish for others

Sometimes by Sheenagh Pugh


Sometimes things don't go, after all

from bad to worse. Some years, muscadel

faces down frost; green thrives; the crops don't fail,

sometimes a man aims high and all goes well.

A people sometimes will step back from war;

elect an honest man; decide they care

enough, that they can't leave some stranger poor.

Some men become what they were born for.

Sometimes our best efforts do not go

amiss; sometimes we do as we meant to.

The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow

that seemed hard frozen: may it happen for you.

Tuesday, March 02, 2021

4 bonds of fellowship



1. Giving.

2. Kind words.

3. Beneficial help.

4. Consistency. 

This is from the Hatthaka Sutta. Hatthaka, along with Citta, were among the foremost lay Dharma leaders. The Buddha meets him at Aggalava Shrine which is among the status unknown places the Buddha went.

He also had 8 astounding qualities: "Hatthaka of Alavi is endowed with conviction. He is virtuous. He has a sense of conscience. He has a sense of concern (for the results of unskillful actions). He is learned. He is generous. He is discerning. He is modest."

Because he was such a good guy, he had 500 disciplines in Buddhism as a lay teacher, during the Buddha's lifetime. 

Citta was pure even though leading a lay life, a wealthy merchant from Suvatthi. He had 500 disciples too. 

The female equivalents were Khujjuttara and Velukandakiya.

"Khujjuttara was a servant to one of the queens of King Udena of Kosambi named Samavati. Since the queen was unable to go listen to the Buddha, she sent Khujjuttarā who went instead and became so adept that she was able to memorize the teachings and teach the queen and her 500 ladies in waiting." 

"Queen Samavati and the queen's 500 ladies in waiting all obtained the fruit (Pali: phalla) of the first stage of Enlightenment"