Sutras Read

There's a site with sutras are read to you.http://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

Ten Things To Talk About

From the Udana in the Pali Cannon, here are 10 things that talking about them, lead to enlightenment:

There are these ten topics of [proper] conversation. Which ten? Talk on modesty, on contentment, on seclusion, on non-entanglement, on arousing persistence, on virtue, on concentration, on discernment, on release, and on the knowledge & vision of release. These are the ten topics of conversation. If you were to engage repeatedly in these ten topics of conversation, you would outshine even the sun & moon, so mighty, so powerful — to say nothing of the wanderers of other sects.

Now I'm not sure about slagging off other sects, that may be an add on later, but we've been going into depth at sangha night about each one of these topics. Well, we did one day on modesty and had a rather fruitful discussion. There's also a lot of people from England in our group and I've lived in England for more than a year, and we also had some interesting discussion about the various national character. Good stuff, I love unpacking and discussing the Pali Cannon, with the sangha.

Gun Control in America

Adam Gopnik has a good commentary on the shootings in the New Yorker.

To paraphrase, or express what it makes me think, he says that basically every country tightens up it's gun control laws after a horrible gun killing atrocity, and then they don't happen any more. Not so in America where our thick heads are clouded by fears of government intervention, and the fear that we could be invaded and caught gunless. A relative of mine was against gun control. But did she want one? No. So what's she worried about?! She doesn't like the idea of curbed "freedoms" even if it would result in people not being killed, which is what it's all about to me. I'm so sick of reading these articles in the paper. We need gun control! Charlton Heston is not my president (I saw a bumper sticker in North Carolina asserting that once). That stupid slogan "guns don't kill people, people do." Yea, people with guns. Takes both those things. You can't remove the people so remove the guns.

America is an adolescent that is worried about it's autonomy. While it's economic power wanes and fades, it needs to grow up and join it's elder brothers and sisters in Europe, stop acting like a teenage who's out for a drive, craves the freedom to hurt themselves. America needs to mature, grow up.

Until then, get ready for the next gun killing spree.

Peace Pilgrim

Lokabandhu's talk At Home Everywhere on FWBO day 2006 at the Manchester Buddhist Center mentions the Peace Pilgim, who turns out to have an iteresting site.

Birmingham Center has some talks on line.

Japan Society Exhibition in NYC

There's a lovely little story about Fish-Basket Kannon who is a Japanese manifestation of Avalokiteshvara, about some art work at the Japan Society Exhibition in the New York Times.

madhyamavani

There are some interesting articles in madhyamavani. There's an interesting summary by Parami of the last college meeting. There is also the preceptors college blog.