Funny story

Kansas outlaws practice of evolution

Another Mantis

I did not take the picture above. It's from the wikipedia praying mantis entry. But it is such a cool specimen that, given that the photog has granted an unrestricted license, I feel compelled to post it.

Delusion

Today I talked with a guy who was looking for a reason to stop coming to A.A., but I didn't realize it at the time. He said that Jesus said that it was better to commit a sin then to talk about committing a sin, and therefore it was better to not attend A.A. meetings where we talk about our commiting of sins. This is obviously completely back asswards, but he didn't give me a chance to respond. After saying his thing, he immediately walked away and refused to listen. He's fixated on an idea and become trapped by it, and for all I know, he may die as a result. If there's one thing I think is true, it's that one should never cling to an idea.

This also brings up for me a concept that I have been struggling with, which is whether I should talk about my Buddhist beliefs at A.A. meetings. I asked a Lama I feel close to, and she said that I shouldn't try to introduce Buddhism into A.A. It is basically a Christian program, she said, and my doing this would probably be a source of confusion and tension. She said that it might be appropriate to discuss it with someone who sees me doing well, and asks me how I came to be this way. Having had this experience this morning, I see that her advice was good. If someone can be driven away because he doesn't think A.A. is Christian enough, just imagine the confusion I might cause. People might be driven away because they don't understand Buddhism. In fact, one guy I talked to asked "That's not Satanism, is it?" when I mentioned I was a Buddhist. I do not want it on my conscience that I drove someone away from the program.

Currently when I share in meetings, I use the term "God," but I use it metaphorically, so that the other people there can identify with what I'm saying. It's a way to promote harmony. If we live spiritually, we are helping other beings, no matter whether we perceive ourselves to be Buddhists or not. It would probably help no-one to say, "Through the help of Buddhas and other enlightened beings, as well as the ripening of my positive karma, I heard what I needed to hear at tonight's meeting" as opposed to "God made sure I heard what i needed to hear tonight."

The Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind Toward the Dharma

Namo! Lama infallible constant protector, be aware of me.

(1) The freedoms and the favorable conditions of this human birth are extremely difficult to obtain.

(2) Everything born is impermanent and bound to die.

(3) The results of virtuous and unvirtuous actions (which are causes) are inexorable.

(4) The three realms of cyclic existence have the nature of an ocean of suffering.

Remembering this, may my mind turn towards the dharma.

When Lama Norlha Rinpoche and his translator Lama Jamdron visited recently, someone asked them what should a newcomer to Buddhism do to get started on the path. Lama Jamdron replied that the four thoughts that turn the mind are of fundamental importance. In light of this, I have transcribed them here. Here is how I understand them:

(1) It is extremely difficult to get a human body, the only body, it is said, where one can achieve enlightenment. Animals do not have enough awareness, but Gods also are too self-absorbed to do it. Thus we have an incredible oppurtunity here, and it would be a shame to waste it.

(2) It is important to recognize the transitory nature of existence. There is nothing solid to cling to. One should always be ready to let go of objects and ideas. This is a fundamental idea in Buddhism, and recognizing this, we are encouraged to go to the Buddha, the dharma and the sangha for refuge.

(3) If you do bad things, bad results will occur. If you do good things, good results will occur. It is important to see this, because, as a friend of mine put it, when you see that you'll never get out of the rut by doing things the same old way, you'll be encouraged to try a new way.

(4) The nature of the world we live in is suffering, so we need to do something about it! The bodhisattva vow is to liberate people and other beings from their suffering. As I understand things, a Buddha has escaped the three realms of cyclic existence, but chooses to remain to help all sentient beings achieve enlightenment.

These are some of the thoughts that occur to me, but please feel free to comment, criticize or correct. I'm still progressing and learning.

Praying Mantis

This praying mantis was crawling around on our recycle bin. When I moved the camera around to snap pictures, its head swiveled to follow the action. Click on the picture for a bigger version.

All are worthy of praise and compassion

It occurred to me today, and I might not have it totally right, that we all probably have some choice in which rebirth we take. We can't trump karma, and if we are deluded, we might not be able to choose effectively, but I still think there is a kernel of choice there. Thus, when you see someone with character defects, or things you wish to criticize, realize that there is a pure being within that has chosen to take the human form you are criticizing, and that they must have had a reason for it. We all have pure Buddha nature within, and eventually this will manifest itself continuously, when we become Buddhas. In the meantime, why worry too much? Suffering, like the rest of this perceived world, is an illusion. However, most beings don't know that, so they experience the suffering. Having compassion on these beings is a core tenet of Buddhism, and the antidote for their suffering is to help those beings realize that their suffering is illusory. Now you might say, if their suffering is an illusion, why do you need to stop it? That's kind of what I thought when I first heard this type of reasoning. However, the problem is just the ambiguity of language I think. Clearly beings suffer. The point is that they don't have to if they can perceive the illusory nature of reality. (Which is not to say that reality doesn't exist.) This is what is meant by "suffering is an illusion." At the very least, even if you don't believe in rebirth, this sort of thinking could help to ameliorate ill feelings toward others. Think of it as an imaginative exercise.

Prayer request

I just found out that a good friend of mine who happened to be an alcoholic and drug addict was found dead under a nearby bridge. He had relapsed. When he was sober, he was a good person, a friendly and earnest individual. When he was under the influence he was spiritually sick. Please pray that he finds a good rebirth. (In Tibetan Buddhism, we believe that after death a person becomes an intermediate being for up to 49 days, after which they find rebirth. The rebirth is determined by awareness and karma. The more aware you are, the more control you have, but you can only operate within the bounds of karma. Thus people who have killed can be reborn as hell beings, although through spiritual practice such negative karma can be purified.) In any event, his name is Volly. I never knew his last name.

Wonderful Karma

At our center we've been blesses with two wonderful teachers in as many weeks. Lama Inge visited us from Spokane, Washington. She is a remarkable woman. The thing I noticed most about her is that she is joyful all of the time, and it is infectious. This week Lama Norlha Rinpoche is visiting, who is a very high Lama. He has all sorts of plans for us. One of our sangha members has some rural land, and Rinpoche wants to build a stupa and a dharma center. Last night, my wife and I went to a pot luck expecting the usual sort of thing, but the group ended up planning a nonprofit organization for the project. Rinpoche says he will spend half his time here and will send us several graduates of his three year retreat program every year as teachers. We can't believe our luck, especially as this came completely out of the blue.

A stupa, by the way, is a large monument which is infused with hundreds of thousands of prayers, and they are reputed to have the ability to balance the elements and mitigate natural disasters. It will also help to purify the region's negative karma from slavery and oppresion of native americans.

Criticizing others

To be aware of a single shortcoming within oneself is more useful than to be aware of a thousand in somebody else. Rather than speaking badly about people and in ways that will produce only friction and unrest in their lives, we should practice a purer perception of them, and when we speak of others, speak of their good qualities. If you find yourself slandering anybody, first imagine that your mouth is filled with excrement. It will break you of the habit quickly enough.

-H.H. the Dalai Lama

Most interesting meeting?

A friend of mine posed the question of which pair of people (either real or fictional) would make for the most interesting meeting. Would anybody care to suggest some possibilities? I suggested Shakyamuni Buddha and Jesus. It would be interesting to hear what they would have to say to each other.

The Genuine Buddha Dharma

Always be friendly. Never have malice. You can change the world this way. Let the happiness flow through you, without effort. This will cause more good in the world than anything else. Joy is contagious. Its effects endure.

Don't worry, if that's what you were doing!

I haven't had a chance to post lately, but all is well with me. More to come soon.

Homophobia

I was at an A.A. meeting today in which someone talked prejudicially about gays, and lots of people in the room laughed. I didn't laugh. I felt like I had been kicked in the head, and I'm still trying to recover. Here, I thought, were a bunch of spiritual people. Surely they were above this, I had assumed. It really saddens me, because this hatred has real consequences, as I mentioned in my previous post. It's almost like some highly realized being read that post and decided from my glib, self-comforting analysis that I needed to be shaken out of my complacency, to show me just how deep the sickness runs. During my meditation just now, it occurred to me to regard the whole episode as a dream, and, by extension, the rest of life. This way I'm less attached and these emotions become less disturbing. On the other hand, I have decided to make the following vow:

I vow never to laugh at another being's expense.

Derision of others has absolutely no place in my mind, and it's possible for me to completely give it up. What a thought!

Why is homophobia so rampant?

I just took a look at the early election results and the anti-gay marriage amendment for our state is going to pass in a landslide. This really disheartens me. Why can't people put themselves in each other's shoes? I can't imagine how much anguish young gays have to deal with growing up in a society that hates them. I know a lot of them try to suppress it as result, and that leads nowhere good.

I suppose I should be grateful for the progress that we've made as a society. Alan Turing, the brilliant mathematician who was instrumental in breaking German enigma codes in WWII, was forced by the British government to take injections to "cure" his gayness, which for some reason caused him to grow breasts. He ended up committing suicide. At least we have made some progress since then.

We've also made progress on our racism, although it is still an ugly and pervasive force. Often it acts subconsciously, but I've also encountered it in the raw, unfiltered form. Just like gays, young blacks have to contend with the fact that society treats them as though they are inferior. One study found that black kids younger than a certain age preferred playing with black dolls, but after reaching that age, they began to prefer to play with white dolls. They are, at a very deep level, internalizing the idea that they are inferior.

Harold Ford, in Tennessee, would be the first Black Senator from the south since reconstruction. I hope he wins, just for that reason. My understanding is that after the civile war, a huge influx of black politicians poured into Congress from the south, perhaps matching in precentage the actual percentage of blacks in the population. (Far unlike today.) However, the white oligarchy was not about to let this continue, and from what I remember, proceeded to gerrymander the blacks out of power. It's absolutely disgusting. There's no way to get around it.

37 Practices of a Bodhisattva Part 11

(35)
Once you become accustomed to the mental afflictions,
They are hard to cure with antidotes.
Therefore, with the remedies of mindfulness and awareness
To eliminate mental afflictions the moment they arise is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

(36)
In brief, wherever you are and whatever you do,
Always examine the state of your mind.
Cultivating mindfulness and awareness continuously,
To benefit others is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

(37)
To clear away the suffering of all infinite[ly many] beings,
With superior knowledge free of concepts of the three spheres,
To dedicate the merit accumulated through these efforts to enlightenment
Is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

Relying on what is taught in the sutras, tantras, treatises,
And the words of the genuine masters,
I have composed these thirty-seven Bodhisattva practices
To benefit those who wish to train on the Bodhisattva's path.

Because my intelligence is small and my studies few,
I cannot compose poetry to please the scholars.
Yet, since they are based on sutras and the teachings of the genuine masters,
I believe these practices of a Bodhisattva are not mistaken.

Nevertheless, since the vast conduct of a Bodhisattva is difficult to fathom
For one with an inferior intellect such as mine,
I pray to the genuine masters to consider with patience
All my mistakes, such as contradictions, incoherence and so on.

By virtue of the merit gathered here,
By the power of relative and ultimate bodhichitta,
May all sentient beings become like the protector Chenrezi,
Who dwells neither in the extreme of existence nor in that of peace.

The monk Thogme,
A proponent of scriptures and logic,
Has composed these verses
In a cave known as Ngulchu Rinchen Puk
To benefit himself and others.


Practice 35 tells us to maintain awareness of ourselves so that when mental afflictions arise, we can apply an antidote from our toolkit. Thus we can catch ourselves, for instance, when we get angry at someone. An antidote that works pretty well for me when this happens is to pray for the well-being of the person I got angry at. This way the momentary anger won't blossom into a resentment. It's remarkable how much I've changed in the past couple of years. It used to be that I was a walking pile of resentments, and that was normal for me. Nowadays, however, when I start to build one, it makes me so uncomfortable that I try to let it go as soon as possible. I'm not perfect, and I do have trouble carrying my mindfulness with me throughout the day, and I still get caught in habit patterns that I find it difficult to break. (e.g. overeating, laziness, obsessive email checking, obsessive internet surfing) Still I am improving, although I don't want that fact to become something I use as an excuse to not make progress.

Practice 36 reinforces a point that I was just making, the need to be mindful throughout the day, and not just when you're sitting and meditating.

For practice 37, I know that the dedication of merit is an important part of Buddhist practice. At the conventional level, you are reinforcing your commitment to help others, and, speaking more spiritually, you are making sure that the merit achieved by your practice isn't squandered. Ani Yeshe Palmo explained it by saying that if you don't dedicate the merit, a careless act such as stepping on a spider will use it all up, but if you dedicate for the benefit of all beings, then the merit persists. Now, how do you truly help another being. According to the Buddha, you liberate others by allowing them to see the empty nature of reality. At a deep level, all things are empty of intrinsic nature. Thus the act of dedicating is itself empty. Here's what Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche has to say:


How does a Bodhisattva dedicate merit? The Bodhisattva applies the superior knowledge of emptiness of the three spheres. This means that he or she purifies the dedication process by realizing that there is no one to dedicate merit, no merit to be dedicated, and no one to receive merit. Subject, action, object do not truly exist. This is the meaning if "...free of concepts of the three spheres," and it cannot be separated from the superior knowledge with which it is suffused, the wisdom that realizes emptiness. Without understanding that the three spheres do not truly exist, it is quite difficult to comprehend how to dedicate merit in this way.

Imagine a dream in which you are sitting at a shrine. In the exact moment of dedication, you awaken and instantly realize that no one has been dedicating merit, no merit has been dedicated, and no one has received any merit. It was all a dream. This is how to understand the practice of dedicating merit.

37 Practices of a Bodhisattva Part 10

(31)
If you have not analyzed your own confusion,
You might put on a Dharmic facade
While behaving in a non-Dharmic way.
Therefore, to continuously analyze your delusion and discard it
Is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

(32)
If, compelled by your own afflictions,
You speak of the faults of other Bodhisattvas,
You, yourself, will degenerate.
Therefore, never to mention the faults of thos
Who have entered the Mahayana Path
Is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

(33)
Desire for gain and honor leads to arguments, and
Activities of listening, reflecting and meditating decline.
Therefore, to relinquish attachment to the households
of friends, relatives and sponsors
Is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

(34)
Harsh speech disturbs the minds of others
And compromises a Bodhisattva's right conduct.
Therefore, to give up harsh and unpleasant speech
Is the practice of a Bodhiattva.


Practice 31 is very important. It is too easy to get caught in the whirlpool of life and fool ourselves into thinking that we are behaving in a positive, spiritual way, when in actual fact we are behaving destructively. We need to look deeply at ourselves and see what we are really doing. That way we won't, for example, sanctimoniously meditate for an hour each day, and then go around berating and belittling people, acting counter to the dharma. This is a common complaint about many religious people: they talk one way, but act another. An antidote to this is deep reflection.

Lama Karma Chötso told us that Practice 32 should be interpreted to mean we shouldn't criticize anyone at all, since we have no way of knowing who has entered the Bodhisattva path, and who has not. This is a good practice for me, because my old habit was to automatically find fault with people, no matter who they were. It makes about as much sense as automatically praising people, but it was really a reflection of my own insecurity and self-hatred. By not criticizing others, and even praising them, it helps to foster a positive environment in my own head as well as contributing to a positive environment out there in the world.

Practice 33 is good common sense. Don't be attached to other people's possessions. There's no need to be jealous of someone else's stuff. Preoccupation with this sort of thing has very little positive use.

Practice 34 is also common sense, if you interpret it to mean that you should never say things whose purpose is to hurt someone else. I don't think it means you should never say anything that someone else might find unpleasant.

Some photos from my recent very long hike

The first photo if from a fire tower. Clicking on any image reveals a larger version.