Loch Ness

Loch Ness Article


Is this convincing? Not really, but fun to watch anyway!

Mother cardinal

A cool image of Jesus

I found this cool picture of Jesus done in the style of Tibetan thangkas. I can't attribute it properly since I found it on a cached webpage via a Google search. I couldn't find the image on the webpage itself.

I think it's important to be teachable and see the wisdom in all traditions. I found myself drifting into a bit of sectarian closed-mindedness the other day, while reading Thich Nhat Hanh, and being dismissive of it since he's a Zen Buddhist and not a Tibetan Buddhist. But the more I reflected on what he had to say, the more I found it to be true. Moreover, once I saw the truth of his words, it actually gave me a lot of peace, calm and equanimity.

In short, and somewhat subconsciously, after studying the four thoughts that turn the mind to the dharma, I came to the conclusion that all aspects of human experience are suffering. It was almost like I didn't give myself permission to enjoy things, because I "knew" that they were tainted by suffering. In fact, Buddha taught that pure experience is possible. It is possible to attain the cessation of suffering. Now I had known this, but phrased this way, it seemed to me that all of my experiences would be suffering up until the attainment of enlightenment, at which point the suffering would cease. Thich Nhat Hanh very simply said that everything is not suffering and asked the reader to please enjoy the sunset and other experiences. I think that pure experiences are possible for ordinary people, and that the closer we get to Buddhahood, the more we progress down the path, the more often those pure experiences will manifest.

An eye-opening article

I can't believe the following article. It boggles my mind.
Too much time online

Cardinal and grackle

Goldfinch!

I snapped these pictures in my backyard earlier today.

Cool article

This is a great article which I received in my inbox right after writing the previous post about science's relation to Buddhism.

Article

Mysterious Consciousness

[Forgive the sententious tone of the following post. I take myself too seriously sometimes.]

A sense of permanent unchanging entities is a deep subconscious bias that, I'm pretty sure, all humans have. There is an inherent idea that situations are stable, and when, through the natural force of impermanence, situations transform and dissolve, we often have a sense of regret and suffering. This occurs at all levels from trivial to profound. An alcoholic suffers from the idea that the alcoholic buzz is a state that can be perpetuated ad infinitum, and we suffer when a loved one dies because our concept of their perpetuity is shattered. So what is the root of this bias toward perceiving things as permanent and unchanging? According to one level, that's the whole origin of this world of samsara that we wander in. The mistaken perception of an unchanging "I" starts the whole thing in motion, and soon we are surrounded in a cloud of karmic illusion. Yet, on another level, there ought to be a more scientific explanation of why we have this strong sense of self. An appealing explanation a la Dawkins is that a sense of self is extremely useful when it comes to passing along genes. After all, we are the progeny of those who have successfully passed on their genes, implying those genes probably select for traits which best assist those genes in being passed along further. Thus, it's good to have a sense of self that one cherishes and defends, so that one's genes survive. So at one level, a deep and basic component of our behavior is simply a side effect of an iterative mathematical process.
I believe these two explanations are completely consistent myself, and I even think that the laws of physics themselves may be products of our karma. The universe appears a certain way to us as a function of our collective karma, and that includes the laws of physics. But why, if there is a more conventional explanation, should one believe the Buddhist explanation at all? To me the bare fact of our experienced consciousness is so mysterious that it cries out for something besides the conventional laws of physics. Also, the gene explanation, like any scientific explanation, only goes so far. The laws of deduction are inherently limited. A chain of implications is only a bridge between two unknowns, but doesn't tell you how to deduce the truth of the fundamental ingredients. Furthermore, the idea of elementary causation can only go so far. To say that one thing causes another is a huge simplification, since in any event a number of causes and conditions come in to play. It's more like the entire universe at any given moment is what causes the next moment, although even this is not right since quantum theory implies that physics is only deterministic at a probabilistic level. (And also, relativity says that there's no such thing as having one instant of time across the entire universe.) Thus scientific explanation is inherently limited, but still valid within its scope.

Tweaking my site

Hi all. As you can see I'm tweaking my site's design. I wanted something more soothing than the harsh white on black that I had previously. Since it will show up differently depending on your computer, please let me know about readability issues. Is this easier to read? More pleasant. Can I change anything to make it better? (Well obviously I can, but are there specific suggestions?)

A Comparison [Poem]

In the morning, I cling desperately to sleep,
but am propelled, against my will, into wakefulness.
Images of forceful separation manifesting in my dream.

When my time has come, I cling desperately to this life,
but am propelled, against my will, across the threshold,
into the unknown.

A spin of the prayer wheel

HO!
Mesmerised by the sheer variety of perceptions,
which are like the illusory reflections
of the moon in water,
Beings wander endlessly astray
in samsara's vicious cycle.
In order that they may find comfort and ease
in the all -pervading luminosity
of the true nature of their minds,
I generate the immeasurable love,
compassion, joy and equanimity
of the awakened mind,
the heart of bodhicitta.

nyingma buddhism - jikmé lingpa - 18th century

I spun the prayer wheel at worldprayers.org, and this prayer came up. I rather like it.

An old poem I wrote

I discovered this poem while cleaning out my desk. I wrote it while in grad school some years ago. In fact I discovered quite a few poems, even some early drafts of poems I had rewritten extensively. Anyway here it is. (I've refrained from editing it, even though I think it needs editing.


Twenty billion discoveries and dismissals of a single fact, discovered.
Though facts are like clouds, uncountable,
Are weakly collected in these words.
If you ask Why? many times the question can always be repeated.

We fly slower than light through time.
Our minds wade through increasing entropy.
Movie frames that increase in information.

They fly faster than light backward through our time.
Their energy is the impetus for our creation
As we are for their's.

Or: time sits in Time.
The universe begins and shoots backwards as well as forwards.
As soon at it was created, it always was.

Buddhism and Vegetarianism

I was asked the following question:

Why aren't those Tibetan Buddhists who eat meat concerned about the issue of participating in the death of a sentient being?

They are concerned, but the thought is that eating meat from an animal that has already been killed is not nearly as bad as killing it yourself. Thus it is strictly forbidden to kill an animal yourself, or to directly cause an animal to be killed. For example, by pointing to a lobster and asking that they cook it for you. Of course, by buying meat and supporting the system that continues to kill beings, you are accumulating negative karma. The practical reality is, though, that the amount that Buddhists are contributing to the maintenance of the current world system of food distribution is vanishingly small. If the situation were different, for example if a monk is trapped on an island with a small handful of other people, and the monk encourages the others to kill animals for him to eat, that would be a highly nonvirtuous act.

I asked Lama Inge this very question, and she said don't delude yourself into thinking that being a vegetarian is a pristine virtuous state. Consider all of the insects and other animals that are killed during farming, and consider the mistreatment of the farm workers, often in third world countries. Basically, we do what we can. If we are able to make a change to save the lives of some sentient beings, we do it, but if it is beyond our capability at this point, rather than throwing in the towel, we simply do our best. Many people have severe physical difficulties with vegetarianism. Not everybody's body is equipped to handle it. The Dalai Lama himself has been advised by his doctors that he has to eat some meat, otherwise he gets jaundice. What he said is that we should celebrate and have joy for those of us who can maintain a vegetarian diet. Think "Good for them! I'm glad they can do it!"

Personally, I try to be as vegetarian as possible, but am open to eating meat if circumstances merit. I recall a specific instance when I was visiting someone's house, and they offered me some food, I think it was chicken, and I ate it because I felt it was better to be polite and harmonious with the people around me. I don't feel that my eating it contributed in any substantial way to the harming of sentient beings since the animal was already dead.

My weekend with the Lamas

More lama dancing, including, one night, lama line dancing! I also snapped a shot of this bee fly which seemed very attracted to me as I was watching the festivities.

I took refuge again, this time with Lama Norlha Rinpoche. My dharma name is Dondrup Gawa, which means Joyfully Accomplishing Aims. That's a good name I think!

Lama Dancing

Here's a couple snapshots of today's lama dancing ceremony. These are traditional after three year retreats, and help to pacify negative karma attached to a region, as well as the negative karma of the participants and the observers. As Lama Norlha Rinpoche explains, the region where we live has a lot of residual negative karma left over from the civil war, and he wanted to help heal this by bringing this dancing ceremony to us. Very cool.

The KTC Retreatants

I snapped this picture of the retreatants chanting today. Lama Norlha Rinpoche is seated at the little wooden table.

The Lamas are Coming!

At the KTC monastery run by Lama Norlha Rinpoche in upstate NY, they have been having a series of three-year retreats. The sixth three year retreat has just opened up, and the graduating monastics are now touring various places, spreading the good karma. We're very blessed that they're visiting here. I was part of the party meeting them yesterday. They were driving an old tourbus, which had a faded picture of Marilyn Monroe or someone similar looking on the back of the bus. The bus was creeping along the highway, because the engine was not in good shape. Lama Norlha wanted to stop at a grocery store to buy supplies, so we led them to a Walmart Supercenter. (Not anyone's first choice, but the bus couldn't park elsewhere, and the monastics didn't seem to mind.) So then the bus pulled over, and a wide variety of monastics exited the bus. They were all wearing the gold and maroon robes, some were young, some were elderly. Most were caucasian, although there were a couple of chinese. Then this whole crew went into Walmart, grabbed a cart, and just started piling in all sorts of random things. It was really quite a site to see. People were surprisingly polite. Only a few people stared. As we were checking out, the check-out woman took a liking to us, telling us about how there was some cult in Kentucky that killed little children, but that she would set the other employees straight about us! Lama Jamdron pointed out that Buddhists don't like to kill bugs, do say nothing of murdering people! Anyway, they piled back in the bus and we led them up to the land where this week's festivities will be up in the mountains. Luckily the bus made it. I got to talking with several of the retreatants. They all have distinct personalities, but they're all very sweet and nice people.