When the Self is Known

When the Self is known,
All illusions vanish.
The veil falls,
And you see clearly.
Your sorrows are dispelled.
For the Self is free
And lives forever.
Everything else is imagination,
Nothing more!
Because he understands this,
The master acts like a child.

-Ashtavakra Gita 18:6-7

James: For the Self is free and lives forever. This reminds me of the old saying that united we stand and divided we fall. Or my favorite verse in the Tao Te Ching:

The Tao is like a well:
used but never used up.
It is like the eternal void:
filled with infinite possibilities.

It is hidden but always present.
I don't know who gave birth to it.
It is older then God.

James: The master acts like a child. There is a lot of wisdom in this statement of acting like a child. Not in the manner of being immature, throwing tantrums and being impatient, etc. However, being innocent, without gile, accepting, expressing pure, unconditional love and being open to new ideas. May we all follow the child within and just be in the moment as children are.

~Peace to all beings~

Zen Teacher Brad Warner Writing a Column on a Porn Site

Brad Warner: A reader wrote me this week to ask:

Why are you writing for Suicide Girls? Seriously, why? I think there are real repercussions to a respected Zen teacher writing for a soft-porn website. Please give us an explanation, is it your idea of skillful means or what? Someone is getting rich by pandering to base desires, and you seem to be endorsing it through Zen. I don't understand how you came to this. Who cares how many tattoos or piercings they have, it is still internet porn, they just do a better job than most sites of making people feel OK about it. Your presence on the site, I'm sure, will help to justify many a lonely night in front of the computer screen. If I may be so presumptuous as to offer a blog title for you... "Get your hand off your cock and touch your thumb tips lightly!"

Warner: I expected a lot of this kind of reaction when I started writing here. As for SG getting rich pandering to base desires, lots of people get rich pandering to base desires. And lots of us wouldn’t have jobs at all if it weren’t for them. When something sells, it indicates a need for human beings to explore that particular aspect of their collective consciousness. I have a lot more problems with some of the base desires I see being pandered to in Buddhist publications than the ones pandered to here. When I see ads for instant enlightenment seminars and meditation machines, I wonder if everything I say about Buddhism will be taken as an endorsement of that kind of garbage. At least here I can be reasonably certain most readers don’t think I’m pushing naked boobies — not that I have any problem with naked boobies. It’s just that there’s no instant association with the rest of what SG sells the way there is with any of the scams that choose to call themselves “Buddhism.” (Which is not to say that all or even most of what goes by the name Buddhism is a scam. But scams do exist.) Am I “endorsing Internet porn through Zen” or “justifying many a lonely night in front of a computer screen?” Seriously, I have no idea what that even means. If anyone is waiting for justification from me in order to masturbate, I just don’t get that at all. I asked my teacher what he thought of my writing for SG and he said, “I think that it is very good decision for you to accept such a job. I do not find any kind of moral problem in them (the pictures on SG), however, I found only whether they are beautiful, or not. I think that we are usually influenced by old-fashioned religious criteria, but on the basis of Buddhism, there seems to exist a kind of criterion that what is moral is always beautiful, and what is beautiful is usually moral. Even though my idea is not so affirmative to me yet, I think that there are some kind of criteria to identify morals and beauty in Buddhism.” Depictions of naked women have been a part of human artistic expression — including Buddhist art — as long as humans have been expressing themselves artistically. Deal with it, already. American society is still strongly influenced by Puritan ideas of morality. When Buddhism was first introduced to this country, it was interpreted through these ideas. A long-standing misunderstanding of Buddhism has it that Buddha’s formula for achieving peace of mind was through the destruction of all desire. For people raised in a Christian society the worst of all desires is the desire to get one’s rocks off. When you examine it clearly, though, the idea that you should destroy all desire is absurd. You can’t even survive without the desire for food, water and air. The human race wouldn’t exist at all without the desire for sex. But this hasn’t stopped lots of people from engaging in a futile struggle to produce some magically altered mental state in which they want for nothing. It ain’t gonna happen. The real trick is to see all of your thoughts — desire just being one type of thought — for what they really are. How about your desire for a Buddhist teacher that doesn’t write articles for soft porn websites? Where does that come from? I’ve long felt that the reason Buddhism has been relegated to the junk heap of hippy philosophies that didn’t work in the Sixties so why bother with them now is because it’s been presented so exceedingly poorly, mainly by people who don’t have a clue what it is anyway. It’s not about some kind of mystical serenity available only to those rare beings among us who have freed themselves from their base desires. Buddhism is for everyone. It’s for what you are and who you are right now, warts and tattoos and naked pictures saved on your hard drive for those lonely nights and all.

James: Now call me a "rebel Buddhist" or whatever but I thought this was timely for our modern culture and well written with some great points. Why do some of us fear sexuality so much?? I think sexual expression of the human body has it's time and place and to deny ourselves such pleasure is too be miserable, pent-up people. Just like all pursuits of pleasure (eating, watching t.v./movies, music, sports, etc.) it comes down to balance and mindfulness. I think there can be such a thing as mindful sexuality/sexual expression.

O.k. now go ahead and stone me as a Buddhist heretic but before you do remember that the Buddha rejected both worshiping the body as well as denying the body. I believe that pleasure in and of itself isn't bad at all but it's the attachment (or addiction might be a better word) to pleasure over everything else that is the problem.

Tranistory, Insubstantial and Conditional

To say that Buddhism is transitory, insubstantial and conditional is merely to restate its own understanding of the nature of things. Yet its teachings endlessly warn of the deeply engrained tendency to overlook this reality.... Instead of seeing a particular manifestation of the Dharma as a living spiritual tradition of possibilities contingent upon historical and cultural circumstances, one reifies it into an independently existent, self sufficient fact, resistant to change. Living continuity requires both change and constancy. Just as in the course of a human life, a person changes from a child to an adolescent to an adult while retaining a recognizable identity (both internally through memory and externally through recurring physical and behavioral traits), so does a spiritual tradition change through the course of its history while retaining a recognizable identity through a continuous affirmation of its axiomatic values. Thus Buddhism will retain its identity as a tradition as long as its practitioners continue to center their lives around the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and affirm its basic tenets. But precisely how such commitment and affirmation are expressed in different times and places can differ wildly. The survival of Buddhism today is dependent on its continuing ability to adapt.

--Stephen Batchelor, The Awakening of the West

James: This post/quote dove-tails somewhat into the last post/quote. The realization and right action of inter-being with all things (including our obstacles,weaknesses and challenges). Sometimes I fight the energy expressing itself through me in a certain, time, place and state of being. This often causes more problems for me then if I just accept the energy, ride it out and realize that the karma playing out is normal, beautiful and even good. It's like trying to rebuild a house that has caught fire as it's burning out-of-control. It just doesn't make sense. As hard as it maybe, we have to let the fire burn itself out before we can rebuild.

Then there is this aspect (mentioned in the quote) of trying to force Buddhism to "be" a certain way. This is a dangerous action. We need to stay vigilant of our emotions, thoughts and actions that might cause us to judge people on their path saying that they may not be "true Buddhists."

"Oh that person drinks. They're not a "true" or "good" Buddhist." Or, "Their meditation posture is off and aren't doing it right." It is not our place to say that people should do this or that or be this way or that way. The only person who can even come close to such admonishions on one's path is one's teacher. Even then, the teacher can not force a person to act a certain way. In fact, doing such things could be trying to control change and the natural process of burning off karma and living out one's path. Some teachings in Buddhism are pretty much unchanging. However, a lot of the way Buddhism works with each person is fluid and dependent upon so many factors and conditions.

We have no place saying who or what is a "good Buddhist." The Buddha laid out the path but did not say that one must follow his path, "or else." His basically taught that, "This is the way that I did it so if you want to realize what I have realized then follow my discoveries."

As the Bible teaches, (and I'm paraphrasing here) "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw rocks" and "He who is without sin let him cast the first stone."

I just saw a commerical that stated, "No matter where we are going, we are all going in the same direction." That pretty much says it all doesn't it. We are all walking in the same direction but taking different paths. Just like any path, each of our paths differ slightly from that of others. We have rocks/obstacles in different places then others as well as twists, turns and dead-ends. We each have radios to stay in contact though and the best use of that communication is to encourage one another rather then telling people what to do and how much better a hiker we are over them, etc.

I hope this post finds all of you in the Greater Sangha well.

PHOTO: One of my favorites. Zen master D.T. Suzuki with a kitty poking out of his robes. So very precious and cute.

~Peace to all beings~

Thich Nhat Hanh on Aimlessness

Does the rose have to do something? No, the purpose of a rose is to be a rose. Your purpose is to be yourself. You don't have to run anywhere to become someone else. You are wonderful just the way you are. This teaching of the Buddha allows us to enjoy ourselves, the blue sky, and everything that is refreshing and healing in the present moment. We already have everything we are looking for, everything we want to become. We are already a Buddha so why not just take the hand of another Buddha and practice walking meditation? Just be. Just being in the moment in this place is the deepest practice of meditation. The Heart Sutra says that there is "nothing to attain." We meditate not to attain enlightenment, because enlightenment is already in us. We don't need to search anywhere. We don't need to practice to obtain some high position. We can enjoy every moment. People talk about entering nirvana, but we are already there. Aimlessness and nirvana are one. We have everything we need to make the present moment the happiest in our life, even if we have a cold or a headache. We don't have to wait until we get over our cold to be happy. Having a cold is part of life. I am happy in the present moment. I do not ask for anything else. I do not expect any additional happiness. Aimlessness is stopping and realizing the happiness that is already available.

~Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy and Liberation, p.152-154.

James: These are such beautiful reminders. His words and way of explaining the Dharma is like a breath of fresh air, a gentle touch of reminder and reassurance or a deep refreshing breath. They are like a cooling wash cloth placed on our warm fore head by our mother after a long, exhausting cry. Or a cup of milk and some chocolate chip cookies after a tough day at a school.

I hope you enjoy these words as much as I have.

~Peace to all beings~

I've Missed Meditating

I've missed several days of meditating lately and I've noticed the difference. I've felt more disjointed and anxious then when I meditate daily. I got back to meditating yesterday and today and I'm back on track but it was interesting to notice the change.

My practice for me is like medicine in several ways: 1). It it s medicine that helps me balance out my ego and 2). it is a literal medicine that helps me stay stable (in combo with my meds) in regards to my schizo-affective disorder.

I do think though that it is o.k. (and necessary) to take a break now and then from meditating but what's important is to not let that break go on for too long. And there are many ways of meditating. One does not have to practice formal, sitting meditation all the time to get the benefits of meditation. I like to quite literally meditate all day long doing the seemingly insignificant activities but with mindfulness!! :)

I don't feel that I am attached to the practice. Rather it's more of an understanding of it's importance as a tool. It's like going without a spoon to eat with. I could eat with my hands but I'd I rather eat with a utensil. It's easier, less messy. I could try to just drink all day long but I'd rather meditate. Less of a headache and I've never thrown up from meditating. :)~

PHOTO CREDIT: Click here.

~Peace to all beings~

Colorado Holiday Blizzard of 2006

Pictures of the big holiday blizzard from here in Colorado from yesterday and today. It's stopped snowing but it's still rather cold with the wind chill and all.

Snow drifted up on our neighbor's van and truck. You can see the blizzard effect coming off the room of his house really well in this picture.

3 foot snow drift on our porch right out our front door.

Cornice hanging off our roof.

Massive cornice hanging off the roof and snow drifting up to his front window.

View of drive-way from the sidewalk.

Digging out the drive-way.

Car snowed in on our street.

Tractor digging out a main road intersecting with our street.

Bushes piled up with snow in front of our neighbor's place. They look like Himalayan peaks.

Me shoveling out from our porch. I always look like a gangster in pictures for some reason.

Snow piled up along the side of our drive-way against the mini-fence.

Lori shoveling the drive-way.

Snow piled up on our juniper hedge.

Finch sitting on the snowy juniper hedge off our front porch.

Do Kids with High IQ's Grow Up to be Vegetarians?

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter Fri Dec 15, 2:01 PM ET

FRIDAY, Dec. 15 (HealthDay News) -- As a child's IQ rises, his taste for meat in adulthood declines, a new study suggests.

British researchers have found that children's IQ predicts their likelihood of becoming vegetarians as young adults -- lowering their risk for cardiovascular disease in the process. The finding could explain the link between smarts and better health, the investigators say.

"We know from other studies that brighter children tend to behave in a healthier fashion as adults -- they're less likely to smoke, less likely to be overweight, less likely to have high blood pressure and more likely to take strenuous exercise," Gale said. "This study provides further evidence that people with a higher IQ tend to have a healthier lifestyle."

In the study, Gale's team collected data on nearly 8,200 men and women aged 30, whose IQ had been tested when they were 10 years of age.

"Children who scored higher on IQ tests at age 10 were more likely than those who got lower scores to report that they were vegetarian at the age of 30," Gale said.

Vegetarians were more likely to be female, of higher social class and better educated, but IQ was still a significant predictor of being vegetarian after adjustment for these factors, Gale said.

"Vegetarian diets are associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk in a number of studies, so these findings suggest that a such a diet may help to explain why children or adolescents with a higher IQ have a lower risk of coronary heart disease as adults," Gale said.

One expert said the findings aren't the whole answer, however.

"This study left many unanswered questions such as: Did the vegetarian children grow up in a household with a vegetarian parent? Were meatless meals regularly served in the household? Were the children eating a primarily vegetarian diet at the age of 10?" said Lona Sandon, an assistant professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

"In addition, we don't know the beliefs or attitudes of the parents of the children, nor do we know if there was a particular event that led these children to becoming vegetarian in their teens or adulthood," Sandon said.

As the study showed, more women than men chose a vegetarian diet, Sandon noted. "Other research shows that women in general will focus more on their health than men. So, if they believe that a vegetarian diet will have health benefits, they are more likely to follow it," she said.

Given these factors, "we cannot draw any solid conclusions from this research," Sandon added.

Another expert agreed that a vegetarian diet is healthy.

~Peace to all beings~

Snowflake and Plant Inter-being

It's snowing as I type out these strange symbols known to us as letters, words and language.

Big, soft, fluffy, lazy flakes fall without worry where they land or which direction they go.

Look at that picture of that beautifully balanced snowflake. The design of a snowflake is like a natural yin and yang symbol. And what stunning colors!!!

Within each snow flake I see water droplets from every body of water in the world.

As I look at my mini-tropical jungle of plants cradling around me in my front room one would think that the warm plants and cold snow have nothing in common. However such is not the case. I can see plants in the water droplets of snow. Plants emit oxygen that is essential for the creation of snow. Then, on the other hand snow/water feeds the plants.

Ah, inter-being (sigh).

Oh and the birds are taking advantage of the ample food supply and shelter of our huge hedge. They look so cute with their feathers fluffed out.

~Peace to all beings~

Meditation Alone is Not Enough

When we practice sitting and walking meditation in ways that cause our body and mind to suffer, our effort is not Right Diligence and is not based on Right View. Our practice should be intelligent, based on Right Understanding of the teaching. It is not because we practice hard that we can say that we are practicing Right Diligence. There was a monk in Tang Dynasty China who was practicing sitting meditation very hard, day and night. He thought he was practicing harder than anyone else, and he was very proud of this. He sat like a rock day and night, but his suffering was not transformed. One day a teacher asked him, "Why are you sitting so hard?" and the monk replied, "To become a Buddha!" The teacher picked up the tile and began polishing it and the monk asked, "Teacher, what are you doing?" His master replied, "I am making a mirror." The monk asked, "How can you make a tile into a mirror?"and his teacher replied, "How can you become a Buddha by sitting?"

-Thich Nhat Hanh from his book, The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy and Liberation. Page 99-100.

James: Although meditation is important on the path it seems that quality is more beneficial than quantity. As well as putting the lessons we learn from meditation into practice in our daily lives. Meditating to the point that one has no time or vision beyond meditation to put things into practice reminds me of a dog who finds a bone and buries it. Every day he digs it up to look at, protect and make sure it is still there but doesn't do anything with it other then that.

However, he is so obsessed with guarding his treasure that he has no time to enjoy it and use it to nourish his body.

So it is with us when we fall into the clinging of spiritual materialism thinking that if we meditate enough then all our suffering will magically disappear without having to actually "do" or "be" anything. Thich Nhat Hanh teaches us in this quote that marathon meditation without works is like trying to put out a fire by spitting. It is not Right Action.

PHOTO: My altar. From right to left (Picture of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, statue of Shakyamuni the Buddha and a statuette of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Kwan Yin. Avalokiteshvara is the name for the Bodhisattva's male form.

~Peace to all beings~

Enlightenment is Always Present

Even before we practice it, enlightenment is there. But usually we understand the practice of zazen and enlightenment as two different things: here is practice, like a pair of glasses, and when we use the practice, like putting the glasses on, we see enlightenment. This is the wrong understanding. The glasses themselves are enlightenment, and to put them on is also enlightenment. So whatever you do, or even though you do not do anything, enlightenment is there, always. This is Bodhidharma's understanding of enlightenment.

--Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book

James: So true. Enlightenment is not something to obtain but rather some thing to be. Perhaps just like the oxygen in the air that we do not see or always think about. We breath oxygen and think nothing of it. So to, Enlightenment is there within and without going along with us like our shadow.

Sometimes we hold Enlightenment to be some rare, unobtainable jewel to be found (and possessed) in some high Himalayan cave guarded by some 400 year old master. We think it is more difficult then it is. We set out after it as if we were looking for the Holy Grail. We can't fathom that it is already there waiting for us. It is as if we deny our shadow being apart of us.

Look!! It is there in every thought. In every breath. In every pump of our heart. In the vast blue sky. In our moments of despair. In the compost of the garden. In the song of the fragile sparrow. In the smile of a child or the Dalai Lama. Even in the death of a loved one.

Enlightenment is our birthright and our destiny. As the lotus flower blooms out of the murky, muddy waters of an over grown pond let us reach for the sky and allow our inner Buddha to break the waters of confusion, fear and Self doubt. So that we may be in the present moment of pure Being. We inter-are with all things and that very much includes Enlightenment.

Let us not be discouraged.

~Peace to all beings~

Happy Bodhi Day!!

Namo Shakyamuni Buddha.
Namo Shakyamuni Buddha.
Namo Shakyamuni Buddha.

Today we celebrate and honor The Buddha and our Buddha within in celebrating Shakyamuni the Buddha's Englightenment. May we use this day (and weekend) to do something charitable.

~Peace to all beings~

"You are here" Painting

This is my newest painting titled, "You are here." It was painted with acrylic paints. Click to enlarge photos.

Enjoy!!

"Happy Birthday Jacques, I'm coming after your job!"

Ahead of next April’s French presidential elections, UMP party leader Nicolas Sarkozy has chosen the birthday of his foe, and current President of the Republic, Jacques Chirac, as the day to announce he will run to be his party’s candidate.

Announcing his candidature to the local press on Wednesday 29th November, Sarkozy, who has been president of the UMP party since November 2004, currently remains the favourite to win the election if the numerous recent opinion polls are to be believed.

His centre-right UMP party is due to select its candidate in January and President Jacques Chirac is not expected to seek a third term, but it is possible he may, even though he is now 74 years of age, chuck in his hat just to spite his rival Sarkozy.

Mr Sarkozy speaking in an interview published in a number of regional newspapers on Thursday said: “I feel I have the strength, the energy and the desire to propose a different view of France”.

“I have the ambition to develop a new relationship with the French based on two words: confidence and respect,” he continued, “confidence in pledges made, and respect for every Frenchman considered individually”.

Mr Sarkozy will offer UMP members an alternative to candidates from the Chirac side of the party – which includes such political figures as current Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, and is thought to have the backing of about 75% of the UMP's membership, which currently stands at about 300,000.

But the rivalry and hatred between Chirac and Sarkozy has been long running - they were once even thought of as political father and son; or at least son-in-law. But since falling out 12 years ago, when Sarkozy revealed he would be supporting Edouard Balladur, the Prime Minister at the time and former Chirac acolyte, in the 1995 presidential election, they have vigorously detested one another.

Then there was the Clearstream affair, which was intended to dent Sarkozy’s name: a bogus allegation that Sarkozy, and others, had illegal bank accounts in Luxembourg, yet despite this Nicolas Sarkozy is apparently still one of the few politicians whom Chirac addresses as “tu” rather than the formal version “vous”.

According to the Independent’s John Lichfield, Sarkozy, “with his energy, his cheek, his uncloaked ambition, his impetuousness, his tactical brilliance, his occasional tactical stupidity, Sarkozy resembles the young Chirac,” but notes that there are important differences between the two: “Sarkozy seems at least to want to DO something; not just to BE something”.

He has, after all, been dubbed by many political analysts as “the French Margaret Thatcher”, someone who will shake up the country after having promised to reverse what many people see as a feeling of decline in France.

However, his handling of the 2005 riots in Clichy-sous-Bois, which were aggravated by Sarkozy’s describing suburban youth gangs as “racaille” (scum), did at the time did very little for his reputation. But Sarkozy is on his way back, and in the aftermath, he was even seen by many white middle-class voters as their best protection against suburban violence!

Sarkozy is now looking to be a powerful candidate.

Whoever wins the UMP's vote, to be held on the 14th January 2007, will face the Socialist Party's Segolene Royal, who won the race to represent the party with nearly 60% of the vote last month.

Whether it is Sarkozy or Royal who takes over the hotseat from Chirac in May 2007, one thing is for sure, the race for the Elysée is now hotting up. Sarkozy’s announcement of his intention to run for election came as little surprise, but the timing may have left Chirac choking on his Birthday morning croissant…

Beyond Language

Words!
The Way is beyond language,
for in it there is
no yesterday
no tomorrow
no today.

-Seng-Tsan, “Verses On The Faith Mind”

James: And yet here I wade into the word pool. Just wanted to emphasize this basic yet profound and far reaching wisdom. Language is to walk in the shadows rather then coming out into the silent yet illuminating sunshine of the Moment. In the shadows we need reassuring voices to direct us where to go yet when we live in the sharp, bright light of The Way then we need no words to direct us where to go--we just know and see and walk in noble silence.

PHOTO CREDIT: N.Design Studio

Former Racist Prisoner Embraces the Dharma

By MARIA SUDEKUM FISHER,

Associated Press, Nov 24, 2006

NEWTON, Kansas (USA) -- Tony Farnan's back tells a story. "White Trash" is tattooed across the lower portion. A handcuffed, clenched fist with lightning bolts and a swastika takes up much of the middle. Farnan got the tattoos when he was younger, doing drugs, picking fights and living up to his identity as a pretty rough racist.

But now "White Trash" is covered up with another tattoo, a large purple lotus blossom. The clenched fist has been turned into a great big foo dog, the mythical Chinese protector of sacred places. If you look hard enough, you can make out the fist. But you have to know it's there.

He now takes care of his 95-year-old grandfather at their farmhouse outside Newton. He has sworn off drugs, violence and anything else that helped land him in jail. He's no longer racist.

Farnan owes this new life to a discovery he made in prison.

"Buddhism has basically saved my life," Farnan says.

Farnan is one of a growing number of people who have discovered Buddhism while behind bars, thanks in part to the popularity of the religion nationwide and to the scores of Buddhist volunteers heading into prisons to tend to inmates, male and female, who were raised Buddhist or those who discovered the ancient religion later.

Several organizations nationwide now serve Buddhist inmates. The Prison Dharma Network in Boulder, Colo., gives yoga and meditation classes to inmates and also sends books and correspondence to prisoners across the country. The Buddhist Peace Fellowship in Berkeley, Calif., has meditation, yoga, and journal writing programs in several California prisons. The National Buddhist Prison Sangha in Mt. Tremper, N.Y., has been supporting prison inmates with visits and letters since 1984.

He [Farnan] got books on Buddhism, which gave him some guidelines. But months later after he had been sent to the Norton Correctional Facility, Farnan needed a teacher. He looked for a Buddhist session - or callout as it is referred to in prison. Norton didn't have one, so Farnan got by with his books and meditation.

Then he was moved to the Lansing Correctional Facility, where a Buddhist group had been meeting regularly.

"I wasn't looking for a religion. I was looking for some direction and something that could help guide me."

The callouts helped. But for the most part Farnan did "a lot of deep meditation and thinking," trying to keep things simple.

"I don't know, it was probably 2002, early 2003, when I really understood that compassion was kind of the answer.

He started curbing his impulses, too. If another inmate was playing music too loud, the old Farnan would have gone over, picked up the radio and smashed it.

"Now I realized that everyone is suffering, and he's probably playing the music loud to ease his suffering. I still might ask him to lower the volume. But I wouldn't smash it."

James: I would love to volunteer with a program bringing the Dharma to prisoners. They mentioned a group here in Colorado that does such a thing and so I might look them up and see how I could help. If nothing else I can donate some of the Buddhist books that I've read to the program.

It is time that we really institute adequate rehabilitation in the prisons across the world. Bringing spirituality and teaching meditation to those who are suffering in prison is a great way to help others help themselves. There is no way that we can hope to reform prisoners with out addressing their suffering first. Punishing violence and hatred with more violence and hatred doesn't help anyone. Which reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw once about the death penalty. It went something like, "Why do we kill people to show other people that killing is wrong?"

The ideal goal is sending prisoners to prison to learn to change their view of the world and their way of thinking and thus their way of acting. The easiest way that I know how to do that is through mindfulness/awareness and meditation. Prisons, however, don't do much of anything to help them confront and change their habit energy and so they simply revert back to what they know and end up coming out of prison a smarter, better criminal!!

Everyone deserves our compassion.

~Peace to all beings~

We Don't Need to Move at a Snail's Pace to be Mindful

One of the most difficult things to learn is that mindfulness is not dependent on any emotional or mental state. We have certain images of meditation. Meditation is something done in quiet caves by tranquil people who move slowly. Those are training conditions. They are set up to foster concentration and to learn the skill of mindfulness. Once you have learned that skill, however, you can dispense with the training restrictions, and you should. You don't need to move at a snail's pace to be mindful. You don't even need to be calm. You can be mindful while solving problems in intensive calculus. You can be mindful in the middle of a football scrimmage. You can be mindful in the midst of a raging fury. Mental and physical activities are no bar to mindfulness. If you find your mind extremely active, then simply observe the nature and degree of that activity. It is just a part of the passing show within.

--Henepola Gunaratana

Things That I am Thankful for and Smells I Like

These are in no particular order:

Being able to walk, being able to see, being able to speak, being able to smile, being able to hear, being able to drive, being able to sit, being able to eat, being able to breath freely, being able to sleep. Hot showers (and showers in general), clean drinking water, clean air to breath, adequate medical care in comparison to much of the world.

Medicine/herbs/vitamins, Earth, the body, teeth, snow, sun, mud, plants, socks, shoes, fingers, the stars at night, the moon, waterfalls, sunrises/sunsets, the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha. Parks, mountains, forests/trees (I LOVE TREES!!!), the taste of water when no other liquid will do. Salt, glasses, art, music, light/electricity, heat, candles, animals, oceans, beaches, clouds, bells, friends, family, teachers, warm wash cloth, remote controls,

Having a roof over my head, a bed (love my bed), warm clothes in the winter, air conditioning/fans, tents, warm sleeping bags, furniture, tables, drawers, television, radio, DVR, a little money just to survive, indoor plumbing, cars (wish we had more hybrid cars though), airplanes. Fire/fire place, oxygen, computers, the internet, arms to hug with, hands to hold, kisses, blankets, pillows, tooth brush, flannel pants, gloves for the winter, stocking hats, pebbles in little, gurgling streams. Carpet, flannel slippers, meditation cushion, my country, towels, soap, fresh sheets, eye drops, fire fighters, reliable mail service, music, art.

Smells: wet potting soil, rain before and after, flowers (especially lilacs, gardenia), newspapers, books/magazines, coffee, perfume, incense(Nag champa, patchouli, sandelwood, aloeswood, jasmine), oil paints, fresh cut wood, fresh laundry, pine trees, baking cookies, lavender soap, newborn babies, baby powder, cinnamon, cloves, coconut, mountain air, peanut butter, hot tubs, pine sol cleaner, cucumber melon lotion that my wife wears, my wife's hair. Brown sugar, cedar, gingerbread, crayons, my oatmeal shaving cream, popcorn, bubble gum, new car smell, walking along a river, the musty smell of Louisiana, wine, chai, leather (although I hate the idea of leather), clean sheets, green apple liquid dish soap, pencil shavings, pencil erasers, blueberry candles, Sharpie markers, Vick's VapoRub, Sauteed onions/green onions and garlic, black licorice, scotch tape, pancakes with maple syrup on them, weeds burning and many, many more.

Blood Cell Cars and Roads of Arteries

Today I was running errands and the traffic was pretty hectic being the day before Thanksgiving and all. I was getting a little anxious and caught up in the stress when I remembered to breathe. Then things shifted into focus. I started actually being in the moment rather then be carried off in the moment and I saw things in a more mindful, interconnected way.

I had a vision in that moment of the roads being veins and arteries as the cars (blood cells) moved along through the system. Every cell (person) going in different directions but all for the good of the Greater Body.

Reality is like a face reflected in the blade of a knife; its properties depend on the angle from which we view it.

-Master Hsing Yun, "Describing the Indescribable"

PHOTO: One of my paintings depicting blood cells (the blood cells can also been seen as atoms) emanating out from the Infinite Eye. It is titled, "Atomic Adonai."

~Peace to all beings~

Introducing: "The Buddha" and "The Medicine Woman" Paintings

I finally got the prints back for the, "Buddha" and "The Medicine Woman" paintings. I usually price these 11x14 prints at $30 but for my bloggin' buddies I'd price them at $25. Let me know if you want one.

"The Buddha"



"The Medicine Woman."

Sitting Upon the Cushion

Sitting upon the cushion,
this body feels like a delicate bug,
softly resting upon a lotus flower.

Each breath is sweet nectar
And with these breathes,
Awareness comes into focus
like a sharpening telescope.

Sharpening in on the bright, twinkling stars
waving back from the furthest corners,
of the Universe.

This sharpened awareness is crisp,
crisp and clear,
as a cobalt blue, Colorado sky
in November.

My wife's pitter-patter typing
on the keyboard is one.
One with the pitter-patter
of the rain outside.

Soon I find my breath,
in sync with the typing
and the rain.

All in the One unfolds
and yet again,
peace and harmony
is revealed.

All is revealed in time,
as even time is an illusion,
that can be decoded.

And soon only silence
remains.

Breathing with the silence,
a bell rings gently off in the distance.

And the bug separates.
Separates from the lotus cushion.

PHOTO: This is a picture that I took of our Avalokiteshvara statue.

Your Comfort Music and/or Musician?

So I've lit some candles, pulled the front shades closed and am listening to my favorite "comfort music/musician" (and favorite music/musician of all time) the Great Prophet Bob Marley. His mystical music has some magic in it that lifts up my mood no matter what state it might be in at the time.

A rainbow of music with two lovely pots of gold o happiness at either end.

It's like a reassuring hug from a Great Bodhisattva--perhaps Avalokiteshvara him/herself and it calms my troubled mind and warms the heart. Marley is a Great Sage singing relaxing, peaceful, compassionate blessings in the form of mystical, magical, notes that descend upon my body like light, golden leaves lazily descending around me.
His musical Enlightenment shines forth as sun rays beaming through parting clouds to touch the precious hearts of untold numbers.

I honestly feel that Bob Marley will be remembered as one of the greatest musicians of all time. Right up there with Mozart and the like. I know that musical purests will disagree with that one but give Bob a chance to convince your heart. I am sure that you will see his Divine genius.

Shine on Robert Nesta Marley.

Shine on.

So what, or who is your favorite comfort music or musician?

~Peace to all beings~

Transcendence

The Self seems to move, but is ever still.
He seems far away, but is ever near.
He is within all, and he transcends all.

-Isha Upanishad

James: The lavender incense floats effortlessly into the air and dances with my nostrils as I breathe in it's soft, relaxing nature. The breath fills every cell with invigorating oxygen as the body rises from it's dreamy dualisitc self to settle yet again into the perfect Oneness of the awakened Self.

A bird softly chirps as a train sounds it's haunting cry in the distace cutting through the cool, crisp morning air like an arrow straight and true. Mindfulness continues to unfold as the Self becomes aware of the fridge emitting it's mythodical, hypnotic, heart-like tick tick noise. Each of these noises beautifully combines to realize a symphony of the moment.

Breathing in, the wave of the moment recedes and breathing out a new wave arrives. Two different moments yet connected through the true nature of suchness. The wave is form and the water is emptiness as Thay teaches. Waves are born from emptiness and waves return to emptiness. Thus the cycle of inter-being Infinitely unfolds beyond words, perceptions, labels, questions or answers.

A bird chirps again as a smile arrives.

~Peace to all beings~

Answer to my Question

Picture of "James" taken with the new camera in the black and white function.

Remember the question that I asked about "Buddhism" and mental illness? Well, I finally got an answer so here it is!!

1- What does Buddhism say about "mental illness" and why does it occur in people? Is it considered a biological condition as it is in the West or not? And is it seen as an issue of burning off negative karma?

Buddhism doesn't have one particular thing to say about mental illness as we think about it since 'Buddhism' doesn't really exist as a formal entity in its own right. The teachings of the Buddha have moved through a number of cultures over the past twenty-five hundred years, interacting with and influencing the local ways of thinking. Many Buddhist cultures, like those of Tibet or ancient India, have indigenous medical systems that were influenced by the variety of ancient cultures rubbing up against each other for hundreds of years, Greek, Persian, ayurvedic, Chinese, etc. In the Tibetan medical system, severe mental illness, conditions that we would call bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, are seen as imbalances in the vital energies that sustain the mind and body. Causes for the most severe disturbances are often thought to be inborn. We would call these causes genetic, or biological, but these explanatory systems evolved before knowledge of genes existed. Less severe mental illness, what we would call neurotic, is thought to be rooted in the mental afflictions of greed, hatred, ignorance, pride, and so on. When these mental habits are left unchecked, they become fixations which begin to twist or torment the mind. One of the great opportunities of a human birth, it is said, is that there is always a potential for taming wild thoughts through self-awareness. It is this effort that burns off negative karma.

I also liked the answer to the second question that someone else asked:

2- My teacher discourages use of antidepressants but my therapist recommends them strongly. I'm at a loss and am not finding middle ground. What is your take on this?

I always think about those beautiful Tibetan thangkas, or paintings, of the medicine Buddha when this question comes up. He sits there with a vast array of medicinal powders, pills and potions spilling out in front of him, all vehicles of reducing suffering. The Buddha wants you not to suffer if you don't need to. If there is a pill that works (and the Western treatments do not always work; but when they do, they are a godsend), he would want you to try it. Even with a successful treatment with antidepressants, there is more than enough suffering left to work with meditatively.

Thanks again everyone for helping me out and voting for my question!!

My New Camera and Gandhi on the Many Religions of the World

My lovely wife just bought me a new digital camera for my up-coming birthday and one of my favorite features available is the ability to take black and white pictures. This is a black and white picture that I took of my photo of Thay (as Thich Nhat Hanh is known by his students) on our altar. The beads wrapped around the picture are of my old 108 bead mala.

I thought I'd also add a great view on the different religions of the world by the Great Mahatma Gandhi:

Religions are different roads converging on the same point. What does it matter that we take different roads so long as we reach the same goal? I believe that all religions of the world are true more or less. I say "more or less" because I believe that everything the human hand touches, by reason of the very fact that human beings are imperfect, becomes imperfect.

-Mahatma Gandhi

This is great wisdom. No matter how much we believe in a religion they are all run by imperfect beings. The Buddha understood this problem with organized religion. This is why the Great Awakened One taught us to not believe what he said (or anyone says) unless we have come to that conclusion from our own internal investigation. Also the teaching that attachment to the trappings of a "religion" will not get us very far on the path to liberation. It just becomes another hobby. This is why I often refer to myself in writing as a "Buddhist." The quotes present because after all what is a "Buddhist?"

However, (as you know) it is inquiring within through grounding, personal practice is what sets us free.


Above is a picture of one of the cute little finches that visit our bird feeder on a daily basis (with a section of the yellow prayer flag in front). Late this morning as I was meditating they were really talking up a storm and it made me smile in many moments during my sitting practice today.

With my eyes closed all I could sense was their chirping and in that moment I was transported to all the different places that finches live. I was there in all those places at once. It was a beautiful experience of non-self, suchness, interconnectivity, inter-being or whatever feeble words one might use to explain the moment.

~Peace to all beings~

Introducing: Plumline Online Sangha!!

Wow, it's been a week since I posted?!! Sorry about that dear friends.

Now, on with the show!!

Introducing, Plumline. Plumline is a new online Sangha in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh.

Plumline was started for those of us who are disabled or otherwise unable to attend a traditional Sangha. This is such a wonderful gift from modern technology to those of us who would otherwise not have any contact with other Buddhists. I thank those who have made this possible. What a blessing!!!

Buddhism is such a wonderful path as it is able to adapt to the times and changes of the evolution of life and society. It is after all all about dealing with change with grace and peace.

~Peace to all beings!!~

27th October 2006: The riots one year on...

Last week saw the first anniversary of the deaths of two Parisian teenagers, which sparked riots across the country lasting 21 nights, in which over 9000 cars burnt and nearly 3,000 people arrested, but it also marked the annual celebration of youth culture in one community of Bordeaux.

On 27th October 2005 in the North-eastern Parisian suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, two boys, Zyed Benna, 17, and Bouna Traore, 15, were electrocuted after climbing into an electrical sub-station - in what locals say was the result of an attempt to hide from police.

Two days beforehand on a visit to the Parisian suburb of Argenteuil to see how his new measures against urban violence were working, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy had been pelted with stones and bottles, after having said that crime-ridden neighbourhoods should be "cleaned with a power hose" and described violent elements as "gangrene" and "rabble".

And so as the news of the two teenagers’ deaths spread, riots were triggered in the local area, which is home to large African and Arab communities.

On the 30th October 2005, Mr Sarkozy pledged there would be "zero tolerance" for the rioting and sent police reinforcements to Clichy-sous-Bois, where a tear gas grenade, like those used by riot police, exploded in a mosque, provoking further anger.

As the violence started to expand out from the capital, and thousands more vehicles burned with every night that passed, the French government put into force a series of emergency powers across more than 30 French towns and cities, including the Paris suburbs. In what was the first time the law had been implemented in mainland France since its introduction in 1955, the northern city of Amiens was the first to impose a curfew.

The police then as a result reported a drop in the level of violence across France as a whole, with the number of cars set alight falling to just over 600, hundreds fewer than the night before. Some 280 people were arrested and disturbances broke out in 116 areas, half the number affected the previous night.

However, violence still persisted in isolated patches with Bordeaux itself being one after a gas-powered bus exploded after it was hit by a petrol bomb in the cities’ suburbs.

A year on, 2006, and the violence has reared its ugly head once again as thousands of riot police were redeployed back into the Clincy-sous-Bois suburb, where the original riots has started, and where more buses were burnt and at least 500 people marched in memory of the two teenage boys, both of whom were from immigrant families.

And in Marseille on Saturday (28th October), a 26-year-old Senegalise woman, Mama Galledou, was left with burns to nearly 70% of her body after a group of teenagers reportedly forced open the doors of a bus and threw an inflammable liquid inside before fleeing.

Elsewhere around the country, around 200 vehicles were set alight and nearly 50 people were arrested.

But despite the year anniversary of the violent attacks, in Pessac, a “commune” of Bordeaux, the community was not being set ablaze by fire, but by community spirit and the 9th annual youth festival celebrating all that encompasses youth culture.

The “Urban Vibrations” festival takes place over a period of 11 days (25th October – 5th November) and is crammed full of events for youths and the rest of the community to partake in such as rap evenings, film and documentary screenings, break-dancing lessons and competitions, beat-boxing, art exhibitions, basketball and street ball competitions, Pro Evolution Soccer competitions and an array of other sporting contests and even a “turn-up and decorate the festival sites” graffiti evening.

One of the sporting contests taking place was a skateboarding competition, which carried a cash prize to the winner of 15,000 Euros (roughly £10,000).

Free to enter and with the only other obligation being that you wear a helmet, anyone was able to participate in the qualifications, and although they really tried their best, this reporter declined! The contest’s finale was very well supported and the standard of competition was surprising to say the least, but what struck me about the whole event was that it was for everyone – families, elderly people (ok maybe not the skate-boarding, BMX or roller-blading - but they were all there!).

So while the recent bus attacks in Paris and Marseille have marked the anniversary and spread new fears of nationwide riots, in other parts of the country community relations are very much on a better foot. So much so I might go pick up a spray can and leave my mark on the wall in Pessac with the rest of the citizens!!!

Published on the sheffieldbase http://www.sheffieldbase.com/story.php?s=1376

The Cup Analogy on Diverse Religions

James: The following Q and A is from, "A Basic Buddhism Guide" on Buddhanet. This is a great analogy to help explain the Buddhist attitude toward other religions.


You certainly think highly of Buddhism. I suppose you think your religion is right and all the others are wrong.

No Buddhist who understands the Buddha's teaching thinks that other religions are wrong. No one who, has made a genuine effort to examine other religions with an open mind could think like that either. The first thing you notice when you study the different religions is just how much they have in common. All religions acknowledge that mankind's present state is unsatisfactory. All believe that a change of attitude and behavior is needed if the human situation is to improve. All teach an ethics that includes love, kindness, patience, generosity and social responsibility and all accept the existence of some form of Absolute. They use different languages, different names and different symbols to describe and explain these things; and it is only when they narrow-mindedly cling to their one way of seeing things that religious intolerance, pride and self-righteousness arise. Imagine an Englishman, a Frenchman, a Chinese and an Indonesian all looking at a cup. The Englishman says, "That's a cup." The Frenchman answers, "No it's not. It's a tasse." The Chinese comments, "You're both wrong. It's a pet." And the Indonesian laughs at the others and says "What fools you are. It's a cawan." The Englishman gets a dictionary and shows it to the others saying, "I can prove that it is a cup. My dictionary says so." "Then your dictionary is wrong," says the French- man "Because my dictionary clearly says it is a tasse." The Chinese scoffs at them. "My dictionary is thousands of years older than yours, so my dictionary must be right. And besides, more people speak Chinese than any other language, so it must be a pet." While they are squabbling and arguing with each other, a Buddhist comes up and drinks from the cup. After he has drunk, he says to the others, "Whether you call it a cup, a tasse, a pet or a cawan, a cup is meant to be used. Stop arguing and drink, stop squabbling and refresh your thirst." This is the Buddhist attitude to other religions.

~Peace to all beings~