Tricycle Discussion: Jeff Bridges and Zen Peacemakers' Bernie Glassman.

Jeff Bridges has been one of my favorite actors since The Big Lebowski, so I was thrilled to hear about his interest in Buddhism. He was featured in a great discussion between himself and Zen Peacemaker Bernie Glassman. This is part 1--Part 2 will be released next week. Watch the video from Tricycle, (Click here) before reading my analysis of this interview below:

First off, I too found a hint of Zen in Bridges' character "The Dude" in the aforementioned movie but I was more struck by the idea of bringing dignity to those who need some assistance with food. We are good at having pity upon people but being able to help others while helping them maintain their dignity and sense of importance as a human being is less evident in some programs--especially government ones. So, I'm excited to hear about what Bridges and Glassman are up to.

I also liked the idea of setting up Dharma centers that include a cafe that helps feed those who might need a meal or two but doing it in a way where they feel good about being there. That's why Glassman is calling them cafes where they'd be designed to be a comfortable place that you'd want to visit even if you didn't have a hungry stomach. Places that have live musicians providing a nice atmosphere including kid friendly elements. I like that he is working to bring the Dharma center to everyone and not just those who are attending for the day like attending a spa as he put it. Sometimes we can get so self-interested (ironically) while practicing the Dharma instead of how can we use our time at the Dharma center to also help others in our community.

I was even more happy to hear that Glassman would set these up, so that there isn't any proselytizing or "spiritual strings attached" to the help. I get really annoyed by spiritual groups who help people but only after those needing the help listen to a sermon. That's using their basic human needs against them to further push an agenda that is based less on unconditional help and more on running up the numbers of believers. Overall a great intimate discussion. Can't wait for part 2.

~Peace to all beings~

Animals Farmed For Meat Are The No. 1 Source Of Food Poisoning Bug, Study Shows.

ScienceDaily (Sep. 26, 2008) — A study by researchers from Lancashire, England, and Chicago, IL, found that 97 percent of campylobacteriosis cases sampled in Lancashire were caused by bacteria typically found in chicken and livestock. The work is based on DNA-sequence comparison of thousands of bacteria collected from human patients and animal carriers. Campylobacter jejuni causes more cases of gastroenteritis in the developed world than any other bacterial pathogen, including E. coli, Salmonella, Clostridium and Listeria combined. Wild and domestic animals act as natural reservoirs for the disease, which can also survive in water and soil.

James: This is part of the reason that I became a vegetarian to avoid this kind of stuff but it must also be said that vegetables can become tainted too. We "veggies" can get a little self-righteous sometimes so here's a good dose of reality for us because it must be said that even vegetarians are taking lives too so to some degree we can not avoid taking lives.

Few of us are in a position to judge meat eaters or anyone else for "killing by proxy." Being part of the world economy entails "killing by proxy" in every act of consumption. The electricity that runs our computers comes from facilities that harm the environment. Books of Buddhist scriptures are printed on paper produced by an industry that destroys wildlife habitat. Worms, insects, rodents and other animals are routinely killed en masse in the course of producing the staples of a vegetarian diet. Welcome to samsara. It is impossible for most of us to free ourselves from this web; we can only strive to be mindful of entanglement in it. One way to do so is to reflect on how the suffering and death of sentient beings contributes to our comfort. This may help us to be less inclined to consume out of mere greed.

James: One of the main reasons that I practice vegetarianism is to increase loving-kindness and compassion. I know that I can't completely avoid taking lives even being a vegetarian but I can limit the number of lives that I take. As an omnivore I was taking lives of insects in the course of producing the staples of a vegetarian diets as mentioned above but I was also taking the lives of animals. So I wanted to live so that I was taking the least amount of lives possible--causing the least suffering and harm.

While I don't agree with the taking of animal life for food I try not to judge people who do eat meat as terrible people. It is a personal choice either way. I have many, many family and friends who eat meat and I still love them and respect them as much as I did before I became a vegetarian. I just tot along my faux meat products and veggies to BBQ's and dinners where most will be eating meat.

~Peace to all beings~

Rising Corn Prices and Bio-Fuel.

The effort to turn corn into fuel (ethanol) is being criticized now because of the rising food prices. However, some of the biggest cost increases are for meat products because farm animals to be used for food are fed mostly corn. So there is another way to look at this, if more and more people turn toward vegetable based diets then we wouldn't have massive animal feed lots that require huge amounts of corn.

So by being a vegetarian or vegan we help the environment in big ways and doing so also allows us to continue increasing production of bio-fuels without raising the price of food too drastically. How? It would free up ranch land to be used to grow more wheat, rice and soy to further offset the price of corn. Switching that ranch land from raising animals for food to growing crops would also help the food shortage world wide as we'd have a surplus of grains that could be shipped to areas who desperately need it.

Just raising something to think about.

~Peace to all beings~