A Buddhist View of the Environment and Evolution

http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=16105

“In his recent book, The World We Have: A Buddhist Approach to Peace and Ecology (2008), the great Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh asserts that Buddhism, as a robust type of humanism, allows people to learn how to live on our planet not only responsibly, but with compassion and lovingkindness. …”

Meditation and Awareness

Meditation is awareness.  That’s all there is to it.

The Imperfection of Love: A Eulogy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw0s4C0g5SM&feature=player_embedded

“‘Funeral’ is a new TV commerical launched by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) which looks at relationships in a different light, through a woman at her husband’s funeral. Ultimately, the TVC celebrates the beautiful imperfections that make a relationship perfect. …”

How to Build Neighborhoods

What if we built our neighborhoods around curves rather than straight lines?

The New Temple

Sacrifice at the Temple no longer happens. Rather it takes place inside us when we redirect our destructive urges toward healing and hope.

You and I

You and I: Where does one end and the other begin?

Words

Words are kindling for the fire that melts meaning into our being.

Are Religions Different Paths to the Same Wisdom?

Below is an interesting piece by Stephen Prothero. I agree with a lot of what Prothero says. The goals of different religions are not the same. Eliding the differences inevitably leads to misunderstanding others. For example, talking about who will be saved is a Christian question, which most in the world do not even share, because they are not interested in salvation at all. Christians are focused on the person of Jesus Christ, while Jews and Muslims are focused on texts and words. Talking about God makes no sense to many Buddhists. Many influenced by New Age approaches desire reincarnation, but Hindus want to liberate themselves from it, and Buddhists view it as ultimately an illusion. Confucians uphold political and social order, while Daoists are political and social minimalists. Plus the goal of sameness is not a goal that all share. Jews view themselves as different, and Christians and Muslims want others to be like them.

Where I disagree with Prothero is his idea that “God” or “wisdom” is not one. The fact that there are different goals and multiple truths does not negate the oneness in which we dwell. Oneness does not mean that we don’t share fundamental values (e.g. the Golden Rule) and share important spiritual outlooks. Further, the fact that we have different goals and purposes does not negate oneness. It just means that our definition of “oneness” and “unity” is too limited and narrow, since it does not make room for multiple truths, paradox, and contradiction. There are not two choices–difference or sameness. That’s a false dichotomy.

Idolatry is making an object, a person, or an idea into a fetish. That is what both sides of this debate do. The “lumpers” privilege commonality and sameness, while the “splitters” privilege separation and difference. In so doing, they end up defining “God” or a “higher power” or the ultimate energy or “nirvana” or “heaven” or “nature” or “wisdom” in simplistic and objectifying language. They cannot envision unity as complex, multivalent, or chaotic. But perhaps that is what the oneness of “God”–or whomever or whatever you prefer call it–is.

There is not one path or one truth, but many paths and many truths held together in a paradoxical unity.

In this regard, mystical approaches offer a lot, because, with the loss of the ego/self, paradox is not a problem to be solved, but a dynamic energy in which to live.

©Laurence H. Kant

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/04/25/separate_truths/?page=full

Rivalry

Rivalry misdirected leads to chaos. Rivalry channeled leads to civilization. Rivalry transformed leads to a new dawn.

Learning

We are here to learn.

Abraham Unaware

Why did it take Abraham so long to see the ram (Gen 22:13)? If he had looked up before he tried to slaughter Isaac, he would have seen the ram. Intent on his task, he was unconscious. If we stay awake, we will always see the ram.

Shabbat

Shabbat: Letting go of time.

The Senses

Grasp with your feet. Walk with your hands. See with your ears. Hear with your eyes. Think with your heart. Feel with your mind.

Embracing Life

Embracing life means embracing the hard stuff too.

Gratitude

Gratitude:  breathing, eating, shelter, consciousness.

Meditation and Prayer

Taking time to meditate and pray is one thing. Living in meditation and prayer is quite another.

Evolution and Religion

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/opinion/23wright.html
An interesting approach to reconciling science and religion on the issue of natural selection and evolution. Personally I never had the conflict.

Jacob and Awareness

“Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘The Source is present in this place, but I did not know it'” (Gen 28:16). Mindfulness is knowing it. Wake up.

Breathing

I breathe. The earth breathes. The universe breathes.

I am a Walking Tree

I am a walking tree. I am ancient. I hear the voices of millennia.

Our Bodies are Mobile Trees

Our bodies are mobile trees, our legs the roots, our torsos the trunks, our outstretched arms the branches, our necks and heads the tree tops. We are rooted in the earth reaching out to the stars.

God and the Self as Nothing

The Source is nothing. Nothing does not mean a vacuum, but no thing (no/thing). No/thing is pure energy.

A favorite quote of mine in this regard is from Dov Baer of Mezrich as translated in Lawrence Kushner,The Book of Words, p. 96 (Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights, 1993): “You need to think of yourself as nothing. Forget yourself entirely. Pray only for the sake of God’s presence. Only then will you come to transcend time and attain the ‘World of Thought.’ No contradictions. No distinctions between life and death or sea and dry land. All the same . . . This can only happen if you forget yourself entirely. But it cannot be the case while you are attached to the tangible reality of this world. Fixated on the distinctions between good and evil and mundane creation. How otherwise could one possibly transcend time and attain ultimate unification. Thus, as long as you remain convinced that you are ‘something,’ preoccupied with your daily needs, then the Holy One cannot be present, for God is without end, that is, ‘nothing,’ no vessel can contain the One. But this is not so when you think of yourself as nothing.”

Here, “nothing” really means without boundaries and limits.

Dov Baer expresses his ideas more dualistically than I would (e.g. “attached to tangible reality,” “mundane creation,” and “World of Thought”), but his message is beautiful: To feel the presence of the Source, one must drop all categories, especially the self.

God

I don’t see God as an entity at all, as a thing. God is not a being, but an energy that pervades the universe and transcends the universe. For that reason, I don’t even use the word, “God,” but instead use “Source,” or sometimes “Source of Being.” To relate to the Source, one must transcend all categories (which are, by definition, finite and limited). The Source is neither personal nor impersonal, but the sacred energy/breath that underlies all existence.

This is not an easy place for me to reside. I only get there at moments. Often I am deluded by my own self and its desires, which get in the way. But I do get there at times–certainly more now than when I was younger. And that makes all the effort worthwhile.

The SOURCE

The SOURCE is nothing. Nothing does not mean a vacuum, but no thing (no/thing). No/thing is pure energy.

Love

Love is the transcendence of self.

Meaningful Conversation

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/talk-deeply-be-happy/
Substantive conversation and talking deeply leads to greater happiness. I have always seen meaningful discussion as the core of teaching and wisdom (which should be the goal of all learning)

Our Bodies Are Poems II

Our bodies are poems, Every cell, tissue, nerve, muscle, bone, and organ are the words.

Our Body Are Poems I

Our body are poems with beauty and meaning found in every cell, tissue, nerve, muscle, bone, and organ.

Our Bodes Are Texts

Our bodies are texts in which we write the stories of our lives.

My Heart Beats

My heart beats, a tiny pulsating cell in the heart of humanity, in the heart of all life, in the heart of the earth, in the heart of the universe, in the heart of the multiverse, in the heart of the Source.

A Tree Rooted

A tree rooted in the earth feeling the sun’s rays. The ground’s juices. Heaven’s breath. Two realms linked in an ancient creature.

Resurrection

A discussion of resurrection in a modern context:

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/03/24/far-from-heaven.html

A Great Photograph

A great photograph is not a reproduction, but a distillation.

A Person

You can no more equate a person with an image than you can cup your hands to hold the wind.

Habits and Feeling

Unconscious habits impede feeling. Conscious habits clarify and intensify feeling.

Conscious Habits

Conscious awareness of habits makes you more flexible.

Flexibility and Habits

Flexibility is the capacity to constantly monitor and alter your habits and routines.

Adaptation and Habit

We need habits and routines to get through day-to-day life, yet the ability to adapt and change is the key to long-term well-bing.

Where am I?

Where am I? Here? Or there?

When We Change

When we change, others change. When we heal, others heal. When we love, others love.

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