Meditating-in the New Year (video)

Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly

Buddha under a fiery Bodhi tree as Mara and yakkhas attack (manicksorcar.com)

Buddhist New Year's celebration with shamans in Far East Russian Buryatia (Sky News)
   

Bye-bye 2012 mudra

To meditate or ring in the New Year? Dating a person from Asia, I learned a momentous thing: I was assured that it is a well known and ancient belief that what one does on New Year's Day that is what one will be doing for the year. It makes sense.

 

We're always trying to be happy. So we try to be happiest on New Year's eve. But what we think is happy is sometimes nothing more than excess and avoiding. What if there were a way to meditate-in the New Year?

Bangkok (torchrelay.beijing2008.cn)

There is. Los Angeles has three specific opportunities and an uncounted number of US temples that will be visited tonight and tomorrow morning.

SHAMBHALA will hold an open sit from 4:00 pm to midnight. It's not eight hours of straight sitting. There's a celebratory dinner, a video by the "Sakyan" (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche's son and heir), walking, and lots of socializing.

AGAINST THE STREAM is following tradition with its New Year's eve "Intention Setting" ceremony. It begins in Santa Monica, ends early, and is repeated in Hollywood on Melrose, which goes into the New Year. There are helicopters, gunfire, fireworks, and a humorous stream of intentions said aloud as candles are lit and Noah Levine gives an encouraging talk.

SELF REALIZATION FELLOWSHIP also holds its annual welcoming the New Year meditation in Glendale in honor of founder Pramahansa Yogananda, Babajii, and the saints of all religions.

• Transformational Speakers (Season 8, The Aware Show)

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KARMA CLASS: My Tongue Fu

Seth Auberon and Amber Dorrian and Seven, "Karma Class," Wisdom Quarterly

"Take that, #$%@%!" "Sticks and stones, @#$%-&)(@r!, sticks and stones!" (cpa.psu.edu)

  

Ever notice that, judging by the Ten Courses of Unwholesome Karma (Action), the most dangerous part of a person is his or her tongue?

  

The mind as the source of intention, and therefore karma, is capable of many misleading deeds. (Intention means what we will to do, not what we wish would happen as a result of doing). The body misbehaves, too. But it is the tongue that we really need to watch out for.

"How can I say this more skillfully?"

Intentional actions merely constitute "karma" (action with the capacity to bring about results in the future). The Buddha singled out these ten as "courses." That is, they are conduct capable of guiding one to an unfortunate rebirth all by themselves.

How? If they come to fruition around the time of passing from one existence to the next, they may serve as the basis of rebirth-linking-consciousness. They act as a corridor, a course, a fairway, a path, a set of wardens dragging one along to some unwished for destination.

"I was worried for a moment," we may say, "but thank goodness I don't actually believe in rebirth in any literal sense." We have three choices: Annihilationism, Eternalism, or the Middle Way that avoids both of these extremes in view. Are we only physical and therefore die utterly at death? Then we can do whatever we want and expect no result. Are we eternal with both physical and beyond-physical components? Then we should plant seeds of future experience we want growing and avoid those unwished for ones. The Buddha actually rejected both points of view, science vs. religion. Beings are not technically eternal but the stream-of-being will go on and on without no foreseeable end until it is brought to an end as unsatisfactoriness comes to an end. The view that there is nothing before and nothing to follow is patently mistaken and a very dangerous view to hold, one that in and of itself can lead to catastrophic results. That is, however, where most Westerners rest their bets, relying on professors and unseen scientists as their authorities. (Fortunately, try as we might, few of us actually believe that we came from nothing only to go to nothing.) Few have insight into the liberating Middle Way the historical Buddha taught.

  

Of the ten three are bodily, three are mental, whereas four are verbal. We can hardly help the way we think, our patterns having become so ingrained that we feel helpless against them. Even our bodies seem to react by instinct, by genetics, by physiology, and the habitual patterns we have trained them in. But the mouth and the deadly weapon in it! They are all ways of expressing intention (the will to carry out some act aiming for a desired end):

1. taking life
2. taking what is not given
3. misconduct with regard to sensual pleasures
4. false speech
5. slanderous speech
6. harsh speech
7. idle speech
8. covetousness
9. ill will
10. wrong view

The questions to ask, then, regard practical definitions for these ten. They are not self-explanatory. The Buddha had something very specific in mind. As with other lists, that information is packed away. Only when the information is unpacked do the lists suddenly seem useful. What is the Path?

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Intention Experiment: science of spirituality

Lynne McTaggart (TheIntentionExperiment.com); Amber Dorrian, Wisdom Quarterly

This is a book without an ending. The Intention Experiment, which was voted a Top Amazon 100 by readers and is now a worldwide sensation, is the first book to provide full scientific evidence for the power of human intention. It is also the first book to invite readers to take an active part in its original research. The book seeks to answer the most fundamental question left open by The Field: If we are all connected, all one, can our thoughts and intentions affect and change the world and things out there in the world? More

• Lynne McTaggart, author of The Bond: How to Fix Your Falling-Down World, appears on The Aware Show today and soon on a free teleseminar call. She's found something more powerful than intention.

For centuries Western science and cultures have taught us to think of ourselves as "individuals." But a revolutionary new understanding is emerging: What matters is not the isolated entity but the space between things, the relationship. The "bond." It challenges the way we conceive of ourselves and our world. It also shows us that the essential impulse of all life is a will to connect rather than a drive to compete.

U.S. Attorney General is [a criminal] in contempt

(NPR) In a dramatic showdown between the branches of the U.S. government, the Republican-led House voted along party lines to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. This is the first time in history... droves of Democratic lawmakers protested by walking out of the House chambers... [in] disgust. Now the criminal contempt charge is referred to the U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia. In other words, Holder's own Justice Department will decide how to proceed. More

• The Nation: Scalia's broken Moral Compass...approximately 83 percent of Americans are affiliated with an organized faith, be it a form of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism... 
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Zen Master Seung Sahn on Abortion.

Previously I had only known Zen master Seung Sahn through short YouTube clips but I was enlightened by what I heard. However, just before we left for a vacation in Costa Rica, I wanted to find a book that would help me stay grounded despite all the activity we'd be experiencing.

We all enjoy fun but given the reality of samsara, even the most enjoyable activity can become a source of suffering after too much indulgence. I don't necessarily believe in fate, (though I do believe in karma) but when selecting a book I couldn't find any of the half a dozen books that I was searching for at the local bookstore.

So, I wandered over to the Buddhist section as is my customary starting point when I don't have a specific book in mind. I perused the various ones taking time to flip through the pages and soaking up the relaxing smell of crisp paper. After going through several books I discovered Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn's book, "Wanting Enlightenment is a BIG MISTAKE."

I immediately performed my test of a book I haven't researched ahead of time. I flipped through the book to random pages to see if it caught my attention. After several minutes passed I realized that I had started reading the book from the beginning, and so I knew my decision was made up. This book is very easy to read but is full of teachings that will have you contemplating even the seemingly simplest teachings. Seung Sahn was never afraid of controversy, blunt speaking or odd language when the lesson required such behavior.

As one of his students said of his broken English, "You had to drop underneath his words to grasp his true meaning." I have found during my nearly decade long practice that the best Buddhist teachings come across in the fewest words.It is full of short but powerful teachings on everything a modern society struggles with. Including abortion, which is too often a topic that is avoided in Buddhist circles. During a visit to Poland a student asked the master if abortion was wrong. Seung Sahn first emphasized the first precept against killing is to be taken into consideration but that hte most important thing to consider in making such a decision is why do you do something?

"So what kind of direction do you have? Why would you abort this baby? Determining that clearly in your mind is most important. Whether or not you go to jail is not the way to decide this. The only thing that must be clear is why or why not you would have this abortion. Of course this baby is a human being. He goes on to tell the story of a person has to decide what to tell a hunter, which direction the rabbit he is pursuing went. "But if your direction for keeping the precepts is to truly liberate all beings from suffering, then you will maybe tell a lie. Our teaching says that you must not kill, especially human beings. But when a bad man comes and hurt many people, a policeman sometimes kills that person. But this policeman is not killing for himself, because of his own angry mind. His action of killing is to save sentient beings from suffering.

Every day, between seven and eight thousand people die from one or two diseases alone. Every day. No food, no clothes, no house. Babies are suffering. Why make all this suffering for babies? So, whether or not babies should be born is not the point. Instead, what is human beings' correction direction? How does this action help other beings? That is great love. That is great compassion.

James: This was my general thesis for being supportive of a woman's right to choose but it's nice to have a recognized Zen teacher underline the point. I believe that sometimes bringing a baby into the world actually causes more suffering for all involved than not. If the baby will simply be born addicted to crack or already dying from HIV/AIDs then to abort them would be in my view the compassionate thing to do. Or what if the child is born but like many become stuck in the cycle of foster homes--many of, which are abusive and neglectful as the parents are simply looking for the check they get from the government to care for the child/children.

Of course, not all foster parents are this way but enough to be a concern. Another concern is if giving birth to a child will endanger the life of a mother who has several children already. Is the life of the unborn child important enough to kill the mother of the three kids already living? In this case it would seem the greatest suffering would be from the several children left without a mother. Including then the newborn.

This all said, sometimes the less suffering choice is to indeed have the child. I like that Master Sahn said not to think about it as "good" or "evil" but why? This is the idea of Right Intention where an action doesn't necessarily cause one less skillful karma if the intention wasn't to cause suffering in the first place. Such as a young child (4-5 years old) who distracts their parent enough to cause a car crash, which kills them. It isn't that child's fault because his/her intention wasn't to kill their parent. All in all this book is amazing and despite it being a quick read it is full of great teachings, wisdom, laughter and insight. It is also a great desk reference book, so keep this one handy in your collection. I've give it 10 out of 10--it really was one of the best Dharma books I've read, and I've read many.

~Peace to all beings~

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Buddhism and Homosexuality.

According to the ancient Indian understanding, homosexuals were thought of simply as being 'the third nature' (tritiya prakti), rather than as perverted, deviant or sick. With its emphasis on psychology and cause and effect, Buddhism judges acts, including sexual acts, primarily by the intention (cetana) behind them and the effect they have.

We will now briefly examine the various objections to homosexuality and give Buddhist rebuttals to them. The most common Christian and Muslim objection to homosexuality is that it is unnatural and "goes against the order of nature". There seems to be little evidence for this. Miriam Rothschild, the eminent biologist who played a crucial role in the fight to decriminalize homosexuality in Britain, pointed out at the time that homosexual behaviour has been observed in almost every known species of animal. Secondly, it could be argued that while the biological function of sex is reproduction, most sexual activity today is not for reproduction, but for recreation and emotional fulfillment, and that this too is a legitimate function of sex.

Theravada Buddhist countries like Sri Lanka and Burma had no legal statutes against homosexuality between consenting adults until the colonial era when they were introduced by the British. Thailand, which had no colonial experience, still has no such laws. This had led some Western homosexuals to believe that homosexuality is quite accepted in Buddhist countries of South and South-east Asia. This is certainly not true. In such countries, when homosexuals are thought of at all, it is more likely to be in a good-humored way or with a degree of pity. Certainly the loathing, fear and hatred that the Western homosexual has so often had to endure is absent and this is due, to a very large degree, Buddhism's humane and tolerant influence. This has not always been the case though as the Dalai Lama and Tibetan Buddhism has had a different view on homosexuality.

At a press conference in 1997 the Dalai Lama said; 'From a Buddhist point of view (lesbian and gay sex)...is generally considered sexual misconduct.' As soon as he realized what he had done he immediately back-peddled. He called a meeting with gay and lesbian representatives, during which he expressed the 'willingness to consider the possibility that some of the teachings may be specific to a particular cultural and historic context'.

The truth is that while the Dalai Lama is one of the kindest people imaginable, he is also a very traditional Tibetan in many ways – and traditional Tibetan culture, like most cultures, has very skewed and confused ideas about homosexuality. Tibetan Buddhism does not derive its ideas about homosexuality from the earliest teachings of the Buddha but from Mahayana sutras and sastras, the earliest of which dates from approximately 500 year after the Buddha. By this time Indian Buddhists were being influenced by various popular Indian notions and incorporating them into their understanding of the Dhamma; sometimes with not very happy results. One such notion was the idea that sexual acts could be judged right or wrong depending on 'place, person and orifice.'

Exactly how does the law of kamma distinguish one orifice from another? Other problems arise when we realize that many male homosexuals practice intercural sex and mutual masturbation rather than penetrative sex. And exactly which sexual organ do lesbians use to penetrate the vagina of their partner? The Dalai Lama is also reported to have said that he had difficulty imagining the mechanics of homosexual sex, saying that nature had arranged male and female organs 'in such a manner that is very suitable...same-sex organs cannot manage well.'

With all due respect to the Dalai Lama, and I do have the highest respect for him, this statement shows both his ignorance and naivety concerning sex, and I might add, of some aspects of the Dhamma as well. What on earth have Buddhist ethical judgments got to do with two body-parts fitting together 'properly' or not? I often clean my ear with my finger despite it not fitting into my ear canal very well. Does this mean I make negative kamma every time I clean my ear?

James: And we must remember that monks have their own sexual code that has more restrictions than for the laity.

~Peace to all beings~

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