Friendship: Fool vs. Foe (Jataka)

Wisdom Quarterly; E.B. Cowell (ed.), The Jataka: Stories of the Buddha's Former Births (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1895), Book 1, No. 44. "Mosquito and Carpenter" (Makassa Jataka)

Vishvakarma or "Carpenter's Cave," Ajanta/Ellora Buddhist archeological site India, has a carved cathedral-shaped ceiling giving the impression of wooden beams (nozomiiqel/CC)

  

"Senseless friends" -- A rebirth story was recounted by the Buddha while on alms round in Magadha, about certain foolish villagers in a neighboring hamlet. Tradition has it that after traveling from the prosperous city of Sāvatthi to the kingdom of Magadha [where King Bimbisara reigned], the Buddha arrived at the village with its throngs of fools. 

(science.howstuffworks.com)

These foolish villagers met together one day debating, "Friends, when we are at work in the jungle, mosquitoes devour us, which hinders our work. Arming ourselves with bows, arrows, and other weapons, let us go to war with the mosquitoes and shoot or hack them all to death." 

Off they went to the jungle shouting, "Shoot down the mosquitoes!" But they shot and struck one another until they were in a sad state and returned only to sink on the ground in or within the village or at its entrance.

  

Surrounded by the Monastic Order, the Buddha entered the village on a quest for alms. The sensible inhabitants of the village as soon as they saw the Buddha set up a pavilion at the village entrance. And after bestowing the wandering ascetics headed by the Buddha with alms, they bowed respectfully and seated themselves. 

  

Observing wounded men lying around on this side and that, the Buddha asked the monastics, "These disabled men laying about, what happened to them?" 

"Venerable sir," they explained, "they went forth bent on war with the mosquitoes, only to shoot one another and so disable themselves."
 

The Buddha then said, "This is not the first time that these foolish people have dealt out blows to themselves instead of to the mosquitoes they meant to kill. In former times, too, there were those who set out to hit a mosquito only to hit a fellow-creature instead." So saying, at the villagers' request, he told this story of the past.

(Nh53/flickr.com)

  

JATAKA 

Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisat gained his livelihood as a trader.

 

In those ancient days, in a frontier village in Kasi, there lived a number of carpenters. By chance one of them, a balding gray-haired man, was whittling away at some wood. His scalp glistened like a copper bowl as a mosquito settled on it and stung him like a dart.

 

The carpenter said to his beloved son who was sitting nearby: "Be a good boy, son. There's a mosquito stinging my head. Drive it away."

 

"Hold still, father," answered the son. "One blow will settle it."

 

Now at that very moment the Bodhisat arrived at the village to trade. And he was sitting in the carpenter's shop.

 

"Rid me of it!" cried the father.

 

"All right, father," answered the son, who was standing behind the old man raising a sharp axe intent on killing just the mosquito. He swung and cleft his father's head in two. The old man fell dead on the spot.

  

The Bodhisat, an eye-witness to this tragic event, thought to himself: "Better than having such a foolish 'friend' is having an enemy with sense, for even just the fear of human vengeance will deter from killing a person." Then he recited these lines: 
 

Senseless friends are worse than sensible foes;

Witness the son who sought the gadfly to slay,

But, poor fool, instead cleft his father's skull in two.

  

So saying the Bodhisat rose up and departed, later passing away to fare according to his karmic deserts. As for the carpenter, his body was cremated by his kinsfolk.

CONCLUSION

"Therefore, lay followers," said the Buddha, "in bygone times too there were those who, seeking to hit a mosquito, struck down a fellow-creature." This lesson ended, he pointed out the connection by identifying the rebirth: "In those days I myself was the wise and good trader who departed after repeating the stanza."

Part III. Friendship

Buddha at Sukhothai (Aidan McRae Thomson/flickr)

(Wisdom Quarterly translation, "A Brief Code of Buddhist Ethics," DN 31)
FALSE FRIENDS
..."These four, young householder, should be understood as Foes in the Guise of Friends:

1. one who borrows your possessions,
2. one who renders lip-service,
3. one who flatters,
4. one who encourages ruin.

[Why?] "In four ways, young householder, should one who borrows your possessions be understood to be a foe in the guise of a friend:

One borrows with no thought of returning,
appropriating everything.
One gives little wanting much in return.
What one must do one does out of fear.
One is always looking out for selfish ends.

"In four ways, young householder, should one who renders lip-service be understood to be an adversary disguised as a friend:

1. One speaks proudly of favors attempted in the past.
2. One makes friendly vows regarding the future.
3. One tries to gain favor with empty words.
4. One pleads inability when an opportunity to be of service actually arises.

"In four ways, young householder, should one who flatters be understood to be a foe masquerading as a friend: More on friendship

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It's okay when WE kill their children (video)

Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly, mirrored from LedaOhio5 and Helias314

WARNING: Graphic footage!
 

Obama: more of the same (BIT)

This is how we are spreading our influence in the name of spreading peace, progress, and democracy. Is this what the MIC, Obama, and NATO have in store for the world?

At one point the Arab news person is heard saying, "Those who kill their own people have lost all credibility" a reference to those involved in 9/11, which is known throughout the Arab world to have been an inside job.

When you make war, you have to kill some kids

How can anyone stand by while drones and jets bomb innocents killing 50 collaterals to every intended target? If all we can do is stand by then we cannot hypocritically cry so loudly when one of our own kills our own children!

• VeteransForPeace.org
• Occupy (Office of the Americas)
• War mistress Clinton down, almost out
• What US media won't tell us about Israel
• Senator Dan Inouye dies (see video below)

Shell of a naga monster deteriorating fast

Bush-era policies, continued and expanded by Obama, have led to the murder of over 1 million Iraqi children and civilians. It was a US war crime to target their water purification facilities. These victims of our military-industrial complex (MIC) aggression are no threat to us. But we are to them. We are to them.
 
How inhuman we must seem the longer we dehumanize them. They live, feel, die, love, work, take care of their children just as we do. Yet our government, for and by the people, has been taken over by war mongers and passive profiteers.

How many of us protested when Bush invaded in spite of the will of the American public? How many more of us did nothing, or even attached patriotic flags to our cars and homes in support of military aggression?

Now a newer better storyteller sits in the White House making excuses for the powers that be, a man who took his Nobel Peace Prize and started eight new wars with it. And what are we doing? Mourning a minor incident of military-grade killing, what our soldiers do on an average morning abroad, calling it the worst catastrophe ever.

Senator Daniel Inouye (Hawaii) outs the secret Shadow Government

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GUIDE TO MASS SHOOTINGS

Mark Follman, Gavin Aronsen, Deanna Pan (MotherJones.com); Wisdom Quarterly

A Guide to Mass Shootings in America

There have been at least 62 in the last 30 years -- and most of the killers got their guns legally.

• Never again (until the next time) 
• Why do these things happen?
• Why are 15 million Americans breathing fire?

Update, Dec. 14, 2012: On Friday morning, 27 people were killed in a shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. Among the fatalities are 20 children, six adults, and the shooter. Mother Jones is following the story closely with regular updates here.

 

It's perhaps too easy to forget how many times this has happened. The horrific mass murder at a movie theater in Colorado on July 20, another at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin on August 5, and another at a manufacturer in Minneapolis on September 27 are the latest in an epidemic of such gun violence over the last three decades. 

Since 1982, there have been at least 62 mass murders* carried out with firearms across the country, with the killings unfolding in 30 states from Massachusetts to Hawaii. MJ mapped them below, including details on the shooters' identities, the types of weapons they used, and the number of victims they injured and killed. More

Commentary

Wisdom Quarterly (EDITORIAL)

Since these are not likely "crazed lone gunman" incidents as the corporate media has reported for decades, we ask what is really going on. Manchurian Candidates are not so easy to produce and release into society. Just ask Judyth Vary Baker.

So they must serve some useful purposes. They spread fear and obedience/acceptance of police state tactics. We accept the encroachment of Orwellian surveillance and just about anything in the name of "security." 

Such horrific events are also exploited as pretexts for curtailing rights, liberties, and dissenting viewpoints. The founders realized that an armed citizenry was harder to conquer than a disarmed one. But now it isn't the British to worry about so much as their representatives in our own government. 

How easy it will now be to ban ordinary citizens from owning or possessing guns, but federal agents and "police" of all kinds keep arming themselves to the teeth. We assume it is for our protection, but FEMA camps are not for outsiders. We are the intended targets, "we the people," as every Occupy activist soon realized.

Anyone trying to free the country is in the way of those who would subvert our liberties and institute draconian measures to assure compliance. Not only will our policemen uncles but also our soldier brothers and sisters will surely turn their guns on us; it's in their training! 

• (They are almost all white males committing these mass murders, so the old shorthand "Beware of strangers" doesn't work to keep us falsely feeling safe anymore. But we can't call it racial if we're the race being named. Xenophobia says it's other, always "other.")
• Look how everyone now accepts "school lockdowns," a prison term used to break and abuse inmates in the name of security, without question. Accepts? They now demand it in the name of "security."
• Remember the founder who said something like, Those willing to give up liberty for security deserve neither and will lose both? (It was good ol' boy Ben Franklin, whose name in Israel could be translated as "Son of Frankenstein")

It is the point of their training: Practice on foreign enemies then search and destroy the "enemy within" whoever that may be. Who is it? Is it you? Is it me? We can't trust anyone! Run, hide, turn in your neighbor! Crawl and beg for your life. How could the population not stand up to this transparent set up.

Of course, we never believe anything bad about our government. We, however, have no trouble seeing the bad in other governments. So one can look in the mirror by seeing the same thing happening in China. On the same day as the Newtown shooting, a crazed man in China walked into a school (again) to slaughter children.

"Let's blame guns"? If guns were to blame, and they almost are, we should ban guns, ALL guns. But guns aren't going anywhere. There are 300,000,000 (three hundred million) in this country, a gun for everyone but the infants. And these crimes send sales soaring. What about when they are confiscated by those with the guns, the "security" forces? Then will we be safe from their enforcement schemes  

• Watch: The Year of Mass Shootings
• Mass Shootings: Maybe What We Need Is a Better Mental-Health Policy
• More Guns, More Mass Shootings—Coincidence?
• What Exactly Is a Mass Shooting, Anyway?
• "I Was a Survivor": Recalling a Mass Shooting Four Years Ago Today
• What Happened in the Newtown School Shooting
• Guns and Mass Shootings
• • Doomsday Alert: the New Noah's Ark
  • Global warming and FBI secrets
  • "The perfect storm is unfolding" 

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McDonald's goes vegetarian for India (video)

Tiffany Hsu (LATimes.com, Sept. 4, 2012) UPDATED
(NextVictim09) The evil Ronald McDimmu HamBorgir does something good for a change. (Norwegian black metal by Dimmu Borgir).

 

McDonald’s, that carnivore’s haven of beefy Big Macs and chicken McNuggets, is going vegetarian.

The fast food giant will open its first non-meat restaurant next year in India, in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar. The branch, to be located by the much-visited Golden Temple, will serve herbivore options tailored to the country’s cultural tastes, according to AFP.

 

Much of the Indian population avoids certain types of meat. Hindus consider cows sacred and don’t eat beef, while Muslims avoid pork. Indian McDonald’s restaurants already feature much less meat than the chain’s locations in other countries.
 

The company’s bestseller in India is the McAloo Tikki burger, which features a fried potato patty and is responsible for a quarter of sales. The chain has fewer than 300 branches in India -- a growing market for fast food that has already attracted competitors such as Subway, KFC and more.

  

Research in recent years suggest that Indians spend a quarter of their income on food, compared to the 1.5% they shell out for health issues.

  

Next up: Another vegetarian McDonald’s planned for Katra, a town near the Hindu pilgrimage site of Vaishno Devi.

The company has long customized menus to its host country. There are kosher McDonald’s in Israel and Buenos Aires, McBaguettes in France, McArabia pita-style sandwiches in the Middle East and more. More

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Disneyland: Police State (Anaheim)

Ashley Wells, Pfc. Sandoval, Pat Macpherson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; The Secret Store

 

DISNEYLAND LAND, California ­­- The happiest place on Earth is within the city limits of a police state, the City of Anaheim. Disneyland itself, as a wealthy and influential private corporation, has always been run by its own authoritarian rules. It's a small and Orwellian world after all, and business is business. But that fantasy used to end at the gate.
   
Now it extends onto the streets. The Tragic Kingdom is located in a city divided between One Percenters catering to a vacationers from all over the world in pricey hotel chains and everyone else (the 99%). Many of the hotel workers are holed up in substandard but overpriced dwellings. Underpaid and overworked, the common person ekes out a living to serve the corporations. And the police keep them in line. Welcome to Orange County.

Mini, Mike, and Walt welcome you. Bring money.

 

In a rising trend all across America, police state tactics are becoming the norm: stop and frisk, "shoot-to-kill first, ask questions later," SWAT teams, mass arrests, crowd control tactics that treat every gathering as a "riot," secret police, the mass incarceration of Hispanic and African-American citizens by design...

• PHOTOS: What approved police abuse looks like (shooting at girls, children, moms, etc.)
• VIDEO: Anaheim shootings and their aftermath

Anaheim unleashes "riot" tactics (LA Times)

Now news outlets repeat the Newspeak: "officer-involved shootings" (police murdering innocent "suspects"). "There will be an internal investigation" (some police will look into what other police, often their friends, have done and say they find it within department policy, necessitating a federal investigation and civil lawsuits).
  
This time it's personal. Family members are outraged and are demonstrating in front of the police. You murdered our sons in cold blood with the flimsiest of excuse:

• "He was running away, so I had to shoot him in the head!"
• "He was guilty of being dark skinned, so I felt threatened."
• "I thought I recognized him as a bad guy, naturally I had to kill him."
• "We didn't get our sensitivity training, so you know this is like 'standard operating procedure' among the guys in the locker room down at the station."

Welcome to Anaheim; now get on your knees!

Do Anaheim residents have a right to complain about gross police misconduct? If they don't like how the police treat them, why don't they move to nearby Fullerton (where a police gang beat a homeless man to death  for the fun of beating a helpless victim they didn't think anyone would care or complain about)?
  
Or why not head west to Los Angeles County where an understaffed LAPD -- with only 10,000 officers -- shows the rest of the nation how aggressive policing is done with impunity?
  
Police executed a man for having the audacity to run away from undercover thug with badges. It wasn't enough to shoot him in the buttocks, for the crime of running away, they took it to a whole new level by shooting him through the head after he was subdued. Why? Why not? Shooting is fun. Extrajudicial executions are fun, and you get a paid vacation while an "investigation" (wink-wink) is being conducted.

The community rose up, and police reacted like a totalitarian force in defense of their comrade's gross misconduct. That wasn't enough. Shooting less-than-lethal munitions at families, siccing a marauding K-9 officer on innocent bystanders (he got away by "accident," they explain), declaring an unlawful assembly (as the video above shows) and repeatedly firing into the crowd -- but it's okay because they're Hispanic.
  
Then the next night the same department executed another suspect, no questions asked. These are fatal, officer-initiated shootings. This one was different because it had the excuse that the suspect shot first ensuring his demise. Did he shoot first? Who knows. An officer only needs to claim that that's what happened and no one will disagree. In fact, they'll come to his defense in every way they can. Mickey Mouse would be proud.
  
Anaheim police department out of control

Do what the corporation says...or else.

Sunday's shooting came the same weekend that Manuel Angel Diaz, 25, was shot to death by an officer in an East Anaheim neighborhood.
  
Authorities said Diaz was shot in the 700 block of North Anna Drive after running from police, but they did not reveal what led to the shooting. The incident prompted protests from residents, who [allegedly] threw [empty water] bottles and [pebbles in the general direction of] police [necessitating a draconian reaction of gunfire, riot tactics, arrests, and an all out show of force with a helicopter and additional deputized Sheriff back up]. A makeshift memorial marks the site where Diaz was shot, with dozens of candles, flowers, and signs -- most of which are critical of police. One read: "There's blood on their badges." Said another: "Stop killing, start protecting." More

• OccupyLA
• Occupy (Anaheim) Together

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"Killing Buddha" - the movie (video)

Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly

(CFL) Betsy Chasse, co-writer/producer of "What the Bleep Do We Know?!," on her latest independent film, "Killing Buddha."

There is a horrific Mahayana Buddhist expression that -- going against the very heart of Theravada Buddhist sentiment -- runs: “If you see the Buddha on the road, [blank] him.”
     
There are, after all, only five heinous deeds with fixed karmic results: (1) intentionally harming a buddha, (2) matricide, (3) patricide, (4) killing an arhat, (5) or causing a schism in the Sangha.
  
The consequence is rebirth in the most dismal subhuman plane of existence (avici) in the very next rebirth. Cultivating the intention to perform one of these unimaginable acts is mental karma that goes on to become a verbal act of encouraging others. What does it mean?

It is meant to be facetious, ironic, and shocking: “Do not follow teachers; do not set up others on a pedestal; depend on yourself; be a light/island (dipa) unto yourself, taking no teacher other than the Dharma itself as an idol or savior.”
   
An American famous for creating “What the Bleep Do We Know?” is setting her sights on Buddhism. Betsy Chasse was perplexed by the message “You are the one you've been waiting for.” But it came to her through what has become a Mahayana commandment of sorts:
  

Linji the shocking iconoclast

“Embrace Nothing. If you meet the Buddha, k*ll the Buddha… only live your life as it is, not bound to anything.” This saying is attributed to iconoclastic Linji, the 9th century founder of the Linji School of Chán (Chinese jhana) Buddhism.
   

Linji's famous sayings

“Followers of the Way [of Chán], if you want to get the kind of understanding that accords with the Dharma, never be misled by others. Whether you're facing inward or facing outward, whatever you meet up with, just kill it! If you meet a [fully awakened] buddha, kill the buddha. If you meet a patriarch, kill the patriarch. If you meet an arhat, kill the arhat. If you meet your parents, kill your parents. If you meet your kinfolk, kill your kinfolk. Then for the first time you will gain emancipation, will not be entangled with things, will pass freely anywhere you wish to go” (Burston Watson, 1999, The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Chi: A Translation of the Lin-chi lu, p. 52).

  

“Those who have fulfilled the 10 stages of bodhisattva-practice are no better than hired field hands; those who have attained the enlightenment of the 51st and 52nd stages are prisoners shackled and bound; arhats and non-teaching buddhas are so much filth in the latrine; bodhi and nirvana are hitching posts for donkeys” (Ibid., p. 26). 

    
The Next "What the Bleep?!"  
Chasse wants help. She is asking the public (through crowdfundinglive.com) to participate in this project at any level. Watch videos from the set, look at behind the scenes footage, chat online with the cast and the film makers, and more. She is exchanging these enticements for funding.
   

While distributing What The Bleep Do We Know?! Chasse was honored to travel the world talking about the film. The most common question people asked was, “How did a broke, out of work, spiritually unconscious, material Valley Girl who was into sex, tequila, and expensive shoes end up being a writer, director and producer of What the Bleep Do We Know!?”
   
Sometimes it takes the most unlikely of people in the most unusual of circumstances to create something that touches the world like “Bleep” did. The story Chasse told was so funny and resonated with so many people that she decided to write a film about it, a comedy called “Killing Buddha.” 
  

About-Team-Financial-Media-Updates-Funders-Comments

  

Synopsis

When life is chaotic we are forced to change. This is a lesson successful film producer Sara Wells reluctantly learns when her seemingly perfect life comes crashing down. Desperate for work, she takes on a documentary project about spirituality and the new thought movement. Will “Killing Buddha” mark her triumphant return to the riches she thinks her life once contained?
  
Or will she and her mismatched crew of seekers, believers, and cynics find that ultimately it’s not what you have and what you believe in, but who you become that counts? Think “Bridget Jones gets hired to shoot a documentary about finding the meaning of life.”
   
Funny and lighthearted, “Killing Buddha” is a mainstream comedy that is set to include interviews with some of today's greatest pop spiritual teachers -- Deepak Chopra, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, and others interacting with the actors as they shoot this “film within the film.”
   

Why make the film?

“Killing Buddha” is a reminder that everything we seek can be found within ourselves. More

• VIDEO: Betsy Chasse interview on Cutting Edge Consciousness
• The four most important civil rights hero(ine)s today 
• Dr. Coldwell's 3-day Success Bootcamp
  

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World's Largest Crocodile.

A monster 21-foot (6.4-metre) saltwater crocodile, believed to be the biggest ever captured, has been trapped in the southern Philippines after a spate of fatal attacks, officials said Tuesday.

James: The giant croc weighs in over a ton!! Yet, what interested me most was that the people in the village chose not to kill the beast despite its violent past. They decided instead to build a nature park to include the crocodile to increase eco-tourism to the area and protect a species that has been over-hunted in the area. I applaud their efforts to make a tragic situation less tragic for all involved. There are unfortunately a lot of people in this world who would have killed that animal and displayed it like a grotesque trophy, so I bow in deep gratitude to those villagers in the Philippines. May their example lead to better and better treatment of animals in this world.

We are reminded by the Buddha that we are interconnected to all living beings, so animals are no different than our cousins. Thus, when ever possible they should be treated with the same compassion and care that one would show a human being. Sadly, however, some society's still allow the death penalty in certain criminal cases--including, unfortunately, my country of the United States. So, the plight of a misunderstood carnivore, such as the crocodile, is even less of a concern. Hopefully, however, we can continue to raise awareness that we can protect ourselves from dangerous animals without killing them all.

~Peace to all beings~

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The Death of Osama bin Laden and the Middle-Path of Buddhism.

(World War II Holocaust memorial in San Francisco, California, USA.Photo by Victor Zhang).

James: I believe that we should avoid killing 99.9% of the time but sometimes it's unavoidable. However, I believe we must walk the middle-path between killing out of vengeance and killing to protect and save countless other lives. Osama bin Laden was a threat to innocent lives the world over and sometimes killing one person is the right action to protect millions. I think it comes down to what action causes the most suffering; letting a dangerous mass murdering terrorist to roam freely, killing at will, or killing that terrorist to protect the rest of the world?

In other words, avoiding the extremes of indulgence in everything from eating too much food to being cavalier about violence and death. Then there is the opposite extreme of avoidance of all pleasures in life. As well as, living in denial that we live in a violent world that sometimes requires a rigorous but measured defense against those who would enslave and murder thousands of innocent lives. Imagine if everyone in the world said during World War II that violence is never justified and Hitler was allowed to continue his brutal invasions of country after country. And, that, he would continue and expand his operations to murder millions of innocent Jews in gas chambers and by execution squads. In that instance, it seems crystal clear that to just sit in meditation and avoid an exploding world while hellish forces seek to enslave the globe, kill anyone not like them in mass numbers and cause untold amounts of suffering to men, women, children and old people is an extreme position to hold.

We can not sit in far-removed cloisters and monasteries and look down upon that kind of suffering with a detached view to avoid violence at all costs. How is it compassionate to allow the entire world to be plunged into a hellish realm of global warfare and extreme suffering out of an absolutist attitude against violence? Is that the approach we should take if we come along an adult raping a child or attempting to violently hurt them? Is it really compassionate to just look the other way and ignore that kind of suffering? That seems completely nihilistic to me. There is a famous poem about avoidance in the face of unrelenting violence and absolute suffering. It was written by Pastor Martin Niemöller who sought to describe the dangers of inactivity by German intellectuals during the rise and reign of terror by the Nazis:

First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.

James: I believe that being interconnected means being responsible for the suffering of others. This isn't simply about not hurting others but includes helping those in need when they are suffering at the hand of others. And, ending the suffering of those being murdered in their beds at night by terrorism or mass murdered in gas chambers by Nazis falls within that field of being responsible for their suffering. If we are called upon to help end suffering of others than we can't absolutely, categorically avoid violence.

We are to respect life but not cling to it at all costs. The same for death, thus, the importance of the middle-path. I believe it is one of the most important, helpful and practical teachings the Buddha taught to assist us in living in a complicated world. Still, as I said, violence should only be used when all other means of solving violence are extinguished. And, it should never be done with hatred in your heart. It should only be used to protect the greater populations of innocent beings. And, I believe that one's intention behind the violence is vital. If it is out of protection of innocents then I believe that it causes less heavy karma than doing so out of glee or hatred. Also, when violence is necessary, it should be done with as much compassion as possible. That may sound strange but let me explain; when having to kill, one shouldn't maim or torture in the process.

It's not something to rejoice in, or celebrate though I must admit I felt a twinge of joy when I heard Osama was dead. I'm not perfect and I have since tried to temper my emotions in regards to his death. It's a horrible thing to have to kill another being but this world isn't as clear cut as "good or evil." The teaching of the middle path shows that life requires a more nuanced approach to events that often requires actions we may dislike.

Perhaps some might see this as odd considering I'm a vegetarian but animals do nothing to harm us or cause us suffering. Whereas, mass murderers, terrorists and armies bent on world domination threaten all of us. If we truly believe in interconnection then a threat to one person is a threat to us all. I know some purists will disagree with me but I do think rare violence is justified if it avoids the suffering of masses of innocent lives. Something else to consider, even the most Buddhist countries on Earth like Thailand and Korea have a military. Unfortunately, we can't pretend to live in a world that is rainbows and unicorns. There are violent people out to destroy millions of lives and to allow them to do so would be extremely nihilistic.

Still, violence should be avoided in 99.9% of circumstances. I don't support war just to go to war such as the Iraq war but there are times, I believe, that we must act in order to avoid the greatest amount of suffering (World War II). I know some of you might think this doesn't make me a very good Buddhist but I think it's being realistic. I feel it's walking the middle path of balance and reason to deal with a very complicated world that requires avoiding absolutism. I know this is a sensitive topic and I don't mind if you disagree with me. However, I would hope that my readers are mature enough to discuss this matter without resorting to insults. Please, be as respectful as you would want people to be toward you.

~Peace to all beings~

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Illinois Becomes 16th State to Abolish Death Penalty.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed a death penalty ban into law on Wednesday, making Illinois the 16th state to end capital punishment. Quinn also commuted the sentences of the 15 inmates on death row in the state. Instead, they will serve life in prison without parole. The ban on executions will take effect July 1. -by Jennifer Epstein for Politico.

James: State sponsored killed is the wrong way to show people that killing is wrong. Seriously, why do we kill people to show other people that killing is wrong? I believe that life in prison without the possibility of parole is a just, yet humane punishment as it avoids that taking of a life while ensuring that they will never kill again. It also gives them plenty of time to think about the horror and pain that they have caused.

They say that time heals all wounds, and I think there is some truth to that phrase. I've seen plenty of documentaries about men on death row who are older now and speak of how much they regret their previous actions. I've seen hardened criminals cry like a baby as an old man at the suffering they causes for their victims, themselves and the criminal's family.

Ending the death penalty is also a cheaper policy than maintaining a death row. As it turns out, it's ten times cheaper despite most people thinking the opposite says Donald McCartin, a former California jurist know as, "The Hanging Judge of Orange County." This from an article by the Associated Press.

And, what of the moral cost to the individuals that we task with the actual killing of the prisoner? I saw a documentary on the death penalty that interviewed several former executioners for prisons who are now emotionally scarred and experiencing nightmares from their former, grisly jobs. If we couldn't kill a person ourselves then how can we ask someone to do it for us and act like that blood isn't on our hands? And, what of the innocent blood that has surely been spilled from executing an innocent person? It seems we can't go a month without hearing someone being exonerated from prison after 20-30 years thanks to DNA evidence.

We can not hope to heal our society of violence when we are sanctioning it's practice in our name via capital punishment. It is my hope that all states in the U.S. move in this enlightened direction.

~Peace to all beings~

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Animal Cruelty. Enough is Enough.

WARNING: If you are sensitive to any description of animal abuse then you might not want to read this post.

If you don't know by now, there has been a massive meat recall here in America because of treatment of sick and crippled cows. There was an undercover investigation at a slaughter house including hidden video which showed horrific and inexcusable treatment. I didn't want to post the video here on this blog but if you really want to see this disgusting video then click here. I warn you though that the images are very disturbing and shocking. Don't see watch this video if children are present and can see the screen. It is not fit for children's eyes. It's not even fit for the eyes of adults but those who are perhaps a bit out of touch as to what goes on in slaughterhouses--I suggest you watch it.

In one part a crippled co is picked up by a forklift and dumped later onto the ground from about 4 feet in the air. Other clips from the video show lame, undernourished cattle being poked and prodded with an electric pole. Still another shot shows a worker kicking a crippled cow in the head over and over. In addition it shows a cow lying on the ground being pulled across the ground by it's leg which has been tied to a chain in an awkward and clearly painful manner. Then there is footage of cows being blasted in the eyes and noses with high power water hoses which keeps them from being able to breath properly and ends up drowning some.

Not only are these animals being treated with the most cruel intentions possible but their meat is possibly very dangerous as their sick and cripple bodies lie in their own fecal matter which can contaminate the meat with salmonella, mad cow disease and e-coli just to name a few.

The news agencies are reporting that these animals aren't being slaughtered in a humane way which begs the question, "How is there a humane way to slaughter an animal?" In my opinion there is no humane way to kill animals because it is murder in my eyes. Would we consider killing and eating the flesh or another human being humane and justified? Absolutely not and so if you believe in interconnection then we are in fact not only killing animals when we eat meat but also killing apart of ourselves in the process--not the least of which being our compassion and love for all beings.

The company has a contract with the government to ship the meat to schools for children's lunches as well as used to feed the needy and elderly. It is shameful that American tax payer dollars have been paying this company as the business has been abusing these animals and as if this incident wasn't bad enough, this kind of practice occurs in many slaughter houses across the country.

When will we stop abusing and torturing our animal friends who have at one time been our brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers and children if you believe in rebirth and inter-being. I am not here to condemn those who are meat eaters but let me just say this one thing, think about that meat which you are eating and sincerely ask yourself, "Could I kill the animal who's flesh and muscle I am eating?" If the answer is no then you might want to make a change in your eating habits. I know I'm being a bit in your face meat eaters with this post but I needed to speak up on the animal abuse that goes on every minute of every day.

Avoiding eating meat is in keeping with Right Livelihood because if everyone stopped eating meat then no one would have to work in the business of killing animals. Buddha didn't mandate that Buddhist be vegetarians but it is strongly recommended to avoid adding to the suffering of all sentient beings. In specific, the Mahayana branch of Buddhism urges those wishing to follow the Bodhisattva path to avoid eating meat to build more compassion in one's heart.

In this day and age there are plenty of eating options that still give you plenty of protein without having to eat meat. If you want to know of some of those ideas then email me and I will give you some suggestions.

~Peace to all beings~

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