Buddhism and Sin

The Buddhist challenge to conventional Western notions of spirituality illuminates the way we set flesh and spirit at war with each other. In Buddhism there is no original sin.

Although noticing how we express our sexuality can certainly lead to an awareness of right conduct, the flesh is not regarded as representing a corruption or punishment of any kind, nor as an obstacle to the attainment of enlightenment.

The root of human suffering is not sin, but our confusion about ego. We suffer because we believe in the existence of an individual self. This belief splits the world into "I" and "other."

- Stephen Butterfield, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Vol. I, #4

James: This is something that really rings true for me. There is no emphasis upon guilt in Buddhism as there is no one that is going to "punish" us for "sin." I like the idea that we are our own "saviors" and "judges" so to speak. In Buddhism, If we wish to engage in actions that are less skillful, (whether sexual or others wise) then that is absolutely our choice and no personal Supreme Being is going to condemn us for it.

Yet just like smoking usually shortens ones physical life, less skillful actions will most likely prolong our future lives within samsara. It just all depends on how much progress one wants to progress toward realizing Nirvana. So in that regard rebirth is compassionate as it gives us as many chances as we need. Some believe rebirth to be cruel, that we have to redo the suffering in life over and over but that is only because we choose to stay in that cycle of rebirth and death.

In addition, not everyone has the same karma and some lessons of samsara might be easy for one person and difficult for others and vice versa.

We are the masters of our own destiny and path and sometimes we need to take side-tracks in order to be convinced that the path we were on was more direct.

PHOTO: Yab-Yum (Tibetan for "mother-father"). It is a symbol showing a male deity in sexual union with his female consort. The image of male and female united as one in intimacy is a powerful (and sometimes overtly "shocking") symbol to depict the natural transcendental unity of all things. It is also meant to be symbolic of the important and strong union between wisdom/insight (consort) and compassion (deity).

~Peace to all beings~

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My Teachers, the Leaves

The last few weeks have been very difficult for me and my wife. Things have been very stressful with a lot of problems swirling around our minds from financial problems due to my schizo-affective illness, Medicare dropping my insurance plan and trouble with my medications. I have found myself having bad reactions to my new medicine, Wellbutrin. It has been making me too stimulated and left me bordering on full blown mania. I have been quick to anger while taking it, to the point of being enraged over the littlest things. I wanted to give the Wellbutrin (or Hellbutrin as I call it) some extra time to work itself out because it has less side effects than other anti-depressants

That uncontrolled rage scared me since I haven't experienced that for years as I've been relatively stable with my long-time drug regiment. It was a major red flag that signaled the end of my patience toward the newly introduced drug. My psychiatrist wasn't convinced at first that I should go off the medicine but my therapist/councilor persuaded him to change his mind. So today is the fourth day off Wellbutrin and I feel much better. I feel much more stable emotionally and better prepared to deal with the stressful matters in my life mentioned above.

The other issue is that I got out of my meditation routine and haven't sat on the cushion in weeks. So right after I post this I am going to get back on track and meditate. I am going to do a metta meditation for others and myself to help heal and recover from the devastating events of the last few weeks. As well as help me win some breathing room to better deal with the continuing problems. That being said, sometimes meditation can make things worse if you're engaging in it out of a feeling of obligation, guilt or force. Sometimes it is better when you are feeling really angry to try and calm down through taking a walk/other exercise, read a peaceful book or other activities then meditate with the wrong intention. You don't want to come to resent the practice.

I have let the weight of the weeks events crush my happiness and it has left me in a place where I have been vulnerable and given in to self-pity. So today I began to dig myself out of the pit of defeatism by doing something for someone else. This time of year in Colorado, USA we experience a season called fall/autumn which sees a drop in temperature and crisp, dead, golden and auburn colored leaves falling off the trees, piling up to create drifts. So I tied on my shoes, went outside and began to rake up the leaves scattered across our lawn and my two neighbors lawns. We live in small houses that are all connected with a shared tract of land in the back but three separate, little front yards. Our neighbors are all elderly and the one man is very sick and needs oxygen.

It felt really good to forget myself and just clear up the lawns of the leaves. The minute I stepped outside, the fresh air invigorated my body and mind and brought the present moment sharp into focus. There was a slight breeze blowing around, making the vividly colored leaves dance in front of me. I smiled watching the performance and began to mindfully rake the fallen foliage. As I pulled the rake back and forth across the ground my self-pity began to fade away to be replaced by love of the beautiful nature just meters outside my front door. Then I felt gratitude fill my heart that I have decent health to help my neighbors with the yard work. I delighted in the soothing sound of the light, fluffy, rustling leaves being constructed into orderly piles. I breathed deeply and mindfully as I picked up clusters of leaves and placed them into the waste container.
How funny I thought that we call dead leaves, "waste" when they are still very useful. When piled up they are great fun for children, dogs (and fun loving adults) to jump into. It is like jumping into a large heap of feathers or what I imagine jumping into a large heap of feathers would be like.
Leaves also make great fertilizer in the spring, so no, they are not "waste." The wasteful activity in regards to dead leaves would be not to recycle them for plant fuel. Luckily our city picks up the "yard waste" and deposits it into a large compost pile at a recycling center where the finished fertilizer can be bought in the spring.

I gave of myself freely today and yet I feel like I gained much more. I am always pleasantly surprised at how many teachers there are waiting to help us if we just open our eyes through mindfulness and see with honest awareness. So many times over the last few weeks I was so self-absorbed that I didn't realize I was walking right over the top of my patiently waiting helpers and teachers, the leaves. It is like going on a great trek to the top of a mountain to visit a great teacher for wisdom, advice and peace while in the mean time we become annoyed by the rocks, tree branches, streams and leaves that seem to block our path on the way to the top.

Finally when we reach the top we tell the great teacher how hard our journey was and how difficult it was to reach him. Telling him how annoying the branches and rocks were on the way up making our trip more difficult. And maybe we would even get angry at him for not maintaining the path to make visiting easier. How silly we would look to the great teacher that we became annoyed with the leaves that we saw as blocking our path and slowing us down on our route to the top of the mountain to see the "real teacher!!" Surely that wise teacher would smile, perhaps laugh and tell us that we passed many great teachers that we could learn just as much, if not more from on the way up to see him!! And maybe we'd look confused and say, "I did not pass anyone old man!! You must be senile!! Do you take me for a fool?!! I see now that my journey up here as been a waste." To which he'd mostly likely respond, "Did you not pass many tree branches, rocks, streams and leaves?" "Well yes, of course and I already told you they were quite annoying!!" we'd respond. "Well then, you did indeed pass many great teachers!! I can not offer you anything up here. Go back and talk to the trees and the streams and you will find your answers and peace.

I bow to the leaves that helped me return to myself while assisting others at the same time. And while the leaves will clutter up the lawns again in a few days, I won't whine but rather smile, knowing their return is their commitment to teach me Oneness yet again. I am so grateful for my patient teachers who return again and again as many times as needed to help me understand.

What a beautiful world we are blessed to live in!!

A second post for today is below this one (gassho) _/I\_

~peace to all beings~

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Meditation and Distractions

The purpose of meditation is not to concentrate on the breath without intetrruption, forever. That by itself would be a useless goal. The purpose of meditation is not to achieve a perfectly still and serene mind. Although a lovely state, it doesn't lead to liberation by itself. The purpose of meditation is to achieve uninterrupted mindfulness. Mindfulness, and only mindfulness, produces Enlightenment. Distractions come in all sizes, shapes, and flavors. Buddhist philosophy has organized them into categories. One of them is the category of hindrances. They are called hindrances because they block your development of both components of meditation, mindfulness and concentration. A bit of caution on this term: The word "hindrances" carries a negative connotation and indeed these are states of mind we want to eradicate. . . That does not mean, however, that they are to be repressed, avoided or condemned. Let's use greed as an example. We wish to avoid prolonging any state of greed that arises, because a continuation of that state leads to bondage and sorrow. That does not mean to toss the thought out of the mind when it appears. We simply refuse to encourage it to stay. We let it come, and we let go.

- Henepola Gunaratana, Mindfulness in Plain English

James: I have found that the stronger I try to force hindering thoughts out of my head while I am meditating the more powerful I make them. They seem to just return even louder and more intrusive then If I just acknowledge them, mindfully watch them and contemplate why they might be appearing. Through this mindful investigation I usually find that the emotions appear to try and help me or protect me in some way. Once I let them make their presence known, tell their story, realize that I understand their root and acknowledge that I understand the perceived problem they seem to fade away of their own energy.

And when they return, as often intrusive thoughts do while meditating, I thank them again for their interest and concern in my life and gently remind them that the perceived or sometimes real problem will be looked into soon enough. However, right now we are enjoying this present moment without worry, stress or concern for what might happen or not happen in the future.

Nor are we concerned with the memories of the past because no amount of concentration can change those memories and their outcome now solidified within our karmic stream of consciousness. This is something I often tell myself when worries about the past arise during my meditation and then I return to my breathing and present moment by saying, "Breathing in, I am present. Breathing out, I am aware." That little gatha is really helpful in returning back to real time awareness. It is almost like a pressure valve that releases the stressful energy of hindering thoughts as my meditation unfolds. It seems too simplistic perhaps but try it, it might just be as powerful a tool to you as it is for me.

~Peace to all beings~

PHOTO CREDIT: Bhante Henepola Gunaratana near Beatenburg, Switzerland. Photo by Fred Von Allmen. I love the athletic shoes he is wearing with his humble monk robes.

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Christians Protest Buddhist Display at City Hall meant to Promote Dalai Lama Visit

In Bloomington, Indiana in the United States of America the city hall has a display featuring Buddhist culture and art to promote an upcoming visit by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In response, some Christians from the area are protesting the display claiming that it promotes one religion over another. They protested by placing a display of the Christian ten commandments at the city hall.

"I read a brief statement on the importance of the Ten Commandments being the bedrock on which our city and nation's cultural and legal foundations stand," he wrote. (James: An issue that is debatable) We then proceeded to take two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments (each about 2 ft. tall and 1 ft. wide) and a table inside city hall and placed them right in front of the city's religious display of Buddhism."

The city responded by taking down the ten commandment display saying that the Christian group didn't follow city regulations and process for such an action. The city also said that the display was religious because it listed the main tenets of the Christian faith, whereas the Buddhist display merely depicts the art and culture of Tibet.

Either way, it is my opinion that neither display should be allowed. I feel that government buildings and agencies shouldn't flirt with religion in any way. The government is funded and run by the public and therefore should remain neutral in regards to anything connected to religion.

The Christian group released the following statement regarding the two displays:

"These commandments are our symbol of peace, and we want to include them with the city's display to promote religious enlightenment. We want to be clear that we do not agree with the ideology of the Dalai Lama or Buddhist beliefs – we are Christians and believe in one God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," he said.

This is the most disappointing part of the whole affair for me because in saying that they do not agree with Buddhist beliefs in general they are saying they don't agree with compassion, peace, loving kindness and the easing of suffering. Both religions work to promote those ideals and it seems that the Christians could have asserted their right to the separation between government and religion without trashing Buddhism. I can only hope that the Christian group is simply ignorant of those core beliefs that the two faiths have in common.

May we all continue to strive for increased religious tolerance, respect and understanding.

~Peace to all beings~

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Reasons Why Buddhist Monks Wear Robes and ShaveTheir Heads

I received a comment asking what the symbolism is of the robes that Buddhist monks wear and I put together a response from some research. I decided to make a post out of it for others who might be interested in the query. If anyone else has something to add, feel free to post it in the comments.

For the most part the robes of the monks depended on the dye that was available in the region. And then tradition just kept those different colors. And it also helps distinguish which sect/tradition/school of Buddhism the monastic follows.

The simplicity of wearing a basic robe partly symbolizes the vow they have taken to live a simple life. It is like their "uniform" in a way. A symbol of their non-status that they are no longer partake in the material aspects of society.

The material and dyes for their robes are usually donated by the laity.

The robe also symbolizes the monks connection to the Buddha and his willingness to follow in his footsteps.

Within some Tibetan Buddhist schools, If their sleeveless tunic is trimmed with yellow brocade or they are wearing yellow silk and satin as normal attire, they are probably eminent monks or considered living Buddhas. This link will help describe how the robes have changed over time.

Some, however, consider robes to be elitist and encourage pride as one "advances" within ones sect.

As for monks shaving their heads, it often symbolizes the renunciation of worldly things. It helps monks over-come vanity to embrace the simple life of a monk.

I hope this little research has helped a bit.

P.S.~Just wanted to let everyone know that the blog has just passed over 100,000 hits. The number doesn't mean as much to me, whereas, the readers that number represents is what is notable and humbling for this imperfect manifestation called James. Thank-you to everyone for your support, readership and comments.

I bow to the Buddha within you all. _/I\_

~Peace to all beings~

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