The Media and Suffering.

Have you heard about this terrible shooting in a Wendy's fast food restaurant here in the USA a few days ago? My heart always breaks and mourns when I hear about these things as there is so much suffering involved.

Obviously their is the suffering of the victims who did nothing but be in the wrong place at the wrong time. That being said, it is clear that the shooter must have been severely suffering mentally to feel pushed to do something so terrible as this.

Once again the media just focuses on the horror of the event rather than putting the spotlight on mental illness and what we can do to increase help and support for the mentally ill so that we can reduce this kind of thing that has become all to common. We never seem to use these nightmares to increase research into new and improved medicines and double our efforts to raise more awareness and educate the public on the truths and the misconceptions behind mental health problems. We need to find the positive in these events. We need to look at them as learning opportunities rather than just a salacious news story.

Today the media got their hands upon the 911 tapes of this terrible event and as usual are playing them over and over. I am always baffled why they do this because what good does this do but rub salt in the wounds of the families suffering? It isn't good to dwell on the panic and fear of those moments. It does nothing but amplify the disturbing nature of this shooting and broadens the suffering to the general public. Why would anyone want to listen to those traumatic moments?

I remember the people after 9/11 who wanted the tapes of the disaster released to the public and was greatly saddened when they did so. I think those are private materials that should be only accessible to the families of the victims. There is something really bothersome about listening to someone's last terrifying moments of their life. It seems intrusive and just waters the seeds of fear, delusion and anger. It only serves to fuel the suffering in this world. The other reason that we shouldn't air these tapes is because there are people who are on the edge of violence themselves and playing these tapes stirs up their urges to do something similar.

The other event that I remember is the Columbine massacre that occurred in my state of Colorado, USA when they released the video tapes of the killers roaming the hallways with their guns and you could see the crazy look in their eyes. It was a disturbing event in an of itself and airing those tapes was irresponsible in the least.

There is enough suffering in this world, we don't need to fuel that strong habit energy further.

I just firmly believe that somethings shouldn't be splayed out in front of the general public.

~Peace to all beings~

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Help Wanted.

I have recently switched to the new blogger format and it looks great thanks to my good friend Tom.

However, my "Featured Posts" section didn't make it intact through the transfer as the links don't seem to work. I have spent a lot of time trying to fix it but to no avail and I am exasperated.

So this post is a plea to anyone who could help me with this problem. I am even willing to pay a small fee (say $10-15) because the "Featured Posts" drop down menus are an important part of archiving my favorite entries throughout the history of this blog.

If you'd rather I can pay in the form of sending you a print of my Buddha painting, value $30 seen here below:

So please email me if you can help: jaymur-at-gmail.com

UPDATE: Here is the version of the above painting without the copyright:
~Peace to all beings~

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The Limitless Sky of Pure Being.

This journey that we find ourselves upon is like floating through the limitless sky. Sometimes it is blue as the bluest eyes as far as one can see and other times there are amazing sights to see such as rainbows but the sky behind them remains the same. other times it is cloudy blocking out the sun but the sun is always there, just above the clouds.

Sometimes it is black with little twinkling stars that shine at us as if especially for us but they do not belong to anyone or anything, they just are. Nor do they remain motionless although it may seem to our limited mind to be thus, they are in motion perhaps subtle motion in orbits but constantly changing position just as all things change. Our own planet twirls around in constant patterns much like ones mind follows habitual patterns. Even our giant galaxy is in flux.

Despite all this knowledge learned through science it is all empty of any inherent form or definition. In the final analysis, we really know only a tiny dust particle resting upon a pin head worth of information about the mysterious Universe. This information is nothing more than symbols that our limited minds use to try and explain our place in the Universe.

Yet try as hard as we might our place is forever in motion rotating other planets and galaxies that in turn rotate around us. We are constantly chasing the mysteries of the Universe that will always be a step ahead of our minds because mind can not perceive the totality of the vastness of Pure Being. It is like what the Native Americans say is, "Chasing the wind." It is nice to understand some of the physics of our Universe and I am indeed partly a man of science and appreciate Buddhisms embrace of science. However, sometimes science can become an obsession and an attachment to the ego that forever chases which often ends up frustrating us and creating despair and feelings of isolation.

Each moment we breath we are constantly arriving at a new present moment in this limitless sky of emptiness pregnant with beauty and joy. Sometimes we only see the dark clouds and turn around thinking that we can never make it through them. We perceive them as impenetrable obstacles that will surely crush us into a million pieces. However once we let go of our perceptions and begin to move toward them we realize that even the largest, darkest cloud (painful emotions, stress, etc.) can be penetrated and we emerge out the other side to continue on our journey. Yes passing through these clouds can be bumpy and scary at times but with a mind concentrated upon the true nature of that cloud we can realize right understanding. We can see that these clouds/obstacles are mostly made of nothing and can fade away into the limitless sky as quickly as they formed.

Perhaps some of these clouds knock us around enough that our bodies do break apart (cancer, heart attacks, etc.) and die but that is merely the end of the body, not the end of the Universe which our energy will always be apart of. We came from star dust and will return to star dust. Just like planets are born and die only to be reborn again somewhere else within the limitless Universe, so too then there is a good chance that we too will be reborn in one form or another.

Perhaps that will take the form of a gas that creates a new planet to sustain sentient beings or perhaps we will take the form of a rock, a mineral to benefits other sentient beings. Still too we could be reborn again as a sentient being living in some form not recognizable by humans off on a distant planet from Earth. The possibilities that exist within this great project of the Universe and beyond into the indescribable parinirvania are limitless.

Nothing to be or not be, this is the Self.

PHOTO CREDIT: "Light of the Dharma" by Anya Langmead. Her other works are brilliant and just as beautiful. I hope to buy a print one day. Check out the rest of her stunning work here.

~Peace to all beings~

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Healing Our Environment and Ourselves.

In one sitting meditation, when I focused my attention on my heart--breathing in, I am aware of my heart, breathing out, I smile to my heart--suddenly I realized that this is not the only heart that I have. I have many other hearts. Suppose that I look at the sun in the sky. I know that it is also another heart of mine. If this heart failed I would die right away. But if the other heart, the sun, explodes or stops functioning as the sun, I would also die right away.

~Thich Nhat Hanh, The Mindfulness Bell, winter/spring issue 47, 2008.

James: Another heart is our planet Earth, it is literally alive and very much like our own bodies. For example, most of our planet consists of water just like the human body. Deep inside the Earth a constant movement of hot liquid rich in iron keeps the planet alive much like our blood (also rich in iron) keeps us in health. If this plasma like layer where to cool and harden then life would eventually cease, not unlike too much blood loss causes the heart to stop.

The Earth's ozone and magnetic field act as shields that protect life here from harmful radiation emitted from the sun. Radiation is important and helpful in some respects but in small doses just like some bacteria is helpful in our bodies but again in small doses. If too much bacteria grows within our body then our white blood cells are stimulated to neutralize the dangerous levels of bacteria to return our body back to a stable, balanced environment. In that regard the Earth's atmosphere acts as those white blood cells to maintain the right balance to enable life to flourish on this planet.

So when seen through mindful openness an intricate interconnection unfolds within this Universe from the tiniest molecules to the largest stars until it can no longer be described and becomes parinirvana which is beyond our limiting labels, concepts and knowledge.

But let's return back to the present moment as I look out the window and gaze upon the gentle breeze dancing through the branches of the mock pear tree out front. That tree is apart of me as it relies upon the same sun to grow as I do, therefore if I do not care for that tree and millions like it then I will in turn die off. Trees thrive off of the carbon dioxide that we emit from breathing oxygen which is in turn partially created by those very trees and other plants. This leads to recycling.

We humans have not existed in harmony with the other organisms that share this planet with us, we have not been good neighbors over time. We have become in many ways a parasite or a cancer on the Earth because we have taken so much and given so little back to the circle of life that is our environment. Yet all is not lost, we can heal the scars that we have inflicted and return our lovely celestial body back to a more balanced state of being by recycling and using renewable energy sources.

In our city we have a recycling program that we participate in. We save our plastic bottles and recyclable metal and plastic containers in one bin and all our newspapers and paperboard waste such as old pasta boxes go in another bin. Then once a week a truck comes along and picks it all up to be sorted through at the recycling factory who then sell the metals and paper back to companies to make more metal and plastic containers and paper products and the cycle continues. Every time I put those bins on the curb I smile in peace knowing that I am giving back to my fellow organisms that share this planet with me.

The same goes with renewable energy, we harness the abundant clean energy available to us in using solar power, wind power, water, geothermal and others to meet our needs without harming the very body (Earth) that we are apart of. Through these measures we begin to cease being the separate, destructive cancer and return to being just another variation of being on a vast and beautiful heavenly body.

It is true that we can not prevent the eventually destruction of Earth but we do not want to have the karma of speeding up that process by our less than skillful actions. Life ebbs and flows of it's own accord and it is not our right to take life away from any living being and that includes our living Earth.

The Deer Park Monastery in the Zen tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh threw the switch that makes their property environmentally friendly. They are now completely off the grid, what a great example for the rest of us!!

~Peace to all beings~

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Peacefulness.

Peaceful be heaven, peaceful the earth, peaceful the broad space between. Peaceful for us be the running waters, peaceful the plants and herbs! Peaceful to us be the signs of the future, peaceful what is done and undone, peaceful to us be what is and what will be. May all to us be gracious!

-Atharva Veda 19.9

PHOTO: My wife took this picture in 2003. This lake is up in the tall mountains north of us here in Colorado where we backpack into. It's deep into the forests and high into the mountains. You usually don't see another human being for days up there but you see plenty of animals: Moose, deer, elk, coyote, birds/hawks/eagles/owls, fish, and some bears I've heard but I've never seen one. I have a special spot up there where I sit between dense pine trees and meditate listening to the wind flow through them creating a sound that is like hearing the trees whisper all together in unison. It's pure peace to be up there.

I haven't been up there in a few years because I have gained some weight from the medicine I take and because of those drugs I have a hard time keeping my weight down even when I exercise. This is because the pills act like a fat pill but they are necessary to keep me alive. It takes a lot of work getting up there as you have to carry 40 pound packs on your back with everything you would need to survive for a week. I do hope to return again someday soon.

I guess I say all of this to bring up the point that we can be anywhere we feel like being through meditation and mindfulness on pictures, memories and writings describing the atmosphere and energy of a place. As we know we are interconnected with all places so that like Thich Nhat Hanh says, wherever we are--that is home.

There is something else that I'd like to mention on this topic and that is feeling happy with where we currently find our bodies living. I tend to daydream about traveling to new and exotic places often and forget to see the wonder where I live currently. It is important for me to rediscover the great aspects of where I live. I have a home, live in a realitively stable country, live in a safe place in regards to crime and environmental disasters and get to enjoy slices of nature even in my urban location. There is a delightful, noble pine tree across the street that I can see out my front window as I'm typing. So whenever I gaze upon it mindfully I can easily see myself up at that special place in the mountains and the peace of that pristine land washes over me as if i was literally there at this moment.

I also have animal life right here out my window that I am honored to experience. Yes I don't get to see live moose walking around but I have a wonderful opportunity to watch the little birds eatting at our bird feeder, listen to their joyful songs and watch their adorable antics. I also get to watch the squirrel who comes daily to eat the peanut and hazelnuts that I leave out for him every morning. Squirrels are so cute, full of life and I love to watch how playful they are, watching them flick their bushy tails and jump from tree branch to tree branch. Yes I live in a great place. I do enjoy visiting new places and feeling the greatness of them but I truly am home where ever I find myself.

~Peace to all beings~

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