What is This?

---This is a long post but I had a moment of realization in real time that I wanted to write out---

In the Korean Zen tradition, there is a method of meditation that uses the question “What is this?” to cultivate concentration and inquiry together. As you sit or walk in meditation, you ask constantly, “What is this?” Repeating this question develops concentration because it returns you to the full awareness of the moment. As soon as you become aware of being distracted by past events, anxieties about the present, or future dreams, you ask “What is this?” This way, the power of questioning dissolves distraction. You don’t repeat this question like a mantra, but with a deep sense of questioning. This is not an analytical or intellectual endeavor. (You have to be careful not to ask the question with the head but with the whole body; sometimes it is recommended to ask with the lower belly.) You are not asking about anything specific, and you are not looking for a specific answer. You are just asking meditatively, experientially, opening yourself to the whole moment, to the questionable and mysterious aspect of life itself and your place within it. You are asking because you truly do not know.

James: I hadn't heard of this technique before but I like it and can see how it would be helpful in focusing on the present moment. I like that it doesn't focus on a specific, linear thought but on the essence of the moment. In addition, it seems like a good technique because it invites us to use our senses rather than our minds. It is our senses that pick up on the subtle aspects from moment to moment that we so often miss and it is those subtleties that provide me a lot of perspective. For instance, deep listening helps me remember that there are infinite events occurring simultaneously on infinite levels. It makes me realize how much I miss throughout the day. It takes me out of the constrictive, analytical confines of my vacuum sealed brain where isolation breeds delusion and into simply being with it all.

It has been my experience that when we can just "be" with the moment that suffering is no longer so painful. It simply is apart of the moment but when I am sealed off in the penthouse that is my brain I lose touch with the greater moment. I can only see, feel and think about pain, suffering and heartache, which isn't bad to deny such feelings. In fact, it's good to just feel what you feel because I have found the worst way to try and deal with suffering is to try and deny it. However, the suffering isn't the totality of the moment and to focus only on that is to unnecessarily intensify the suffering. Such as right now I'm pained to realize that winter is coming and thus shorter days. I mourn the loss of sun in the late afternoon and last night all I could feel was the darkness and it became so intense that it really dug into my brain and depression ensued.

Well, that makes sense as all I allowed my mind to experience was the darkness and how that usually means depression. Well, part of it is biological as I have a mental illness but a lot of it isn't. Of course I was going to end up depressed if the only thing I allowed to myself to experience in that moment was the darkness and obsessing on hoping it wouldn't make me depressed!! My brain is good at self-fulfilling prophecies as I suspect all of ours are. Yet tonight as I type this out I am constantly posing that question, "What is this?"

So while I am focusing on the computer I am also enjoying the sunset outside the window. It is opening up my experience so that I see both sides of the darkness coin. Yes, It is getting dark but I get to enjoy an amazingly colorful sunset and that should cause me to rejoice!! It does!! The sunlight is not just simply saying "good-bye" but it is putting on a show for me, which has given me a whole new outlook on dealing with the early sunset. We may mourn the loss of daylight but each night we get a wonderful, brilliant, vibrant and ever changing show of lights, shapes and colors. It's as if the sunset is saying, "I know the darkness is difficult sometimes but if you pay close attention each evening I will make that darkness not seem so long with a daily show of fireworks!!

How could I be totally overcome with depression if I allow that part of the moment to come through too. There are so many amazing blessings that nature and even humanity bestow upon us every moment if we but let them in. It's not that my moments of suffering are all that is possible at any given moment but that my mind closes itself off to any other moments occurring simultaneously that might help me deal with the suffering. So ask yourself, "What is this?" See if it helps you as it does me.

PHOTO CREDIT: Thai Temple Statue Sunset by Hn on Flickr.

~Peace to all beings~

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Navbar Transparan Blogspot

Setelah mampir di blog Kang Rohman yang memang merupakan blog yang menyediakan informasi tentang pembuatan blog dengan blogger, ternyata ada fasilitas baru yang diberikan blogger yaitu navbar transparan, yang sebelumnya navbar hanya terdiri dari Blue, Tan, Black dan Silver kini ditambah lagi dengan Transparent Light (transparan terang) dan Transparent Dark (transparan gelap).








Hadirnya

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Update Google Page Rank

Pagerank google memang sangat diperlukan oleh seorang pemilik blog atau web yang berkonsentrasi pada pemasangan backlink serta bagi yang mengikuti program paid to review.

Backlink maupun page to review biasanya salah satu persyaratannya adalah web atau blog yang ber page rank tidak kurang dari 3 sehingga para pemilik blog berlomba-lomba untuk meningkatkan pagerank web blognya karena dengan

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The Compassion of Animals.

The November issue of National Geographic magazine features a moving photograph of chimpanzees watching as one of their own is wheeled to her burial. Since it was published, the picture and story have gone viral, turning up on websites and TV shows and in newspapers around the world. For readers who’d like to know more, here’s what I learned when I interviewed the photographer, Monica Szczupider. On September 23, 2008, Dorothy, a female chimpanzee in her late 40s, died of congestive heart failure. A maternal and beloved figure, Dorothy had spent eight years at Cameroon’s Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center, which houses and rehabilitates chimps victimized by habitat loss and the illegal African bushmeat trade. Szczupider, who had been a volunteer at the center, told me: “Her presence, and loss, was palpable, and resonated throughout the group. The management at Sanaga-Yong opted to let Dorothy's chimpanzee family witness her burial, so that perhaps they would understand, in their own capacity, that Dorothy would not return. Some chimps displayed aggression while others barked in frustration. But perhaps the most stunning reaction was a recurring, almost tangible silence. If one knows chimpanzees, then one knows that [they] are not [usually] silent creatures."

James: It touches me deeply that this chimpanzee family lined up to view the dead body of one of their own as it passed by them. It's similar to the funeral possessions that are common amongst humans, which makes sense on one level when you consider that humans and chimpanzees have DNA that is 95-98% similar. In Buddhism we are taught that the human realm offers the best chance for realizing liberation from suffering and the cycle of birth/death. In addition to that it is said that the animal realm is a horrendous station and from what I have observed of the animal kingdom it does seem rather harsh and rough. Sometimes this unfortunately leads people to see animals as "dumb" and that delusion often leads to taking advantage of them.

We do so at our own peril because animals are embedded in our DNA if you believe the generally accepted theory of evolution. Taken a step further in Buddhism, of course we know that we are interconnected to all beings regardless of evolution or not. The molecules that make up our body blend with the molecules that make up the air, which blend into the molecules that make up other people, animals, rocks, water and on and on. It is not a connection we can see with our eyes of delusion but if we look closer with a mindful eye that web of connection shines forth in beautiful and reassuring ways.

Those chimpanzees might not know the Dharma but they do understand love and compassion. How could a mother of any species not have a bond with their offspring that is an expression of concern and care? In my mind, that is but another way of showing and experiencing compassion and love. The uncharacteristic silence of the chimps is something a being wouldn't show if it didn't experience expressions of sorrow and respect. We know chimps are capable of showing respect in how they stratify their family groups. Respect is shown to the experienced and strong male as well as the alpha female.

So they may not know how to liberate themselves from suffering but in my opinion they deserve respect, dignity and a chance at life that we expect for our own offspring. It's not my place to say that someone should be a vegetarian--that's an ego boosting exercise nor it is skillful means. Besides, Buddha didn't set a strict rule about it nor can all people follow a vegetarian diet due to climate and health considerations. I don't eat meat and abstaining from it is for me personally apart of keeping the first precept to avoid violence. However, I struggle with other precepts so I don't have any right to condemn anyone for eating meat -- nor would I do so. I may not eat meat or kill animals but I do still struggle sometimes with verbal violence so I keep working and practicing. There is no point to judging others or guilting people into doing something or not doing something. In addition, people can be very compassionate, loving and caring toward animals regardless of diet. Although for some, vegetarianism might be helpful, rewarding and beneficial to understanding compassion as a universal right.

~Peace to all beings~

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Motivations for Becoming Buddhist.

Baseball player Alex Rodriquez is reportedly going to convert to Buddhism for his girl friend, actress Kate Hudson. I'm not a Religious Studies professor but I do know that converting to a religion out of a feeling of obligation or to please a person is a horrible reason. I was apart of a belief system growing up in which I remained for longer than I should have out of a feeling of obligation and It was gut-wrenching. I finally realized that I was living a lie and deceiving my parents into thinking I was a loyal member.

I can't say whether A-Rod will stay with it or not but too often we do things for the wrong reasons and the biggest example I can think of is with love/happiness. We might think that we have to be a certain way in order to gain the love of someone and be happy. The other side of that coin is when we withhold love to get things from someone. That isn't love or true happiness. That is loved based on attachment. It's like saying, "I love you but only if you do the things I like, be the person I want and believe the things I do." The Venerable Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh says of happiness and love in his book, "Teachings on Love":

"Our idea of happiness can prevent us from actually being happy. We fail to see the opportunity for joy that is right in front of us when we are caught in a belief that happiness should take a particular form."

James: It's hard when our vision of happiness doesn't pan out but if we can find happiness in what we already have then we'll never be disappointed. And we won't be manipulating people thus causing suffering for them too. I working on that with everyone else by the way. My pot is no less cracked than anyone else's. I hope that A-Rod finds something about Buddhism to be important, interesting or worthwhile other than being the religion his girlfriend practices. I also hope Kate Hudson didn't pressure him to convert. Because that would make me wonder just how well she knows Buddhism because pressuring people to do much of anything in Buddhism is taboo. I'm not saying that A-Rod doesn't have any personal interest in Buddhism but from what I know of the story it sounds like he is doing it just for her. I hope it works out because I sure have found a lot in Buddhism that has helped my life but it doesn't mean much if you're not fully engaged.

~Peace to all beings~

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