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(public domain image from www.pixabay.com)
It is sad to see how many American Buddhists are managing to find a self-satisfying accommodation to eating meat. Some airily cite the doctrine of emptiness, insisting that ultimately there is no killing and no sentient being killed. Others find cover behind the excuse that taking life is the natural order of things and, after all, “the life of a carrot and that of a cow are equal.”
The truth is, though, that as humans we are endowed with discriminating minds that we can use to educate ourselves to the implications of our volitional acts and to choose those foods that minimize suffering to living beings. — Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede
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Every suffering is a buddha-seed, because suffering impels mortals to seek wisdom.
- Bodhidharma
- Bodhidharma
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Today, July 13th, is the 83rd birthday of the Dalai Lama. He looks much younger and could easily pass for a man in his young 60s. All that meditation is definitely age defying. Here are some words of wisdom from the Dalai Lama which you won't find all over the internet:
What he often says when beginning to speak to an audience:
I think that this is the first time I am meeting most of you. But to me, whether it is an old friend or a new friend, there's not much difference anyway, because I always believe we are the same, we are human beings.
On the purpose of life:
I believe the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. Whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that, we are all seeking something better in life. So, I think, the very motion of our life is toward happiness.
About love:
When you are showing love to your fellow human beings, you are showing love to your god.
The importance of non-harming:
Harming or destroying any living being, from the highest to the lowest, from the human to the tiniest insect, must at all costs be avoided. The foundation of all spiritual practice is love.
If you want to change the world:
...first try to improve and bring about change in yourself. That will help change your family. From there it just gets bigger and bigger. Everything we do has some effect, some impact.
How to have a peaceful mind:
Cultivating closeness and warmth for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It is the ultimate source of success in life.
The root of the world's troubles:
The common enemy of all religious disciplines is selfishness of mind. For it is this which causes ignorance, anger and passion which are at the root of all the troubles in the world.
On being real and authentic:
All of us have a great responsibility to take the essence of Buddhism and put it into practice in our own lives.
(feel free to re-post or link to your social media)
What he often says when beginning to speak to an audience:
I think that this is the first time I am meeting most of you. But to me, whether it is an old friend or a new friend, there's not much difference anyway, because I always believe we are the same, we are human beings.
On the purpose of life:
I believe the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. Whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that, we are all seeking something better in life. So, I think, the very motion of our life is toward happiness.
About love:
When you are showing love to your fellow human beings, you are showing love to your god.
The importance of non-harming:
Harming or destroying any living being, from the highest to the lowest, from the human to the tiniest insect, must at all costs be avoided. The foundation of all spiritual practice is love.
If you want to change the world:
...first try to improve and bring about change in yourself. That will help change your family. From there it just gets bigger and bigger. Everything we do has some effect, some impact.
How to have a peaceful mind:
Cultivating closeness and warmth for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It is the ultimate source of success in life.
The root of the world's troubles:
The common enemy of all religious disciplines is selfishness of mind. For it is this which causes ignorance, anger and passion which are at the root of all the troubles in the world.
On being real and authentic:
All of us have a great responsibility to take the essence of Buddhism and put it into practice in our own lives.
(feel free to re-post or link to your social media)
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Wherever Buddhism was taken it adapted into the cultural and historical framework where it was deposited. The flexibility of Buddhism is it's genius and it's power. One example of this comes via the 6th century Chinese Buddhist master Zhiyi who practiced a very Indian form of Buddhism while adapting it to Chinese needs of the time.
One area he presented was the use of meditation combined with yogic pranayama (breathing exercises) to cure illness. Here are the four steps he taught for using meditation to deal with illness:
1. The Six Breaths, a Chinese exercise in which the practitioner makes the sounds “chui,” “hu,” “xi,” “he,” “xu,” or “si,” while exhaling in order to regulate internal processes.
2. The Twelve Respirations, which are different types of Indian breathing exercises (pranayamas) intended to regulate various symptoms of illness.
3. Visualization techniques in which one concentrates on one type of qi in order to counteract ailments caused by others. (He gives the example of concentrating on fire-like qi to cure cold in the body.)
4. Finally, Zhiyi recommends an analysis "the non-existent nature” of physical and mental illnesses, resulting in their spontaneous healing.
His method is one deserving of more research and study. One who is looking more closely at Zhiyi and his meditation healing method is C. Pierce Salguero who has a Ph.D. in the History of Medicine as well as a graduate degree in East Asian studies. To read more of Dr. Salquero's research go to this link:
www.buddhistdoor.net/features/curing-illness-with-meditation-in-sixth-century-china
One area he presented was the use of meditation combined with yogic pranayama (breathing exercises) to cure illness. Here are the four steps he taught for using meditation to deal with illness:
1. The Six Breaths, a Chinese exercise in which the practitioner makes the sounds “chui,” “hu,” “xi,” “he,” “xu,” or “si,” while exhaling in order to regulate internal processes.
2. The Twelve Respirations, which are different types of Indian breathing exercises (pranayamas) intended to regulate various symptoms of illness.
3. Visualization techniques in which one concentrates on one type of qi in order to counteract ailments caused by others. (He gives the example of concentrating on fire-like qi to cure cold in the body.)
4. Finally, Zhiyi recommends an analysis "the non-existent nature” of physical and mental illnesses, resulting in their spontaneous healing.
His method is one deserving of more research and study. One who is looking more closely at Zhiyi and his meditation healing method is C. Pierce Salguero who has a Ph.D. in the History of Medicine as well as a graduate degree in East Asian studies. To read more of Dr. Salquero's research go to this link:
www.buddhistdoor.net/features/curing-illness-with-meditation-in-sixth-century-china
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The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has added seven South Korean Buddhist Temples to it's World Heritage list. Such sites are legally protected by international treaties because they are judged important to the collective interests of humanity.
The monasteries belong to the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism. The Korea Joongang Daily reported that Jong Min, a monk in the Jogye Order, said he was “pleased at the news, especially at the fact that all seven [temples] have been inscribed together.” They are all in use for daily practice.
UNESCO said in its release that each temple has a cultural and religious significance to the region. The monasteries “contain a large number of individually remarkable structures, objects, documents, and shrines.” Each temple consists of an open courtyard (“madang”) flanked by four buildings (main hall, pavilion, lecture hall, and dormitory) — a spatial arrangement specific to Korea. The most important building, the main hall, is located on the highest level of the sloped courtyard.
Buddhism was introduced to Korea in the fourth century where it was established as the national religion of three ancient kingdoms for more than a thousand years. Monasteries were often built in hilly regions due to the traditional reverence for mountains. Buddhism started to dwindle after Confucianism led to a religious crackdown in the 14th century. Many urban temples closed, leaving only those in remote hills.
Buddhists have traditionally protected themselves and the teachings by establishing monasteries in remote sites, especially mountains where they are geographically distant from political change and interference.
The monasteries belong to the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism. The Korea Joongang Daily reported that Jong Min, a monk in the Jogye Order, said he was “pleased at the news, especially at the fact that all seven [temples] have been inscribed together.” They are all in use for daily practice.
UNESCO said in its release that each temple has a cultural and religious significance to the region. The monasteries “contain a large number of individually remarkable structures, objects, documents, and shrines.” Each temple consists of an open courtyard (“madang”) flanked by four buildings (main hall, pavilion, lecture hall, and dormitory) — a spatial arrangement specific to Korea. The most important building, the main hall, is located on the highest level of the sloped courtyard.
Buddhism was introduced to Korea in the fourth century where it was established as the national religion of three ancient kingdoms for more than a thousand years. Monasteries were often built in hilly regions due to the traditional reverence for mountains. Buddhism started to dwindle after Confucianism led to a religious crackdown in the 14th century. Many urban temples closed, leaving only those in remote hills.
Buddhists have traditionally protected themselves and the teachings by establishing monasteries in remote sites, especially mountains where they are geographically distant from political change and interference.
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Many people think Buddhism is about getting rid of desire. Really, our main focus is on promoting non-harming in the world. - Liên Shutt
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Leave your front door and your back door open. Allow your thoughts to come and go. Just don’t serve them tea. — Shunryu Suzuki.
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Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery becoming one of America's most prominent social activists, speakers and authors. Ten years before President Lincoln freed slaves in America, Douglas was asked to give a 4th of July speech in Rochester, New York. Today, I'm thinking deeply about his words. Here's what he said in 1852:
“Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day?” Frederick Douglass asked as he began his speech and continued: "“Fellow-citizens above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! Whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour."
(feel free to re-post or link to your social media)
“Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day?” Frederick Douglass asked as he began his speech and continued: "“Fellow-citizens above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! Whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour."
(feel free to re-post or link to your social media)
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Thich Nhat Hanh, a lifelong vegetarian and animal rights promoter says true peace begins on your plate -
Nonviolence includes all beings.
Farmed animals feel pain and fear just like the animals we share our homes with, yet they are abused in ways that would be illegal if dogs and cats were the victims. In today’s meat industry, chickens and turkeys have their throats slit while still conscious, piglets have their tails and testicles cut off without painkillers, and fish are suffocated or cut open while still alive. Nothing could be further form the virtue of loving-kindness.
A peaceful world begins on our plates.
Nonviolence includes all beings.
Farmed animals feel pain and fear just like the animals we share our homes with, yet they are abused in ways that would be illegal if dogs and cats were the victims. In today’s meat industry, chickens and turkeys have their throats slit while still conscious, piglets have their tails and testicles cut off without painkillers, and fish are suffocated or cut open while still alive. Nothing could be further form the virtue of loving-kindness.
A peaceful world begins on our plates.
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To the dismay of the Chinese government, the 14th Dalai Lama says he’s looking forward to living another “15, 20 years,” according to the Central Tibetan Administration. The 83-year-old Tibetan Buddhist leader made the remark in Dharamshala this week during a teleconference with Australian Buddhists. “I often ask people . . . what they think of my age. They make a guess around 70. Then I tell them that I am in 80s . . . They say I look very young,” he said, adding that his teeth and voice are both still strong. There is a history of Buddhist teachers predicting their own death.
In Tibetan Buddhism and medicine, practitioners are taught to pay attention to the omens of death.
In Tibetan Buddhism and medicine, practitioners are taught to pay attention to the omens of death.